Guillermo Del Toro's "Haunted Mansion"

[CelticPredator]

Love Del Toro....but what the ____.....no intrest until a trailer.

 

[Agent0028]

Haunted Mansion PF's.... omg that'd be wonderful....

I hope the character designs stay true to the ride. He can take some liberty with the hatbox ghost given that he's not actually in the ride, but I want Leota and the Hitchhiking ghosts to look like they do now...

 

[RoboDad]

While it's true that the Hatbox Ghost isn't in the ride, he did have a final design, and did appear at least for the trial run. And of course, there are numerous pictures and other artwork of him "floating around" out there.

So some liberties would OK, but there are enough obsessive fans that if he doesn't at least pay homage to the original design, I suspect the outcry would be swift and intense. This is the internet, after all.

 

[karamazov80]

Would prefer to see his take on "Animatronic Presidents vs. zombies" but I guess we get what we get.

 

[LOTRFan]

Got the chance to meet him on Saturday at GG's booth...
Awesome guy, and awesome news!!
Can't wait to see what he does!! !

Incredibly excited for this, not to mention the film he is producing: Don't be Afraid of the Dark; the 5 or so mins we saw were terrifying!

 

[RoboDad]

Incredibly excited for this, not to mention the film he is producing: Don't be Afraid of the Dark; the 5 or so mins we saw were terrifying!

Unfortunately, that is exactly what worries me. I just find it ironic he said he wanted to honor the original by "not touching what worked". Yet he took a film that he watched as a child, on TV and turned it into what sounds like an over-the-top horror film, based on the fact that it received an R rating. His comments about being proud of that rating (which wasn't even what he was going after) and about horror in general make me think he will have a very difficult time finding the right balance in Haunted Mansion.

 

[Captain EO]

He just walked out at the end of the Tron panel and announced his next film project. The main character will be the Hatbox Ghost. Let's see what Sideshow can do!

If anybody is curious as to the background of the Hatbox Ghost, here's a cool site to check out:

https://www.thehatboxghost.com

I'm pretty excited about this! I love the mystery behind this character, and Del Toro is a dream pick for this project! This also means we'll most likely seem him return to the ride!

 

[occulum]

Unfortunately, that is exactly what worries me. I just find it ironic he said he wanted to honor the original by "not touching what worked". Yet he took a film that he watched as a child, on TV and turned it into what sounds like an over-the-top horror film, based on the fact that it received an R rating. His comments about being proud of that rating (which wasn't even what he was going after) and about horror in general make me think he will have a very difficult time finding the right balance in Haunted Mansion.

Half full Robo ... half full ......

 

[YoNoSe]

Unfortunately, that is exactly what worries me. I just find it ironic he said he wanted to honor the original by "not touching what worked". Yet he took a film that he watched as a child, on TV and turned it into what sounds like an over-the-top horror film, based on the fact that it received an R rating. His comments about being proud of that rating (which wasn't even what he was going after) and about horror in general make me think he will have a very difficult time finding the right balance in Haunted Mansion.

Have you watched the Hellboy movies? Completely different tone than his horror movies.

Just because a movie was on tv and viewed by children doesn't mean a horror film adaptation is inappropriate. Check out the Amazon reviews for DBAOTD. It stayed with people because it freaked them out.

GDT is a lot smarter than you're giving him credit for. Probably one of the most well versed, studied and articulate filmmakers working today. He just happens to prefer horror.

 

[RoboDad]

Have you watched the Hellboy movies? Completely different tone than his horror movies.

Just because a movie was on tv and viewed by children doesn't mean a horror film adaptation is inappropriate. Check out the Amazon reviews for DBAOTD. It stayed with people because it freaked them out.

GDT is a lot smarter than you're giving him credit for. Probably one of the most well versed, studied and articulate filmmakers working today. He just happens to prefer horror.

I think maybe you need to give me a bit more credit.

Yes, I have seen the Hellboy films (they are among my favorites), and yes, their tone is different from his horror films. Because they aren't horror films.

However, both Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and Haunted Mansion are horror films. As for how smart GDT is or is not, that is not the issue. The issue is that, even when he thinks he is finding the right balance in his horror films, and consciously trying to aim for a PG-13 rating, he still winds up pushing the envelope well into the R range, as evidenced by his own comments, and his surprise that the new DBAOTD received the rating it did. I just think that's a shame, because he is essentially depriving today's kids (the ones who are the same age that he was when the original DBAOTD aired on TV) from having the same experience that he had at that age.

