The Haunted Mansion is a 2003 family oriented 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.
Plot
The prologue shown over the opening credits is a series of vignettes which sketch the story eventually told later in the film: sometime in the 19th century, a young landowner by the name of Edward Gracey fell in love with a woman named Elizabeth Henshaw. The two were to marry, but Elizabeth unexpectedly committed suicide (by taking poison), and Edward, having received a note, (supposedly written by his fiancee,) hanged himself in despair.
In modern-day Louisiana, Jim Evers (Murphy) operates a successful and growing real estate partnership with his wife, Sara (Thomason). Jim's workaholic habits often cause him to put work ahead of his family, but he promises to make it up to them with a weekend trip to a nearby lake.
Before leaving, however, Sara receives a telephone call asking her to appraise an old mansion in the remote swamps of New Orleans. Jim jumps at the chance to handle the selling of the house, and takes his entire family, including his children Michael and Megan, to the old Gracey Manor, which seems completely deserted except for the owner, Edward Gracey (Parker), his creepy butler Ramsley (Stamp), and two servants, Ezra (Shawn) and Emma (Waters).
What is supposed to be a brief stop turns into an overnight stay when a sudden rainstorm blocks the road, and the Evers are offered shelter for the night. After an argument between Jim and Sara, Ramsley leads Jim to the library, where Jim discovers a secret exit and becomes trapped wandering through the passageways. Elsewhere, Gracey approaches Sara and offers her a tour of the mansion.
Meanwhile, a strange, glowing ball appears in Megan and Michael's room, and leads them to the attic, where they discover an old portrait, and realize that Sara is the spitting image of Elizabeth Henshaw.
Jim stumbles on a crystal ball with the spirit of a gypsy, Madame Leota (Tilly) inside. Leota guides him to Michael and Megan, accompanied by Ezra and Emma, who explain that they, and the rest of the house's inhabitants, are ghosts: since Master Gracey's suicide, the mansion has been cursed and their spirits have been trapped there. Believing that Sara is a reincarnated Elizabeth, Gracey seeks to marry her, ending his despair and breaking the curse.
Jim asks how they can escape, and Leota tells him to find a key in the adjacent graveyard. After a narrow escape from a crypt full of zombies, they use the key to open a locked trunk in the attic: inside, they find a letter from Elizabeth to Edward, accepting his proposal of marriage. Stunned, Ezra and Emma realize that Elizabeth didn't kill herself.
Ramsley's ghost appears and reveals the truth: feeling that marriage to Elizabeth would have ruined his master, Ramsley poisoned her, and then sent Edward a fake suicide note. He did not expect Edward's suicide, or the curse it caused. Now, in order to break the curse, he has lured Sara to the mansion, so Edward can "marry" her and finally be at peace. When Jim objects, Ramsley uses his powers to take Megan and Michael prisoner, throw Jim out of the mansion, and then seal it off.
Inside, Edward pleads with Sara to remember who she really is. Frightened, and realizing that he is a ghost, she runs away and locks herself in her room. Ramsley then confronts her, telling her to play her part and go through with the wedding, or else Megan and Michael will die.
Outside the mansion, Jim has almost given up hope, but Madame Leota tells him to "try again." Jim crashes his car through the mansion's windows, rescues Megan and Michael, and then confronts the ghosts in the middle of the "wedding," just before Sara is about to join Edward in death by drinking a cup of poison. Jim gives Edward the real letter from Elizabeth, and Ramsley, when confronted, admits to murdering her. When all is revealed, Ramsley becomes enraged and envokes the powers of Hell. Windows shatter as evil spirits fly around the room. At that, flames erupt from the fireplace and drag Ramsley down to his rightful place: in Hell.
Then the mysterious ball reappears, and reveals itself to be the ghost of Elizabeth; she and Edward reunite, and together they, and the rest of the mansion's ghosts, ascend to Heaven.
The only inhabitants of the mansion left behind are Madame Leota and four singing busts, which the Evers adopt into their family and take with them on their vacation.
Reception
Box Office
The Haunted Mansion grossed $24,278,410 according to Box Office Mojo with an average of $7,776 on its opening weekend in the United States. The domestic gross was $75,847,266, more than a quarter of the earnings of its theme-ride predecessor Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The film did better in foreign markets, with an overseas total of $106,443,000.
Critical Reception
The film was panned by many critics, earning a 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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 villain of the movie and the English butler of Gracey Manor and a fatherly 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 hanged himself so he could find her in the afterlife, with no such luck.
- 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 Jordan Evers: Jim's 10-year old son. He has a fear of spiders, which he conquers to save Jim and Megan from a horde 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 is compassionate and banters a lot of Ezra.
Production notes
The mansion scenes were filmed at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita, California. The main building was constructed over a period of weeks while the cupola and chimneys on the top of the mansion were CGI. 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 costume and special effects designers wanted the ghost characters to become "more dead" the farther 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 farthest away.
This is the first movie to air on Disney Channel to contain any profanity beyond "Hell" for years. It also aired the words "Big ass termites!" that was stated by Murphy.
The design of the mansion is based on Disneyland's version of Haunted Mansion while the iron/glass conservatory was based on Walt Disney World's version of the ride.
