• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Lindsay Lamb stars in a scene from the movie Haunted Mansion.” The OSV News classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. (OSV News photo/Disney)

Movie Review: ‘Haunted Mansion’

July 28, 2023
By John Mulderig
OSV News
Filed Under: Movie & Television Reviews

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

NEW YORK (OSV News) – Those who enter “Haunted Mansion” (Disney) in search of laughs will likely come away from it more satisfied than those who go in seeking eerie chills. As for the film’s appropriate audience, it’s a project best suited to grown-ups, though mature teens will probably be equipped to take it on as well.

Set in New Orleans, director Justin Simien’s adaptation of a theme park attraction features an ensemble cast led by LaKeith Stanfield as gruffly antisocial scientist Ben. Resolutely skeptical where the paranormal is concerned, Ben is unexpectedly invited to investigate the titular dwelling by a total stranger, sketchy clergyman Father Kent (Owen Wilson).

Father Kent is acting on behalf of the house’s new owner, single mom Gabbie (Rosario Dawson), who lives there with her socially awkward preteen son Travis (Chase W. Dillon). For the right price, Ben agrees to ease their worries by carrying out a perfunctory inspection, at the end of which he’ll reassure them that the place is ghost-free.

As others have found out before him, however, Ben discovers that, in fact, the structure is chockablock with scary sprites. Not only that, but one or another of this array of wraiths invariably follows any visitor to their habitation home and compels him or her to return to it.

With the initial quartet of characters thus confined to the old manse, the search for a solution to their imprisonment is led by Father Kent who teams with sassy medium Harriet (Tiffany Haddish) in what seems an unlikely partnership. Bruce (Danny DeVito), a history professor, is eventually added to the mix based on his knowledge of local lore regarding the macabre.

There’s a generally congenial tone to this production, the comic element of which is far more successful than its by-the-numbers horror ingredients. And any potential offense given by the portrayal of Father Kent is ultimately canceled out by an explanation of his true identity. Suffice it to say, it’s no wonder that his efforts at exorcism fall short.

Still, the positive aspects of this second big-screen version of the Disneyland ride (Rob Minkoff helmed the 2003 Eddie Murphy vehicle “The Haunted Mansion”) have to be balanced against its nonscriptural take on supernatural events. All the more so since this is central to one of the movie’s few serious moments – gamely, if unconvincingly, put over by Stanfield.

Older adolescents may be as apt to shrug this viewpoint off as their elders. But “Haunted Mansion” is not a good fit for smaller, more impressionable kids.

The film contains occult themes, about a dozen mild oaths and brief irreverent humor. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Read More Movie & Television Reviews

Television Review: ‘Patience,’ June 15, and streaming, PBS

Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon

Movie Review: ‘How to Train Your Dragon’

Movie Review: ‘The Ritual’

Inspired by millennial soon-to-be-saint, Irish teens created animated Lego-Carlo Acutis film

‘The Ritual’ seeks to portray exorcism respectfully

Copyright © 2023 OSV News

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

John Mulderig

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Religious sisters played role in pope’s formation in grade school, N.J. province discovers

  • With an Augustinian in chair of St. Peter, order sees growing interest in vocations

  • Archbishop Lori announces appointments, including pastor and associate pastor assignments

  • Hundreds gather at Rebuilt Conference 2025 to ‘imagine what’s possible’ in parish ministry

  • Pope Leo to return to practice of ‘imposing’ pallium on new archbishops

| CURRENT EDITION |

| Vatican News |

Pope ‘deeply saddened’ by tragic Air India plane crash

Diversity is cause for strength, not division, pope tells Rome clergy

Pope Leo to return to practice of ‘imposing’ pallium on new archbishops

Vatican bank reports increased profits, charitable giving

UN secretary-general meets Pope Leo, top Vatican officials

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

| Movie & Television Reviews |

Television Review: ‘Patience,’ June 15, and streaming, PBS

Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon

Movie Review: ‘How to Train Your Dragon’

Movie Review: ‘The Ritual’

Inspired by millennial soon-to-be-saint, Irish teens created animated Lego-Carlo Acutis film

| En español |

‘No tengan miedo de hacer lo que El Señor quiere para nosotros’

Dios quiere ayudar a las personas a descubrir su valor y dignidad, dice el Papa

El ‘Padre Migrante’ nos relata su vida sirviendo a comunidades inmigrantes

El ‘Obispo Bruce’ forjó fuertes lazos con Baltimore en tiempos difíciles y tenía corazón de pastor

El Papa León comienza su pontificado pidiendo una ‘Iglesia unida’ en un mundo herido

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • How faith-based higher education can best serve society is focus of symposium
  • House Republicans advance bill to repeal FACE Act
  • Archbishop Lori offers encouragement to charitable agencies affected by federal cuts
  • Incoming superior general of Oblate Sisters of Providence outlines priorities
  • Archbishop Lori announces appointments, including pastor and associate pastor assignments
  • Pope ‘deeply saddened’ by tragic Air India plane crash
  • Television Review: ‘Patience,’ June 15, and streaming, PBS
  • While the U.S. bishops go on retreat this June, business follows them
  • Diversity is cause for strength, not division, pope tells Rome clergy

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en