The Haunting

USA 1963
produced by
Robert Wise for Argyle Enterprises/MGM
directed by Robert Wise
starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, Ray Compton, Rosalie Crutchley, Lois Maxwell, Valentine Dyall, Diane Clare, Ronald Adam, Howard Lang, Janet Mansell, Freda Knorr, Pamela Buckley, Amy Dalby, Rosemary Dorken, Paul Maxwell, Verina Greenlaw, Claude Jones, Susan Richard
screenplay by Nelson Gidding, based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, music by Humphrey Searle, special effects by Tom Howard

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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Professor Markway (Richard Johnson) is professionally investigating parapsychological phenomena, and now he has found a house that is supposed to be genuinely haunted ... so he gathers a small group of specialists - Eleanor (Julie Harris) who is said to have seen a real poltergeist, medium Theodora (Claire Bloom) and young Luke (Russ Tamblyn), the future owner of the house, who acts as a sort of watchdog - to find out more about the haunting of Hill House. At first though it seems the house is just built to give people a good little scare by being constructed in a non-rectangular fashion - which keeps people disoriented - and slightly off-center so the doors seem to be closing all by themselves.

It's only in the first night that things start to go bump and scare everybody out of their minds, especially Eleanor - but it is also Eleanor who totally insists on staying in the house ... because what the others didn't know, Eleanor is emotionally unhinged since the death of her mother (for which she blames herself), has no home (she lives at her sister's) and no job, and for her this whole investigation thing is the first time she is doing anything with her life ...

Instead of unlocking the parapsychological mysteries of Hill House, Professor Markway is slowly exploring the psyche of Eleanor, and Eleanor soon develops a crush on him, mainly because he's the first person who shows an interest in her - apart from Theodora, but her interest is more of a sexual nature, which repulses Eleanor.

Then Markway's wife Grace (Lois Maxwell) arrives and insists to stay, and since she is not at all into her hubby's supernatural stuff, she chooses the nursery - considered the most haunted room of Hill House - as her abode.

Upon learning that Markway is married, Eleanor becomes even more unhinged and now thinks the house itself wants her, which makes her act more and more irrational, even risking her life a few times, before Markway realizes everything is too much for her and he sends her home. But even when she drives away she has no intention to leave for home, until she, trying to evade Grace, who suddenly stumbles onto the street, hits a tree with her car and dies instantly.

Hill House has claimed another victim, while its secret still remains unlocked.

A textbook example of a haunted house-thriller: The Haunting uses next to no special effects (apart from a scene that shows a door breathing) to scare its viewers, instead intelligently uses sound, camera angles and camera lenses to make its horror come across - and does so remarkably well. Add to that an intelligent screenplay that juxtaposes inner turmoil and outer terror and a decent ensemble cast where nobody tries to outshine the others, and you have got one classic horror flick.

Strongly recommended.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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