Cheap The Haunting (DVD) (Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson) (Robert Wise) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Haunting

The Wise choice for the Occult!
Call it horror or a supernatural thriller, "The Haunting" (1963) ruled out the pitfalls that made others of the genre seem pretentious. On first sight you are treated to a mansion set in an evil aura with baroque décor and looming statues. Doctor Markway (Richard Johnson) presides over the investigation, supplying us with an excellent catalog of phenomena to fuel our apprehension. Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris) is the hysterical spinster whose emotional fears become bound with ours. Then there is the wild soundtrack. Humphrey Searle composed a creepy score with a strong arrangement of brass and strings, creating an abstract and crazy effect to attack the senses. A perfect plot, script, narrative and good casting builds the horror through the viewer's own imagination. The best example of a movie to triumph over gore, intense violence and CGI. More evidence that "black and white" is not an obsolete format but an underused film technique. Robert Wise is a versatile director who showed a genuine skill in fright. You will not find "The Haunting" in any shallow top ten list with other famous horror films. You will find it taking refuge in your personal list of what you fear. A movie with a formula to survive repeated viewing and perpetual quality on DVD.

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Eleanor comes home in the greatest haunted house film
Still the best haunted house film, "The Haunting of Hill House" has the virtues of director Robert Wise and an excellent adaptation of Shirley Jackson's novel by Nelson Gidding. Hill House was built by Hugh Crain and its legacy of death includes both of his wives, his daughter Abigail and her lover. Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson) hears of the house's reputation and decides it is the perfect locale to investigate. Markway brings with him a team: Eleanor "Nell" Vance (Julie Harris), a neurotic spinster who had a terrifying poltergeist encounter as a child; Theodora (Claire Bloom), a strong willed psychic; and Luke Sannison (Russ Tamblyn), who intends to inherit the house from the current owners. The house assaults the group their first night in Hill House, although all of the phenomena are suggested by sound effects rather than depicted with cheap specific effects. Meanwhile, the group is experiencing its own strange vibes. Theodora, a lesbian, is interested in Nell, who is totally oblivious to this and has eyes for Markway, a married man who also has no clue. More importantly, Nell is clearly the target of whatever forces are at work in Hill House.

"The Haunting" is a masterpiece of atmosphere and suspense, with the performance of Julie Harris at the heart of the film. Both of the female characters are vastly more complex than the pair of males, and Harris and Bloom's performances dominate throughout. The recent "remake" of this film with its over abundance of special effects only serves to heighten the strengths of the original when the horror is created in your mind and not just left on the screen. "The Haunting" is a true horror classic, filmed in glorious black-and-white. This is truly a movie to watch late at night with all of the lights out. Just don't expect to get any sleep afterward...

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One of the scarest 60's films in the world.
Most people see the remake and won't bother with this one, but this film is really truely pure horror unlike the remake, one of the scarest films ever made, it also tells a classic story of a repressed women and a house that makes her lose her mind, the film is so much more than all of that though, it has all the events timed perfectly as it keeps bulding more and more untill the frightning conclution, If you're a true horror fan give this one a shot, you'll love it.