2003 was quite a year for me. Nashotah House had experienced a fundamentalist takeover and, were I as good at reading writing on the wall as Daniel was, well, you know. I was still working on Weathering the Psalms and teaching my classes, remaining academic dean as well. My daughter was still pre-ten and I’d taken a very active interest in geology. I didn’t have time for many movies. My recent (if approaching two decades can be termed such) re-interest in horror hadn’t yet begun. All of which is to say, I had no reason to watch The Haunted Mansion. Oh, Disney was a big part of our lives, but I was trying hard to raise a child better adjusted than I ever was. A haunted house movie didn’t seem like a good idea. Especially at Nashotah.
The critics didn’t like Haunted Mansion, unlike the other Disney ride-inspired movie earlier that year, Pirates of the Caribbean. We even missed that one in theaters, only catching up with the sequel. In any case, Haunted Mansion, upon first viewing, isn’t as bad as I was led to expect. The story has some depth and even seems to recycle the undead from the Black Pearl. Disney had explored the dark side before, but this was, at the time, the closest they’d come to actual horror. Well, comedy horror anyway. I suspect that Eddie Murphy doesn’t tend to bring horror to mind, but he plays his part well enough. The story is relatively compelling, although some of the elements are standard tropes. And with Disney’s budget, it was well made. I’d watch it again.
It seems that it falls into that twilight zone of Disney movies that have become cult classics. We expect Disney to be either plain old classic or forgotten and locked in the vault. Those who appreciate darker themes, however, have brought both Haunted Mansion and The Black Cauldron up to the level of having cult followings. You tend to think well-funded studios would fail miserably when they fail and never speak of such things again. And yet, The Haunted Mansion got a reboot last year. Disney’s flirtation with horror speaks to the fact that kids don’t mind being a little scared. For adults, there’s nothing terrifying here. There is, however, a story. A moody atmosphere—although broken up by Murphy’s renowned patter. And plenty of ghosts and even some musing on Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell. There’s a bit to unpack here. So more on that the next time I watch it. But it may take some time since I’m still catching up.