The Haunting
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Movie Reviews of The Haunting
Movie Review: Whatever walks there, walks alone....
Summary: 5 Stars
Without a doubt the finest ghost story ever filmed, and the most frightening. Julie Harris and Claire Bloom give unforgettable performances, nuanced by repression, desire and yes, sheer terror. Director Robert Wise once again affirmed his standing as one of the premier artists of his (or any other) time.It is troublesome that some reviewers warn younger viewers away from this treasure due to the fact that it has few special effects--this film rather proves that such additions would actually detract from the story. It is, pure and simple, a deeply psychological exploration of both the human mind under extreme stress, as well as a peek into another world.
Are there ghosts in Hill House, or has Eleanor (Julie Harris) simply conjured them with her tortured mind and powerful telekinetic abilities?
We never know for sure (as author Shirley Jackson intended).
This film is remarkably faithful to Jackson's novella as well as to her themes of psychic turmoil and repression resulting from guilt and wasted lives.
By all means AVOID the recent remake (Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones)--it completely ignores the source material and goes the literal route of protraying the ghosts as absolute entities, playing down Eleanor's instability. A really bad film and in no way comparable to the original--as much a travesty as was the recent remake of "Psycho".
The entire point of this exercise is to induce terror in the viewer by subtly encouraging us to weigh the possibility that the events occuring in Hill House are driven by Eleanor's preternatural psychic abilities in combination with her extreme mental distress. Eleanor's existence in Boston is suffocating, both for her and for us. She is repressed in every way, harbors extreme guilt over the death of her mother, and lives the "spinster aunt" life in a controlled, emotionally vacant environment. She is one huge primal scream waiting to erupt.
After all, which scenario is more frightening: actual ghosts or the possibility that one's personal demons could actually be literalized and brought to "life" by the mind alone? For me, the latter scenario is much more frightening, as it implies a complete loss of control over both the mind AND the physical events surrounding you!
Taken either way, the film is both terrifying and groundbreaking by any standards.
A benchmark in psycholical horror for the ages.
Movie Review: How can there be no reviews of this movie?
Summary: 5 Stars
This is in my opinion one of the scariest movies ever made, a true classic, so I am dumbfounded as to why no reviews have been submitted.
The movie is based on the novel "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson. While I have seen the film several times, I'd never read the book, until recently. I am amazed by how true to the story this film is, and how cleverly the script incorporates all of the key pieces of the story without being too literal or straying too far. Kudos go to the director Robert Wise, and wonderful acting by Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, and most especially Julie Harris for her portrayal of the central character, Eleanor Vance. In one scene Claire Bloom's character, Theo, tells Eleanor that she wears her thoughts on her sleeve, and how true this is. As Eleanor, Julie Harris reveals every doubt, every uncertainty and every fear that Eleanor harbors through her expressions, the lilt of her voice and the way she carries herself. Eleanor is uncomfortable in her own skin, and you very much see this from the beginning.
I won't get into the plot - the Amazon editorial review covers this very well. Instead I want to focus on the elements that create the suspense and scares. I always prefer black and white films, and I do think that eeriness is enhanced by the lack of "glorious technicolor" but that's a personal choice. That this film from the early 60s was shot in black and white adds so much to the atmosphere, along with the chilling soundtrack and the way the camera moves through the house like a specter. No ghosts are presented, only eerie sounds, muffled voices and unnerving laughs, screams and cries - and that is the key to creating the fear. The unseen is much more frightening than the seen.
As I said earlier, the script stays very faithful to Jackson's story, using her own descriptions of the insanity Hill House harbors within, and quite possibly infects its occupants with as they struggle to confront and overcome their own demons. This film is a tribute to her, and I've yet to see anything that comes close to touching it - "The Innocents" with Deborah Kerr being the only contender.
Commentary is not as useful as it might've been, there are some interesting stories connected with the making of this film but I would've liked to know more about specific scenes, effects and choices made.
Movie Review: Do houses have souls? This one does - Robert Wise shows us how!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you want your horror spoon-fed to you and all your scares have to be sight gags (as has become common place in recent horror flicks), this is definitely NOT the movie for you. "The Haunting" is great cinema. Filmed in B/W - which does great things to the mood of the movie - and almost entirely without obvious scares. The Haunting's ability to deliver goose bumps comes from the expert visual flair delivered by Robert Wise, as well as solid ensemble acting. Wise was a critically acclaimed and accomplished director (The Day The Earth Stood Still, Run Silent Run Deep & West Side Story) when he made The Haunting, and directoral abilities come through loud and clear. This movie never fails to give me the shivers when I watch it.
