'Haunted Mansion' review: Justin Simien brings fresh life to fright-filled franchise
Seeking something spooky this summer? Then step right up to Disney's Haunted Mansion.
What began as a ride in Disneyland's Magic Kingdom first got the movie treatment in 2003 with The Haunted Mansion, a clunky action-comedy headlined by Doctor Dolittle's Eddie Murphy. This time around, Disney has collected an all-star cast that includes LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Danny DeVito, Winona Ryder, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jared Leto. Plus, there's some dazzling critically heralded talent behind the scenes: The Heat screenwriter Katie Dippold on the script and Dear White People writer/director Justin Simien at the helm.
Together, they may be tasked by Disney to relaunch Haunted Mansion as a franchise-starter that could sail to success like ride-turned-blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean. Time will tell on that count. But in the short term, I can assure you that Haunted Mansion is bloody good fun for kiddos (of all ages) who enjoy a scary story and a rollicking thrill ride.
What's Haunted Mansion about?
Dippold mines the beloved ghosts and ghouls of the much-merchandized Disney attraction for its titular setting. However, where the 2003 Eddie Murphy version followed a family of real estate agents, this Haunted Mansion begins with a scientist who doesn't believe in ghosts. ("Ghosts don't exist. Life is dirt. We're all dirt.")
LaKeith Stanfield stars as Ben Matthias, a widowed inventor who has built a camera intended to photograph spirits. But after years of searching for them and finding nothing, he's grown bitter and isolated while conducting ghost tours in New Orleans. (His glowering and snarking at the giddy tourists is the film's first bite at darker humor.) That is, until a raggedy priest (Owen Wilson) pops by with an offer for quick cash. All Ben has to do is take some pictures for Gabbie (Rosario Dawson), a single mom who is convinced her new home is plagued by ghosts.
Reluctantly teaming up with the priest, an excitable professor (Danny DeVito), and a swaggering medium (Tiffany Haddish), Ben aims to solve the mystery of this haunted mansion, and to save Gabbie and her sensitive son Travis (Chase Dillon) from a particularly malevolent spirit.
The Haunted Mansion delivers on kid-friendly scares.
Dippold and Simien make splendid use of the iconography of the Haunted Mansion ride. The walls of their mansion are studded with paintings that move menacingly. A windowless room that grows becomes an action set piece, while familiar figures like the hitchhiking ghosts are more than an Easter Egg — they're a clever plot point. Even the ride's flash photography warning gets worked into the plot.
Dippold has carefully constructed a fairly cohesive narrative from the anthology of ghost stories littered in and around the park's attraction, and it's a macabre delight to uncover the home's secrets along with its motley crew of paranormal investigators. They will cross paths with all kinds of curious spirits, including Madame Leota (Curtis), a long-dead psychic whose head floats inside a massive crystal ball, and the Hatbox Ghost (Leto), a malicious figure with a skeleton face who relishes in scaring the mansion's residents.
Within this plotline, Simien constructs enthralling suspense, pulling his characters down stretching hallways and through cobweb-strewn secret passageways. The encounters with these spirits veer from silly (a Mariner who loves Deadliest Catch) to spooky (a pair of dead dueling brothers) to scary (an ax-wielding bride). While the third act grows wobbly as a flurry of action and plot points frantically collide, Haunted Mansion has enough panache and ghostly delights to roll us over its rockier turns.
LaKeith Stanfield is a stand-out in a star-stuffed cast.
Simien has brought together a delightful ensemble. Dawson is splendid as a no-nonsense yet loving mother who tries to nope out of that house as soon as she sees something strange in the neighborhood. Dillon is a cute kid whose mournful eyes immediately suck audiences into the family's peril. Meanwhile, DeVito is a hoot as the overeager professor, while Haddish brings her signature moxie to her medium. Curtis clearly is having a blast playing the theatrical Madame Leota, and Leto's camp — underappreciated in House of Gucci — is well-suited to playing an intensely arch character who is mostly a CGI monster.
However, the best pairing in the bunch is Stanfield and Wilson. The latter brings the rumpled humor of his indie comedy origins, so his Father Kent is less of an Exorcist extra and more like a wily Wes Anderson-styled con artist who's wandered into the wrong movie. His offbeat persona lends a hint of unpredictability to the plot that is otherwise pretty predictable, but hey, this is first and foremost a kids' movie.
Haunted Mansion is chiefly shouldered by Stanfield, who makes for a compelling lead. Dressed with a '70s flare that includes chest hair protruding from his low-slung shirts, he has the air of a man on the verge of doing something reckless. There's excitement as he flirts with Gabbie and scoffs at the idea of ghosts. But as Ben grows closer to this threatened family, a softer side emerges, which Stanfield blossoms into with an enthralling vulnerability.
When the movie calls for him to fling himself into danger or physical comedy, he'll do that too, without missing a beat. Often cast in supporting roles (Get Out, Knives Out, The Harder They Fall), Stanfield makes a strong stand here as a leading man — and in a more mainstream movie than the brilliant and provocative Sorry to Bother You.
Haunted Mansion never fully comes together.
A wobbly plot with predictable pivots might be forgiven in a movie that's for kids and generally fun enough, which Haunted Mansion is. Yet, I yearned for something more.
While the story is smartly set with entertaining action and some hilarious hijinks — a scene involving a sketch artist (Hasan Minhaj) is particularly fun — the flung-together band of ghostbusters never really comes together in a satisfying way. Plenty of talented, funny people are in this movie, but they don't quite work together as a team. Instead, Haunted Mansion seems like a battleground where everyone fights for their own spotlight moment. So as this collection of kooky characters barrels into an ending that champions the importance of human bonds and community, the point might be stated, but it doesn't fully land.
Ultimately, Haunted Mansion is a solidly enjoyable romp, sure to thrill kids who revel in campfire tales and creepy bedtime stories. It's also a surprising showcase for an actor who's been earning acclaim since his feature debut in 2013's Short Term 12. The cast brings plenty of energy and laughs to this tale of goofy ghosts and chosen family, but in the end, the wallop of emotion falls a bit short.
Still, for a family seeking exciting entertainment, this Disney romp is a terrific choice.