PHE Press Release: Paramount Presents! The Haunting (1999) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Chilling Adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s Terrifying Novel Arrives on Blu-ray™ October 20, 2020





Arriving Just in Time for Halloween, Newly Remastered Thriller is Latest Addition to the Paramount Presents Line

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HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Director Jan de Bont’s (Speed) terrifying thriller THE HAUNTING arrives on Blu-ray as part of the Paramount Presents line on October 20, 2020 from Paramount Home Entertainment.



Widely regarded as one of the finest and most frightening ghost stories ever written, Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” serves up sinister source material for this edge-of-your-seat thriller starring Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lili Taylor, Owen Wilson and Bruce Dern.



The limited-edition Paramount Presents Blu-ray Disc™ is presented in collectible packaging that includes a foldout image of the film’s theatrical poster, and an interior spread with key movie moments. Newly remastered from a 4K film transfer supervised by Jan de Bont, THE HAUNTING Blu-ray also includes a new Filmmaker Focus with the director, access to a Digital copy of the film, as well as a the previously released vintage behind-the-scenes featurette hosted by Catherine Zeta-Jones, and original trailers.



Bonus Features:

• - Filmmaker Focus: Director Jan de Bont on The Haunting
• - Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
• - Theatrical Teaser
• - Theatrical Trailer

Synopsis

For over a century, the foreboding Hill House mansion has sat abandoned…or so it seemed. Intrigued by its past, Dr. Marrow lures three subjects to the site for an experiment. But, from the moment of their arrival, as night descends, the study goes horrifyingly awry, and Hill House unleashes its supernatural wrath on the unsuspecting subjects.



About Paramount Presents

This collectible line spans celebrated classics to film-lover favorites, each from the studio’s renowned library. Every Paramount Presents release features never-before-seen bonus content and exclusive collectible packaging. Additional titles available in the Paramount Presents collection on Blu-ray include: Fatal Attraction, King Creole, To Catch a Thief, Flashdance, Days of Thunder, Pretty In Pink, Airplane!, Ghost, and Roman Holiday.



Also inspired by Shirley Jackson’s novel, the critically acclaimed television series “The Haunting of Hill House” is currently available on Blu-ray and DVD. “The Haunting of Hill House” is an Amblin Television, FlanaganFilm and Paramount Television production.


Thank you for supporting HTF when you preorder using the link below. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link. As an Amazon Associate HTF earns from qualifying purchases




About Paramount Home Entertainment

Paramount Home Entertainment (PHE) is part of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. PPC is a unit of ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC; VIACA), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The PHE division oversees PPC’s home entertainment and transactional digital distribution activities worldwide. The division is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of home entertainment content on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Television, Paramount Players, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and CBS and applicable licensing and servicing of certain DreamWorks Animation titles. PHE additionally manages global licensing of studio content and transactional distribution across worldwide digital distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices and emerging technologies.





Paramount Presents: THE HAUNTING

Street Date: October 20, 2020

U.S. Rating: PG-13 for intense horror sequences

 

[DVBRD]

Never thought that this would get the prestige treatment from Paramount. I would have expected it for the original Robert Wise version, but Paramount doesn't own that one.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

So why is this being released on their Paramount Presents series? The film was dull and the only good thing in it was looking at Catherine Zeta-Jones.

 

[Alan Tully]

So why is this being released on their Paramount Presents series? The film was dull and the only good thing in it was looking at Catherine Zeta-Jones.

I'd have to disagree about the only good thing being Catherine Zeta-Jones (lovely as she is), the set design & art direction is amazing. I like the film, but I do think it's an odd choice when you look at all the gems Paramount have that are still awaiting a Blu-ray release (mind you, I feel the same about a lot of the Warner Archive releases, I guess I'm just out of touch with the studios).

 

[TravisR]

So why is this being released on their Paramount Presents series?

If I had to guess, I'd say it's because Shout Factory didn't want to license it out and Paramount knows that horror movies still sell discs. I don't that this one will do much for them though.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I'd have to disagree about the only good thing being Catherine Zeta-Jones (lovely as she is), the set design & art direction is amazing.

