The Haunting

(DreamWorks)

Robert Wise's 1963 horror classic (itself based on Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House) gets a retooling by Speed director Jan de Bont, with Liam Neeson as the behavioral scientist who invites a trio of test subjects -- Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Owen Wilson -- to a retreat at Hill House. The set designs are ingeniously opulent, and there's plenty of nifty camera work, but other than that, the admirable cast is awash in a horror show of inane dialogue and flaccid suspense.