In recent years, Disney has been trying everything to scrounge up enough interest in their live-action films, which do tend to make a decent amount of money, but not nearly enough to be considered as radically successful as their past work, as well as their animated output, which has been the focus of much of their popularity over the years. Their most recent trend is to hire major filmmakers to work on their live-action projects, either those who are established masters, or exciting voices that have already made an impact with their body of work in the past, and were now given the proverbial keys to the kingdom, getting the opportunity to work with one of the most famous studios in history and earn a decent paycheque in the process, which is a cynical but truthful assessment of their intentions. When it came time to choose a person to helm Haunted Mansion, there were many potential names, but it was Justin Simien who emerged victorious, with the acclaimed director moving from independent cinema and arthouse television to the expansive world of Disney, tackling their newest attempt to turn one of their most popular attractions into a major production, after the previous version was botched, to say the least (even if it has amassed a much stronger reputation as time has progressed, with many viewing it as having the potential to be a future cult classic, although it is not nearly interesting enough for this to become a widespread opinion), and it is certainly a major improvement in several ways. A darkly comedic horror film that sets out to achieve something that is at least interesting enough to hold our attention, Haunted Mansion is a relatively good film, even if it does veer towards conventions more often than is perhaps necessary, and it offers us a decent two hours of entertainment, but unfortunately not all that much more, which seems to be parred for the course for much of Disney’s recent output.

Anyone who feared that Simien was prioritizing the chance to direct a big-budget tentpole film over the more ambitious, meaningful fare that has made him one of the most exciting voices in contemporary cinema will more than likely be relieved to discover that Haunted Mansion does not distract from the director’s genius – it is by no means anywhere close to as fascinating and artistically resonant as either of his two previous films, but it is far from the moment of selling out that some expected it to be, which was a welcome surprise. This isn’t to suggest that this is a film that is all that audacious as a whole, but rather one that is relatively conventional for the most part, with a few interspersed moments of brilliance that immediately draw our attention and draw us into the world of this film, which is extremely well-constructed, proving that Simien had it in him to tackle a bigger project without losing that spark of subversion that made him so captivating as a director. Haunted Mansion is surprisingly a more interesting film when it is allowed to take a few risks, and while these are only sporadic, the moments in which it is allowed to be slightly thornier and more subversive are unquestionably the most captivating and help elevate the material beyond middling attempts at horror. However, this ultimately brings up one of the film’s more peculiar problems (I’m hesitant to refer to it as a flaw since it certainly isn’t a shortcoming, but rather an observation), which is that no one knew for whom they were making this film – it is too strange to fit comfortably into the mainstream, slightly too scary to be marketed towards children in earnest, and not entirely sure whether it wanted to be family friendly or take a more experimental approach. For those of us with a penchant for the absurd, this presents itself as an opportunity to layer praise on the film for choosing to defy conventions, which signified that Simien approached the film with the same spirit of rebellion as before – but unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to be the support of the studio, who held him back from making the off-the-wall horror comedy that he intended to make, which is a shame considering he is the director behind Bad Hair, one of the most unique horror films released in the past decade.

Considering the risk that came with making Haunted Mansion (which is not only a horror film that markets itself to everyone, and as a result essentially fails to find an audience, and one that was released in July, a strange time to put a film that would probably be more effective during the Halloween season), there needed to be some very clear elements that would draw audiences in to see this film. This mainly comes on behalf of the cast, with Simien bringing together quite an eclectic ensemble to embody the various characters scattered throughout this film. Lakeith Stanfield does excellent work as the film’s hero, playing the conflicted Ben Matthias with a lot of genuine complexity (perhaps more than the character required), while he is joined by the equally wonderful Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson (who is at his most droll), Danny DeVito and Tiffany Haddish in a role that gives her the chance to filter her madcap energy into a very different kind of character, with which she certainly succeeds. A film like Haunted Mansion is going to build itself on the strength of its actors, and by bringing together a bigger cast, it can share the weight between them, all the while giving them the chance to do surprisingly great work. Even the actors who are decidedly not all that good, such as the dreadfully underused Jared Leto and Jamie Lee Curtis, who feel severely out of place in this film (much like the accent she adopts midway through) seem to be putting in the necessary effort, which is a terrific aspect that keeps this film engaging and exciting, without ever needing to resort to cheap tricks, since the actors are strong enough to handle the material all on their own, which is a remarkable change of pace, considering how this could have easily have been a far less impactful film had it not been made with the knowledge that this story would only work with interesting characters that undergo worthwhile journeys, which is achieved quite well with this terrific cast.

In terms of style, Simien makes sure to take advantage of the resources he was given when making this film, and while it still does feature some over-produced visuals (apparently working under the delusions that excess is naturally alluring when in reality the opposite is far more true), the visual landscape of Haunted Mansion is excellent, enough to sustain this film all on its own. Ultimately, we find ourselves drawn into the world of these characters as they navigate challenges presented to them by a group of sinister entities – and it was always going to be imperative that the titular mansion looked appropriate enough, considering it was the setting of most of the film, and a lot of effort needed to be put into the design. For all of its flaws, this film looks stunning – not only is the production design impeccable, but the costumes are also incredible (there is not a single character in this film that doesn’t get to wear at least one unforgettable garment, not to mention how costume designer Jeffrey Kurland       tailor-made the costumes to fit with the personality and arcs of every character) and the overall construction of the film proves that you can still have style occurring alongside the substance, even if the bandwidth of the latter is not all that extensive. Simien takes the opportunity to create an intriguing, deeply unsettling film that draws us into this nightmarish world, and with the use of some strong visual effects, and a lot of work on the part of the creative team responsible for bringing Haunted Mansion to life, we find that this film is surprisingly strong when it comes to elements that did not need to be as daring as they ended up being, and it proves to be a meaningful statement in favour of those dedicated artisans that we don’t always recognize by name, but whose exceptional work we easily embrace. These elements are exactly why it is not at all difficult to praise it for its dedication to a certain concept, working very closely with certain themes to create something memorable, which is by no means anything short of incredible when we think about how there was always the possibility of this being a garbled mess in the hands of the wrong filmmaker, which Simien is intent on avoiding as much as possible.

While it is an improvement on both the concept and many of the live-action films produced by Disney in the past decade and a solid film on its terms, Haunted Mansion is unfortunately not strong enough to give us too much confidence in these films going forward – everything that made this film special comes on behalf of Simien and his cast, since they were the ones that transformed what could have been a middling, mediocre film without a clear perspective into one of the year’s most entertaining works – and one can only imagine what they could have done with a less stringent studio guiding the production. Simien has made a horror film previously, so we are mercifully spared from the thoughts of imagining what he could’ve done in terms of the genre had he been given more freedom to go in his direction, and it was never going to be all that experimental (in fact, Simien being allowed to make some of the choices in this film proves how the studio was willing to allow him more freedom than usual), so it is at the very least the best we would get with this material, proving that the chosen director was the right candidate to helm this material. Everything considered, Haunted Mansion is a very good film – it may be quite simple, and it doesn’t amount to all that much outside of a few interesting choices on occasion, but it is mostly a valiant effort from a director who has the right ideas and puts them to good use. A strong cast, some excellent design in terms of both practical and generated imagery and a generally dedicated approach elevates this film and gradually allow it to be far more compelling than many of us may have expected – and while it is never all that original, there are still some genuine surprises to be found throughout this film, which is in itself an incredible accomplishment for something that seems so straightforward at a cursory glance.