Review of Haunted Mansion (2023) by Calvincrack — 28 Jul 2023

Haunted Mansion is refreshingly adept at what it wants to be: nostalgia tinted fan service which creatively checks all the boxes of a theme park attraction. It offers solid chuckle-worthy humor throughout with the occasional belly laugh; a good level of spooks, which are fun to behold but safe for the family; and a great cast who bring dedication to their parts, no matter how silly. The art direction is fantastic, the editing is swift, and the score offers many creative uses of the ride theme. Most importantly the filmmakers have captured the vibe of the ride, which is all a fan could ask for. That they manage to do it so stylishly in a way that doesn’t make eyes roll is miraculous.

The negatives of the movie are that it doesn’t start out great and takes a bit to get interesting; there are a couple too many “heart warming” scenes that throw off the pace, however necessary they may be to story payoffs; and the humor borders on cheeky at times, which doesn’t always translate to high rewatchability.

All that stands in the way of Haunted Mansion becoming a perennial holiday classic is testing its rewatchability. If these jokes are still chuckle-worthy after two or three viewings, then it could enter a rare pantheon of movies that a certain demographic of film fans are compelled to watch every year. Granted “A Christmas Story” is a holiday favorite that, were I to watch it every week, would become increasingly impotent at delivering the holiday spirit it’s called to deliver on time every year. Haunted Mansion isn’t on the same level of brilliance as the most celebrated seasonal fare but it’s nevertheless a welcome contribution to a lovable niche I call “spooky but safe.” This lives at the edge of ‘camp’ and generally includes halloween episodes of your favorite tv shows and youth oriented horror— much of it made by Disney. There is something that makes us inherently giddy about the supernatural, and when mixed with light comedy, it creates an extremely entertaining confection. This is Haunted Mansion’s mission statement and in my book, it succeeds.