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88 of 92 people found the following review helpful:
THE PERFECT HAUNTED HOUSE MOVIE. ...WANNA KNOW WHY?, August 2, 2003
The story has, by now, been imitated endlessly. Four people on a haunted house just to study it. But this is just the premisse.The great Robert Wise sets up the most perfect, most classic haunted-house film ever made. The screenplay is built on the principle that you don't have to see it (the gore, the blood, etc.) to feel the fear. So, this is one of those great films where the tension is constructed upon the things you hear... the things you know are there. In the pre-CGI era, you really had to create something out of what you had. So, Mr. Wise had a great script (years ahead of its time), great characters, great actors, a great cameraman, and settings that are a wow! This is what makes this film so much better than any other (not to mention its remake - who clearly goes for the predictable cheap-trick CGI effects). The story is told in the most perfect classic form. From beginning to end, you follow the story in the most careful pace. Beat by beat. From the prologue to the conclusion, the story is peerlessly told. The characters and actors are great to watch: Julie Harris is the perfect troubled woman haunted by inner ghosts, while Theodora (the beautiful Claire Bloom) is the perfect icy clairvoyant who may or may not be a lesbian (everything is constructed with such taste...). Richard Johnson is great as the Doctor who must keep control of the experiment. Russ Tamblyn is also great as the non-believer who's in just for the adventure. As we will discover, all of them have weak points the house will explore. So it is possible to say that this is one film where the set (in this case the house itself) is one character just like the others. The house has personality. It's not that unbelievable-monumental-lifeless-overdone-cathedral we see in the remake. This one is more realistic. We all know (and are fascinated by) houses like this one. It has style, visual integrity, proportion and it also puts into the film a nice touch of claustrophobia. As long as the characters are there, they are at its mercy. This "house character" is always present. Trying to get in. Banging at the walls and doors, trying to make itself graphically visible through the shots... ...This is where we get to the camera work - certainly one of the best ever made. In a house so rich with character, the distorted wide-angle lenses (let's not forget that Wise worked with Orson Welles) add much to the final effect. Corridors, statues and other objects are always there to remind you the house is present. They actually keep surprising the characters as if they were saying "we are here". This is why this film is so much superior than its sequel: you don't have to see the statues move... for you know they do when you are not there. In fact, this film constructs a state where you know the things that happen when you don't see them happen. That's pure film magic. I wonder why nobody does films like this any more. Why do they always go now for the CGI obviousness... I just love the wide-angle lens that smoothly move through the rooms... the time we are allowed to see those beautiful sets. and all the uncontrolled fear that invades the characters. The soundtrack is another great element. The film is constructed in an almost silence (which is very confortable at the beginning). So much that the noises made by the hauntings are almost unbearable when the things get rough. This is one of those films that were meant to be seen ONLY in widescreen, for the compositions inside the shots make great use of it (in fact I never saw it in a Pan&Scan; version - I cannot imagine how awfull it must be). This DVD edition has a great commentary audio track by the actors and director but lacks any kind of documentary about how it was made (which I'd love to see). But we can't have it all... If (like me), you love the genre, you will love this film, which is a one-of-a-kind effectively constructed cinematic work. Just don't watch it alone... in the dark... in the night...
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58 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
A chilling, sinister, sophisticated things that go bump, May 24, 2003
It is not often I love a book and go on to enjoy the Movie adaptation. To Kill a Mockingbird, comes to mind. But this is the case with the marvellous movie The Haunting. Since I adore spooky, sinister tales, I treasured Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. And forget the silly, inane remake, this is the Mount Everest of Haunted House movies, only rivalled by The Legend of Hell House made nearly a decade later with Clive Revill, Pamela Franklin and Roddy McDowell and the Innocents with Deborah Kerr and Pamela Franklin. These three would make a super triple-feature of Houses with Things that go Bump, since all three deal not only with the supernatural, the complexities of the mind, but the force of the will lingering after death.The Haunting is a rather faithful adaptation of Jackson's dark and spooky novel. The key word being spooky - not gory. If you are looking for buckets of blood, search on. This is a sophisticated movie that chills rather than shocks. Staring the gorgeous Richard Johnson as Dr. John Markway, a man determined to prove ghosts do exist. And since he believes he will find them at Hill House, he arranges with the current owner to rent the house to carry out his research - though part of the pact is he must accept her grandson Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblin) to keep an eye on things. Markway invites a wide range of people to come and take part, people with a past that showed their lives were brushed by the paranormal. However, only two come: Theodora, a clairvoyant with vague lesbian hints played by Claire Bloom, and Eleanor Lance brought to aching