 

[sigep756]

Good call mentioning the Hellboy movies. GDT can go dark, sure, but 1) he understands the Haunted Mansion is not a terror-fueled fright-fest and 2) I sincerely doubt Disney execs or going to allow the final product to be terrifying to small children since the Haunted Mansion is one of their best-known and most beloved experiences at Disney Parks.

I've got faith this will be nothing short of amazing.

 

[YoNoSe]

I think maybe you need to give me a bit more credit.

Yes, I have seen the Hellboy films (they are among my favorites), and yes, their tone is different from his horror films. Because they aren't horror films.

However, both Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and Haunted Mansion are horror films. As for how smart GDT is or is not, that is not the issue. The issue is that, even when he thinks he is finding the right balance in his horror films, and consciously trying to aim for a PG-13 rating, he still winds up pushing the envelope well into the R range, as evidenced by his own comments, and his surprise that the new DBAOTD received the rating it did. I just think that's a shame, because he is essentially depriving today's kids (the ones who are the same age that he was when the original DBAOTD aired on TV) from having the same experience that he had at that age.

From what I understand, DBAOTD is not some envelope-pushing hard R. It got an R for "pervasive scariness" or some such nonesense. Which is beside the point, anyway, as Del Toro did not direct this movie. In the media I've read he stressed that he wanted to maintain the nature of the scary little antagonists and write a film that was more like the version he remembered of DBAOTD than the one that exists, not to recreate the tone of a tv movie.

Regardless, I didn't mean to insult you. My experience listening to GDT speak about film, horror, fairy tales, childhood, and, in particular, Disney give me great confidence. I hope that you're pleasantly surprised.

 

[Agent0028]

I disagree that Haunted Mansion is a horror movie. Plus there's no way Disney is going to let him go too dark with it. Even if he does start pushing the envelope Disney is going to reel him back in. But more importantly, as a fan of the ride, I'm going to trust he understands that the ride isn't really meant to be scary.

 

[YoNoSe]

I disagree that Haunted Mansion is a horror movie. Plus there's no way Disney is going to let him go too dark with it. Even if he does start pushing the envelope Disney is going to reel him back in. But more importantly, as a fan of the ride, I'm going to trust he understands that the ride isn't really meant to be scary.

I agree with you that HM is not a horror movie just because it is a ghost story. I disagree that the film shouldn't be scary. The first half of the ride (at least the WDW version, which I am most familiar with) is classic scary-story fare. The second half is fun and whimsical. I think the film needs to be both.
I know we all get used to the attraction through repetition and I personally only experienced it as an adult, so the "scary" parts were not as effective as they would have been to me decades ago. Even so, the hanging corpse in the stretching room is still effed up in my book.

 

[Agent0028]

Okay, yeah that part is pretty scary. I remember being scared during the entire ride when I was a kid. I used to sing the ghostbusters theme. What I had in mind when I said its not supposed to be scary is that I see more kids cry before and during Space Mountain than the Haunted Mansion.

 

[YoNoSe]

Okay, yeah that part is pretty scary. I remember being scared during the entire ride when I was a kid. I used to sing the ghostbusters theme. What I had in mind when I said its not supposed to be scary is that I see more kids cry before and during Space Mountain than the Haunted Mansion.

Yeah but Space Mountain is scary because one day it IS going to kill you in the dark.

My wife has told me that when she was a kid in HM she was totally okay until the "...and a ghost will follow you home..." I don't think she's over it yet. I guess there's some relativity to what's scary and what's funny.

 

[Agent0028]

When my mom and Aunt went on that for the first time the ghost sat on my mom's lap. My aunt thought she was possessed and everytime my mom did something mean my aunt thought the ghost made her do it. My aunt also chewed three holes in her shirt during that ride. So, yes, I suppose scary is relative.

 

[Kuzeh]

Beetching about a movie that doesn't even have a script?... Yawn!!!
!!
With that said, I have a lot of faith in Guillermo...

 

[RoboDad]

Yeah, but that was, like, yesterday!

 

[Hirogen]

I love the Haunted Mansion, such a cool ride. I am interested to see how this can be turned into a good movie.