Marco Castellini
•A heterogeneous group of people, all with insomnia problems, are invited by a doctor to a huge villa for a sleep study. The experiment consists of spending the night in that eerie construction, rumored to be haunted by ghosts, to see how the surrounding environment can influence people's minds. During the night, strange things start happening in the villa. At first, the doctor believes they are the product of his "guinea pigs" imagination, but then he realizes there is something else, something that goes far beyond his patients' paranoias... The doors of "Hill House" reopen for this Hollywood remake of the famous "The Haunting" (in Italy "Gli Invasati") film from the sixties by Robert Wise. A cast of great respect, with American stars like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Liam Neeson, and an established director like Jan De Bont ("Twister", "Speed") for a movie that gives us grand special effects, imposing sets (mostly computer-reconstructed) and really unsettling atmospheres, but also too much action and a "pacchiano" ending that partly spoils it. Wise's film, although practically devoid of effects, knew how to scare more. To define it in one phrase: "suspense gives way to special effects".
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