Dr. Jeffrey Marrow (Liam Neeson) is a psychologist who intends to do some research on fear. He gathers several subjects: Eleanor (Lili Taylor), Theo (Cahterine Zeta-Jones), and Luke (Owen Wilson) and tells them that he is doing an insomnia study. He brings the three to Hill House, a huge mansion that has been abandoned for nearly a century.

Dr. Marrow tells the group several scary stories about the house's history, hoping to document their reactions. However, as the days go by in the house, more and more bizarre things keep happening, most of them directed towards Eleanor. The others dismiss her as insane until they find evidence of some supernatural power controlling the house.

Although "The Haunting" starts out pretty good as it introduces the characters and builds up the suspense through a series of strange events, the ending is WAY overdone. I guess the director tried to make the movie extremely horrifying in the end, but failed, as it becomes fairly un-scary and cheesy.