The Haunted Mansion | Forgotten Failures 

Apparently Eddie Murphy is a horror fan (he wanted to play Candyman in the original film), and has dipped his toe to the genre with this, and Vampire in Brooklyn. But I’d love to see him star in more, like an A24 film, that be really interesting.

That parallel between the 40-minute buildup and waiting in line for the ride was a fantastic joke. Well done

I remember seeing this in theaters with my dad when I was 5. The fact we were the only two people in the whole theater is distinctly more memorable than anything that takes place in the movie.

There have been three Haunted Mansion movies. The genuine best one, most faithful to the ride, was the Muppet one.

PoTC worked so well because it was accurate to what the ride was. A straightforward pirate adventure story. Haunted Mansion isn't a comedy for kids, it's pretty straightforward horror with some kid friendly elements. Gremlins is a more accurate representation of what Haunted Mansion should have been.

They used to show this all the time during Halloween on Disney channel, so for some reason I’m very nostalgic for this film even though I haven’t seen it in 10+ years.

Rick Baker was given so much to play with here, at least we get that great sequence in the mausoleum, sadly much of his other work is only on screen for a few seconds.

All this Haunted Mansion stuff reminds me of when Disney and Guillermo Del Toro were working on a new Haunted Mansion reboot in the early 2010s before his version got scrapped. From what we know of Del Toro's version, it would've focused on the Hat Box Ghost, and Ryan Gosling was set to be in the film. It also would've been a horror film for families and children. And yes, I know Crimson Peak is considered to be the closest to his Haunted Mansion film, but I would love to read his Haunted Mansion script one day.

I hope the 2043 version of the film gets it right too.

I always wanted to see Tim Burton do a Haunted Mansion movie.

Ok, I'm not trying to play to the host, BUT could you imagine this as a John Candy movie where he could rewrite the father character? Playing the Summer Rental/Great Outdoors kind of Dad character while emoting like Barf from Spaceballs at the ghosts? I blame you Joe, now I think about John Candy in almost every family film. And Ghostbusters. Also, a Heather Juergensen appearance? I loved her in The Hammer.

It's funny how they introduced the whole tragic lovers angle in the mansion lore since Phantom Manor, the spookier Paris version of Haunted Mansion, is built around a version of that. Honestly, I hope that one day Dsiney will adapt that version of the Mansion into film, because while it is less iconic than the original, there is a stronger storyline in the ride that would work great for a movie. Also because we don't have enough Wild West horror movies, especially not the haunted house kind.

Me: Why did Eddie Murphy have a recording studio in his basement before he started doing big VA jobs? Party All The Time: Exists Me: Oof, well at least it didn't go to waste

To be fair, this is not the WORST that Eddie Murphy did in the 2000s. The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Norbit, Meet Dave. It's like he was trying to see how much he can sucks and continue his career.

Hey, Hats Off, I appreciate that even with the most wan material, you never stoop to taking cheap shots or just trashing a piece for laughs. Everything has at least the potential that it could have been good, and you spend your time here pointing out what works and doesn't work with real alacrity. It makes watching your videos a real comforting pleasure.

They should’ve focused more on the story between Mr. Gracy and Elizabeth instead of a quick montage at the beginning. Their story was way more interesting than the Ever family finding the Haunted Mansion.

One of the rare times where the video game tie-in was FAR better than the movie itself.

I was never into this movie, but I’m a big fan of the video game released around the same time. You play as the groundskeeper from the ride (he and his dog are among the only living things present in the Haunted Mansion). Imagine a grounded, creepy Luigi’s Mansion, a very cool game.

This had so much potential to be great. Fantastic set, some good zombie practical effects, and a fantastic cast.

See I grew up loving this version. I didn’t notice that none of my friends ever talked about it. My wife had never seen it and now she agrees that it gets slept on. I think it holds up. Okay, now time to watch the video.

When you said it's scary that it came out 20 years ago -- couldn't agree more. I saw it in theaters as well as at least a dozen other movies that year. I remember my family & I were surprised that pirates of the carribean turned out to be so enjoyable only to have the opposite experience seeing this. Around that time we lived not too far from disney world and made annual trips to the park so we we felt obligated having affection for that ride in particular. It was a dour theater experience, no one reacted to anything. But the silver lining is the tie-in game for sure.

Personally love the sets and lighting in this film, a great mood

I wouldn't count this as forgotten but very underrated and better than it's newer version

The way the film adapted the various effects from the actual ride is actually rather endearing.

