I question many of the changes that were made in this version of the story. Some of them, I'd wager, are the result of a small budget. Bly house, for instance, looks nothing like it should--the movie looks like it was filmed in southern California, and probably was. Other changes are no doubt the result of compressing into sixty minutes a story that fits quite well into two hours. As a result, the action feels rushed; the supernatural illness that should pervade the story is never permitted to take hold. One or two scenes do generate a scare apiece, but nothing sticks. Lousy day-for-night photography doesn't help, and ghosts that are more campy than creepy don't either. (One scene had the ghost of Peter Quint float away from the camera, no doubt on a carefully hidden cart. We're supposed to be creeped out, but all I could remember was a classic Saturday Night Live sketch with John Travolta as a vampire who did exactly the same thing.)

The acting of the adults isn't too bad; I have no complaints about Amy Irving, save for her rather generic British accent, and the rest of the cast is fine. The children are another matter--as Flora, Irina Cashen lacks any sort of personality (yes, I know I'm picking on the acting of a little girl, but it's true) and Balthazar Getty, who showed such impressive ability in The Lord of the Flies, alternates between under- and over-acting as Miles. The movie descends into a flurry of confusion and melodrama, and at that point, I was just glad I could now go to bed. (Aug 6, 2001)