Product Details

• Actors: Aidan Quinn, Kate Beckinsale, Anthony Andrews, John Gielgud, Anna Massey
• Directors: Lewis Gilbert (II)
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Hallmark
• VHS Release Date: August 21, 2001
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304054106
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #247,135 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Professor David Ash (Aidan Quinn) is skeptical of the supernatural, yet he is invited by elderly Nanny Tess Webb (Anna Massey) to investigate paranormal goings-on at her country estate. When Ash arrives, he meets her three adult children (Kate Beckinsale among them, who becomes his future love interest) and the family doctor (John Gielgud), all of whom deny anything is going on and claim that Nanny Tess is merely hallucinating. Yet after spending some time there, the professor begins experiencing unexplainable visions that only Nanny Tess, and often only he, sees. Furthermore the ghost of his sister, who died as a child in a drowning accident, begins to roam the estate. Is he imagining it and going mad? Or is the house truly haunted? Adapted by Tim Prager from the James Herbert novel, Lewis Gilbert's highly memorable film is a brilliant haunted-house tale with chilling scenes and an exceptional plot twist. --Bryan Reesman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classical horror is alive and well in this overlooked gem, September 29, 2000

By 

P. I. Johnson (Cape Town, South Africa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Haunted [VHS] (VHS Tape)

With the pervasiveness of the slasher sub-genre in the horror marketplace over the last 15 years, it's been rather difficult for more discriminating horror fans to find horror films that disturb and frighten without resorting to decapitation and mutilation of all sorts of obnoxious teenagers. For all the genuine originality and post-modern irony of the original Scream (which - like Unforgiven - should have closed, not reinvigorated,its sub-genre) its novelty has long since worn out thanks partly to its cynical, bland sequels and other putrid imitations. Thankfully, the recent success of The Sixth Sense and - to a lesser extent - A Stir of Echoes and What Lies Beneath suggests there may be light at the end of the tunnel for those of us increasingly tired of endless, infantile and inferior rehashes of Halloween and Black Christmas. But for horror collectors who revere movies like The Uninvited, The Innocents, Rosemary's Baby, The Haunting (original), The Legend of Hell House, The Exorcist, Don't Look Now, The Changeling, Burnt Offerings and the like, the bulk of recent Hollywood horror output has not been kind to our collections. Well look no further horror buffs! Lewis Gilbert's superb Haunted is the unacknowledged classic you've been looking for. Deploying the staples of intelligent classical horror - a haunted mansion; a twisted family history; a sceptical investigator - Gilbert has fashioned a classic of the genre that is destined for cult status. Beautifully set in the rustic south of England following World War One, the story involves a Cambridge professor (Aidan Quinn) who is a renowned debunker of supernatural phenomena. Invited to Edbrook Estate to investigate an old woman's allegations of "evil spirits" haunting the mansion she tends, he encounters the eccentric but charming family occupying the mansion. As his relationship with the sister (Kate Beckinsale in excellent form) grows, dynamics are brought into play which gradually begin to reveal the true evil at the heart of the house and its history. To complicate matters, the young professor is haunted - first emotionally, then literally - by his dead sister, whose drowning at the age of seven he blames on himself. From its wrenching opening scene (recalling Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Know) through to its unsettling concluding revelation (only the sharpest of you will figure it out beforehand), Haunted grabs you and never lets go. Midnight scratches on doors; mysterious gypsey seances; empty chairs rocking vigorously; apparitions swirling across dark lawns; spectral fires springing from nowhere; and something horrid in the lake ... Haunted hits all the right buttons with an admirable lack of embarrassment or irony. This movie is out to scare you and every frame accords to that function. So for those of you unable to get your fix from Jan de Bont's abysmal remake of The Haunting, take my word for it - this is the movie you'd been expecting! This is a horror classic awaiting for your discovery.

60 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A GOTHIC GHOST STORY THAT WILL HAUNT THE VIEWER..., August 18, 2002

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Haunted (Full Screen) (DVD)

This is a little heralded gem of a film and a chilling adaptation of James Herbert's spooky novel of the same name. With a star studded cast, the film does not lack for talent. Beautifully acted, this gothic ghost story is a wonderfully atmospheric, haunted house tale, sparely told.

