Haunted Mansion is a 2023 supernatural horror comedy film directed by award-winning filmmaker Justin Simien, from a screenplay by Katie Dippold. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Rideback, it is the second theatrical film adaptation of Walt Disney's theme park attraction The Haunted Mansion, following the 2003 film of the same name.

A priest, a professor and a paranormal investigator try to help a woman and her family after they unwittingly move into a haunted mansion in New Orleans.

The cast includes LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Chase W. Dillon, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jared Leto.

Haunted Mansion made its debut in theaters July 28th, courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.

THE GOOD

When Haunted Mansion was first announced the project seemed to make sense considering the extremely poor reception the original 2003 film received, as well as the great success of the other film based on a Disney theme park ride, Jungle Cruise (our full review here), starring Duane Johnson and Emily Blunt. Admittedly it has been years since I have seen the original Eddie Murphy film, but I just remember it being incredibly goofy and too over-the-top. For this 2nd attempt to work, I thought a great place to start would be a strong cast., and clearly I wasn’t the only one thinking that. I also felt like it was important to actually try and blend in some decent horror elements so that even though the movie is ultimately a comedy, it still had a bit of an edge to it. So, did the latest Haunted Mansion warrant a do-over or did it fall on its face yet again? Keep reading to find out!

I’ll be honest I had my doubts going in, but Haunted Mansion exceeded my expectations. First and foremost this movie is funny, and I laughed a ton during it. I really loved the cast and thought the chemistry was damn near perfect. The horror effects were solid but it was obvious they were careful to not make the film too scary considering it is technically a family movie. It was goofy but not too goofy to the point where it was obnoxious, which was something that the original missed the boat on big time. I was also genuinely surprised by the story which actually had a strong emotional element to it. The fact that Haunted Mansion was able to make me laugh as much as it did while still tugging at the heart strings a bit made for a very enjoyable experience.

The cast is without a doubt the big sell for this movie, and I thought it was fantastic. The lead role is played by my guy Lakeith Stanfield who continues to cement himself as one of the more sought after actors working today. His range is seriously impressive, and I was fully bought in to his character. My second favorite as far as the cast is the All-American funny man himself, Owen Wilson. I Love Wilson as an actor, and I felt like he stole so many scenes without really even trying. He seemed to have solid chemistry with Stanfield as well which certainly helped.

Even though he had a small role Danny DeVito crushed it as always. This guy has been acting since most of you were in diapers, and his legendary career speaks for itself. Similar to Wilson he had me cracking up in pretty much every scene he was involved in. I really like Rosario Dawson as an actress and I thought she was perfect for the more grounded character of Gabbie, who moved in to the Haunted Mansion with her young son. Her son is played by Chase Dillon, and as far as young actors go I thought he was very good. Tiffany Haddish was awesome as always, playing one of the more ridiculous characters in the film. Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto play more CGI-heavy roles, and although I thought Leto was great, I expected a bit more from Curtis. Her performance just seemed a bit lazy especially by her standards.

I was caught off guard by the fact that I was genuinely impressed by the screenplay for Haunted Mansion. I went in expecting a fairly straight forward and basic story but the emotional element was much more front and center for a few of the characters. Stanfield’s character in particular is impacted by a tragedy that derailed his career and his life, and I really liked how his story developed throughout the film. It also turned out that he had a lot in common with Rosario Dawson’s character allowing the two lead actors the opportunity to form a special bond. As a big fan of the coming-of-age genre, the emotional element of the film really helped to ensure a lasting impression.

From a technical standpoint I thought Haunted Mansion was solid, although it had its issues which I will talk more about in the next session. Overall the horror elements were well done and creepy enough but not necessarily too much to the point where they would scare the younger audiences. The theater I was in had quite a few kids and at first I was like oh man this may be a bit much for them but it seemed to level out after the first act allowing the comedy to take center stage. For that reason the CGI and special effects felt pretty goofy at times but it worked in terms of the overall identity of the film. As a horror fanatic I felt like Haunted Mansion served up enough to at least scratch the horror itch.

THE BAD

Haunted Mansion was better than I expected it to be (granted my expectations were fairly low), but one of my biggest criticisms for the film are on the technical side which is strange considering who is behind it. For a film based on a Disney theme park ride, I expected a much more riveting theater experience and I just thought it was lacking in that area. I feel like I should be able to tell people “you NEED to see this in theaters!”, and although I do believe it is worth seeing in theaters for the simple fact that it is always a superior experience, it just didn’t wow me the way I expected it to.

To use Jungle Cruise as an example, that movie really needed to be seen in theaters to be fully appreciated, but for me Haunted Mansion seemed to lack that x-factor. Now maybe Disney got cheap and just didn’t want to shell out the money needed to make this movie as big as it should have been, or I suppose it is possible they decided to tone it back and allow the talented cast the opportunity to shine instead. The visual effects just seemed cheesy more often than not, and I found myself waiting for them to up the ante but they never really did. Either way, this would be my biggest gripe for the film.

THE VERDICT

A solid comedy horror with quite a few laugh-out-loud moments thanks to a talented cast and a screenplay with more substance than I anticipated, Haunted Mansion is a necessary remake that makes for a very enjoyable theater experience for kids and adults. For my money this movie without a doubt served its purpose, and I also feel like the replay value alone makes it easy to recommend. I went in hoping to be entertained and wanted to have a few good laughs in the process, and Haunted Mansion delivered. I do think the technical elements were modest in terms of my expectations and certainly felt like a step in the wrong direction for Disney, but for me it wasn’t a deal breaker.