Third Time Is Also the Charm

Note- I don't plan for having a Halloween post every year, but my movie preferences make it nearly inevitable.

We now have three Haunted Mansion films. Each are good in their own way.

The first was fun and reference filled. It also had some tone problems, because it was mostly a light hearted and silly comedy with horror elements...

until they hired Rick Baker to do the zombie effects, which naturally came out terrifying.

Last year Muppet's Haunted Mansion was both filled with classic Muppet Mirth, and was a love letter to the ride.

Now we have this years Haunted Mansion- released on the big screen in the summer to flounder allowing an October streaming premier. I guess they're following the comic book example of basing the timing on when the trade paperback like second release of the material happens.

This film functions fantastically as an entry level horror film. 

Comparisons to the initial scenes of Poltergeist (before it kicked into gear and traumatized most of Generation X on cable) are reasonable. The ghosts and hauntings are spooky, but never in an over the top horrific way. 

There is a lot of quality stuff going on for this one.

A) The cast- Disney lined up a phenomenal bunch and even those characters with somewhat questionable morals come across as likeable due to the performances, and have gone straight by the conclusion. There are very few selfish acts among them and those usually have some kind of justification. 

B) The horror / humor balance is perfect. The suspenseful bits bring up a creepy feel, but the the way the tension cuts goes back to that balance. Most jump scares are more startling than terrifying, and the reactions and surroundings make the viewer want to laugh and yell at the same time.

C) The references to the ride are outstanding and on multiple levels.

Some are very surface level- The look of the two mansions, the stretching room, famous quotes from the ride and the ballroom. 

Others are a little deeper- The bat topped posts used in the dark areas of the queue, some of the lesser known quotes, and famous settings presented in interesting ways. 

Then there's the deep cuts- Images from the proposed Museum of the Weird version of the attraction that never opened and references to various abandoned story lines.

D) The clear main story is an origin tale for the Haunted Mansion. It's how the 999 Happy Haunts came to be at that location, and become happy.

E) There's a second, less obvious to the younger viewers, story going on. This film is about being haunted by grief, how it can be crippling, how it cannot be ignored, and how the positive parts of life, while they can't completely remove it, make moving forward in the face of it worthwhile. 

This one is going in my library...

So I can

"HURRY BAAAA-AAAAACK!"