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| COVER GALLERY |
| Film vitals |
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· Year: 1963
· Director: Robert Wise
· Writer: Nelson Gidding, Shirley Jackson (novel)
· Cast: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom
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| Series info |
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· Based on The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson.
· Jackson's book was also made into a 1999 film, also named The Haunting.
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| Synopsis |
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A parapsychiatrist performs a study on Hill House, a secluded and supposedly haunted New England mansion, by taking three people there to observe any phenomena that might occur. Soon, they are terrorized by the house as it tries to take them--especially one of them--for its own.
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Rank:
#6
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RATING
Out of 100 |
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99
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| COLD ANALYSIS |
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ATMOSPHERE
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GORE
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HUMOR
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SCARES
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TENSION
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The haunted house movie by which all others have been judged, and rightfully so. Robert Wise's film is a remarkable achievement--subtle, artistic, and terrifying, this film has never quite been matched. Not only is it atmospheric and absolutely terrifying at parts, it is well-written, intelligent, and (for a thriller) deep. It got under my skin in ways I never thought possible; the film takes advantage of the simple fears we all share--darkness, sourceless noises, helplessness. And, more than anything, the fear of the unknown. The Haunting--more than any other film before or after--has shown us that no one is safe from evil, no matter what any of us may believe. Nor is it within our power to ever totally defeat evil, for it is within us as much as it is outside of us.
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COLD ANALYSIS
out of 4 |
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| General rating |
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This is what they mean when they say Hollywood just doesn't make 'em like this anymore... The original 1963 version of The Haunting (not to be confused with the House on Haunted Hill from 1958 with Vincent Price, or 1973's Legend of Hell House) is considered by many critics to be moviedom's best ghost movie, and rightly so. Sad, mournful, truly eerie, this original classic proves why artful filmmaking is so much more important than relying on obvious, over-the-top visual effects (like the ghastly 1999 remake of this film).
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DR. MARKWAY: As a matter of fact, I don't think it is anything supernatural. [. . .] [It is] more likely to [belong] to the realm of praeter-natural, [ . . .] something we don't have any natural explanation for right now, but probably will have some day. The praeter-natural of one generation becomes the natural of the next. You know, not so long ago scientists laughed at the idea of magnetic attraction. They couldn't explain it, so they refused to admit it existed. [. . .]
Unknown, that's the key word. Unknown. When we become involved in a supernatural event, we are scared out of wits just because it's unknown. The night cry of a child, a face on the wall, knockings, bangings, what's there to be afraid of? [..] When people believed the earth was flat, the idea of a round world scared them silly. Then they found out how the round world works. It's the same with the world of the supernatural. Until we know how it works, we'll continue to carry around this unneccessary burden of fear.
NELL: Supposing it is in my imagination, the knocking, the voices, everything, every cursed bit of the haunting, supposed the haunting is all in my mind. [. . .] I could say all three of you are in my imagination, none of this is real.
DR. MARKWAY:Sure, that's the easiest way to dismiss the supernatural, by pleading insanity or accusing others of it. [time index approx. 1h30m]
Obviously lacking the visual effects extravaganza of the remake, the original Haunting works on another level, more subtle, more introspective, also with a bit more ambiguity. The explanation of the events is not given, nor is there any kind of conclusion to the story of Hill House. Thus the remake then fulfills another function than just mimicking the original.
The film's premise is different from the remake, it is rather about approaching the supernatural, giving it a method, trying to tie it to science, trying to remove it from the realm of superstition and letting it be dealt with in a scientific way. To do that, of course, the existence of the supernatural would have to be believed in.
The film works perfectly in its cast and dialogue, and although there are (almost) no visible effects, the terror becomes real, the house comes to life.
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