Parents cautioned by Movieguide about the occult elements in ‘Haunted Mansion’ movie

An organization that serves as a resource for parents seeking to provide their children with faith-based and family-friendly entertainment is urging parents to steer clear of one of Disney’s latest movies because it contains “unbiblical” content that dabbles in the occult.  

Movieguide, a renowned organization that seeks to “cultivate a better media landscape” for children, is warning parents that the newly released Disney movie “Haunted Mansion” is “to be avoided” because of “intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. The review assigned “Haunted Mansion” a rating of “-4,” the lowest possible score on Movieguide’s “Acceptability Ratings.”

“HAUNTED MANSION has a strong occult worldview and false occult theology,” a Movieguide review of the film states. “This unbiblical content is slightly mitigated by some positive moral, redemptive elements. For instance, it has a strong mother figure in the boy’s mother. However, HAUNTED MANSION’s ending is too occult and unbiblical. Hollywood would do better if it takes a Christian, biblical approach to the supernatural, like the movie NEFARIOUS.”

The review elaborates on concerns about the movie’s content, specifically highlighting the “strong occult worldview and false theology, with images of ghosts and references to seances and people speaking to the dead.” Throughout the film, “the protagonists defeat the demonic ghost villain and serial killer by tricking him and performing an occult incantation.” According to Movieguide, “The movie has two medium characters and dead people can decide to stay on Earth as friendly ghosts.”

“Theologically, HAUNTED MANSION doesn’t make much sense,” the review added. “It has a strange, false occult worldview whereby some ghosts, or spirits, of dead people, can just hang around the world for as long as they want. Meanwhile, the movie suggests that good spirits go to some occult kind of Heaven, while evil spirits go to some occult kind of Hell.”

The review concludes by explaining that “although the protagonists in HAUNTED MANSION are trying to defeat an evil, demonic villain, they solve the plot problem in the movie’s climax by using occult means and trickery.” It maintains that “like much of the world, Disney has never had a proper biblical theology about ghosts and the occult.”

“As with all sin, dabbling in the occult is rebellion against God and, ultimately, demonic. Horror movies, even comical ones, that don’t link ghosts to demons lead people far astray. The ending to HAUNTED MANSION is just too occult.”

“Haunted Mansion,” a remake of a 2003 movie starring Eddie Murphy, hit theaters July 28. The film features a cast of well-known actors, including Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto.  

Movieguide attributed the movie’s lackluster performance at the box office to concerns about its content. In an Aug. 1 article titled “Disney’s Haunted Mansion Bombs at Box Office Due to Occult Themes,” Movieguide described the film’s opening weekend sales of just over $24 million as “one of the lowest starts among Disney’s live-action remakes or reimaginings of theme park attractions.”

Movieguide’s review of “Haunted Mansion” expressing concern over the demonic aspects of its content and its focus on the occult comes as other films receive a positive reception from the moviegoing public. “Sound of Freedom,” produced by Angel Studios, beat the widely anticipated and Hollywood-backed “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” in ticket sales on its July 4 opening day. The independent film has now surpassed $100 million at the box office.

“Haunted Mansion” is not the only Disney production to face pushback by faith-based and conservative organizations and underperformed at the box office for including content that does not meet the definition of “family-friendly.”

Last year, the advocacy group One Million Moms issued an “urgent warning” to parents about the animated series “Little Demon.” Produced by the Disney-owned FXX, the series features a plot line involving Satan impregnating a woman who gives birth to an Antichrist daughter.

Last Thanksgiving, “Strange World,” an animated movie with a subplot about a gay 16-year-old boy, earned less than $19 million against a $180 million budget on opening weekend. A report from the Financial Times revealed that the Walt Disney Company, Netflix, Comcast and other large media companies lost a combined half-trillion dollars in market value in 2022, suggesting that the embrace of “woke” ideology that alienates those yearning for family-friendly entertainment hurt their bottom line.

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