In the opening scene of the film, Nathaniel Parker had great difficulty trying to carry Elizabeth up the staircase, which is shown on the expressions of his face.
The DVD release came with several special features, including a behind-the-scenes look at the film's production, describing how the zombies were created, and how certain visual effects were performed or produced; a scene anatomy of the graveyard; a virtual interactive ride of the film's Haunted Mansion with Emma and Ezra as hosts; a single deleted scene; an outtake reel; and a minute and a half long video about the attractions.
Allusions
Like many films, The Haunted Mansion has a number of allusions to other topics, in this case, a large amount of references to the three attractions the film is based upon (similar to the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy), and also some Disney references.
- A large amount of the Haunted Mansion's sets are based on scenes from the attractions. Some are practically identical (e.g. the ballroom, the library, the graveyard and the portrait gallery of changing paintings), while some are a bit more unique (e.g. Madame Leota's séance chamber, which is styled like a gypsy tent).
- Several notable quotes from the attractions are used in the film as a nod to fans. Some of the most recognisable quotes including "Welcome foolish mortals", the opening greetings line of the original ride, voiced by Corey Burton (in place of the late Paul Frees); "There's always my way", also originally quoted by Paul Frees; and the post-credits farewell by Madame Leota.
- The Hawaiian-styled bar is actually a reference to the Enchanted Tiki Room, the first attraction at Disneyland to use audio animatronics. The scene was filmed in Rob Minkoff's house, and the production's film editor, and the actors of the three Hitchhiking Ghosts appear as background characters.
- In audio commentary on the film, Don Haun describes the journey from the tiki bar scene to the Haunted Mansion scene as being based on the path between the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland.
- The Haunted Mansion's story is set in Louisiana near New Orleans, referencing the fact that the original attraction was built in the New Orleans Square section of Disneyland.
- The library set features a red sofa, which is actually a set piece from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Coincidentally, this is the second prop from the film to be featured in one of the Haunted Mansion's forms. Captain Nemo's pipe organ is used in the original attraction's ballroom scene.
- A section of scenes about a third into the film has a large number of references to the attractions. The changing portrait gallery is a replica of a scene from the attraction, although the portraits themselves here are actual real paintings. The staring busts and "breathing" door also refer to gags in the attraction. Another set was based on the void-like Loading Areas of the attraction where guests boarded Doombuggy vehicles.
- The debut scene of Madame Leota features a table spinning and floating in midair. This effect was incorporated into the original attraction.
- The graveyard scene is heavily based on the traditional scene from the attractions. The graveyard and actors seen were shot separately from each other. Rick Baker, Mona May, Jay Redd and other production members appeared in cameos. Two groups of characters in the scene were to be main characters in early scripts of the film - the caretaker (envisioned being played by Don Knotts) and the Hitchiking Ghosts. A orchestral version of Grim Grinning Ghosts plays through the scene.
- The singing busts in the graveyard are voiced by the Dapper Dans. Two are the likenesses of Thurl Ravenscroft and Paul Frees, both men having voiced characters in the attractions. There were also unseen busts shaped like Marc Davis and Blaine Gibson.
- The songs that the busts sing are: Down By The Old Mill Stream, By The Light Of The Silvery Moon, She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain, By the Beautiful Sea, I Left My Heart In San Francisco and When The Saints Go Marching In.
- The raven seen in the film is based on the animatronic raven in the attractions, often considered a secondary trademark after the Hitchhiking Ghosts. However, the bird used in filming was actually not a raven but had African origins.
- The mausoleum scene seems to be based on the underground cemetery in Phantom Manor, which is Disneyland Paris' equivalent of the Haunted Mansion. Rick Baker created the zombie costumes, which were worn by very skinny men. To add some comic relief to the scene to not cause too much fright to viewers, Baker made one zombie an undead old man. The zombie that climbs out of the coffin in the middle of the mausoleum is a nod to a character from the attractions, who is trapped within a coffin.
- Eddie Murphy has to battle a group of suits of armour which move on their own accord, a reference to the attractions' moving armour suits. A set of samurai armour originally entered the fray, but the character was cut.
- Ramsley's "defeat" is rather similar to that of Judge Claude Frollo from Disney's portray of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, being pulled into an inferno by a monstrous creature (in this case, a dragon made of flames).
- During the ceremony near the end of the film, the character Ezra plays the organ noticeably out of tune, in a similar fashion to the organist from the ballroom scene of the attraction. Ezra plays Wagner's Bridal March in a melancholy fashion, as in the attic scene of the attraction.
- During the scenes where the ghost orb is leading the children into the attic, a faint heartbeat can be heard in reference to the beating of the attic bride's heart in the attractions. Also parallels can be drawn from Master Gracey's story he tells Sarah where he mentions that one can still hear the beating of his broken heart.
- Master Gracey hangs himself from the rafters, a scene similar to the attractions where the Ghost Host mentions his way out of the Mansions.
- Emma and Ezra are dressed similarly to Haunted Mansion Cast Members (staff) at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
- The trunk when they first open it the top was rounded but when the children get trapped in it the top is flat.
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