History YMMV / TheHaunting1999

* EsotericHappyEnding: Hugh Crain is banished to Hell, the children's ghosts are freed to go to Heaven, and the haunting is presumably ended. [[spoiler:(And Nell finally finds a place to belong, and peace.)]] But Luke dies, [[spoiler:Nell dies]], and Marrow's experiment was ruined and never finished. The movie ends with Mr. Dudley's rhetorical question, "Did you find what you were looking for?" that Marrow can't answer...so [[WasItReallyWorthIt was it all worth it]]?

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: In the original ''[[TheHaunting1963 Haunting]]'', the doctor straight up tells the other three guests that they're studying the "ghosts" in Hill House. In this film, he's doing a study on group fear, but tells the others that they're only doing a sleep study. While deception is sometimes used in these cases, this change makes the doctor seem unnecessarily dishonest, even a little cruel.

** Mary's moment with the harpischord, even [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy geared as it may have been]] to remove the only possible psychic in the group (other than Nell) from the house, comes across as this too since other than one recording Marrow makes it's never mentioned again, and neither she nor Todd (the guy who takes her to the hospital) ever come back.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The whole soundtrack, really, done by the incomparable AwesomeMusic/JerryGoldsmith. Of particular note are the CreepyCircusMusic from the carousel room (including the more disturbing variation later when it is played in counterpoint to the deep, loud, groaning sounds Hill House is known for), the music from the climax (starting from when Crain manifests out of his SpookyPainting), and the genuinely unsettling strings which play the main theme.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The giant, corpse-like statue of Hugh Crain trying to drown Dr. Marrow (in a fountain of blood, no less). He doesn't get a chance to explain what happened to him due to Nell screaming, and the event is never mentioned afterward. Mary's moment with the harpischord, even [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy geared as it may have been]] to remove the only possible psychic in the group (other than Nell) from the house, comes across as this too since other than one recording Marrow makes it's never mentioned again, and neither she nor Todd (the guy who takes her to the hospital) ever come back.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: In the original [[TheHaunting1963 ''Haunting'']], the doctor straight up tells the other three guests that they're studying the "ghosts" in Hill House. In this film, he's doing a study on group fear, but tells the others that they're only doing a sleep study. While deception is sometimes used in these cases, this change makes the doctor seem unnecessarily dishonest, even a little cruel.

* CompleteMonster: Hugh Crain is a child-killer extraordinaire, though Nell does say at one point after she's connected to the house and its ghosts that Crain "just wanted children, but it all went wrong", implying [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil he wasn't always so]]. The short version of his crimes: wanting a family, he abducted children from his mills, and when they tried to leave his house he [[NoKillLikeOverkill murdered them, mutilated their bodies, and burned them in a fireplace]] (then covered this up in his records by merely claiming they'd died of illness or factory injuries). He also [[DrivenToSuicide drove his first wife to suicide]] and (it's strongly implied) murdered his second for [[HeKnowsTooMuch discovering his secret]]. After his death he comes back as an all-powerful ghost who keeps the spirits of the children trapped in the house and kills any newcomers.

* CompleteMonster: Hugh Crain, child-killer extraordinaire, though Nell does say at one point after she's connected to the house and its ghosts that Crain "just wanted children, but it all went wrong", implying [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil he wasn't always so]]. The short version of his crimes: wanting a family, he abducted children from his mills, and when they tried to leave his house he [[NoKillLikeOverkill murdered them, mutilated their bodies, and burned them in a fireplace]] (then covered this up in his records by merely claiming they'd died of illness or factory injuries). He also [[DrivenToSuicide drove his first wife to suicide]] and (it's strongly implied) murdered his second for [[HeKnowsTooMuch discovering his secret]]. After his death he comes back as an all-powerful ghost who keeps the spirits of the children trapped in the house. The original book and film also portray him as rather cruel to his daughter, but they don't give enough details on him to really make a call on this front.

** Imagine Crain appearing on Grand Designs. "Right, over there I want a pool with a giant statue of me looking dead and a fountain of blood, over there I want a statue of an eagle, above the fireplace I want a lion head that drops out of the fireplace because [[ForTheEvulz it will be really funny and no-one will expect it]] and over there I want the Gates of Hell. Okay?" (Kevin McCloud looks slightly scared)

* NightmareFuel: The MindScrew of the house.
** The scene in the mirrored carousel room has some genuinely disturbing shots of Nell/Carolyn wherein she has lost all sense of who she is, and her own face is replaced in the mirror by Carolyn's. Both Carolyn seeming happy to be given flesh once more and her stretched, distorted face a few moments later count as a NightmareFace.

