New Haunted Mansion Featurette Highlights Frightening Fun

The Haunted Mansion attraction at Disney parks is a beloved experience for visitors for a number of reasons, with a key component being the ways in which it aims to creep out guests while also ensuring a spirit of whimsy is prevalent throughout the journey. With the upcoming adaptation Haunted Mansion, director Justin Simien went to great lengths not only to capture signature components of the ride itself to bring to life on screen, but also to make sure he found the right balance of genuine scares and lighthearted levity. You can check out an all-new featurette for how he brought the ride to life below before Haunted Mansion lands in theaters on July 28th.

In the new film, a doctor (Rosario Dawson) and her 9-year-old son (Chase Dillon), looking to start a new life, move into a strangely affordable mansion in New Orleans, only to discover that the place is much more than they bargained for. Desperate for help, they contact a priest (Owen Wilson), who, in turn, enlists the aid of a widowed scientist-turned failed-paranormal expert (LaKeith Stanfield), a French Quarter psychic (Tiffany Haddish), and a crotchety historian (Danny DeVito).  

Simien previously recalled the lengths he went to in order to honor iconic elements of the ride, which presented the challenge of organically integrating these components while also making the film its own adventure.

“We have this set piece in the middle of the movie that was really cool and we’re trying all these things, and I’m like, ‘Stretching room. That’s the candy. That’s the thing we’re all looking for,’” Simien shared with Entertainment Weekly last month. “It was about taking that effect and figuring out how to work it into the story … As we all know, there’s 999 haunts in this house, and they have slightly different objectives. As the cast figures out if the hauntings are for good or for ill, who’s working for who, and who’s helping us and who wants us to stay here, the stretching room becomes a missing piece of that puzzle. They start to figure out exactly who it is that’s after them and who’s with them. The other thing was about how do we make it cinematic? It’s a cool effect when you’re sitting in that elevator and moving from floor to floor [on the ride], but how do we make that adventure and escapism? How do we take some of the ideas in those paintings and expand them into a real set piece that feels satisfying?”  

Haunted Mansion lands in theaters on July 28th.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!