The Haunted Mansion (film)
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| The Haunted Mansion | |
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 Theatrical poster for The Haunted Mansion |
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| Directed by | Rob Minkoff |
| Produced by | Andrew Gunn Don Hahn |
| Written by | David Berenbaum |
| Starring | Eddie Murphy Jennifer Tilly Terence Stamp Marsha Thomason Nathaniel Parker |
| Music by | Mark Mancina |
| Cinematography | Remi Adefarasin |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 26, 2003 |
| Running time | 99 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $90,000,000 (estimated) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Haunted Mansion is a 2003 fantasy film based on the ride of the same name, directed by Rob Minkoff and starring Eddie Murphy, Terence Stamp, Jennifer Tilly, Marsha Thomason and Nathaniel Parker. It was released on November 26, 2003.
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[edit] Plot
Jim and Sara Evers are proprietors of Evers and Evers Real Estate and parents of 10-year-old Michael and 13-year-old Megan. Jim is a workaholic who has not been spending time with his family, much to the disapproval of his wife. On a weekend trip in which he has promised to devote time to the family, they make a detour through the swamps of New Orleans, Louisiana to Gracey Manor, a decaying but valuable property. The owners had earlier contacted Sara with interest in selling.
Once the Evers arrive, a violent rainstorm erupts, and they are led inside by Ramsley, the creepy butler who is immediately disturbed that Sara did not come alone. The family is introduced to Master Edward Gracey, the heir of the house, and invited to stay the night as the roads have flooded. Michael and Megan are sent to one bedroom, Jim and Sara to another.
As Jim and Sara are separated, and Jim finds himself trapped in a secret passage, Michael and Megan are led by a floating blue orb into an attic room where they discover an antiquated painting that looks exactly like their mother. They encounter Ezra and Emma, a footman and maid respectively who work for the mansion and also warn the kids of impending danger. Megan and Michael discover that Emma and Ezra are actually ghosts, as is Master Gracey, and that Master Gracey thinks their mother is his lover Elizabeth returned to him from beyond the grave; years ago, she had seemingly committed suicide.
Meanwhile, Jim discovers the animated head of gypsy Madame Leota stored inside a crystal ball. Through her help, he is led to his kids and together, they follow her instructions through a ghost-populated graveyard to find a key that will help them flee the mansion. Jim, Michael, and Megan learn that there is a curse binding the souls of everyone who has died in the mansion to walk its premises until it is broken.
Jim and Megan go into a mausoleum, per Madame Leota's instructions, and locate the key in question, only to be attacked by hundreds of zombies. They find themselves trapped in the mausoleum, but Michael overcomes his fear of spiders (which are crawling all over the outside of the crypt door) and frees his father and sister just in time. They use the key to unlock a trunk, inside of which is a letter from Elizabeth declaring that she loved Master Gracey and that she did want to marry him. It is revealed that Ramsley, also a ghost, did not like the idea of Master Gracey and Elizabeth getting married. So he wrote a different letter (which was taken as Elizabeth's) stating that Elizabeth felt differently than she really did, and poisoned Elizabeth to prevent an interracial marriage between her and Gracey. Ramsley traps Michael and Megan in a trunk suitcase, and literally throws Jim out of the mansion, locking him outside. He confronts Sara and makes it clear that she will either proceed with the marriage (and a suicide) to help break the curse from his point of view, or that her children will die.
Jim, attempting to break back into the mansion but finding it magically sealed, sits outside in vain until the head of Madame Leota rolls up to him to encourage him to keep trying. Jim drives his BMW E65 through the wall just in time to stop the wedding and confront Gracey with the truth. When all is revealed, Ramsley becomes enraged and invokes the fires of Hell. The multiple windows of the mansion shatter as evil spirits fly around the room. Then out of the fireplace comes a giant demonic dragon. The dragon sucks Ramsley into the fireplace for his eternal punishment in Hell. Before that, Ramsley grabs Jim's left leg but fortunately, Gracey saves him before he is pulled in. Unfortunately, Sara has had enough of the poison given to her before the wedding to die. Just in time, Elizabeth's spirit, which is actually the blue orb, moves into Sara's body and revives her, breaking the curse and saving her life. After everything he's put the Evers through, Master Gracey repays them by giving them the deed to the mansion. Thus all of the spirits in the mansion, including Elizabeth, Master Gracey, Ezra, and Emma ascend into the light of Heaven, their curse broken.
