10 More Horror Movies Way Weirder Than Advertised
8. The Haunting (1999)
Gathering together a gang of big '90s faces, including Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Owen Wilson, 1999's The Haunting remake first leads us up the garden path in the direction of a clever supernatural/psychological mystery, daring us to ask whether the titular haunting of a big ol' mansion house is just a social experiment by a slightly unethical scientist or the work of some bona fide ghosties. Well, spoiler alert, it's the latter.
Believe it or not, it is based on Shirley Jackson's famous novel The Haunting of Hill House, and if this was the path the film followed, then fine, we could work with that. Unfortunately, The Haunting takes some major CGI-driven liberties in its course and thoroughly loses the plot (and any consistency of tone) somewhere around the time Owen Wilson is decapitated.
The iffy effects give it a cartoonish feel, but its unyielding grim sincerity and far-fetched explanation of everything make the whole affair unbearably weird - and not in the so-bad-it's-good kind of way.