This film definitely felt like it had all the right elements for a solid adaptation, but then it got squandered to be wacky Eddie Murphy comedy.

I went into the new one thinking, "Hey, can't be any worse than the 2003 movie." I was very wrong. To think, there's a timeline out there where Guillermo Del Toro directed a Haunted Mansion movie starring Ryan Gosling...

the zombies were incredible though. i remember being terrified yet fascinated by them as a little kid

Was I the only one who also liked the The Haunted Mansion video game? If I still had my game cube I'd probably try and play it again.

Speaking of forgotten failed haunted house comedies, do you remember the Steve Gutenberg/ Peter O'Toole film "High Spirits?" That was a weird one.

I distinctly remember this as a kid as the first time I ever thought a movie was outright bad. I was so bored i fell asleep at one point

Dude, I loved this film as a kid. Some scenes genuinely were quite haunting.

Speaking of Touchstone Pictures, I thought it would be neat if you reviewed Robin Williams' "Bicentennial Man" for a future video. I have always found that film to be very underrated and consider it to be the best film adaptation of Isaac Asimov's material.

The video is great, an awesome analysis of a movie that was a big missed opportunity. But the thing I really love about this video is how masterfully you used the clips between the scenes 😂

Really liked the references to Hold That Ghost and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken! Those were two of my favourites growing up (and probably part of the reason why even as a kid I knew this Haunted Mansion movie was a subpar example of the usual “old dark house” tropes). I’d love to see you talk more about either of these classics in future videos!

The haunted mansion would be a GREAT survival horror game.

I'm 32 now so you can imagine that 20 years ago (!) this movie was amazing and I remember watching it on DVD on repeat. Looking back I agree that the script was poor. Funny to realise that besides the fact I still knew some of the lines, the CGI holds up pretty well...

“Mr Toad’s Wild Ride” would make a great addition to Forgotten Failures as well as Country Bears. Also thank you for bringing up the video game which was really good. And also kinda scary for a kids games

Watching this one back to back with the 2023 version, I've got to hand it to the new adaptation it far exceeded the bar this one set. The new cast (if maybe a bit too crowded) was great, the child actor Chase Dillion was excellent in his role, and the story was a lot tighter and had a lot more poignant themes to explore and depth. Sadly I would also argue, it did lack the rich atmosphere of the original, and while the CGI wasn't at all bad there was a lot to be left desired without the lovingly recreated sets and environmental presence that was retained by keeping the characters trapped in a single, spooky environment until the story could play out. Between the 2003 movie and the 2023 reinterpretation, I feel like there were two very dissonant halves to a great idea, and it's a shame how hard they were held back by their respective shortcomings.

I never knew this movie was technically a failure. This was played every autumn faithfully in my home growing up 😂🥰

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I feel attacked because I absolutely LOVE this movie 😍😂 Great funny cast, it has history, ghosts, hauntings, death, cemeteries, old houses, and romance all of which are my jam 😍

This is a really good analysis of the movie. It had all the right parts, but they just seemed put together haphazardly. I wouldn’t call it a good movie, but I never thought it was as bad as critics and Haunted Mansion fans claim it is.

I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for this movie

I actually liked this movie as a child, despite all of the wackiness. I wished that it had used its premise more to its advantage, as opposed to being another goofy Eddie Murphy comedy.

I remember this. While I didn't think it was necessarily a terrible movie, I also can't say that it's one that stayed with me long after the credits rolled, either.

Jennifer Tilly might have done a good job with what she was given, but her version of Madame Leota was _anything_ but "perfectly played." Though we don't know much about Leota on the actual ride, you get the perfect sense of what she's like by how she recites her incantations to summon the ghosts. She has such a booming, commanding presence, as if she's personally ordering the ghosts to obey her will, & there's not a stutter or stammer in anything she says. She knows the spells by heart, & she delivers them with crystal clear cadence. The Leota of the ride doesn't give even the *_SLIGHTEST_* iota that she'd say anything like, *_"lOoK, I dOn'T MaKe tHe RuLeS. i JuSt WoRk hErE."_*

I remember watching this movie in like 5th grade, and I hadn't gone back to any of it until now. Watching this video unearthed a lot of repressed memories,

Not really a forgotten failure. I remember a big deal being made about this film when it was released in 2003. It continued to be very popular several years afterward.

Dude the OG movie was one of my favorite movies as a kid.

