10 Most Pointless Horror Movies Ever Made

Mike Flanagan may have delivered a pitch-perfect miniseries of The Haunting of Hill House seven short years ago, but even this couldn't make up for the number of far from complimentary adaptations this iconic horror property has had over the years. And the worst offender of all is Jan de Bont's The Haunting, which despite its cosy '90s aesthetic proves to be not just unnecessary but night unbearable. 

Dr David Marrow (Liam Neeson) takes a group of subjects to the secluded Hill House for a study on fear masquerading as a study on insomnia. He does his best to frighten and mess with the already sleep-deprived crew he has assembled (Catherine Zeta-Jones and Owen Wilson among them), but the fact of the manor actually being haunted for real kind of gets in the way.

As mentioned, Mike Flanagan created the definitive adaptation of the original Shirley Jackson novel, but even if he hadn't, the film that this one was based on - Mid-Century movie icon Robert Wise's 1963 The Haunting - had already wowed and terrified audiences and secured its rightful place in horror history. De Bont's version is riddled with CG, and a betrayal of everything its sources are known for, while adding absolutely nothing to the mythos or story.