The Haunting

By RICHARD CORLISS

The real estate is the star in this updating and betrayal of Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel, The Haunting of Hill House. Four folks (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, Lili Taylor, Liam Neeson) are trapped, for no compelling reason, in an old mansion the size of Versailles--not the palace, the city. Doors rattle and children's voices whisper from the dead in this poltergeistian theme-park ride and spooky radio show that never add up to a movie. There's one good shock, with a skeleton in a fireplace; but finally the film collapses in its own special-effects idiocy.

--By Richard Corliss