life by the brilliant Julie Harris. Eleanor is a timid woman, browbeaten her whole life. She spent her youth tending her ailing mother and is now forced to live with her sister and her family. They are quick to take her money for rent, but show her little respect. In her one act of rebellion in her whole life, she accepts the invitation from Markway. When she arrives at Hill House, no one is there except a cranky gatekeeper and his equally cranky wife, who inform her they leave when it gets dark and there won't be anyone to help her. Eleanor gets spooked, but finds Theodora, a chic, smart woman with a biting sense of humour. Despite the women being total opposites, they instantly like each other and set about to explore the dark, brooding and nearly suffocating house. Just as they are about to panic, they stumble into the dining room where Markway is. He performs introductions, and takes them on a tour, while giving the strange history of the house. Seems despite the house's ancient feel it is not that old. Hugh Crane built it for his first wife. However, she never saw the house, being killed as the carriage crashed into a tree on the way to occupy it. We learn Hugh was an overbearing, macho, zealot who tormented his daughter with devils and Hell rather than nursery rhymes. The second Mrs. Crane met an equally strange death in the house, leaving it to go to Hugh daughter, Abigail. She grows old and dies in the room that was her nursery, tended by a nurse/companion. Since there was no family, the nurse inherited the house. However, her enjoyment is short lived, as she later hangs herself from the ceiling in the library. Since then, no one has been able to live in the house. It is not long before all sorts of sinister and chilling todos begin plaguing the women, especially Eleanor, for it seems the House has targeted her, even to a mysterious "welcome home, Eleanor" scrawled across the wall. Eleanor begins to remake her
image into the person she would like to be in her heart. She starts to have romantic illusions about Markway, only to have them shattered when his strong willed wife ( Lois Maxwell, Moneypenny from the Connery Bond films!!) shows up demanding he stop this nonsense about ghosts. The movie is quite believable, walks the thin line in the Henry James' Turn of the Screw style story, of how much is real and how much is within the mind. The acting is faultless with the four leads turning in understated, yet oh so perfect performances. In Black and White, I could not imagine this movie in the brilliant washes of colour needed for colour filming. The dark lensing of The Haunting lets those shadows rule and give it threatening, disturbing feel that sets the tone for the movie. So turn out the lights and enjoy one of the best haunted house film, and if you are lucky enough have that triple feature with The Innocents and The Legend of Hell House! A great way to spend a rainy Saturday night!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Things that go bump in the night, August 8, 2003
Before they were called horror movies they were called thrillers. Robert Wise's brilliant film version of Shirley Jackson's classic novel focuses on what we can't see in the shadows that frightens us. Before horror film directors abandoned all their skills and resorted to cheap shock tactics to scare audiences, Wise, Nelson Gidding (screenwriter)and his cast created a masterpiece that is just as creepy as it was 40 years ago. It seems like a distant era. The Cuban missile crisis had recently occurred, Kennedy's assasination and the Cold War had created a sense of paranoia that hadn't been experienced before. The weapons of mass destruction ruled the day to day consciousness of many school children and adults. It was a perfect time for the revival of scary movies. They always seem to crawl out of the woodwork when the psyche needs them most.There have been a number of pretenders to the throne of haunted house movies. Richard Matheson's fine homage The Haunting of Hell House (and his marvelous novel)are almost comparable to the classic that Wise helped create. Part of the power of this marvelous film is in the skillful performances by Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Russ Tambyn and Richard Johnson. Johnson plays Dr. Markway who invites three indivduals to a haunted house for an experiment. Hill House has a reputation as a place of evil. He wants to see if two of the three who have exhibited some degree of psyche abilities can sense anything as they stay in the house overnight. The third is a distant relative of the founder of Hill House. He's there to be the placebo if you will. Strange doings occur while they occupy the house. Most of them seem centered on poor Nell (Harris)who, somehow, seems to be in tune with the house. They're all in for one hell'va night. Everything in the film is perfect from the production design to the interior monologue delivered by Harris as Nell. The transfer is crisp and fairly good although occasionally soft in spots. It appears that it is in the original aspect ratio for the first time on home video. The commentaries by the cast members and director Wise are interesting and informative. It was probably a good idea to have multiple commentaries as, despite Wise's considerable talents, he isn't always the best storyteller (as witnessed on the DVD of The Day the Earth Stood Still). While the remake is interesting, has a number of compelling performances, it can't compare. The director of the remake resorts to too many CGI effects and explains everything too clearly. Without the mystery, there's no substance to the film. CGI effects are fine but they demystify and that can undermine a thriller or horror film. Purchase the original classic film and approach it with an open mind. It has atmosphere and enough creepy effects to make it perfect for viewing on a dark, stormy night.
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