The Haunting (1999)

Liam Neeson: Dr. David Marrow

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Quotes 

• Dr. David Marrow : Because it was a controlled experiment.

  Theo : A controlled experiment? She's in total shock, you can't do that.

  Dr. David Marrow : I told you, it wasn't meant to be like this.

  Theo : Oh c'mon, you don't care about insomnia, you just wanted to scare the hell out of us to be fit in your little test or model, an end to understand this. You can't do it...

  Dr. David Marrow : LISTEN. You listen to me. I am trying to help people. My field of study is the science of fear, I try to understand why people act the way they act, why they feel the way they feel...

  [Theo slaps Marrow] 

  Theo : You don't feel.

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : This house, who built it? Who lived here?

  Dr. David Marrow : Well actually that makes a very good bedtime story. Once upon a time, there was a king who built a castle. His name was Hugh Crain. 130 years ago, towns like Concord and Manchester were the centre of American industry, that's where Crain made a fortune on the backs of workers in his textile mills. Now this man could have anything he wanted, but what he wanted was another thing. It was a house filled with the laughter of children.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : That's why there are all the carvings.

  Dr. David Marrow : He married the most beautiful girl in town, called Renee, and he built her this house, at least some of it.

  Theo : God, it sounds like a fairytale or something.

  Dr. David Marrow : Well that's where the fairytale ends. Hugh and Renee never had children. They all died at birth. And a few years later, Renee passed away and Crain became a total recluse. But, he kept on building. Building room upon room as if he was building for the familiy he would never have. No one had seen Crain for years. But the townspeople said they could hear sounds coming from the old house. Sounds of children.

• Theo : [Opening up a bottle of wine and begins filling up everyone's glass]  You know what? The rest of you may hate your insomnia, but I'm not sure I want a cure for mine. That's when I get all my best ideas when I'm waiting to fall asleep. I'm alone, occasionally, with no distractions, my mind is racing with creative ideas and come 3am, I feel like a genius.

  Luke : Are you kidding me? 3am, I start feeling like I'm losing my mind watching those informercials on psychics or... listening to Tony Robbins and the psychic hotlines. Have you ever seen that late night T.V.?

  Dr. David Marrow : [laughing]  Oh, yeah.

  [to Theo, who has just poured the wine] 

  Dr. David Marrow : Thank you.

  Luke : I swear to God, you get a steady diet of that crap and pretty soon, you start thinking about moving to Montana and becoming a survivalist.

  Theo : That's why God created barbiturates, honey.

  Todd Hackett : Nembutal?

  Theo : Mm-mm.

  Luke : You know, Todd? I think we have a classic Seconal woman on our hands. In fact, I think I see a little... Jackie Susann in Theo.

  [Theo laughs sarcastically, then glares at Luke] 

  Luke : [Softly]  Ow.

  Dr. David Marrow : [Finishes laughing]  Alright, you two, enough about pharmaceuticals. So, what do we all need in life? What are the basics? Food, water, shelter...

  Theo : Sex.

  Luke : [Softly]  Meow.

  Dr. David Marrow : And sleep. Sleep. I'm working on a 5-year study, with the help of Mary here, making profiles of bad sleepers. I'm looking for a common psychological link. I hope that the work we do here will, someday, will be able to help people like yourselves.

  Theo : God knows I'm all for helping people, saving the world, but doesn't everyone have a problem sleeping these days? Life's too frantic.

  Mary Lambetta : What about you, Nell?

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Um, well... it seems that you all have trouble sleeping because your... lives are exciting and it's complicated and you think about it when you go to sleep. But, um, I don't know, nothing's ever really happened to me, so I don't have a reason to sleep badly.

  Dr. David Marrow : But in your application, you said you had trouble sleeping.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Um, yes, but it's not like them. It's because... there was always somebody calling me, there was always somebody banging. Ever since I was little, well, I took care of my Mother and... she would wake up in the middle of the night. She would bang, with her cane, on the wall. And it was just this relentless... it was a relentless banging all through the night. That's weird because... even though she's dead, I still hear it when I wake up.

  Dr. David Marrow : Well, that's why we're here, Eleanor, to try and help you.

  Luke : Yeah, Nell, I think what Dr. Marrow is trying to say is that you're a basket case just like the rest of us.

  [They all laugh, including Nell] 

  Luke : .

• Dr. David Marrow : Let me explain what's happening here. You're participating in a study on group fear and hysteria.

  Luke : What? That's it, that's what this was all about?

  Theo : You brought us here to scare us, is that it?

  Dr. David Marrow : Yes.

  Luke : And you were just waiting for her to have a total nervous breakdown before you said it? I mean, what is your problem?

• Dr. David Marrow : Eleanor, none of this is real.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Yes, it is real.

  Dr. David Marrow : It's not real.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : You have to go look for the bones in the fireplace.

  Dr. David Marrow : It's not real.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : I saw... I saw his wife hanging in the greenhouse. I know, I saw it.

  Dr. David Marrow : No, we'll be all gone, and the Dudleys will arrive in the morning and we can go. All of you.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : I can't believe you're not gonna look.

  Theo : Okay, that's enough of you. I'm taking her upstairs. I think you've done enough.

• Dr. David Marrow : The only problem with fear is that it largely has become inappropriate and non-adaptive.

• Theo : We can't get out. Why won't he let us leave?

  Dr. David Marrow : What do we do, Eleanor?

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : He played hide-and-seek with them; that's why he built the house. You have to hide.

  Dr. David Marrow : Hide? What does he think this is, a game?

• Dr. David Marrow : We should have stopped this when Mary got hurt. And definitely when Eleanor... Jesus Christ, we have to get out of here.

• Dr. David Marrow : Okay, so why are we here? Probably to answer the most basic question: "What is wrong with you people?"

• Dr. David Marrow : The gate is still locked; we have to wait until the Dudleys arrive.

  Luke : What? That's really compassion. Yeah, "let's wait until the morning, so tomorrow I have time to write a few more Welcome Home Eleanors."

  Dr. David Marrow : Luke, I didn't write that stuff, okay?

  Luke : Of course you didn't, that wouldn't be ethical, would it doc...

  Theo : Would you guys just shut up?