Part of the reason there aren’t a lot of elements from the ride itself is Micheal Eisner wanted very few references in the film (for some reason)

Always enjoy your videos. Huge fan of your work. I’m glad you are bringing attention to Eddie Murphy’s work. He’s a comedic genius. He should of won the Oscar for Dreamgirls in 2006 and should of been nominated for Dolemite is My Name in 2019. I consider him a modern Peter Sellers. They both could and did play almost anyone. A few things I wanted to clarify from watching: Yes Eddie Murphy did have some box office flops in the 1990s (The Distinguished Gentleman, Beverly Hills Cop 3, Vampire in Brooklyn, Holy Man), but the 1992 film, Boomerang was not a flop. It was a box office hit and also is regarded as one of Eddie’s better films from that period by his fans. Also you overlooked Eddie Murphy’s 1996 comeback film, The Nutty Professor which was the biggest comedy of that summer and also his 2000 sequel Nutty Professor II: The Klumps was a hit too. Yes, Mulan and Dr. Dolittle were huge in 1998, those family films along with 2001 box office hits Shrek and Dr. Dolittle 2 and 2003’s box office hit Daddy Day Care opened the door for Haunted Mansion casting. People also consider 1999’s Life and Bowfinger great films too. I believe Bowfinger was a box office success as well and that film along with Life have developed a cult following. Looking forward to your next video and would love to see you cover 1999’s Andy Kaufman biopic, Man on the Moon sometime that film was brilliant and deserves more love too.

I remember being SO disappointed that those zombies weren't used in a better film. This movie was aggressively mid.

I saw this in the theaters. I loved the film. I still love it. Is it amazing? No, but I actually really enjoyed it. I thought it was creative and the costumes were great and effects were great for the time. It was so well done. I loved the interior and exterior decor and I'm a sucker for part of a love story. I have fond memories of it and I remember being surprised years later to find out it wasn't well received. I'll watch it again. There were some parts that legit scared me as a kid. Edit: At the end of the video and I agree with basically everything that you've said. There were definitely some annoying parts. I do think that the tropes being there are there for a reason - because kids haven't seen them, so it's new to them and the parents have something to say "Ah, I recognize that."

I thought it was a okay movie back when I saw it, though that was before I saw the older Haunted House movies and realized all the tropes and scenes it used.

I only watched this a few times as I child, but I enjoyed it. I don’t plan on watching the new one anytime soon.

Pirates also didn't have Murphy. Murphy's best stuff was in the 80's when his relative anonymity constrained him.

Why is Disney so obsessed with these stories about overworking dads who don't spend enough time with their families?

Great video on the original Haunted Mansion. I remember thinking it was mediocre as a kid, despite being a big fan of Eddie Murphy in his previous films. He was jsut sadly given weak material.

great video, haunted mansion really was a missed opportunity. a lot of promise that didn't really amount to much. had no idea they made another one

20 years ago is a scary thought cause I started my 1st job at a movie theater that year, time flies. (I did see this with a worker that wanted to see it, like you I don't recall much about this, was a forgettable movie)

Even twenty years later - after seeing this in theaters at seven years old, and now rewatching it - I still love this film!

Hope you’ll review the New Haunted Mansion Thought it was brilliant

When I saw Bania, I was hoping for a Seinfeld joke, and you did not disappoint. Also, Tommy Wiseau jokes are always great.

thank you for throwing in all the stand up clips 😂

Eddie Murphy should've been in more horror movies, cuz he really loves the genre. On the other hand, Rick Baker's talent has been mostly subbed in this compared to his other works like The Howling, An American Werewolf in London, Thriller, Captain EO, and a year after The Haunted Mansion, Hellboy 2004. But nevertheless this movie still remains a guilty pleasure for many, and the new adaption of Haunted Mansion released this year(excluding the Muppets Haunted Mansion, as it released in 2021 tbh).

You're exactly right, the lovers triangle and kids really bog the movie down. I've been obsessed with ghosts and The Haunted mansion for over thirty years, I love the set design and effects but could never bring myself to buy this movie.

Well now you GOTTA do one on that mr. toad's wild ride movie

I LOVED THIS MOVIE AS A KID

You can cover the new Haunted Mansion too. Both movies were bombs.

