10 A-List Actors Who Did Z-Grade Horror Films

When a trio of subjects turn up at Hill House, they think they’re participating in an “insomnia study”, but little do they realize that the mansion is haunted and Liam Neeson’s creepy scientist has in fact lured them there for a study of group fear and hysteria. When staircases collapse and statues come to life, the group reason that Neeson must be behind it all. Probably with projections and remote-controlled robots. No other explanation is possible.

If that makes this remake of Robert Wise’s 1963 movie (itself based on a Shirley Jackson novel) seem like a glorified Scooby Doo cartoon, guess what? It is. There’s a white sheet ghost, revolving doors, footsteps that lead to a clue plus an old diary that helps solve the mystery, and the filmmakers even throw in a beatnik (Owen Wilson) to add “comic relief.”

Striding through it all, maintaining his dignity as only a true movie star can is Neeson, who is at least well cast as the slightly sinister authority figure who turns out to be less resourceful than a pack of meddling kids. He’s better than the movie he’s in, and you can see why he went on to bigger and better projects while this misfire is all but forgotten.