So the main villain
...died and was haunting the mansion, but why was everyone else haunting there? How did they ALL die?
shareThis was a major issue with the movie. According to Emma when they're riding through the cemetery, "When they died, they couldn't find the light. Now... Now they're trapped," to which Ezra adds "Doomed to wander the Earth for all eternity." I've heard some theories about ghosts in real-life that suggest ghosts haunt places like family homes because they don't realize they're dead. This sounds kinda what Emma & Ezra are saying, but I don't know how the hell that works since these ghosts are clearly acting as if they know they're dead and are able to talk and interact with each other.
The other thing is, they don't look like previous owners of the mansion since as far as we know, Mr. Gracey and his father/grandfather were the only owners of the mansion. For example there's an archer, an executioner, hitchhikers, etc. It could be they were employees at the mansion such as Emma, Ezra and Ramsley, but Ramsley himself was the cause of the Curse which explains why he was there. No one else at the mansion seemed to know why they were trapped ("They couldn't find the light"), but they all seemed to know about the Curse. Granted, their idea of the Curse was wrong, but that was probably because Ramsley told them a false story about the Curse (which doesn't make sense anyway because Ramsley would've had to have known not breaking the REAL Curse would've solved anything).
Even if everyone else who came to the mansion (like the partygoers at the beginning) died for whatever reason, there's no reason for them to have stayed. In the Haunted Mansion ride, all of the ghosts were previous owners of the mansion who were either evil, murdered, or had an extremely unfortunate accident. In the film, there's no reason why anyone other than Mr. Gracey, Ramsley, and Elizabeth should've been haunting there. Plus, I don't buy the whole "Elizabeth's ghost couldn't tell the other ghosts or look like an actual ghost because the Curse" bullsh!t.
That's the problem with this movie. It's got great sets, music, atmosphere, effects and Mr. Gracey's actor is pretty good, but there was so much wasted opportunity. So many different things they could've included just to add some meat to the story other than the "forbidden love curse." Hell, Eddie Murphy probably did more to curse this damn movie than Ramsley ever did.
Can't be too careful with all those weirdos running around.
In the Haunted Mansion ride, all of the ghosts were previous owners of the mansion who were either evil, murdered, or had an extremely unfortunate accident.
No, in the ride most of the ghosts came from other places and weren't at the Mansion when they were alive. Some of them obviously must have been residents when they were living, like the Ghost Host, the Bride, the people in the stretching portraits, people buried in the front yard, etc. but the Mansion is a retirement home for ghosts from all over the world who want to party with other ghosts and scare humans and stuff. That's the official "story" of the ride by the Imagineers who created it back in the '60s, and it explains why there are ghosts of kings, queens, knights, Great Caesar, etc. It's even in the narration: "There are several prominent ghosts who have retired here, from creepy old crypts all over the world. Actually, we have 999 happy haunts here, but there's room for a thousand..." Maybe you're more familiar with the Disney World version, where it's not quite as clear as it is at the Disneyland version (due to some differences in the narration).
Of course none of that is in this crappy movie, the other ghosts are just there for no discernible reason. share