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“Look alive, foolish mortals!” Inspired by the classic theme park attraction, Disney’s Haunted Mansion is about a woman and her son who enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters. Disney’s Haunted Mansion movie is directed by the American filmmaker Justin Simien, director of the films Dear White People and Bad Hair previously, plus the Dear White People series and upcoming “Flashdance” reboot. The screenplay is written by Katie Dippold. Based on the beloved theme park attraction that originally opened at Disneyland in 1969. Produced by Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, with executive producers Nick Reynolds and Tom Peitzman. (courtesy First Showing)
You can well understand why Disney wants to leverage the hell out of its IP.
It has a wealth of items at its disposal from a vault full of animated treasures to theme parks full of rides that could, with some real imagination and creative flair lend themselves to some feature-length fun.
One obvious candidate is Disney’s Haunted Mansion, which has been around since 1969 and continues to be popular today because who loves like to be safely scared?
In its new movie adaptation of the ride, there’s humour but also lots of scares and some unexpectedly raw humanity; quite whether it meets the potential remains to be seen but this is a promising start to what is likely to be a scarily fun journey into a house without windows …
Disney’s Haunted Mansion premieres in Australia on 27 July and in USA on 28 July.