Say what you will about the cheesy, campy, over-CGI'd thriller The Haunting: it's worth watching just to see Catherine Zeta Jones as a vivacious bisexual New Yorker with great clothes.

The Haunting is a 1999 remake of a 1963 film of the same name--which was itself based on a 1959 novel--and stars Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta Jones, Owen Wilson, and Liam Neeson as participants in a study on fear that goes horribly awry when it turns out the house they're staying in is truly haunted--by the ghost of a vengeful man who killed dozens of children several decades ago and now keeps their souls trapped in the house.

The film received mostly negative critical reviews--largely around the over-use of computer-generated special effects and criticism that the movie just wasn't scary--but did okay at the box office. In fact, when it premiered it represented the best opening weekend ever for a Dreamworks picture (at $33.4 million).

Although the character of Theo is a lesbian in the novel and the first movie, in the 1999 version she is bisexual, and rather gratuitously so. There appears to be no particular reason she is bisexual except that it's trendy and it attracts the hip, urban crowd; it's not like it ever goes anywhere, or furthers the plot in any particular way. It's just another way for the writers to stress how different Theo is from the other main female character, Nell (Taylor), who is the opposite of worldly since she has spent her whole life taking care of her mother (who recently died).

There are a number of reasons the writer may have decided to change her from a lesbian to bisexual in this version, including the assumption that a bisexual woman appeals to straight men more than a lesbian would, and that making her bisexual opens up a romantic possibility between Theo and Luke. While both reasons are rather homophobic and opportunistic, Theo as a bisexual is actually more challenging to homophobia than she might be if she were a lesbian, given the overall poor visibility of bisexual characters in film.

In fact, Theo is one of the very few bisexual female characters in a mainstream Hollywood movie in recent years who isn't either married (to a guy), suicidal, or a criminal (examples of these include the bisexual women in Frida, The Hours, Femme Fatale, New Best Friend, and Soul Survivors--with Kissing Jessica Stein a notable exception).

Not only that, Theo is actually likeable, sympathetic, and sexy--AND she doesn't die in the end.

In the beginning, Theo does appear to be another stereotype of an aggressive, over-sexed bisexual woman. When she arrives at Hill House, Nell (Taylor) gives her a quick tour of the castle which ends in Theo's bedroom, whereupon Theo immediately asserts her bisexuality in conversation with Nell while changing her clothes. "I'm supposed to be an artist," Theo explains, "but I've been really distracted from work by love."

When Nell asks "You have trouble with commitment?" Theo replies "My boyfriend thinks so, my girlfriend doesn't. We could all live together, but...they hate each other. It's hard to be Miss Perversity when you're the only one at the party. You know what I mean?"

Nell is clearly shocked, but just answers stiffly "no." Theo tries again to engage Nell. "A blank canvas!" She says delightedly while approaching Nell. "I could paint your portrait, directly on you." Nell backs off slightly, and Theo shrugs with a smile. "Or maybe not...So, you? Husbands? Boyfriends?...Girlfriends, Eleanor?"

Nell winces and says "no, no one" but then she begins talking about her apartment and her face lights up. Theo softens and responds, "That sounds nice. You're really lucky...but you know that." Then she leans in suddenly to pluck a hair from Nell's jacket, but Nell misinterprets the move and jumps back. Theo just shrugs and smiles, and then changes the subject to suggest they see the rest of the house.

As they're exploring the house, another guest arrives--Luke (Wilson), who is immediately and obviously attracted to Theo. She flirts lightly with him throughout the first half of the film, but not nearly as blatantly as she initially did with Nell. Then the other guests arrive and at dinner that night, Theo makes a few more references to sex being very important to her.

There is one final hint of Theo's bisexuality at the end of their first night in the house, when Nell is in her room at her dressing table and Theo enters and kneels down beside her as they both face the mirror. When Theo reaches for her hair, Nell moves away, startled, then relaxes and moves back. "You've been out of the world a long time, haven't you Nell?" Theo asks her gently, and when Nell nods, she continues "The world's missed you."

Then the ghost story begins to unfold, the writers appear to settle down a bit, and Theo's sexuality fades into the background, never to be mentioned again. The rest of the film shows Theo most frequently running to the rescue of someone--usually Nell, but also some of the male characters--and she ultimately becomes Nell's protector as Nell becomes the target of the ghost's wrath.

Theo is alternately aggressive in standing up to the other characters when necessary, and gentle when dealing with Nell. Aside from the initial emphasis on her sexuality, Theo turns out to be one of the best female characters in an ensemble horror movie simply because she is so multi-dimensional. While Theo teeters on falling into a stereotype of a shallow, predatory bisexual in the beginning, she is clearly revealed to be an intelligent, compassionate, and complicated woman by the end of the film.

Ultimately, however, The Haunting is not a character-driven movie--unless you count the house as a character (which it almost is in this film)--and most of the screen time is taken up by characters reacting to the house's evil acts, not each other, so there isn't enough time to really develop any of the characters fully.

Although Theo's bisexuality is clearly more of a marketing ploy than a reflection of any intent to improve bisexual visibility, the positioning of Theo as a smart, funny, compassionate, and likeable--as well as one of the few survivors of the film--inadvertently does just that. In fact, almost four years after the film came out, Theo is still one of the one of the few positive and complicated bisexual women in a mainstream Hollywood movie--a point which has mostly been lost amidst the criticism of Theo being bisexual at all, and complaints about the movie itself.

Catherine Zeta Jones as Theo is actually one of the best things about the movie, and its (mild) box-office success means that many people were exposed to a bisexual woman who doesn't conform neatly to prevailing stereotypes--which makes The Haunting is a sort-of accidental activist, as well as a flawed but entertaining movie.