Haunted Mansion (2023)

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Disney tried making a feature film based on my favorite Disney ride with Eddie Murphy in 2003. Long story short, it wasn’t all that great. Since then, Disney has tried to make another Haunted Mansion film, even having Guillermo del Toro working on it at one point. We’ve finally gotten that newer Haunted Mansion film, directed by Justin Simien though rather than Guillermo del Toro.

Does it do justice to the amazing Disney ride? Or is it at least better than the Eddie Murphy version? Read on to find out!

And remember, SPOILERS AHEAD!

The film takes place in what many people consider the haunted capital of the USA: New Orleans. Therein we meet Ben, an astrophysicist turned ghost tour guide, played by LaKeith Stanfield. His zest for life has been totally shattered since his wife, Alyssa, played by Charity Jordan, died. Ever since then, he took up her ghost tour business, but has vehemently disbelieved that ghosts are real.

One day, he’s visited by an apparent priest turned exorcist named Father Kent, played by Owen Wilson. A single mother, Gabbie, played by Rosario Dawson, and her young son, Travis, played by Chase W. Dillon, have moved into an old manor known as Gracey Manor with the intention of turning it into a bed and breakfast. However they discovered that it was haunted when objects started to move on their own and have since run away from the manor.

They’ve called Father Kent to perform an exorcism on the manor, but that doesn’t work. So now he’s come to Ben for help as Ben has invented a sort of ghost-capturing camera. He wants Ben to go to the manor and take pictures to see if any ghosts do indeed reside there. Ben doesn’t believe in ghosts, of course, but accepts the job since he’s being paid a large sum of money.

He visits Gracey Manor and meets Gabbie and Travis who are back living there.

Gabbie gives him an opportunity to turn around and go home instead of going forward with the job, but Ben declines. Gabbie and Travis have been sleeping in a tent in the living room as they say that’s the safest place in the manor. They show Ben around the various rooms, but there doesn’t seem to be any ghostly happenings going on. In the end, Ben tells them that there’s no sign of any ghosts and heads back home.

Later that night, strange things start happening at his home and he discovers he’s haunted by a sea captain ghost who followed him home from the manor. He returns to Gracey Manor to complain to Gabbie who tells him she tried to warn him. She then explains that once you enter the manor, a ghost latches on to you no matter where you go, so you have to return to the manor as that’s the safest place to be. That’s why she and Travis are back living in the manor.

So now Ben is stuck there too. He also discovers that Father Kent has been living there as well since he was haunted by a ghost after performing the exorcism. Ben realizes that the ghosts want them back at the manor for some reason and begins to explore the manor again. This time it’s after midnight and there’s more ghost activity.

Once they realize they need others who can help them, Ben and Father Kent head out the next morning and reach out to a psychic, Harriet, played by Tiffany Haddish, as well as a college professor, Bruce, played by Danny DeVito. Harriet can communicate with the ghosts in the manor and Bruce has done a lot of historical documenting on the history of Gracey Manor.

Apparently a William Gracey, played by J. R. Adduci, was the first owner of the manor. When his wife died, he was distraught and wanted to contact her beyond the grave. He invoked the help of the best psychic of the time (as well as ever), Madame Leota, played by Jamie Lee Curtis.

Madame Leota tried to contact Gracey’s wife for an entire year, but could never connect with her. Instead with each attempt, a number of ghosts were summoned to the manor. One of them was the Hatbox Ghost, voiced by Jared Leto, who had sinister plans. He convinced Gracey to kill himself by pretending to be his wife, trapped Madame Leota in her crystal ball (which Ben finds locked in a trunk in the attic), as well as trapped all the other 999 ghosts in the manor with him. He needs one more ghost to complete a ritual that will allow him to escape the manor.

After discovering all that information, Harriet suggests they perform a banishment spell on the Hatbox Ghost which will banish him to the afterlife forever and free the other ghosts. To perform the spell, they need an object that once belonged to the Hatbox Ghost when he was alive. However, nobody knows who the Hatbox Ghost actually is. During a séance performed by Harriet, Ben meets the Hatbox Ghost and can’t forget that sneering face. He and Bruce then go to a police station and have a sketch artist (played by Hasan Minhaj) draw the Hatbox Ghost based on Ben’s description.

From the sketch, they’re able to figure out that the Hatbox Ghost is Alistair Crump, an evil tycoon who was rumored to have killed many people and who was himself killed by his servants.

His head was never found and he vowed revenge before he died. Fortunately, his old residence, Crump Manor, isn’t too far from Gracey Manor. Ben, Father Kent, and Travis try to head over there, but the manor and ghosts try to stop them. Fortunately, they manage to escape to Gracey Manor and attend a tour given by Dan Levy and Winona Ryder.

During the tour, they realize that everything on display is a replica and not an original owned by Crump. However, Travis finds Crump’s top hat in an underground chamber where he buried the bodies of the people he killed. They take the hat and head back to Gracey Manor where they find that the Hatbox Ghost has taken control due to it being the full moon when he’s at his most powerful.

He’s ready to complete the ritual with the 1000th ghost, but it has to be from someone willingly giving their life. At first, he targets Travis by pretending to be his dead father, but Ben manages to intervene in time. Then he targets Ben by saying that he can be with Alyssa again, but Ben declines. Harriet and Madame Leota (who’s freed from the crystal ball) perform the banishment spell ridding the manor of Crump once and for all.

The other ghosts are free to leave now, but many decide to stay in the manor as they’re so used to it. Even Madame Leota returns to her crystal ball. Father Kent is revealed to have not been a real priest at all, but rather a Halloween supply worker. He does change his life around though. Ben regains a positive outlook on life and begins to date Gabbie. And everybody remains friends with each other.

And that was Haunted Mansion! It’s definitely scarier than the 2003 film; it did get a PG-13 rating after all! And it does pay a good tribute to the Disney ride throwing in a number of references to it. However, the story is very convoluted! Going from Gracey’s story to Crump’s story felt more complicated than it needed to be. Heck, Gracey’s story isn’t ever really resolved in the film! The 2003 film had a much simpler story to follow.

I also felt that Travis’ character played a big part in the beginning of the film, but then is forgotten about in the middle, until he returns to a big role in the end. You can tell that juggling the number of characters was a difficult task and I feel the film should have been either about Ben, Gabbie, and Travis or about Ben, Harriet, and Bruce. Putting them all together felt a bit too much.

I felt Chase W. Dillon was the best actor; I can see this kid going on to have a great career! I also thought LaKeith Stanfield gave a good performance as did Jared Leto in his voice performance. Danny DeVito and Tiffany Haddish pretty much played themselves, which is not necessarily a bad thing. No performance was really bad in this.

The visual effects ranged from being cool-looking to being run-of-the-mill. I kinda wonder if a fully motion-capture Haunted Mansion film would be the way to go?

In the end, this was a better film than the 2003 film, but there’s still a really amazing Haunted Mansion film waiting to make its way to fruition someday! Maybe in another 20 years?

So, my final score for this film is 27/35 = 77.14% (C+) !