When it
comes to horror films, there’s different sub-genera’s with a distinct look, identity,
and feel. While I’ve seen various great horror movies from different mediums,
my personal favorite category is the haunted house genera. This is when I feel
horror has the chance to get the most creative, atmospheric and it always makes
the scares feel more like a theme park ride. 1963’s “The Haunting” is practically
the poster child for all haunted house films to aspire from, but it’s not bound
by traditional haunted house conventions, and is a completely different kind of
beast. It’s based on Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel “The Haunting of Hill
House”, and it’s a clever mix of both supernatural thrills and psychological
drama. The result is a thrilling experience that also works as an intriguing
character study. Without a doubt, it’s one of my all-time favorite classic
black and white horror movies, and one that I regularly watch around the Halloween
season. I’m really not the kind of guy who gets scared while watching horror
movies, but this is a special case when a film sneaks under my skin, and leaves
me with chills from head to toe.
Right from the opening shot … I just feel
hypnotized, like I’m being transported into something cold and unnerving. The
film revolves around a 90-year-old mansion, which has been the base point for
several mysterious deaths. We get a detailed backstory regarding the mansion’s dark
history, and this opening alone is one of my favorite sequences from any horror
film I’ve ever seen. Everything from the ghostly title card to the introduction
of our main characters is just dripping with gothic atmosphere, and it gets me
hooked every time I watch this. Our story begins with a doctor named John
Markway who’s obsessed with the possibility of a real haunted house, and he
believes that an isolated mansion called Hill House might just be the perfect
place to test his theories. Thus, a small team is dispatched to move into the
house and verify his claims. There’s the skeptic Luke who stands to inherit the
house, a shady Psychic named Theo, and finally rounding up the group is a troubled
young woman named Eleanor. She’s “lamenting” the death of her bed ridden mother,
and just needs to escape from her sister’s house. With no plans for her future,
she steels her sister’s car, heads to the mansion to join in the doctor’s
program, and from the second she arrives … it’s as if the mansion was waiting
for her to come home.
At face value, this film may seem like
your typical, run of the mile horror flick set in a haunted house, but the film
truly lives up to its title in the darkest, and best possible way. Strait to
the point, the film never features any ghosts, or supernatural oddities that manifest
on screen, and it’s more of a study in the tortured psychology of the main character.
It’s a film with no clear-cut answers ... are the haunts real, or is the main
heroine just losing her mind? Aside from being an intriguing study of a
descension into madness, the film is just chalk full of atmosphere, and manages
to convey layers of terror without really showing anything on screen.
There are
still nightmarish scenes with our characters being awaken by strange sounds
going bump in the night, but it’s conveyed in a manner that’s grounded, and they
feel like situations you could imagine yourself in. Easily the most frightening
scene of the whole movie is this one lengthy night-time sequence, in which the
two girls need to bunk in the same room, and things take an unsettling turn. Unable
to get any sleep, Eleanor begins to hear strange sounds echoing through the
house, they start off basic enough, but then she begins to hear the sounds of
subdued wicked laughter, along with the cries of tortured children. At one
point the designs on her bed room wall being to resemble an evil face, and the suspense
gets so unbearable that her roommate begins squeezing her hand so tight that
she begins to sweat from the pain. After four straight minutes of this, the
lights finally come on, and it’s revealed that Eleanor’s roommate was not only
fast asleep, but clear on the other side of the bed room. This of course leads
to the films classic line ... “Who was holding my hand?” I find sequences like
that more terrifying then any ghost or monster that could appear on screen.
As I eluded to in the opening, just the
still shots of the house are enough to make me feel uncomfortable. There’s something
about how the mansion was captured on film that gives it a feeling of intimidation
and menace. It’s the star of the movie without a question, the house itself is
a character, and it just feels like an evil entity whenever it’s on screen. The
filmmaking on display is absolutely spellbinding, and it’s one of the first movies
that got me fascinated with what a filmmaker can do using the camera itself as
a tool to convey a spooky effect. The sharp edits, the tilted angles, the heavy
shadows, and the tense camera work all lend to the film’s eerie tone. Of course,
I have to mention that this movie was directed by the legendary Robert Wise, who
was one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation. In fact, his work
on “The Haunting” was right in the middle of the directors winning
streak of classics. He just finished directing 1961’s “West Side Story”,
and was about to start work on the 1965 hit “The Sound of Music”.
Another ace up this films sleeve is the cast of characters, as they all add an integral ingredient to the film. Richard Johnson in infectiously likable as
the Enthusiastic doctor, Clair Bloom is subdued in her portrayal of Theo, but
through subtle jesters,
we can figure there’s more underneath the surface of
her character. Even Russ Tamblyn works as the quirky skeptic Luke, who could
have just been a comedic relief, but thankfully there’s more to him then just a
quirk. At last, Julie Harris is downright haunting in her portrayal of Eleanor.
To say she carries the whole film is an understatement, as her voice-over is heard
through the whole film. Events take a turn when the doctors wife makes an unexpected
visit, and stays the night in the restricted nursery, which the doctor refers to as the evil heart of the house. This is the moment that
sets something off, and soon people go missing, everyone is scrambling about the
house, and it all builds to a tense climax on a spiral stair case. It’s
arguably one of the most iconic set pieces of any haunted house movie, as well
as a very suspenseful sequence. Without going into too much detail, Elenore
finally snaps and surrenders her life to the house, leaving an empty sting on both
the group and the audience. This naturally ties into the films tag line … “Whoever
walks in Hill House … walks alone”.
Over the years, there have been other
adaptions of Shirley Jackson’s novel. There was the 1999 remake of “The
Haunting”, which is easily one of the worst horror movies I’ve ever seen in
my life time. Then in 2018 there was the Netflix TV series titled “The Haunting of
Hill House”, which was outstanding all around, and might just rival the
original classic as the best adaption of the source material. Still, I can’t
ignore the 1963 classic for kick-starting the modern notion of the haunted house
genera. It was a special achievement that was ahead of its time, and is
thankfully undated. It still retains a sense of dread and unease, and while I can’t
promise anything intensely scary, I think most modern viewers might be
surprised with just how well this film holds up. It’s unique, daring and above
all, it’s a haunted venture worth experiencing around the Halloween season.
Thanks for reading my review of the 1963 horror classic “The Haunting” … and treat yourself to one good scare this October.
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