review
The Haunting
Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn and a host of ghosts and goblins bring Halloween to Tired Old Queen at the Movies, with Robert Wise's classic The Haunting (1963).
Shot in black and white and based on a novel by horror master Shirley Jackson, this is probably the scariest haunted house movie ever made. Filled with superb performances, an eerie score, fabulous sets and shot in an atmosphere of absolute conviction, this film will not only make you believe in ghosts, but will have you jumping out of your skin at a knock on the door. Whatever you do, wherever you are, whoever they are, don't let them in! Happy Halloween!
Steve Hayes
Shot in black and white and based on a novel by horror master Shirley Jackson, this is probably the scariest haunted house movie ever made. Filled with superb performances, an eerie score, fabulous sets and shot in an atmosphere of absolute conviction, this film will not only make you believe in ghosts, but will have you jumping out of your skin at a knock on the door. Whatever you do, wherever you are, whoever they are, don't let them in! Happy Halloween!
Steve Hayes
(Syndication is with the kind permission of Steve Hayes.)
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3 comments:
This is one of my all-time favourite movies, one of the first 'shock-scare' films, but also atmospheric & classy & beautifully filmed, with a just-wonderful final voiceover line - & actually psychologically observant & attentive. My favourite line? Neurotic Claire Bloom's rebuttal of a patronising remark: 'What am I, the town dump for everyone to dump on?'
I mean Julie Harris (as the neurotic spinster) not Claire Bloom...
Agreed. What made this picture so terrifying for me was the effective use of audio as a tool to enhance the fear by drawing upon the aural senses, not just the visual.
And the random, unresolved ending was far, far ahead of its time.
An excellent and truly terrifying film even by today's jaded standards.
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