Jim has learned an important lesson about family, and his son and daughter have learned bravery in the face of evil. The family, now in possession of the deed to the house, head out on their vacation to the lake (with the encased head of Madame Leota in the back seat and a quartet of singing busts strapped to the back of the car singing their own version of "When the Saints Come Marching In").
[edit] Box office
The Haunted Mansion grossed approximately $35,000,000 on its opening weekend in the United States. Its final U.S. gross was $75,847,266, barely a quarter of the earnings of its theme-ride predecessor Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The film did marginally better in foreign markets, with a world-wide total of $106,443,000.
[edit] Cast
- Eddie Murphy as Jim Evers: A workaholic real estate agent. Jim is often late for family gatherings or celebrations, and tries his best to make up for it.
- Terence Stamp as Ramsley: The English butler of Gracey Manor and a father-figure to Master Gracey. He is rather creepy, but strict and well-mannered.
- Nathaniel Parker as Master Edward Gracey: Owner of Gracey Manor. He is polite and a friendly man, who longs for his lost love Elizabeth to return to him after her apparent suicide. He hung himself so he could find her in the afterlife, with little success.
- Marsha Thomason as Sara Evers/Elizabeth Henshaw: Jim's supporting wife. Master Gracey believes she is a reborn Elizabeth and forms a friendship with her.
- Marc John Jefferies as Michael Evers: Jim's 10-year old son. He has a fear of spiders, which he conquers to save Jim and Megan from a group of zombies.
- Aree Davis as Megan Evers: Jim's typical 13-year old daughter, who is impatient and stroppy. She helps her father to locate a key hidden in a mausoleum.
- Jennifer Tilly as Madame Leota: A gypsy woman whose head is encased in a crystal ball filled with green mist. She is very intelligent and witty, and has a great deal of magical powers.
- Wallace Shawn as Ezra: A bumbling footman who worries about getting into trouble, but nevertheless, he helps the Evers save the mansion.
- Dina Waters as Emma: A nervous but helpful maid who seems terrified of Ramsley. However, she very compassionate and banters a lot of Ezra.
[edit] Trivia
- This is the second film to be based on a Disney theme park ride.
- The paperboy in the opening scene is the nephew of the director, Rob Minkoff.
- There are several Hidden Mickeys in the film. One is an oddly-shaped padlock on the gates of the Gracey Manor, and the second is briefly seen when Ramsley pours the poison in the goblet of wine during the wedding.
- The red sofa in the library is Captain Nemo's from the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
- The singing busts in the graveyard are voiced by the Dapper Dans. Two are the likenesses of Thurl Ravenscroft and Paul Frees.
- The costume and special effects designers wanted the ghost characters to become "more dead" the further they were from the mansion. Note that while Ezra and Emma look human in the house, their leaving it causes them to become blue and transparent. The zombies in the mausoleum are the "deadest", as they are furthest away.
- This is the first movie to air on Disney Channel to contain any profanity beyond Hell or Oh My God (Damn you, Damn you all to Hell!) for years. It even had a humorous disclaimer at the beginning of the movie.
- The mansion scenes were filmed at Sable Ranch in Califorina. The main building was constucted over a period of weeks while the cupola and chimneys on the top of the mansion were CGI.
- The design of the mansion is based on The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland in Anaheim while the iron/glass conservatory was based from The Haunted Mansion at The Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.
- In the opening scene of the film, Nathaniel Parker had great difficulty trying to carry Elizabeth up the staricase, which is shown on the expressions of his face.