I don't know why they keep trying to turn The Haunted Mansion into a generic scary ghost story, when the whole point of the ride is that the ghosts are just trying to party and have a good time. They're "happy haunts" that came to the mansion for a "swinging wake." Ideally, I'd like to see a Haunted Mansion movie that's more along the lines of something like Beetlejuice. Make it about someone who just died and isn't sure what to do now that they're a ghost, but they receive a mysterious invitation to a retirement home for spirits, and find the mansion and all of its iconic inhabitants. Focus on the ghosts as the main characters, and any humans trying to cleanse the mansion or get rid of the ghosts are the clear antagonists of the story.

I really enjoyed the 2023 version. I would say it's worth a watch.

The boy's smile always looked cgi to me at 10:00 All these years later I still think it.

Max Keeble’s Big Move is a certified BOP! I will not accept any slander on that film masterpiece.

Crazy that in the early 2000s' there was a brief window in time in which you could see movies based on Disney attractions, imagine making a saturday marathon with all 4 of them!

Loved this movie as a kid. Lots of nostalgia watching this video

I’m still deeply disappointed that we never got that serious Haunted Mansion movie from Guillermo Del Toro.

You should watch Muppets Haunted Mansion. It does it all perfectly with the muppets and the haunted mansion. A much better experience than either theatrical releases

I feel that if you did video about Don Knotts it would be worth watching.

I actually rather liked the new Haunted Mansion movie. I took a friend with me who's VERY entrenched in Disneyland history and trivia and he loved it so much he took his family to see it to catch all the Easter eggs and references.

My wife and I watch this movie every year. True, it could've been much better, but we love it anyway.

Would love to see a video on The Adventures Of Pluto Nash lol

It's trying to be a family-friendly Eddie Murphy comedy AND a gothic horror flick at the same time and neither of these elements end up gelling with each other. The only scene that manages to actually be scary are the crypt zombies due to the great Rick Baker effects. Far from a trainwreck but falls very short of its potential.

This is firmly in the “Almost Cult Classic” for me as that bad movie that isn’t THAT bad that I was strangely obsessed with as a kid after my grandparents taped it off the TV one day. It isn’t a ✨great✨ movie but you can tell the people who made it are fans of the ride and Baby’s First Spooky Movie type films. The heart is there even if it’s dumb. Edit: also, the new one is incredible too

They could of done the movie off the original story. Ya know the one on the record with Ron Howard? That was a great story. Why not do it?

in another universe we got an entire country bears franchise while pirates failed on arrival

There is a game show pilot called Second Guess somewhere on RU-vid; it’s hosted by the late Alex Trebek and one o fan the teams on the show was Rob Minkoff and his then wife.

This was released the same month as the first Pirates of the Caribbean and it's crazy how to think that this was predicted to be the more successful of the two. Pirate movies were considered to be a dead genre (especially following the box office disaster that was Cutthroat Island) and Johnny Depp was not seen as being successful enough to headline a film with such a huge budget ($140,000,000 - equivalent to about $220,000,000 now.) I remember reading an article that said that Pirates of the Caribbean was being released first so Disney could get it out of the way before Haunted Mansion would be the true summer blockbuster.

2043?! How long is this writer/actors strike supposed to last?! 🤯

As a kid, I loved When Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein, Dracula & the Wolfman

before this video, i never knew there was a country bears movie. i knew of pirates and mansion but never the bears. thats wild. THAT is a true forgotten failure

what a nice surprise, glad to see you on top of a reddit news that day.

Woah woah woah, Boomerang was Ill fated?!? It brought in triple its budget on its return and was actually a good Eddie movie. I’m far from a fan of him, but Boomerang is a classic.

Maybe for you next forgotten failures you can talk about the animal house spin-off Delta House! Great video!

totally overlooked his nutty professor success that took place in (checks notes) the 90s

Glad to see I'm not the only one who remembers the Happy Meal toys more. I specifically remember the one of the hand.

Your content is so well done. I immediately thumbs up every video as soon as it loads up.

I really liked the 2023 Haunted Mansion movie. It's a good movie, but they made the insane decision to release it at the same time as Barbenhimer. Those two movies killed any chance of that movie making a profit. Hopefully, more people watch the 2023 Haunted Mansion come this Halloween and maybe it can grow a bit of a cult following.

I remember seeing this in theaters years ago

The forgotten tv series that never was revenge of the nerds would be good to look at

Maybe this movie would’ve done better if they took a bit of a “Evil Dead 2” approach. A normal man who, due the horrors around him, loses his sanity. Eddie Murphy would seem like the actor that can play that role.