Film Review: The Haunted (1991): Cult TV Movie that Delivers

A made-for-television film from the early 90s, The Haunted has gained something of a cult following among horror fans. It's worth watching even as a grainy VHS transfer to YouTube (currently the only way to see it, except for bootleg DVDs.)

The Haunted (1991), a made-for-television film directed by Robert Mandel; staring Sally Kirkland, Jeffrey DeMunn, Diane Baker, Louise Latham, and Stephen Markle. Based on a case from the files of the celebrated paranormal researchers, Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Long before the Conjuring/Annabelle franchise burst on the scene, the Warrens inspired this early 90s television movie, which has become something of a cult film among many knowledgeable horror fans. With good reason. For all of its faults (cheesy special effects; horrible early 90s fashions and hair styles), this film is well-made for what it is, and often very scary. It may remind viewers of The Exorcist and definitely, The Conjuring (James Wan is reportedly a big fan of this film.)

Kirkland plays Janet Smurl, a devout Catholic wife and mother of four from industrial-belt Pennsylvania (weirdly, in this film she looks like the twin sister of Vera Farmiga as Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring franchise).

Janet, her husband Jack (DeMunn), children, and parents-in-law move into a new house in a Pennsylvania suburb, a rambling duplex where Janet and her family live on one side, and the in-laws live on the other side. The duplex is a bit of a fixer-upper, and the Smurls all pitch in with paint and repairs. Small irritations mar their move, however.

Jack’s tools keep disappearing and a black stain on one wall keeps coming back, even after Janet repeatedly paints over it. A large, dark mass appears in thin air and floats around the house. In one of the creepiest scenes, Janet hears someone splashing around in the upstairs bathtub, but sees no one when she investigates. And she keeps hearing her mother-in-law (played by famous character actress Louise Latham) call out to her from next door, only to have the older woman deny that she spoke.

Jack thinks that his wife is crazy until he is accosted himself, in a terrifying scene where a demonic woman rapes him (I don’t know how the producers got away with this scene almost 30 years ago on network TV.) They call in the Warrens (Baker and Markle), who find four spirits living in the house: three relatively harmless ghosts and one malevolent demon, who controls the ghosts and makes them do things they don't want to do. (These Warrens are relatively low-key compared to the glamorous portrayals of Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson.)

The Warrens help a little, but the spirits come back, and they recommend an exorcism from a renegade priest, as the Catholic Church refuses an official exorcism. The renegade priest is effective temporarily, but the demon eventually comes back, and even follows them on a camping trip.

The Smurls finally move out after 10 years of sustained demonic harassment, but that isn’t the end of the story. The ending scene in their new house is unforgettable.

Kirkland got a Golden Globe nomination for this role and she does well with creating sympathy for her character without descending into hysteria or cheap pathos. Notably, this production reunites Louise Latham and Diane Baker, who both starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964). In that film, Latham played Marnie’s crazy, murderous mother and Baker portrayed Marnie’s jealous sister-in-law, Lil.

Unfortunately, The Haunted has never received an official DVD release. There are a couple of grainy-but-watchable VHS transfers playing currently on YouTube (see link above). There are also DVDs for sale on some bootleg sites, although these are also likely to be made from VHS transfers.

The IMDb says that a film about the Smurl case is coming in 2020, under the title The Conjuring 3. I'm interested in seeing how they will differentiate it from the Perron case in the first installment, as the two plots and characters are very similar.