Haunted Full Screen 2001 Horror Movie Review

Professor David Ash (Aidan Quinn) is skeptical of the supernatural, yet he is invited by elderly Nanny Tess Webb (Anna Massey) to investigate paranormal goings-on at her country estate.  When Ash arrives, he meets her three adult children (Kate Beckinsale among them, who becomes his future love interest) and the family doctor (John Gielgud), all of whom deny anything is going on and claim that Nanny Tess is merely hallucinating.  Yet after spending some time there, the professor begins experiencing unexplainable visions that only Nanny Tess, and often only he, sees. Furthermore the ghost of his sister, who died as a child in a drowning accident, begins to roam the estate.  Is he imagining it and going mad?  Or is the house truly haunted? Adapted by Tim Prager from the James Herbert novel, Lewis Gilbert’s highly memorable film is a brilliant haunted-house tale with chilling scenes and an exceptional plot twist. —Bryan Reesman