The Haunting [Blu-ray]

Classic ghost story. B&W + the music make this movie. No gore!

Nell Lance is not well. She has spent most of her adult life caring for her invalid mother and she is having difficulty coping now that mother has passed on. She sees her big opportunity to live a little when she is invited to the Hill House for a brief stay. This is her time to socialize, to break out of her cocoon and to prove to everyone else that she belongs in their group. Seems she has somehow gotten the wrong idea. The well known Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson) sees the recently vacated Hill House as an opportunity to prove the existence of ghosts, ghouls and/or goblins. He has invited Theo (the beautiful Claire Bloom) for her psychic ability and the skeptical Luke (Russ Tamblyn) for use of his inherited house. Nell was asked to come because of her propensity for communicating with the dead, a claim she vehemently denies. What the group finds at Hill House is worth investigating for viewers. Julie Harris is terrific as the disturbed Nell and the others turn in good performances as well. I wouldnt go so far as to say this is a scary movie, but Robert Wises direction makes this a fairly gripping movie. I am slightly surprised by its G rating, given the intense moments and a couple of swear words. This really should be PG. You cant really go wrong if you are looking for a good haunted house movie.

Was scary when it came out still scary no special effects neede

I have very vivid memories of the first time I watched The Haunting. I must have been about 8 or 9 years old, and had an understanding brother as a babysitter that night. The film itself, as you can imagine for a boy of that age, terrified me and I had problems sleeping that night. It stayed in my memory for years after, until I next saw it, this time as an adult. It is, in my opinion, a truly great film. It stands the test of time and remains one of the best suspense horror films. The special effects, in todays terms, are at best below average, and yet the impact it makes upon the viewers imagination is tremendous. The characters are all played to perfection, and it is unfortunate that no member of the cast went on to reach the status they deserved. In the UK, Russ Tamblyn is probably the most well-known. My disappointment came when I managed to locate a copy of the original novel by Shirley Jackson. I had been brought up on a film which had made such a large impression on me at a tender age, and through repeated viewings only enforced the status of it amongst the genre. However, the novel is an excellent piece of work. It is true to say that the written word stimulates the imagination more than celluloid as you envisage the characters in their entirety, and having read the book 2 or 3 times I now wonder if the film should have stayed more closely to the book. Dr Markway is dashing, but Dr Montague would have given a different emphasis to the whole film, as would the love interest with Luke and Theo. Regardless, a classic film...I only hope the remake can lace its boots....

Best haunted house movie ever made!

My sister and I first watched this movie on TV in the late 1960s....scared us to death. It has always remained a favorite to watch around Halloween. Its a genuinely scary movie, not a blood & guts movie, which is what I prefer. Wonderfully done. Real ghost stories are difficult to find. This is a classic.

I cant expound too much on what other reviewers much better than myself have already said, but just chime in with those who really love this movie. A movie that could not possibly be made in this day and time, without the temptation to add the overblown CGI, instead of letting the viewers imagination supply the ghosts (case in point, the somewhat entertaining, but mostly disappointing remake). To me, watching a superbly made film like The Haunting is like enjoying a delicious piece of candy. Brain candy, if you will, and believe me, this movie is the everlasting gobstopper!

This movie has been a favorite of mine since it first came out. I always remember this movie as a 5 pillow-covering-face movie. Because it doesnt have all those special effects like the re-make and because it is filmed in black and white, its more chilling because of what you dont see. It leaves you to your imagination as to what is going on. Ive had this movie in VHS format for all these years and the tape was wearing down because of its frequent viewing so I opted for the DVD version. I like the extras too. Great great movie. Robert Wise certainly knew how to make a scary movie.....

Great film! Faithful to the book.

Long before Netflix was even a small stream, Shirley Jackson wrote The Haunting of Hill House. Jackson decided to write about a haunted house after studying nineteenth-century ghost researchers from the Society for Psychic Research, who she believed had not found a true haunted house, but instead, she said they were several earnest, I believe misguided, certainly determined people, with their differing motivations and background. Directed by Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, West Side Story and the editor of Citizen Kane), the real star of the movie is the house itself. Elliot Scott (who also art directed Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Labyrinth) designed the brightly lit set, which had no dark corners or places to hide, yet were made to be claustrophobic with ceilings in each set (traditionally, film sets have no ceilings). Wise further added to the effect by using an untested 30mm anamorphic wide-angle Panavision lens that created distortions that were further pushed with low angle shots and strange tracking shots. Upon release, the film was seen as messy and incoherent, yet in the years that followed, its been celebrated as one of cinemas best horror films. Hill Houses exteriors are actually Ettington Park, a hotel that was once called the most important and impressive High Victorian house in the county. Supposedly, Wise met a society of British haunted house devotees, who pointed him to the house. Starring five-time Tony winner Julie Harris as Eleanor, Claire Bloom CBE as Theodora, Russ Tamblyn (Twin Peaks and Dr. Montague in the new version of The Haunting of Hill House) as Luke Sanderson and Richard Johnson (Dr. Menard from Zombi 2!) as Doctor Markaway, the film begins with Markaway explaining the history of Hill House. It was made by Hugh Crain for his wife, but she died in a carriage crash as she approached the house for the first time. His second wife died falling down the stairs. And his daughter Abigail lived as a recluse there her entire life, giving it to her nurse upon her death. And that nurse? She hung herself. Now, it belongs to Mrs. Sanderson, who allows Markaway to study the house as long as he takes Luke with him. Theodora is a psychic (also one of the first expressly lesbian characters in cinema) and Eleanor is continually depressed (as was Harris throughout shooting), who saw ghosts as a child and had to care for her mother until her recent death. Despite everyone elses terror when the house begins to emit loud noises and knocks, Eleanor begins to fall in love with it. Soon, Markways wife Grace (Lois Maxwell, Moneypenny from the James Bond series of films) arrives, demands a bed at the center of the haunting and begins to bedevil Eleanor, who is losing herself to either insanity, the house or perhaps both. Heres a trivia fact that probably no one but me will care about -- Mr. Dudley is played by Valentine Dyall, who is the voice of the mummy in the absolutely unhinged classic, Bizarre/Secrets of Sex. Mrs. Dudley is played by Rosalie Crutchley from Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? and Amicus And Now the Screaming Starts! My wife would like everyone to know that Theodora has the best clothes ever, because they were designed by Mary Quant, who claimed to have designed the miniskirt and hotpants. Dedicated to one of horror cinemas originators, Val Lewton, cinematic masters such as Stephen Spielberg and Martin Scorsese refer to this as their favorite scary movie. Its a bit talky, but its also packed with moments of unsettling eerieness, particularly as Eleanors voice narrates the sinister ending.