Chills and Charms on Screen: A Critique of Haunted Mansion
Haunted Mansion, 2023
Directed By: Justin Simien
The film "Haunted Mansion" is about Ben Matthias, who is working on a camera to find dark matter, meets and marries Alyssa, a ghost tour guide, and becomes fascinated by her faith in the paranormal. Ben quits his job and carries on with Alyssa's ghost tour when she passes away in a car accident. Years later, when Gabbie, a single mother, and her son Travis move into the mansion to transform it into a bed and breakfast, they quickly discover that the house is haunted. Ben receives a visit from Father Kent, a priest and exorcist, who requests that he capture images of the ghosts. Until he gets home and feels obligated to go back to the mansion by a phantom Mariner, Ben is initially skeptical. Ben learns that Travis, Kent, and Gabbie are also being haunted and are stranded at the mansion.
Ben and Kent hire the psychic Harriet and steal the mansion's designs from Professor Bruce Davis, an expert in haunted houses. The group discovers a secret séance chamber, and Harriet is able to communicate with Gracey's ghost, who gives them instructions to speak with the renowned medium Madame Leota in a written message. When Harriet tries to enter the house, a mysterious force forces her out. Bruce starts to encounter hauntings soon after he arrives. The group continues to search for Leota's spirit while remaining at the estate. When Ben enters the attic, he encounters a ghostly bride and discovers a hidden trunk. When they open it, they find Leota within a crystal ball. According to Leota, William Gracey purchased the mansion and hired Leota to try to communicate with the ghost of his wife, Eleanor, every night for a full year. This caused the mansion to fill with hundreds of ghosts, but an evil force managed to trick Gracey into committing suicide and trap Leota inside her crystal ball. Harriet attempts an astral projection in an effort to learn more, but instead of learning more, she sends Ben out of his body, where he discovers Gracey and the evil Hatbox Ghost. The following morning, Bruce brings Ben to a sketch artist to create a drawing of the Hatbox Ghost that will reveal him to be Alistair Crump, a wealthy son who murdered several socialites in retaliation for his abusive father's actions and the passing of his mother before being decapitated by his rebellious slaves. Crump continues to secure the mansion, but Ben, Kent, and Travis are successful in fleeing.
They discover Crump Manor, which has become a historical landmark, and learn from the Mariner (who pursued them) that Crump requires someone to freely give up their life and become the home's one thousandth spirit in order to exit the mansion. Travis discovers Crump's hat, enabling them to perform a ritual to drive Crump away. Many of the ghosts decide to stay at the mansion because they are now getting along with Gabbie and Travis. Ben returns to teaching and adopts a stray cat named Tater Tot in honor of his wife's love of snacks. Kent attempts to become a legitimate priest. Harriet fully restores her trust in her psychic abilities. The group gathers for a Halloween party in the mansion with the entertaining monsters.
In "Haunted Mansion," there is not a traditional plot device but a symbol that is also a good plot driver would be the mansion itself. From the beginning of the film, it is the sole reason that the characters acted the way they did and made the decisions that they did. Since the mansion was haunted, it proved an incentive for the characters to do something about it.
The 3 Main acts of the film begin with introduced to Ben and the film sets up the backstory with him and his future wife. Since she has interest in paranormal avtivities, it craetes an interest for him therefore he made the camera to detect dark matter. The film fasts forward to Ben a few years later after her passing, continuing to do her ghost tours. He was visited by Father Kent who wanted to hire him to take ghost photos in a distant mansion. Ben is skeptical at first until he gets home and feels forced to go back to the mansion by a ghostly Mariner.
Ben and Kent seek the help of Harriet, a real psychic. Harriet is able to speak with Gracey's ghost, who sends the group directions to speak with the famed psychic Madame Leota in a written message. The group finds a hidden séance chamber. Travis, Kent, and Ben manage to avoid Crump despite his efforts to secure the estate. They come across Crump Manor, which has been converted into a tourist destination, and learn from the Mariner (who had been trailing them) that in order to leave Crump, one must willingly give up their existence and transform into the manor's thousandth ghost. Travis discovers Crump's hat, which can be used in a ritual to bring Crump back to life.
When they get back to the mansion, Ben and Kent manage to save Gabbie, Harriet, and Bruce. Crump, however, burns the hat and has other plans for Travis, hoping to use his grief over losing his father as bait to convince him to leave this world and enter another. Ben finds Travis and convinces him to let Crump go when Gabbie and the others confront him in the graveyard. Bruce gives Harriet a piece of the hat so she can use Leota's spell to drive Crump away, Ben accepts losing Alyssa, Kent convinces the spirits to side with them against Crump.
The Main character change that I noticed in the film was in Ben Matthias. At the start of the film, when he met Alyssa, he seemed very full of life and purpose, but following her passing, he turned into a drunk, bitter man. The change went in the right direction when, due to the circumstances of the haunted mansion, he started to change for the better and regain his good qualities once again.
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