Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect vs The Army of Darkness, or the Thread 5

[Rustymuscle]

Originally Posted by Outlander

...including stories of Mansion guests, a familiar singing trio, and an ever aging host...

For those who don't have three hours to watch the YouTube videos, can we get a summary of what happened? Since this is an official Disney event, I'm presuming these "stories of Mansion guests" are somewhat "official." What were these backstories?

[Garfieldo]

Originally Posted by Rustymuscle

For those who don't have three hours to watch the YouTube videos, can we get a summary of what happened? Since this is an official Disney event, I'm presuming these "stories of Mansion guests" are somewhat "official." What were these backstories?

Actually, they didn't come nowhere close to uploading the whole thing. Unless I missed something, there are still quite a few bits and pieces that are now lost to us. And, thanks to my ever-so-wonderful internet connection, I wasn't able to catch a single story.



There is, however, one story up on YouTube relating to the mansion. It's the Panther Lady from one of the changing portraits.

Long story short,

Spoiler

This guy with expert aim hears something in his barn at night, and then shoots at it. He discovers that, even in the darkness, he was able to shoot off the beast's paw. Upon further inspection he finds that it belongs to a panther. Hearing roars and growling coming from his house, he fears for his wife, only to find her missing a hand. He also thought he saw fangs sticking out of her mouth for a split second, but that may have just been his imagination...

There's another one that involves decapitation and a wife, but it doesn't fit the Constance back story, and hats aren't mentioned at all (let alone their boxes).

If anybody else (I know you read these boards, Mr. Sutton!) would care to post the other stories pertaining to the Mansion (and maybe even the ones that don't), it would be greatly appreciated.

[Semiquaver]

Did anyone see the D23-13 Fun Facts about the Haunted Mansion ? Unfortunately most of it relates to the Haunted Mansion movies.

This one made me cringe:

2. Eddie Murphy had been looking to do a ghostly comedy in the vein of Bob Hope and Abbott and Costello when he learned about Disney's Haunted Mansion film and asked to see the script.

But the third one was really interesting. Anyone know more about it? Any concept art?

3. Imagineer and Disney Legend Claude Coats briefly developed a water ride version of The Haunted Mansion in which guests would float through the ruins of an old plantation house partially submerged in a Louisiana bayou.

[HBG2]

ToddHackett has popped in again with some real treasures. He's posted them over on this thread: The Haunted Mansion did NOT officially open August 9th

He's got some polaroids from a HM trip during opening week. Sometime Wed thru Fri. Since I was there Thursday, these are quite a personal joy to see.





He's got some shots of one of my faves, the original queue graveyard. Pictures like these are rare, people:





Back in T4 I moaned and groaned that I couldn't find a decent photo of the "Cousin Victor" headstone anywhere:

Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Episode 4 A New Hope

So I never expected to see a photo like this one! Dumb, I know, but not completely dumb. Since Victor never appeared at either WDW or Tokyo, and it never stirred interest for other reasons like the Phineas Pock stone did, nor ended up inside the ride like Rollo Rumkin did, "Cousin Victor" was far and away the most thoroughly forgotten of the original eight.

You will recall that Todd Hackett is the fellow who worked with Marc Davis for a number of years. He has a blog, with a number of DL and Marc reminiscences along the way:

haunted world's MySpace Blog | Haunted Worlds

(I do believe, fwiw, that "Todd Hackett" is a nom de plume Net, taken from a character in the book/movie Day of the Locust.)

[HBG2]

Originally Posted by Semiquaver

But the third one was really interesting. Anyone know more about it? Any concept art?

We've discussed it a little before, but there's hardly any info on it. The one new thing I've learned is that Sam McKim did some concept art for it. This must have been a short-lived idea.

Remember the mausoleum in the HM movie? Totally flooded. You can easily imagine that set as one of the rooms in a flooded-house version of the HM. I wonder if there was any connection, like old concept art, that inspired that part of the movie?

This seems like as good excuse as any to post some Nathan Schroeders:

[Beowulf]

Check out the MiceChat article by Alain Littaye; Haunted Mansion's 40th Anniversary - Behind the Scenes Tour up now. A few videos that cover how it came into being and backstage.

<a href="Haunted Mansion 40th Anniversary Celebration - A " Behind the Scenes " Tour" </a>

[Mr.Fenwright]

I always did like the concept art for the movie. But IMHO the movie would have been better off as a "Wonderful World of Disney" TV movie than a theatrical release. It just seemed that way to me.

[whodudis]

Hey everyone!!! to those of you who haven't been on youtube lateley, there is this AWESOME video of the 40th anneversary of the haunted mansion!!!!!

YouTube - Haunted Mansion Celebrates 40 Years of...

It Has Great Shots of the really good effects. It looks like they did an official taping of the Mansion. Go watch the video and then finish reading this.

Spoiler

I noticed that leota is still on the table in the video, hmm, wierd. and just look at that shot of the Phantom Piano Player!!! To those who remember the other long-forgotten threads, there was a question about the Self Playing Painos, that they worked BACKWARDS. But the video Disagrees.

[MasterGracey13]

What a great video! I imagine that that footage was taken more recently hence Madame Leota being on the table. Also, I have never seen the DL phantom pianist before, It looks amazing! Even though I knew it was a projection, I always thought it to be more cardboard cutout-ish, like the WDW one.

[skoolpsyk]

Originally Posted by HBG2

(I do believe, fwiw, that "Todd Hackett" is a nom de plume Net, taken from a character in the book/movie Day of the Locust.)

D'oh!

[BoogaFrito]

Originally Posted by Outlander

What, so they gave it to Bill Paxton and his three wives from Big Love?

[RegionsBeyond]

The video has some good footage, yes, of our/DL Mansion, but they do the same old trick of slipping in the Phantom Manor singing bust footage chestnut that gets used for everything the HM montage appears in....aaargh.

Oh well.

[BassBone]

Why do they have Haunted Mansion Holiday in that vid? Oy.

[WDITrent]

^Because it's a great way to make some money while "honoring" a great attraction.

[HBG2]

Originally Posted by darkfairycthulu

The video has some good footage, yes, of our/DL Mansion, but they do the same old trick of slipping in the Phantom Manor singing bust footage chestnut that gets used for everything the HM montage appears in....aaargh.

Oh well.

Even more predictable: the re-use of the stock footage taken by WED before the ride opened. So far, only the producer of the 30th anniversary show (Cheers meets the HM) has resisted the temptation to lazily reach for that film.

Originally Posted by BassBone

Why do they have Haunted Mansion Holiday in that vid? Oy.

Same reason they have Constance. HMH is one of the major things that has happened with the HM during its 40 years, and so it's included.