Happy Halloween! All month I’m sure lots of you have been getting your spook on watching movies and TV shows to get you excited for today. Now I’ll be honest, I’m not always big on horror movies, they’ve just never been my favourite. I’m more the kinda person who will opt for a fun but still spooky vibe. More along the lines of Halloweentown, Twitches, and The Haunted Mansion.
When I was a kid, they would play The Haunted Mansion starring Eddie Murphy a lot on Family Channel in October. It always had the right amount of spook without giving me nightmares. It’s still a favourite to this day, and I even have the DVD (which I’m sure surprises no one)! It explores a lot of more of the mansion and its grounds, and I’m told it’s fairly accurate to the actual ride at Disney (I’ve never been so I’ll have to take others’ word for it). The story of The Haunted Mansion follows the Evers family, who seem to be a bit disconnected from one another, ending up trapped in the mansion due to terrible weather and discover a dark mystery. It has one of my favourite movie tropes of all time in which the events of the movie are happening all in one night (for the most part). And despite being made 23 years ago, a lot of the CGI and special effects still hold up! Perfect spooky vibe along with Eddie Murphy’s signature comedic moments!
20 years later, the movie was rebooted. Now, I’m very hesitant to actually call Haunted Mansion (2023) a reboot of The Haunted Mansion (2003) as the stories differ so wildy. I think a better fit would be to call it “another re-imagining of the beloved Disney parks ride, The Haunted Mansion”, which is what it does basically say on the Wikipedia page of Haunted Mansion. The two movies only share a couple of the same secondary characters, both with different roles in the movies and played by separate actors as well. Besides that and the stories both taking place in a haunted mansion, that’s about it.
I was surprised to learn that Haunted Mansion flopped, but I suspect it being released in July, instead of September or October, might’ve contributed to it. The movie even has one of my favourite actors, LaKeith Stanfield! He is seriously phenomenal in everything he’s in and I love it when he gets to show his comedic chops! But the movie has an all-star ensemble including Rosario Dawson (with one of the most heinous wigs ever put to screen. Seriously, she has so many great looks and deserved better.) Also Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tiffany Haddish, as well as a stand-out performance from Chase W. Dillon as Travis, Gabbie’s son. All in all, Haunted Mansion was a funny, spooktacular watch with a great story about grief and healing. Although I will say this was my reaction when I saw Jared Leto’s name in the opening credits.
(Seriously, what dirt does that guy have on the executives at Disney?) Image edited from Imgflip
Also an honourable mention to the Muppets Haunted Mansion special! It came out a couple years before Haunted Mansion but seems to include a lot of the design elements from the movie, and has a lot of recognizable faces like Darren Criss, Taraji P. Henson (no relation to Jim Henson), even a cameo from John Stamos. The special follows Gonzo and Pepe the King Prawn as they end up at the mansion to find out what happened once and for all to Gonzo’s favourite magician of all time, The Great MacGuffin. It takes a bit to get going but is still a fun and spooky watch!
I’d say, if you want to watch a family dynamic, go with The Haunted Mansion. If you want to watch an essemble with a ragtag group of misfits, go with Haunted Mansion. And if you want to watch the Muppets, then watch Muppets Haunted Mansion. There’s really not a bad pick amongst them! Whichever one you do watch, have a Happy Halloween!
You can stream The Haunted Mansion, Haunted Mansion, and Muppets Haunted Mansion on Disney+.
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