Line #24 YMMV/TheHaunting1999


1	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: 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.
2	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
3	** 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.
4	** Mary's moment with the harpischord, even 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.
5	* CompleteMonster: [[AdaptationalVillainy Hugh Crain]] is a [[WouldHurtAChild child killer]] who took his desires to have a family to twisted and dangerous extremes. Abducting children from his mills, Crain murdered them when they tried to leave, mutilated their bodies, and burned them in a fireplace, before covering up his crimes. [[DrivenToSuicide Driving his first wife to suicide]], Crain is also implied to have murdered his second [[SheKnowsTooMuch for discovering his secret]]. After his death, Crain returned as an [[GhastlyGhost all-powerful ghost]] who keeps the spirits of the children trapped in the house and kills any newcomers.
6	* FairForItsDay: Despite Theo being shown as a polyamorous bisexual, she's still an EthicalSlut and her attraction to Nell is shown to be just as tender as it was in the original - actually even more so. And they avoid going down the GirlOnGirlIsHot route.
7	* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: In contrast to the original, Mrs Dudley fails at being creepy. And when she tries to give Theo the same speech she gave Nell, Nell stands beside her and deadpans the rest of the speech with her.
8	* {{Narm}}:
9	** 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.
10	** [[SpecialEffectFailure Hugh Crain's ghost]] has been described as "the ghost of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Mather Cotton Mather]]" and looks like a giant Ringwraith.
11	** Luke's death manages to destroy any semblance of tension the movie has left at this point due to how contrived and ridiculous it is: First, he's dragged away on a carpet that moves on its own, screaming the whole time instead of simply rolling off the carpet, then he's ''catapulted'' into the fireplace as the carpet comes to a sudden halt, and finally, just as he's standing up, he's [[BloodlessCarnage cleanly and bloodlessly decapitated]] by a lion's head flue that drops out of the fireplace on a swing and moves at hilariously slow speed and he could easily have dodged. The ''acting'' in this scene is even funnier than the death itself -- Theo ''pauses'' a few seconds before screaming like she missed her cue, Dr. Marrow ''winces'' -- not like he's horrified by the gruesome death of a colleague, but like Liam Neeson has just realized what kind of movie he's in and is desperately trying to remember how much he's getting paid -- and Nell just says "[[{{Understatement}} Oh, no!]]" in a tone that sounds less like nauseated horror and more like she just [[DullSurprise dropped her phone in the water fountain]].
12	** Did we mention that the lion head ''roars'' when it swings down out of the fireplace? You know, because lions are scary, [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext or something?]]
13	** Eleanor is now a MessianicArchetype who defeats Crain with ThePowerOfLove--Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, but the presentation...
14	** 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)
15	** Turning a NothingIsScarier haunted house suspense thriller into a fast-paced action movie would be a difficult thing to pull off even in the hands of a more capable director. Even ignoring the outdated CGI (and the cast's DullSurprise in response), we still have Luke whizzing off down the hall as if he's on a Slip 'n' Slide and ''bouncing'' into the fireplace.
16	** The film trying to pull a MaybeMagicMaybeMundane with the noises on the first night, ''after'' we already saw a blatantly supernatural event with the piano wire.
17	** Hugh Craig’s ghost letting out a T-Rex roar, among other stupid sound effect choices.
18	* NightmareRetardant: The numerous cases of SpecialEffectFailure didn't exactly help the film's attempts to be scary.
19	* OrphanedPunchline: "Oh God. Whose hand was I holding?" In the original Robert Wise film, that line came after a really tense scene that focuses only on a scared Nell's face while Theo re-assures her off-screen. Nell thinks she's been holding Theo's hand during the entire conversation, and is terrified when she realizes she isn't. Here, the line is awkwardly dubbed in after Nell has been thrown from her bed by the ghosts, so it doesn't fit the context whatsoever and comes off as an incredibly shallow reference to a better film.[[note]]The scene was indeed present in the original shooting script (pg. 86) and presumably intended to be filmed, but was presumably cut[[/note]]
20	* SpecialEffectFailure: There's ridiculous CG up the wazoo, not to mention horribly outdated CG.
21	* SpiritualSuccessor: [[http://braineater.com/haunting99.html This site]] makes a case for this film not being a remake of ''Film/TheHaunting1963'' but of ''Film/TheLegendOfHellHouse''. It also may be the closest we'll ever get to having a ''VideoGame/TheSeventhGuest'' movie.
22	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Two of them! 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.
23	* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Although the film is considered a real step down compared to the original, Lili Taylor's spirited performance as Nell is seen as a highlight.
24	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: In the original ''[[Film/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.
25	* ValuesDissonance: While not a terribly insensitive depiction of a bi/pan person (see above), Theo is still shamelessly flirtatious with both Nell and Luke (albeit in a SlapSlapKiss way with him), despite her claims that [[ReallyGetsAround she already has a boyfriend]] ''[[ReallyGetsAround and]]'' [[ReallyGetsAround girlfriend]], which carries the hoary old stereotype that "bisexual = slut" and would undoubtably be handled more tactfully today.

Context YMMV / TheHaunting1999