Killer audio mix, too! Can't wait to hear it lossless!

 

[Lord Dalek]

Killer audio mix, too! Can't wait to hear it lossless!

Would be nice if its discrete. The original was Dolby EX 6.1 Matrix.

 

[t1g3r5fan]

I'd have to disagree about the only good thing being Catherine Zeta-Jones (lovely as she is), the set design & art direction is amazing.

Don't forget about Jerry Goldsmith's equally impressive score, which makes me wish that Paramount had included an isolated score track option here, like they did with Elmer Bernstein's score for the Airplane! release.

 

[Lasermanfan]

This is a terrible movie. Watched it about a year ago on one of the movie networks. First saw it back in 1999 and did not like it then either. Paramount should focus on movies that have never been released on DVD / blu ray such as "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" and "Little Darlings". But I hear they don't want to pay for the music rights.

 

[Worth]

This is a terrible movie. Watched it about a year ago on one of the movie networks. First saw it back in 1999 and did not like it then either. Paramount should focus on movies that have never been released on DVD / blu ray such as "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" and "Little Darlings". But I hear they don't want to pay for the music rights.

Little Darlings is available on digital, so they may have worked out the rights issues on that one.

 

[TonyD]

That old dvd with the DTS EX track sounded great. The lfe killed it.

 

[DanH1972]

That old dvd with the DTS EX track sounded great. The lfe killed it.

The DTS DVD with the DTS ES Digital Surround 6.1 Discrete track is absolutely a system killer. DTS had Skywalker Sound remix the film with their discrete 6.1 encoding technology, which was groundbreaking at the time.

 

[cineMANIAC]

Very odd choice for the Paramount Presents line indeed but I'm not complaining - I never even realized this was never issued on Blu in the States. I don't consider this a prestige line, though. Unique packaging alone doesn't make it so, and the choice of titles so far doesn't denote prestige IMO. Hopefully the studio has much bigger plans for this line. How about Breakdown next?

 

[Worth]

I second Breakdown. Great little largely forgotten thriller. I have it on iTunes and it looks passable, but would definitely benefit from a new transfer.

 

[The Drifter]

It's funny that the above picture is from the older Haunting film, but the Blu coming out is the much more recent 1999 film (starring Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, etc.).

I agree the older film is the better adaptation. However, neither film holds a candle to the brilliant novel The Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson, 1959).

 

[bob kaplan]

Yup....i agree...and i think the better of the two.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Well, the great part of this is Paramount is releasing a deep catalog title in their Paramount presents series that has not had a Blu-ray release. On this front people should be dancing in the aisles because it means we could see them dive into deep catalog in this line. I agree with Travis here that it is likely due to the fact that they wanted to do a horror release for the Halloween season. This was a major production with big name actors and all kinds of top of the line talent working on it. The sets and production design are beautiful and yes, we get a Goldsmith score.

I will purchase this for the specific reason that I want to support Paramount getting into catalog title releases...they have quite a list I would like on blu. Is this anywhere near the top of that list? No way, but happy to see something in this line that has not been released on blu.

I don't actually recall much about the picture. I don't know when I last saw it. I did watch it in a theater when it was released and then I know I viewed it on DVD. I would say that was some time ago. It was a flop in theaters I think and had the unenviable position of having to be compared to the Robert Wise classic. This time out I will try to view it with fresh eyes and attempt not to compare it to the Wise picture.

A-list cast in an A-list attempt at a horror film with a fresh 4K scan of a film never released on blu...SOLD!

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Also yes, the photo in the banner at the top of this thread is from the Wise picture and needs to be changed.

The cast of the 1999 version of The Haunting express their shock and surprise the film is getting a new Blu-ray release...

 

[Malcolm R]

Also yes, the photo in the banner at the top of this thread is from the Wise picture and needs to be changed.

That seems to happen with disturbing regularity around here. Kind of embarrassing.

 

[Robert Crawford]

That seems to happen with disturbing regularity around here. Kind of embarrassing.

Tell me about it!