* SpiritualLicensee: This may be the closest we'll ever get to having a [[TheSeventhGuest 7th Guest]] movie.

* UncannyValley: The statues of the children.

* EsotericHappyEnding: Hugh Crain is banished to Hell, the children's ghosts are freed to go to Heaven, and the haunting is presumably ended. [[spoiler:(And Nell finally finds a place to belong, and peace.)]] But Luke dies, [[spoiler:Nell dies]], and Marrow's experiment was ruined and never finished. The movie ends with Mr. Dudley's rhetorical question, "Did you find what you were looking for?" that Marrow can't answer...so was it all worth it?
* {{Narm}}: A lot of the dialogue, particularly Marrow and Luke's awkward conversation in the hallway at midnight, his inane "I wonder what happened to him" in reference to Crain's statue, and much of Nell's dialogue during her final confrontation with Crain. [[SpecialEffectsFailure Hugh Crain's ghost]] has been described as "the ghost of Cotton Mather" and looks like a giant Ringwraith while Owen Wilson manages to destroy any hope of tension the movie has and is ultimately decapitated by a gargoyle's head that drops out of the ceiling on a chain. Also Eleanor is now a MessianicArchetype who defeats Crain with ThePowerOfLove--TropesAreNotBad, but the presentation ...
** Imagine Crain appearing on Grand Designs. "Right, over there I want a pool with a giant statue of me looking dead and a fountain of blood, over there I want a statue of an eagle, above the fireplace I want a gargoyle head that drops out of the ceiling on a chain because [[ForTheEvulz it will be really funny and no-one will expect it]] and over there I want the Gates of Hell. Okay?" (Kevin McCloud looks slightly scared)

* FridgeBrilliance: Initially the fact the doors were the only way to defeat Crain comes off as a perfect example of FridgeLogic and poor writing--why would Crain include in his own house the very thing that would defeat him, and before he ever became a malevolent ghost, no less? But if you take into account Crain's HolierThanThou attitude from the novel (and his book of morality for his daughters), the doors make sense as yet another example of his fixation upon being one of the MoralGuardians with a stern belief in a FireAndBrimstoneHell. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard What he didn't count on, then]], was that God would work through those very doors to end his reign of terror and mete out proper punishment.
* FridgeHorror: Read a little deeper into the supernatural side of the movie. Crain didn't play with the kids when they were alive - he killed them in the house when they were young, and kept building rooms for them, and having statues and carvings made of them. All so they would be there even after his death. [[AndIMustScream The house is a giant]] SoulJar.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The giant, corpse-like statue of Hugh Crain trying to drown Dr. Marrow (in a fountain of blood, no less). He doesn't get a chance to explain what happened to him due to Nell screaming, and the event is never mentioned afterward. Mary's moment with the harpischord, even [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy geared as it may have been]] to remove the only psychic in the group (other than Nell) from the house, comes across as this too since other than one recording Marrow makes it's never mentioned again, and neither she nor Todd (the guy who takes her to the hospital) ever come back.

* CompleteMonster: Hugh Crain, child-killer extraordinaire, though Nell does say at one point after she's connected to the house and its ghosts that Crain "just wanted children, but it all went wrong", implying [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil he wasn't always so]]. The short version of his crimes: wanting a family, he abducted children from his mills, and when they tried to leave his house he murdered them, mutilated their bodies, and burned them in a fireplace (then covered this up in his records by merely claiming they'd died of illness or factory injuries). He also [[DrivenToSuicide drove his first wife to suicide]] and (it's strongly implied) murdered his second for [[HeKnowsTooMuch discovering his secret]]. After his death he comes back as an all-powerful ghost who keeps the spirits of the children trapped in the house. The original book and film also portray him as rather cruel to his daughter, but they don't give enough details on him to really make a call on this front.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The statue of Hugh Crain trying to drown Dr. Marrow (in a fountain of blood, no less). He doesn't get a chance to explain what happened to him due to Nell screaming, and the event is never mentioned afterward. Mary's moment with the harpischord, even [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy geared as it may have been]] to remove the only psychic in the group (other than Nell) from the house, comes across as this too since other than one recording Marrow makes it's never mentioned again, and neither she nor Todd (the guy who takes her to the hospital) ever come back.

