The Haunting
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Movie Reviews of The Haunting
Movie Review: The Granddaddy of Haunted House Pictures
Summary: 5 Stars
"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality... Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within... silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."Thus begins Shirley Jackson's classic and harrowing tale, "The Haunting of Hill House." (If the last part of the introduction sounds vaguely familiar, perhaps that is because Stephen King quoted it in his novel, "The Shining" - a modern master paying homage to an earlier one.
This first - and finest - film version, made by Robert Wise (who also gave us "The Sound of Music"!), has a stand-out cast headed by Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn. And Hill House. (Though, for some reason, the director couldn't quite find a house to his liking in New England, where the story takes place, so went "across the pond" to England to find one.)
Although some changes were made between the novel and screenplay, the result is a truely terrifying film - in a cerebral way. If you're looking for graphic mayhem and gore, try the remake - or any number of "dead teenager" pics. THIS is the genuine article: four people reasearching the supernatural take-up residence in an old New England house reputed to be haunted. This proves to have been a very bad mistake.
Filmed in superbly atmospheric black and white by Davis Boulton and employing a specially ground lense for many of the interior shots, which adds to the mounting sense of unease and discomfort for the viewer (especially when seen in widescreen), "The Haunting" is a true classic. There are some memorable special effects in the "less-is-more" genre (one was borrowed by Disney for their Haunted Mansion). Well-paced, the film is centered upon the supernatural haunting within Hill House, and the haunting torment within the mind of Eleanor Vance (Julie Harris), for whom the house reaches. There is no contest.
As The New York Times said in a review of this picture once, "A truely terrifying film...see it with a friend."
Movie Review: Shirley Jackson Would Be Proud...
Summary: 5 Stars
Robert Wise is a very ecclectic director! With musicals like WEST SIDE STORY and THE SOUND OF MUSIC in his resume, alongside such sci-fi flicks as THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, and STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, as well as the horror tales CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE and THE BODYSNATCHER! THE HAUNTING is my favorite Wise movie. A true ghost story w/ loads of dark back-story and eeriness galore! Julie Harris plays Nell Lance w/ just the right amount of quirky nervousness. She is the heart of the story and the object of Hill House's latest desire. The house is a spiritual battery of sorts, gathering and storing victims in it's twisting hallways and labyrinthine walls. Dr. Markway (Richard "ZOMBIE" Johnson) has no idea of the place's true power until it's too late. To him, it's all a grand experiment. As an anthropologist / para-psychologist, he wants odd things to happen. Markway is in for a big shock! Hill House delivers and lets loose it's nightmares from within it's woodwork. Theo (Claire Bloom) is the ESP marvel who feels the deeper chills and knows when things are out of control. Her relationship w/ Nell is both sweet and strange. Theo enjoys revealing Nell's well-guarded secrets to the others and to Nell herself. Luke (Russ Tamblyn) is the millionaire nephew who stands to inherit Hill House. He doesn't believe in spooks and just wants to sell the house and move on. He too is in for a jolt! Yes, Hill House is a living organism of horror and evil, set on accumulating all of the insanity and despair it can hold. And it can hold quite a bit! Most of all, it needs human victims to live in it's rooms. It needs minds like Nell's to drink in and be overwhelmed by it's shadows and dank odors. THE HAUNTING is a ghost story that never insults our intelligence. We are never hit over the head w/ idiotic effects or blood-soaked nonsense. Instead, we are scared of the dark! The only movies that come close are THE CHANGELING and SESSION 9. Watch this one alone, late at night, with plenty of blankets around...Movie Review: The "Gold Standard" for haunted house movies!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are collecting haunted house movies this wonderful old film must be purchased to make your collection complete. There is no question that this film is the gold standard against which every other haunted house movie is rated. It is a black and white movie which does not rely on special effects to put on a great show. The film definitely had a great cast to act out a good plot which was faithful to the wonderful book by Shirley Jackson. It also had great camera work and a musical score which worked. The most important thing personally was that I cared what happened to the characters, and that generally means the film worked for me.
In order to produce a chilling effect this film relied on few visual effects. What it did employ was a very excellent sound track containing barely intelligible scraps of speech, crying, wind, and banging sounds with an effective musical score in order to keep the audience on edge.
I do think that the movie was not without fault and I think that many fans overlook the fact that an otherwise near perfect movie had a couple of poorly thought out lines. The dialogue in question may have been the work of a studio writer just looking to jazz up the movie. I think that person failed. Some of the lines I could have lived without include (usually Dr. Markway is speaking):
"This is the operating room; I mean the center of operations."
Luke said ... "I am here because I am a wolf in ghosts clothing".
I'm not running a psychic beauty contest.
Markway ... "Psychic phenomenon are subject to certain laws".
Luke ..."What are they?"
Markway ..."You won't know until you break them".
