Whether or Not you believe in ghosts, Terror is always there (The Haunting (Wide Screen) (DVD))

Member Name: mercy9

Product:	The Haunting (Wide Screen) (DVD)
Date:	28/06/00 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A classic Ghost movie, possibly one of the best

Disadvantages: The modern remake

"Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years ... and whatever walked there, walked alone."


This film adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s 1959 book The Haunting of Hill House is an understated gem. Shot solely in black and white, the story unfolds as anthropologist Dr. Markway assembles, at Hill House, a group of psychic researchers. Included in the group are two sensitives, Eleanor and Theo, and one avowed skeptic, Luke.

Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris), who has spent her entire adult life caring for her sickly mother, finds herself (quite unhappily) staying with her sister's family when she's invited to participate in Dr. Markway's experiment (a poltergeist experience during her childhood has qualified her for this).

When psychic Theo (Claire Bloom), another participant, arrives, she's quite a relief to Eleanor. She and Eleanor form an unusual friendship. Theo is very friendly when they're alone but coldly distant when they are in the company of others.

Counterbalancing the beliefs of the rest of the team, future Hill House owner Luke (Russ Tamblyn) provides both comic relief and a forum for obvious skepticism.

Our story begins when Eleanor is greeted at Hill House by the painfully unhospitable grounds keeper, Mr. Dudley (Valentine Dyall) and it takes everything in her just to get past the gate. Once she does, the housekeeper, Mrs. Dudley (Rosalie Crutchley), has all the charm of a rabid dog, "I don't stay after I've set out the dinner. Not after it begins to get dark. I leave before the dark comes. We live over in town, miles away, so there won't be anyone around if you need help. No one lives any nearer than town. No one will come any nearer than that. In the night. In the dark."

Like Nosferatu and Vampyr, the chills in The Haunting aren't created through special effects. Without
using the blood and gore of today's horror flicks, Wise creates great tension, and some genuine shocks. Through the use of black and white photography, two wonderful actresses, odd angles, unsettling music, and superb acting, The Haunting is memorably creepy.

The Haunting is not about horrific events. It explores what occurs when our imagination runs away with us. We humans are proven to be remarkably adaptable to any scary situation we can face head on. The unknown is the last frontier and it’s the unknown that makes The Haunting an unforgettably haunting experience.

Since The Haunting I have seen tons of films that have momentarily shocked me but none have been so successful at holding that mood (set in the beginning of the film) and running a chill up my spine, leaving me to look around the room while I quickly pick my feet up off of the floor and tuck them underneath the blanket I was cowering, err, snuggling under.

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