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Amazon.co.uk Review
Consumed by guilt and grief over her mother's recent death and driven to adventure by her belief in the supernatural, Eleanor Vance (Julie Harris) is the most unstable--and therefore the most vulnerable--visitor to Hill House. She's invited there by anthropologist Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson), along with the bohemian lesbian Theodora (Claire Bloom), who has acute extra-sensory abilities, and glib playboy Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn, from Wise's West Side Story), who will gladly inherit Hill House if it proves to be hospitable. Of course, the shadowy mansion is anything but welcoming to its unwanted intruders. Strange noises, from muffled wails to deafening pounding, set the stage for even scarier occurrences, including a door that appears to breathe (with a slowly turning doorknob that's almost unbearably suspenseful), unexplained writing on walls, and a delicate spiral staircase that seems to have a life of its own.
The genius of The Haunting lies in the restraint of Wise and screenwriter Nelson Gidding, who elicit almost all of the film's mounting terror from the psychology of its characters--particularly Eleanor, whose grip on sanity grows increasingly tenuous. The presence of lurking spirits relies heavily on the power of suggestion (likewise the cautious handling of Theodora's attraction to Eleanor) and the film's use of sound is more terrifying than anything Wise could have shown with his camera. Like Jack Clayton's 1961 chiller, The Innocents, The Haunting knows the value of planting the seeds of terror in the mind, as opposed to letting them blossom graphically on the screen. What you don't see is infinitely more frightening than what you do, and with nary a severed head or bloody corpse in sight, The Haunting is guaranteed to chill you to the bone. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.co.uk Review
On the DVD: The Haunting comes to DVD with a trailer narrated in character by Johnson, a satisfyingly packed file of stills and an interesting commentary featuring input recorded separately from Wise, screenwriter Nelson Gidding and all four principal cast members. --Kim Newman
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
62 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The unknown evil,
By
This review is from: The Haunting (1963) W/S [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Modern horror film today relies upon computer graphics, copius amounts of cursing and beautiful actors and actresses pretending to be talented.Directors and producers should take heed from the imagination and uniquity that was shown in the amateur flick "The Blair Witch Project" which, despite a 6th form college Media Studies A-Level type ending, and annoying american actors was a highly engrossing film. What Blair Witch Project got right was the rule that you should never show the evil doer throughout the film. Evil Dead 1-3, Blair Witch and other now noticeably cult films used this technique. And so did the director of "The Haunting". This film is an intriguing analysis of a disturbed woman from an uncaring background, haunted by her mother who fell ill and was bed-ridden. The daughter had to look after her for a long time, suffering from depression and stress until one night her mother banged on the wall and she just ignored her. The mother died and the daughter blames herself. She decides all of a sudden to join a team of people that are going to spend a few days in a house on a hill. (Hill House). The team is made up of paranormal enthusiasts, a sensitive, and the young heir to the house. The mixture of people really decides the amount of tension between the characters, let alone the ghosts! The sensitive senses the main characters psychological problems which stem from her poor background. Small conflicts happen between them throughout the film until the sheer terror presented to them by this evil, dark, twisted house ultimately unites all the characters. The House begins to mock the disturbed woman who begins to lose her mind, very much like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining". This eventually leads to a very decent ending for a film of this sort. The actors are quite literally superb, from the disturbed woman to the paranormal investigator who coins the excellent phrase "The worst protection against the supernatural is a closed mind" The Ghosts are never seen. This really heightens the fear factor and makes you wait for the next chilling moment. One truly chilling moment is when the disturbed woman is lying asleep suddenly awoken by a noise. As she mulls over about what had happened during the day she grows more tense about her surroundings. The camera moves toward a very strange position, it points at the wall with moonlight shining from the right. In the background a monk-like chanting begins to grow in intensity and volume while a small childs crying can be heard under the chanting. As the moonlight begins to heighten in the sky small holes in the wall begin to shadow resembling a statanic looking face. This is *the* most evil, dark, disturbing image and sound you or anyone on this planet will *EVER* see. I assure you, this film sets precedents that will never be bettered. I'm surprised that this film did'nt win an Oscar, well actually I'm not surprised, because this film is far greater than the trash that has fouled such a impressive awards ceremony.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Creepy,
By
This review is from: The Haunting [DVD] [1963] (DVD)
It's a film which uses your own imagination to scare you....probably the best types of films to watch if like feeling creepy. All the modern blood and guts films wouldn't frighten my 11 year old grandaughter if she watched any, but this would and I wouldn't let her watch this.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who Needs Special Effects?,
By
This review is from: The Haunting [DVD] [1963] (DVD)
You know, if you look at the horror genre today (because horror is what it is all about; in bucket loads) there seems to be something missing. When was the last time you were truly scared whilst watching a movie? Screen writers today, seem to concentrate far too much on CGI and tidal waves of blood and guts to cover for a poor and shallow script performed by equally poor actors. Nobody seems to know anymore how to put a good shocker together. Gone are the genuine scares, to be replaced by instantly forgettable, shallow scripted nonsense.
I have always held true, it is not what you see on screen, it is what you do not see, that generates the shocks. This technique is put to excellent use in The Haunting of Hill House, to give it its original title. The unseen menace that haunts this Gothic mansion, is atmospherically played out with minimum effects, other than sound and lighting used to perfection. The mental state of Eleanor, played quite brilliantly by Julie Harris, is laid bare and brought it to question quite early in the movie and escalates in to full blown hysteria toward the end. What starts as a paranormal investigation, soon spirals into terror for Eleanor, as she is singled out by the entity, who is hell bent on claiming her soul. A great movie and well worth the meagre asking price.
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