The Haunting
| release date | September 18 1963 |
| studio | MGM/Warner |
| director | Robert Wise |
| writer | Shirley Jackson, Nelson Gidding |
| starring | Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn |
| tagline | You may not believe in ghosts but you cannot deny terror |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
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scary as hell
Unnerving, yes. Scary? Maybe it was in the time it was made. The age gives it a bit of a cheesy feel that should not be there, but other than that it is one of the most original and frightening movies of its time. But notice that doesn’t mean our time as well, unfortunately.
Loved it. Classic, made me jump.
Remake was rubbish.
One of my favorite horror movies, and one of the scariest ever made. It’s the perfect example of what you don’t see is scarier than anything they could have shown you. All these things are happening but you don’t who or what is doing it. Whatever is doing it is in your imagination. And your imagination is the scariest thing of all.
Watch this film with the lights off and the sound turned way up. There are very few effects in this film in terms of visuals, but the sound effects will creep you out. A classic it is and always will be.
“The Haunting” is considered as one of the greatest and scariest movies of all time. Well, I enjoyed it pretty much but IMO it’s definitely not as great and scary as I expected it to be. It’s too long, there are too many boring and tediously slow-paced scenes and Julie Harris’ character is often extremely annoying.
Aside from that, it’s still a fabulous haunted-house-flick, well-written and well-paced. The Hill House with all its unsettling rooms and haunting corridors looks just excellent. The camera work is mostly amazing and the soundtrack quite effective.
Apart from the adorable performances from Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Rosalie Crutchley (“In the night… in the dark.”), the highlights of “The Haunting” are of course the scares and the creepy scenes: the hammering and the scene with the face on the wall totally kept me on the edge of my seat. The ‘breathing door’ was frightening and the trap door nearly gave me a heart attack.
Overall, an overrated but nevertheless highly entertaining horror classic.
I was surprised to see this movie only receive 7 out of 10 from BD. I’m on a haunted house horror marathon and so far, this is the best haunted house horror movie I’ve ever seen. It is currently contending (in my own book) against Dead of Night (1945) as British best horror movie ever.
When I first read the synopsis of the movie, I didn’t believe a haunted house with erratic character would actually scare me, because The Shining upset me a great deal by having the same character (played by Shelley Duvall who was abused in real-life by Stanley Kubrick) which didn’t deliver, add to it the fact that I found the acting laughable and none of the scenes scared me at all. So when I learned upon the synopsis of The Haunting, I took some time to decide whether or not I would watch it before finally adding it to my marathon list because I finally thought maybe Robert Wise would be wise enough (pun intended) to not abuse Julie Harris (whom I’ve heard had a great difficulty playing Eleanor Lance character) like Kubrick did to Duvall which ultimately lead to her unendingly annoying portrayal (which earned her and Kubrick two Razzie nominations), in which perhaps the worst performance ever in mainstream horror. And boy, am I glad to give The Haunting a well deserving chance!!
It’s just like I always dream a haunted house horror movie to be!! Amazing story, masterful directing, eerie atmosphere, magnificent camera work, well-built suspense, top notch score, beautiful cinematography, great leading characters, and incredible acting by Julie Harris!! Her character actually came as sad more than annoying, and since she was given a fair background story, you could sympathize with her behavior throughout the movie!! The effects and the scenes were well done and the tensions were well done!!
I’m not saying movies like The Legend of Hell House & House On The Haunted Hill were bad, no, but The Haunting has the ‘it’ factor that grips your from the start and never let go. The two noises on the wall scene were very tense, the bending door scene was eye-catching, the stair scene was dramatic, the ceiling scene almost gave me a heart attack, and the ending was frightening!! It must have one of the best last lines in horror history EVER. I’m glad I gave this watch!! A masterpiece in every possible level of film-making! Too bad they don’t make ‘em like this anymore!!! Martin Scorsese didn’t name this movie the scariest horror movie of all time for nothing.
10/10. Eternally recommended.
Classic ghost story. I liked how the beginning of the novel was included in the films prologue and set the tone for the rest of the movie. Eleanor’s character has an overactive imagination plus a nervous disposition to begin with, combine that with the macabre past of the house and you get a whole lotta crazy…. in the night…in dark. lol.