If that sort of dialogue does not trouble you I am certain you will enjoy this film. This DVD was a very good transfer. By the way, I personally enjoyed the remake and thought the rewrite of the story presented some interesting twists from the original plot.
Movie Review: One of the best ever...
Summary: 5 Stars
Robert Wise's 1963 "Haunting" is one of the great gothic ghost flicks ever. Period. Filmed in glorious black and white with a great cast, this is a wonderful example of how sound and insinuation do more to frighten you than expicit graphic violence and gore.The downside is that the script is a bit cliched, like an old 50's romance (Oh Nell....my dear sweet Nell...). Apart from that, I believe it is a nearly ideal story with superb subtely naunced performances. A bit risque for it's time with thinly veiled innuendos: Eleanor and the good Dr., Theo and Nell, and Luke with his drink.
A good cast led by Richard Johnson as Dr. Markway and Julie Harris as the socially stunted Eleanor, with Claire Bloom as the flamboyant Theo and Russ Tamblyn as the thirsty and fast-living sarcastic Luke make for a wonderful down played ensemble. Even the minor roles are well done, especially Mr. and Mrs. Dudley, who are superior to their counterparts in the terrible remake.
The most effective scenes are where you see nothing (save for a message on a wall or a twisting doorknob), but hear plenty. And what is this entity that calls for Nell? We don't know, and we don't care! Somethings are better left veiled without the explanation of an old Indian burial ground or the revealing of Nell's intricate family history which was made up for the unimaginative remake.
Nicely enhanced by a tremendous score, this isn't a film to make you jump at every corner, but will,through atmosphere and subtlety, make the hair stand up on the back of your neck and have you reach for the light switch. Let's just hope that the DVD
does it justice!
While there are less than a handful of innovations or improvements in the remake, such as the opening scene with Lili Taylor arguing over her mother's apartment, or the subtle movements of figurines on the mantles, there is little else to remotely reccomend it.
Movie Review: THE ABSOLUTE BEST FILM ABOUT A HAUNTED HOUSE EVER MADE!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER WORKS TO GREAT EFFECT. DIRECTOR ROBERT WISE'S INTELLIGENT USE OF CAMERA ANGLES, MOOD LIGHTING AND SUSPENSFUL MUSIC BROUGHT REALISM TO THIS FILM ABOUT A CURSED AND HAUNTED 1800 CENTURY NEW ENGLAND MANSION, SET IN THE RURAL COUNTRYSIDE, DESOLATE AND FORBIDDEN AND LONELY, FEARFUL AND DARK AND WITH A CREEPY FEELING ALL IT'S OWN. FORGET THE REMAKE, FORGET THE AMITYVILLE FILMS, THIS FILM EVEN BLOWS HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL INTO THE MINOR LEAGUES.
THE SET DESIGNS FOR THE EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR OF HILL HOUSE WERE CAVERNOUS AND CLAUSTROPHOBIC AT THE SAME TIME. AS THOUGH THE HOUSE WERE TRYING TO CHOKE THE LIFE OUT OF YOU. THE HAUNTING GAVE ME THE VERY REAL SENSE THAT THIS MYSTERIOUS MANSION WAS INFECTED WITH MALOVENT SPIRITS, BENT ON PROTECTING THEIR DARK DOMAIN, WHICH HAD BEEN INVADED BY THE LIVING PARAPSYCHOLOGY TEAM WHO WAS SENT THERE TO INVESTIGTAE THE POSSIBILITY OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE SUPERNATUAL AND TO SEE IF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN BOTH WORLDS WAS POSSIBLE. IT WAS BUT AT GREAT COST OF LIFE.
THE HAUNTING WILL LURE YOU INTO IT'S GHOSTLY WEB AND NEVER LET YOU ESCAPE. YOU WILL FEEL LIKE YOU'RE A FLY TRAPPED IN A SPIDER WEB. WITH THE GHOSTS BEING THE SPIDER. NO OTHER HORROR FILM ABOUT HAUNTED HOUSES CAN COME CLOSE TO THE FEAR THAT THE HAUNTING INJECTED INTO THE IMAGINATIONS OF PEOPLE. AFTER YOU WATCH THIS GREAT MOVIE, YOU WILL LOOK AT THE SHADOWS AND DIM LIGHT IN YOUR HOME AT NIGHT SOMEWHAT DIFFERENLTY THAN BEFORE AND YOU WILL WONDER IF THE WORLD OF SPIRIT IS REAL, IF THE CONCIOUSNESS OF THOSE WHO HAVE DIED CAN SURVIVE WHAT WE CALL DEATH AND CONTINUE TO EXIST IN AN INVISIBLE DIMENSION OF INTANGIBLE SPIRIT, A WORLD UNKNOWN TO OUR FIVE SENSES.
THE HAUNTING RANKS AT THE TOP TEN OF ALL TIME HORROR FILMS, IN MY OPINION. GET IT, BEFORE YOU DIE.