MovieChat Forums > The Haunting of Whaley House (2012) Discussion > The Real Whaley House

The Real Whaley House

posted 11 years ago by Mirandabc_2000
9 replies | jump to latest

Usually I just sit back and enjoy movies. If I'm not feeling it, I change the channel. I just find that I'd rather spend my time discussing movies I like than complaining about the ones I don't.

However with 'The Haunting of Whaley House' I feel obligated as a native San Diegan to make an exception. Perhaps I expected too much from this straight-to-DVD release, but the fact remains it disappointed me on nearly every level. So I came to this board to say that for anyone who was as let down by the movie as I was, give the real Whaley House a try for a thrill.

Although not the extravagant Victorian home as depicted in the movie (I was confused as to why the filmmaker's didn't strive for a building close to the Whaley's simple architecture), the Whaley House can give you a chill just walking through the doorway. As you're shown the courtroom where people were sentenced, the doorway that occupies the spot of the former gallows, and areas around the ground where people drew their last breaths in random fashions (choked by a clothesline.... really), you can't help but feel a bit unsettled even in broad daylight without Hollywood gore. If you're very lucky you might even smell Mrs. Whaley's perfume, or Thomas's cigars. To this day odd things happen on the Whaley street in Old Town... not just manifestations but random occurrences, such as all the car alarms going off at once in the middle of the night.

I interviewed for a job at the Whaley House a little less than a year ago. Although I wasn't fortunate enough to get it, the Whaley House still maintains a special place in my heart as well as those of many other San Diego residents.

[–] CLSCnCali 11 years ago

I agree completely. I was at the Whaley House in Old Town twice in the past few years. The photos that I took definately captured something. You can't attribute the images to double exposure when using a digital camera. I too was disappointed when I saw the house in the movie. It looks nothing like the real Whaley House. The movie barely touches on the Whaley's themselves. If I could have given this movie 0 stars, I would have. Terrible acting combined with a low budget and not enough history, makes this film one worth missing. People should research the true history of one of the most haunted houses in America, by going to the following link.

whaleyhouse.org

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[–] p_banger 11 years ago

Yep. The Real Whaley House is the real deal. I didn't truly believe in ghosts until I had a haunting there, upstairs, in front of the master bedroom--in broad daylight. Granted, it was pre-millennial and three years prior to the major renovation and change of ownership in 2002, but it DID happen.

To exploit its name in a cheap one-off made-for-Netflix digital shoestring film with no actual connection in the film to the House is a laugh. Go to the real Whaley House and get 100,000 x more value for your chill than you would with this "film."

[–] concealedfaith 11 years ago

The 'director' made a comment on the board for it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2396701/faq?ref_=tt_faq_1#.2.1.1

"It mainly had to do with budget. We approached the Whaley House and it seemed like a real possibility to film inside the real house, but after the director scouted it he found it way too small to fit cast and crew and gear inside. Plus, having to transport said cast and crew from Los Angeles to San Diego 2 hours away and put them up for the 12 days of shooting would be a massive strain on the already miniscule budget, so the decision was made to pick another house, one much closer, and make it the cinematic equivalent of the Whaley House. So yes, we are well aware that the house in the movie isn't the actual home, but since they don't actually film movies in space and Transformers aren't real, we figure people will be able to look past it! :)"

The house was too small to hold equipment, cast, and crew for 12 days. It was also too expensive for the small budget to drive the entire cast of 26 [25 if you discount the 'only voice' dispatcher] and the 30something crew. The Whaley house isn't THAT big. And it was a 2 hour drive. On a small budget that's a lotta cast and crew to get there. Don't be a snob.

[–] kithlyara 10 years ago

How is it being snobbish to expect that a movie called "The Haunting of the Whaley House" to actually be filmed at the Whaley House? They easily could have used an exterior shot of the house, especially as the director made a trip down to San Diego on his own to scout it out, but they didn't. They didn't even get all of their facts straight about the house and the family. All they wanted was to exploit the name to try to sell some DVDs. The filmmakers deserve all the criticism they get for it.

[–] JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies 10 years ago

I don't know about "snobbish", but you're ridiculously ignorant, as are most others in this thread.

This film, like all films that aren't documentaries, is a work of fiction. That it's a work of fiction doesn't imply that every single aspect of it is purely imaginary. But some things in any fiction will necessarily not match actual-world facts.

How could you sit down to watch a film like this and not be aware of the above?

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[–] Eve_of_Destruction 10 years ago

Couldn't you have just explained that without the insult?

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[–] crazybabiesmom 10 years ago

I spent most of the runtime explaining to my 7 year old the actual lay out of the house and the real stories (as best I could remember them) of those that are still there. It was very distracting.

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[–] brianmonahan 10 years ago

The Whaley House has two buildings. The front house and court room, that people can tour, and a house in the back that people aren't allowed to visit. The family lived in the back house and that is where most of the ghosts are believed to reside. I have toured the court room and front house. It certainly has a rich history of hauntings and the staff finds that things are often moved during the night. Although I haven't seen spirits on my visits, the building has a very unsettling feeling to it. Well worth a visit.

[–] mark-4554 8 years ago

In the Trivia section for this film it states:

Actor Arielle Brachfeld claimed to have experienced many ghostly encounters is her dressing room which was situated in an downstairs bedroom of Whaley House. These included warm breath on her neck, something unseen brushing her inner thigh many times, and a overpowering musk or sweat odor which made her gag on multiple occasions. To describe her experience on set after a peticular , she said " I was very unsatisfied with myself down there. It just left me empty, ya know, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Salty".

The movie was NOT filmed in the Whaley House.

Maybe it was the horror of just being involved in such a awful film!