Director: Lewis Gilbert
Cast: Aidan Quinn, Kate Beckinsale, Anthony Andrews, John Gielgud, Anna Massey
Screenplay: Timothy Prager, Bob Kellett, Lewis Gilbert
108 mins. Rated R for sexuality and nudity.

There’s nothing like the feeling of finding a long-hard-to-find film in the wild in a store or on a streaming service. With the latter it’s especially important to watch it before it disappears again. When I found out that the difficult-to-find 90s ghost story Haunted had arrived for the moment on the streaming service Tubi, I was overjoyed. Seriously, folks, we just don’t deserve Tubi, but I’m thankful we have it.

Professor David Ash (Aidan Quinn, Practical Magic) is a renowned debunker of spiritualists and hauntings, and now he’s been invited to Edbrook to disprove or discover the nature behind the possible apparitions that have been seen by an old woman residing there. Upon arrival, he becomes enamored with a young woman who lives at Edbrook, and he becomes his forensic examinations, but he quickly discovers that he may have stepped into a situation from which there is no explanation. Is this a true haunting, and does the family carry some secrets of their own?

I had seen Haunted recommended by others in the horror sphere, particularly Daniel from The Cobwebs YouTube Channel, but knowing of its virtually nonexistent life on streaming platforms, I tabled it hoping to one day get a chance to view it. Once again, Tubi answered the call, and the movie is currently (but likely not for long) streaming this very instant. Based on the James Herbert novel, the adaptation takes many liberties from its literary inspiration, most notably taking place in the 1920s as opposed to present day (at the time of publishing) 1988. It’s also the first in a trilogy of novels, so I wonder if the plan was to adapt the others or just stay focused on this singular tale.

Haunted is a bit of a slow burn, but it’s very effective at unraveling the layers. At times I was frustrated, but they synced up with David’s frustrations at the family for their complete unseriousness toward his work, so I’d gather that to be intentional and it worked to put me in his shoes. It’s actually surprising how effective the pacing is considering that director Lewis Gilbert is most known for helming three James Bond adventures: You Only Live Once, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker; all three are genuinely not known for slower paces.

There’s a clinical approach to David that’s engaging and thrilling, especially seeing him put together a Scooby-Doo level explanation for an earlier spiritual fraud at work, but Aidan Quinn’s straightforward performance matches the writing for the character pitch perfectly. I love these tales of skeptics being tested, as in 1408 and a good amount of anthology horror over the decades, and David’s character isn’t rude about his struggle to believe. He’s merely trying to weed out the villainous folk trying to make money selling lies to the grieving and pained.

I’m genuinely confused by the Christina character, played by Kate Beckinsale (Click). The supporting cast mostly works, including Beckinsale, who is young and very precocious. In addition to being innocent and devastatingly pretty, she and Quinn have tremendous chemistry, but I don’t quite understand the necessity of some of her scenes, most notably nudity. I know, it’s an odd thing to bring up here, but I only do so because Beckinsale refused to do nudity in the film, so a body double was brought in who looks absolutely nothing like her. Beyond that, none of the nudity is necessary in the film, so every time it came up, I was more confused by the inclusion of a obviously bad body double with scenes that didn’t need to be there. I get it, bring on the filth, but it just doesn’t work here and it’s just so easy to spot. It took me out of the experience every single time it came up.

I grew up on a lot of 90s television miniseries, especially those based on Stephen King’s works, and Haunted has a similar feel to King’s Rose Red, which purports to throw a bunch of spiritual types into the most notoriously haunted house in America. With Haunted, the effects are similar, nothing too grandiose or CGI-laden as with the 90s remake of The Haunting, but subtler, smaller, and more effectively moody than outright shocking or terrifying. The atmosphere and quietly unnerving attitude of the house is what’s on sale here, which should help decide if this is the ghost story for you. For me, tone and atmosphere can do a lot, and this is a calmly effective little horror movie when it finally kicks in.

The mystery of Haunted is not its greatest strength, and the reveal is something that other films around the time did much better, but how it affects David and his character arc makes for an interesting and exciting ghost story that was often beautiful and tragic. Quinn is great here, perfectly cast for the film and working well amongst the strong supporting players, most notably his scenes with Beckinsale and Anna Massey (Peeping Tom) as Nanny Tess. It’s a curious little film and I’m not sure why it’s so difficult to see. All the same, if you get the chance, search it out on Tubi (of wherever) if you want an accessible starting point for the easily fearful or if looking for a relaxing Sunday afternoon ghost story that plays like a novella.

3/5
-Kyle A. Goethe