You see these children are reaching up for heaven, but their souls are still trapped
in purgatory. And these are the demons, who can stay with their souls for
as long as they want.
When her mother dies, Eleanor "Nell" Vance has been forced to leave her apartment by her sister, Jane, but a phone call brings her attention to an experiment on insomnia. The money she earns from the experiment ($900 a week) would be enough to pay off her rent and bill arrears until she gets a more stable job, so she decides to participate. This experiment is directed by Dr. David Marrow and is supposed to take place at Hill House, a haunting but beautiful manor in the countryside. Unknown to Eleanor and the other participants, Theo and Luke, Dr. Marrow is in fact conducting an experiment in group fear and hysteria.....not exactly ethical.
On the first night in the mansion, Dr. Marrow informs the group of the history of the house...and from there, strange things begin to happen - Dr Marrow's assistant's eye is slashed by a loose harpsichord wire, the grand fireplace is home to intimidating activity and there are strange noises at night as Nell experiences a cold atmosphere. As the days go by, the film tends to revolve around Nell. She hears the spirits and voices of children. She witnesses a hanged corpse that no one else can see, and the house sports some graffiti on a huge portrait of Hugh Crane which reads "Welcome Home Eleanor". She sets out to unveil the mysteries of the house and soon learns that Crane had murdered hundreds of his child workers over the years as well as discovering that Crane had a second wife.
Eventually, the group thinks that Nell is suffering from a nervous breakdown, but when they experience an attack on Nell, they all set out to escape, but Crane's spirit won't let them leave. Nell finds out that Crane's second wife, Caroline, is in fact Nell's great-great grandmother - Nell herself bears a striking resemblance to her it is then she realises it is up to her to put the entities at rest, defeat the spirit of Crane and save the rest of the group at any cost.......However Crane soon manifests and is not a happy spirit!!!
Copyright(C) 2007
- 2020. All rights reserved.
| Directed by | Jan de Bont |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Donna Roth, Colin Wilson |
| Written by | Shirley Jackson David Self |
| Starring |
Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, Liam Neeson |
| Music by | |
| Distributed by | DreamWorks |
| Release date(s) | 1999 |
| Running time | 113 mins. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $80,000,000 |