The film begins with a turn of the century scene in Sussex, England with two children playing in the idyllic English countryside. They are fraternal twins, David and Juliet Ash. While playing, Juliet ends up drowning, and David, to his life long regret, is unable to save her.

Years later, David (Aidan Quinn) is a Professor of Psychology with a penchant for debunking so-called supernatural occurrences. After receiving an intriguing and pleading letter from a Mrs. Webb about ghostly apparitions at the rural manor home in which she resides, David goes there, only to be met by the Mariell clan, consisting of Christina (Kate Beckindsale), and her brothers, Robert (Anthony Andrews) and Simon (Alex Lowe). It turns out that Mrs. Webb is their old nanny, whom they all still call Nanny Tess (Ann Massey). She is clearly terrified of something that is going on in the house, and the Mariells all seem to be humoring her.

The Mariell siblings, at first, appear to be wildly eccentric Brits, but later seem to be more than just a little twisted, as it soon becomes apparent that all is not right in that household. There are things that go bump in the night, strange music is played, and the ghostly apparition of a young girl seems to glide about the house and grounds. Moreover, Nanny Tess always appears to be in a state of acute terror and is even so when the seemingly benign Dr. Doyle (John Geilgud) appears to give her a check up.

As a romance heats up between David and Christina, however, David appears to turn a blind eye to what is going on in the household. Even the apparently unwholesome relationship Christina appears to have with her brothers, especially Robert, initially fails to nonplus David. Too late, he realizes the nature of the evil within this isolated, rural manor house. In the end, it takes the force of something beyond the grave to save him from an almost unimaginable horror.

The acting is superb in this remarkably told tale of ghosts and things that go bump in the night. This is a well done, stealthily told, haunted house story that is sure to keep viewers glued to their screens. Kate Beckinsale gives a wonderful performance as the seemingly quirky and free spirited Christina. Anthony Andrews is excellent as the slightly sinister, oldest sibling, Robert. Alex Lowe is appropriately eccentric as Christina's off the wall brother, Simon. John Gielgud gives a terrific cameo performance. Aidan Quinn is effective as the erstwhile debunker who loses sight of his mission and is gulled into a false sense of reality.

The only reason I did not rate this film five stars is because the director acquiesced to some need to resort to cheesy special effects at the very end. The superimposed faces on the last fire scene was unnecessary and only served to cheapen what had, otherwise, been a very well done and spooky film. The DVD itself provides crystal clear audio and visuals but little else,

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best haunted house movies, February 18, 2005

By 

Darren Harrison "DVD collector and reviewer" (Washington D.C.) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Haunted (Full Screen) (DVD)

For fans of Kate Beckinsale the movie "Haunted" is certainly a guilty pleasure - why guilty, not because it's a bad movie but simply because the young British actress has more nudity in this picture than in all her other movies combined.
Two years prior to this movie Beckinsale has her first topless scene in the movie "Uncovered," and here she throws all caution to the wind - along with most of her clothes. It's a somewhat uncharacteristically scary movie from Lewis Gilbert, the man who gave us some of the silliest James Bond movies such as "You Only Live Twice" and "Moonraker."
In this 1996 movie the ever-watchable Aidan Quinn plays Dr. Ash, a skeptic who accepts the invitation to investigate supernatural goings-on at a creepy country estate. Once there he begins to witness some unexplainable occurrences and for those of you looking for a twist in the end of your stories - this one has a doozey. Not to give too much away, but nothing is quite as it seems and this one gives they yet-to-be-made "Sixth Sense" a run for its money in more ways than one.
Adapted from the James Herbert novel this movie is probably one of my all-time favorite haunted house tales and joining Quinn and Beckinsale are the likes of Anthony Andrews, Anna Massey and John Gielgud (in what is essentially an extended cameo). It's a brilliant gothic tale with plenty to recommend about it. I saw it with my roomies, who are all horror-movie aficionado's and they all agreed it was a good show.
Is this movie scary - yes, does it thrill - yes it does that too. Is it a good purchase - yes, and if you are a Beckinsale fan it's a definite must for your collection.