Haunted (1995 film)

Haunted
Film poster
Directed by	Lewis Gilbert
Produced by	Lewis Gilbert Anthony Andrews Ralph Kamp
Written by	Lewis Gilbert Bob Kellett Timothy Prager
Starring	Aidan Quinn Kate Beckinsale Anthony Andrews John Gielgud Anna Massey
Music by	Debbie Wiseman
Cinematography	Tony Pierce-Roberts
Edited by	John Jympson
Production company	American Zoetrope
Distributed by	October Films
Release date	1995
Running time	108 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Haunted is a 1995 horror film, by veteran director Lewis Gilbert and starring Aidan Quinn, Kate Beckinsale, Anthony Andrews and John Gielgud. It is based on a novel of the same name by James Herbert. The film was produced by Andrews and Gilbert.

David Ash (Aidan Quinn), an American professor, has entered into the field of parapsychology and has spent a majority of his life disproving the existence of ghosts. He was motivated by the untimely death of his twin sister, Juliet, for which he blames himself. In 1928, he receives an invitation from the Mariell family to investigate the alleged hauntings at their home, Edbrook House. At the train station, he is met and is immediately smitten by the beautiful Christina Mariell (Kate Beckinsale), who informs him that she and her brothers Robert and Simon actually hired David to try to calm the fears of their ageing nanny. Christina believes that due to her declining mental health since their mother's death, Nanny Tess (Anna Massey) has convinced herself that Mrs. Mariell's ghost returns every evening to haunt Edbrook House.

Further complicating the investigation is Christina's continuous flirtation with David, a distraction he gladly welcomes. However, older brother Robert (Anthony Andrews) is adamantly against their friendship, and is revealed as having an incestuous relationship with Christina. When David decides to finally leave Edbrook, he asks Christina to come away with him. Although she refuses, they engage in a passionate kiss and end up in bed together. In the morning when David wakes, the wind is gusting through the house, which is now cloaked in black drapes and littered with fallen leaves. He searches for Christina but instead sees the ghost of his twin sister Juliet, who leads David to a cemetery. Juliet calls his attention to a specific tombstone which states that Robert, Christina and Simon Mariell all died in a fire at Edbrook in 1923.