A single mom named Gabbie hires a tour guide, a psychic, a priest and a historian to help exorcise her newly bought mansion after discovering it is inhabited by ghosts.

Disney’s Haunted Mansion takes another whack at the popular Disneyland theme park ride to try to turn it into a viable film. This time it looks like they just might succeed.

Scenes from the ride play a major part in the new film, and this time through, the screenwriter Katie Dippold seems to have done her homework. Recognizable moments from the original ride are given the care and attention they deserve, and I’m going to guess that everything — everything — in the creepy old Victorian has its own story to tell, with its own specific characters, each with their own agenda. It’s all there, the stretching room, the infinity hall with the dancing levitating candlestick, the grand ballroom with its haunted pipe organ, and a crowd of recognizable spirits lighting things up with their ghostly blue auras.

Just to make sure the secret sauce sticks to the walls, the film is full to the rafters with heavy hitters like Rosario Dawson, Wynona Ryder, Jay Leto, Danny DeVito, and Tiffany Haddish. It’s Jamie Lee Curtis‘s head in the crystal ball as Madame Leota, by the way, insisting on the staggering sum of three dollars in a comedic exchange with Danny DeVito.

The trailer for Haunted Mansion (2023) looks like the same wonderful blend of laughs and shrieks that made the ride so popular in the first place.

Directed by Justin Simien, Disney’s Haunted Mansion isn’t waiting for Halloween to make its big screen debut. It premieres July 15, 2023 in the United States, July 26 internationally.

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