Wise's film (Nelson Gidding's screenplay - Gidding also scripted Wise's The Andromeda Strain & The Hindenburg) is based on the the book "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson. The Haunting (the movie) remains faithful to the basic story set forth in Jackson's book. However, like most movies, The Haunting, is not a direct translation of the text to film. The first third or so of the book is quite well represented. However, it would seem for pacing reasons that Gidding constricted the "action" of the middle portion of the book, and for simplicity of character's condensed two characters from the last third of the book (the wife of Dr. Montague [book]/Dr. Markway [film] & her friend Arthur) into one (Markway's wife). The latter change results in a different final act of the movie as compared to the book and leads to the only "overt" scare of the film (which is not present in the book). Otherwise, I believe Wise has brought to screen a creepy rendition of Jackson's book, at least equal in its ability to scare as this classic piece of literature.
The 90's remake of The Haunting is utter garage in comparison. No mood at all, everything is feed to the viewer not by spoon but intravenously. Where Wise assumed that moviegoers would have a brain and enjoy using it, the makers of the 90's version of The Haunting felt we all wanted to be plugged into the "Matrix" and have no personal experience. If you like a thinking persons horror/suspense movie try Wise's materpiece. If you want blood, guts and everything obvious go see a Saw movie.
The Haunting - great cinema, 5 stars!
Movie Review: A creepy and stylish horror movie!
Summary: 5 Stars
`The Haunting', directed by Robert Wise, a film adaptation of Shirley Jackson's novel, `The Haunting of Hill House', is one of the most best horror movies that I have seen till today. While many would have already seen the 1999 remake of this movie, starring Catherine Zeta Jones, this 1963 original still stands out as being one of the most horrifying movies of its time.
The story starts off with a prologue describing how The Hill House was `born' bad. The people residing in the house undergo tragic consequences, due to which the Hill House is referred to as haunted. Now, we step forward after a span of years, to Dr. John Markway (played by Richard Johnson), who wants to research the house and its history and find out the reason behind the unknown in the house. He selects three people from a list to assist him in his research. They are Eleanor (played by Julie Harris), Theodora (Claire Bloom) and Luke (Russ Tamblyn). The story mainly focuses on Eleanor, who is tired of living with her family, and seeks love and acceptance. When she arrives in Hill House, she feels safe, but later she becomes obsessed with it. She feels Hill House calls out to her, and she is one with it. Will they find out what they are searching for? Will the researchers by able to uncover the mystery of Hill House?
Robert Wise, who we all know directed classics like `West Side Story' and `The Sound of Music', provides us with an eerie, dark atmosphere throughout this movie. There are no zombies, no monsters no blood slashing throughout the movie. There are some creepy sounds that make you jump off your seat once in a while, but apart from that, there is nothing physically scary to look in this movie. It provides more of a psychological terror to the viewer. Apart from `The Blair Witch Project', I have not seen any other movie in the same level as `the Haunting' which was released recently. Julie Harris acted wonderfully as Eleanor. You really sympathize for her in some scenes, yet you feel she is completely insane in some others. After watching the movie, you feel mystified as to how haunted the house really is.
On the whole, this movie is definitely worth watching at least once.
Movie Review: You try staying in a house like that, then rate this movie..
Summary: 5 Stars
I read a few of the commentary's about this movie. Everyone's
entitled to their opinion ...."To each their own". And that's okay. Someone doesn't like Bruce Willis, so they don't watch his movies...If I like him, I don't care what he stars in...
Point? If you really think about it, put yourself in the actor's place...imagaine yourself in this house. Imagine it's
"YOU" that hears the sounds, the pounding, the bowing door!
Yes, imagaine YOU are there regardless of whether you like certain actors or not. We've all had imaginations as children and it is very true.."What you don't or can't see, is scaring the bee-gee-bee's out of you". That's what this movie does.
I can remember the furnace room in our basement as a child. Though it was a very modest house, the furnace room represented a place where the boogie man lived. Where if there had to be someone in the house, it would be there. It scared the heck out of me and I can still remember those feelings even as an adult.
This movie truly brings you into a realm where if you think you
can use martial arts, or boxing skills to ward off what's watching or hunting you, you're very mistaken. Conventional
tools and weapons won't work, you're almost powerless against what you don't see.
Again, imagine yourself locked in this house. Would you be brave? Would you cuss and swear and tell that "THING" "Come and get me?".
The remake takes away from the minds' imagination and graphfically shows you everything. So where's the genius in that? What's left to sense?
This has to be one of the most imaginative movies made yet. Movies made today are for those to whom senses have been dulled because nothing is sacred and everything is done, everything is shown and like drugs, the 'High' has worn off and it takes something even more graphic, more unspeakable to make a person
"feel" what they're watching.
Aliens, Predator etc. all have their place, but Black and White film and the imagination go hand-in-hand.
When was the last time you were afraid of the dark in color?
5 stars all the way!!!!