Haunted Mansion Review

The 2023 version of Haunted Mansion marks the second time Disney has attempted to turn their theme park attraction into a film.

Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield) is an astrophysicist turned paranormal tour guide in New Orleans. He has become a jaded and bitter man after his reputation is ruined when he designs a spectral camera. Ben gets an offer to investigate paranormal activity in a mansion on the outskirts of the city, but he is haunted by a ghost. Ben, along with the homeowner Gabbie (Rosario Dawson), her 9-year-old son Travis (Chase W. Dillon), and Father Kent (Owen Wilson), must figure out why they are haunted and find out what the ghosts want.

Disney has had a rough 2023. Films like The Little Mermaid (2023) and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny underperformed at the box office, the reputation of the MCU has been tanking because of the third Ant-Man movie and Secret Invasion, and Disney+ has been losing money and subscribers. Disney has been destroying their own reputation because of the content purges from Disney+, executives at Disney saying they are prepared to starve the WGA into submission and preparing to raise Disney+ subscribing prices whilst ending physical media releases in Australia and New Zealand.

Haunted Mansion shows one of Disney’s big problems and an issue affecting Hollywood as a whole: an overdependence on intelligential property. This has led to a conveyor belt of tentpole films that feel the same. It didn’t help that Haunted Mansion was based on theme park rides which have been mixed and Disney’s previous theme park film, Jungle Cruise, was an expensive flop.

Haunted Mansion was a mixed bag. This was evident with the film’s creative team. It was directed by Justin Simien who made a name for himself with his debut feature, Dear White People. The writer of the film was Katie Dippold whose filmography reads more like a rap sheet. What this pair delivered was a fine family-friendly horror film.

This version of Haunted Mansion was an improvement over the previous film which was an Eddie Murphy vehicle. The new film was more in line with films like Goosebumps and The House with a Clock in the Wall. All these films aimed to appeal to a broad audience and be family-friendly whilst also having a horror twinge to them. As the title suggests Haunted Mansion was a haunted house where a set of characters need to survive the actions of malicious spirits.

The focus of the film was on Ben and his allies investigating why the mansion was haunted, figuring out what the ghosts want, and discovering a way to defeat the Hatbox Ghost (Jared Leto). This paranormal investigation combined with the film’s visual style made Haunted Mansion have a Ghostbusters quality to it. Dippold even co-wrote the 2016 version of Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters is a good example to follow since it mixes paranormal investigations and supernatural action. The ghosts in Haunted Mansion would have fitted in a Ghostbusters film since they were exaggerated characters like a sea captain, a horse rider, and two dualling brothers, and in the case of the sea captain, he was able to cause water-based incidents.

Haunted Mansion was a film with predictable character arcs and plot points. Ben had to step up to become a hero and learn to care about other people. Travis was a wimp who needed to be brave, whilst Harriet (Tiffany Haddish) was a medium who needed to be more confident about her abilities.

Stanfield did have a leading man quality. He was handsome, physically fit, and had a wide acting range. Rosario Dawson was the best member of the cast since her character remained calm despite the supernatural goings-on and had an air of authority about her. Owen Wilson fans would be happy since the actor does his usual shtick of being charming yet dubious. Audiences’ liking of Haddish’s Harriet does depend on how much they have liked her previous performances.

The most interesting aspect of Haunted Mansion was its visuals. It was able to stand out considering how bland some of Disney’s recent outputs have been. There was a constant with the darkness of the mansion and the eerie glow of the ghosts. The flow of the camera really enhanced scenes when Ben goes from room to room and experiences strange supernatural events.

Haunted Mansion was one of the better films based on a theme park ride. It had a formulaic story and some weak humour, but it worked as a family-friendly horror flick and had some striking imagery.