The Haunted (1991)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Really Surprised!

Great Film overall

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This made-for-TV horror/ghost story is suspenseful, somber, sometimes slow and at times far from believability. THE HAUNTED is partially based on a book by Jack Smurl and eyewitness testimony. In the mid-1980s, a Pittston, Pennsylavania family...the Smurls...start noticing things are just not right with their home. Not really believing in spirits, Janet Smurl(Sally Kirkland)is forced to realize and has a hard time convincing her husband Jack(Jeffrey DeMunn), until minions of Satan go to work slamming doors, smashing household items and bedeviling with imitation of family voices. Spooky and scary? Just a bit.The cast also features: Joyce Van Patten, Diane Baker, John Mallory Asher, William O'Connnell and Louise Latham.

Not only is this a weak haunted house story (although based on a true life story), but the acting and direction is downright foolish and unconvincing. The special effects are possibly the worst feature of all, with the demons completely lacking any sort of evil presence and simply shapeless blobs.You have to wonder how someone like DIANE BAKER got talked into doing this turkey. She's just one of a series of people who try to rid the house of demons at the request of homeowners JEFFREY DeMUNN and SALLY KIRKLAND. Kirkland's awkward handling of cigarettes, together with her over-the-top performance, is distracting, to say the least. Of all the adults in the cast, DeMunn is the most competent.But nothing happens that hasn't been featured in a dozen other stories about haunted houses in normal looking neighborhoods. This shows its made-for-TV origins in every scene and compares unfavorably to many other stories told on any number of cable stations dealing with real tales of haunted homes.Not recommended--nor does it have a satisfying ending--merely a message on the screen that a few years later a better exorcism was sanctioned by the Catholic Church and this time it was successful.

I hate this family, all of them. Its like they were dressed like little house on the prarie but lived in the suburbs. I think the ghost lived in the fathers mustache. This is great bored weekend viewing. Its not scary at all, unless your 7 years old or something. Honestly, if I saw a big blob floating in my house I wouldn't be that scared, I'd just move and use the blob as a selling point. This has to be the most vapid family ever, they really look like a group of people that have never had fun, ever. This movie needed more sex and violence, considering its filled with every ghost movie cliché, its they least they could do. Oh well.

My boss is actually the niece of the Smurl famiy. Today at work the fact that it's 6/6/06 came up and we were discussing scary movies, and she mentioned that there was a book and movie about a haunted house in her family. She mentioned the name and I looked it up online and brought up the story here: http://www.warrens.net/smurl.htm We sat there and read it and she kept adding things to what that website said, about how she had also experienced weird things in the house as a child when she'd go to visit. She was listing off names before I even read them, and events before I read them- then when we looked at the pictures, she was telling us where rooms were, etc... so for any of you "non believers"- believe it, because it's a true story.