* {{Narm}}: A lot of the dialogue, particularly Marrow and Luke's awkward conversation in the hallway at midnight, his inane "I wonder what happened to him" in reference to Crain's statue, and much of Nell's dialogue during her final confrontation with Crain. [[SpecialEffectsFailure Hugh Crain's ghost]] has been described as "the ghost of Cotton Mather", while Owen Wilson manages to destroy any hope of tension the movie has. And in the end Eleanor is now a MessianicArchetype who defeats Crain with ThePowerOfLove--TropesAreNotBad, but the presentation...

* FridgeHorror: Read a little deeper into the supernatural side of the movie. Crain didn't play with the kids when they were alive - he killed them in the house when they were young, and kept building rooms for them, and having statues and carvings made of them. All so they would be there even after his death. [[AndIMustScream The house is a giant SoulJar]].

* CompleteMonster: Hugh Crain, child-killer extraordinaire, though Nell does say at one point after she's connected to the house and its ghosts that Crain "just wanted children, but it all went wrong", implying he wasn't always so. The short version of his crimes: wanting a family, he abducted children from his mills, and when they tried to leave his house he murdered them, mutilated their bodies, and burned them in a fireplace (then covered this up in his records by merely claiming they'd died of illness or factory injuries). He also [[DrivenToSuicide drove his first wife to suicide]] and (it's strongly implied) murdered his second for [[HeKnowsTooMuch discovering his secret]]. After his death he comes back as an all-powerful ghost who keeps the spirits of the children trapped in the house. The original book and film also portray him as rather cruel to his daughter, but they don't give enough details on him to really make a call on this front.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The statue of Hugh Crain trying to drown Dr. Marrow in the remake (in a fountain of blood, no less). He doesn't get a chance to explain what happened to him due to Nell screaming, and the event is never mentioned afterward.
* CompleteMonster: Hugh Crain, child-killer extraordinaire, in the remake, though Nell does say at one point after she's connected to the house and its ghosts that Crain "just wanted children, but it all went wrong", implying he wasn't always so. The original book and film also portray him as rather cruel to his daughter, but they don't give enough details on him to really make a call on this front.

* EsotericHappyEnding: For the remake--Hugh Crain is banished to Hell, the children's ghosts are freed to go to Heaven, and the haunting is presumably ended. [[spoiler:(And Nell finally finds a place to belong, and peace.)]] But Luke dies, [[spoiler:Nell dies]], and Marrow's experiment was ruined and never finished. The movie ends with Mr. Dudley's rhetorical question, "Did you find what you were looking for?" that Marrow can't answer...so was it all worth it?

* FridgeHorror: Read a little deeper into the supernatural side of the movie. Crane didn't play with the kids when they were alive - he killed them in the house when they were young, and kept building rooms for them, and having statues and carvings made of them. All so they would be there even after his death. [[AndIMustScream The house is a giant soul jar]].
* {{Narm}}: A lot of the dialogue, particularly Marrow and Luke's awkward conversation in the hallway at midnight, his inane "I wonder what happened to him" in reference to Crain's statue, and much of Nell's dialogue during her final confrontation with Crain.
* NightmareFuel: The MindScrew of the house in the remake.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The remake has [[{{Narm}} ridiculous]] [[ConspicuousCG CG]] up the wazoo, not to mention horribly outdated CG.
* SpiritualLicensee: The Remake may be the closest we'll ever get to having a [[TheSeventhGuest 7th Guest]] movie.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Two of them in the remake! Both the "fake sleep study that is actually a fear study" (and the ethical nature thereof) and the investigation to discover the nature of the haunting and how to end it are intriguing plots...but combining them in one movie and not allowing either the full time to be developed causes both to suffer.

* FridgeHorror: Read a little deeper into the supernatural side of the movie. Crane didn't play with the kids when they were alive - he killed them in the house when they were young, and kept building rooms for them, and having statues and carvings made of them. All so they would be there even after his death. The house is a giant soul jar.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: AwesomeMusic/JerryGoldsmith

* AwesomeMusic/JerryGoldsmith

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Two of them in the remake! Both the "fake sleep study that is actually a fear study" (and the ethical nature thereof) and the investigation to discover the nature of the haunting and how to end it are intriguing plots...but combining them in one movie and not allowing either the full time to be developed causes both to suffer.