Maybe it's the gore in horror/slasher movies I don't like because just getting scared doesn't bother me. Seeing someone's guts slashed out is a different story so I've avoided the torture porn movies like Saw and Hostel in recent years. The Haunting relies almost completely on your imagination scaring you so I can get on board for that. Director Robert Wise doesn't use cliches or any tricks to catch you off guard, he just presents something that you can hear, but not see and let's your mind do the rest. Pretty effective when you compare it to a mass murderer like Freddy Krueger or Jason slashing and stabbing their way through countless victims.
A long-time student of paranormal activity, Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson) has arranged with the owners of a supposedly haunted house, Hill House, to conduct an experiment as to whether the huge New England home does have evil spirits inside. Built in the years after the Civil War, Hill House has a history of strange occurrences and weird happenings that include some grisly deaths (all introduced in the opening prologue). Markway assembles a small group who have experience in one way or another with the paranormal, the supernatural. Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris) as a child was part of the only documented encounter with a poltergeist, and Theodora (Claire Bloom) has vast expertise with E.S.P. and therefore knows what those around her are saying. Last, there's Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn), a skeptic who stands to inherit Hill House and looks forward to the cash it will bring him.
So the group of four prepares for a possibly extended stay at Hill House to see if the rumors are true. At first, nothing happens but each night unexplainable incidents start to occur. Doors close on their own, lights go on and off in the dead of night, musical instruments play themselves, and loud, crashing sounds race up and down the hallways. An individual with some mental health issues to begin with, Eleanor starts to suspect that the house and its spirits want her and no one else. The ending comes as a bit of a twist, not a nice, tidy finale but one that certainly works for the story.
Shot in black and white, the Hill House sets deserve billing with the cast. Director Wise shot the movie in black and white so right off the bat, it's dark and shadowy as the night drags on and the house guests start to experience all the eccentricities of the house. The hallways wind endlessly with countless doors that look exactly alike. Each room is filled with piles of art, statues and furniture so there's a claustrophobic feel. Topping it off, the statues and gargoyles are all perched at eye level and above as if they're looking down on the goings on in Hill House. All of this adds to the creepy mood that do make the scarier moments work so well.
Telling the story, Wise doesn't use shocking moments or really even reveal anything as to an explanation for Hill House. It just is haunted, and to be fair, any explanation would have come across as false or not lived up to expectations. Because the viewer never sees a spirit or a ghost, your imagination has to picture what exactly is making that noise out in the hall, like this scene where Eleanor hears a man and boy talking in the dead of night. Composer Humphrey Searle is not subtle in its execution but does push the frightening scenes along when it needs to, including some quick cutting and memorable camera work from Wise.
With the small cast, Harris is excellent as Eleanor. Her invalid mother she cared for over the last 12 years has died recently, and from her backstory we know she's got some guilt issues about her mother's death. She is looking for a new life because after so many years she now has some freedom, but she doesn't exactly know where to start and thinks that maybe Hill House is the place she's been seeking. Bloom, Johnson, and Tamblyn are all very good in their parts as this foursome dominates the screentime. Bloom's Theo develops a close friendship with Eleanor (leading some critics to believe there's a lesbian connection because of course, two women who are close in movies must be lesbians) while Johnson starts to look out for Eleanor and question whether he should have brought her along. Tamblyn gets some of the lighter lines as the cynical heir who doesn't quite believe in ghosts or spirits...at first.
Look at this way, if someone who doesn't enjoy horror movies liked the movie, it has to be pretty good, right? It's not a terrifying movie or one full of shock value. The Haunting lets you decide how scary everything is. Youtube has the movie broken up into segments, starting here with Part 1 of 11.
The Haunting <---trailer (1963): ***/****
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