The Haunting (1963)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Lack of good storyline.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Can it really be that I have never seen this before? Bit surprising if true but seemingly so, perhaps the fairly generic title is to blame and in my mind I had always confused it with Legend of Hell House (1973). Very good though the Matheson scripted film is, I find I prefer this. Richard Johnson is splendid in the central chief ghost hunter (he even reminds me a little of my late ghost hunting father!) although I was a little disappointed he lacked all the usual paraphernalia. Where are the tape recorders, temperature gauges, camera equipment etc? Well this is a stripped down, full on spooky tale that concentrates on the main four chapters and their experiences of the house and very well done it is too. Claire Bloom especially shines. From the very opening with the measured and effective voice-over, through the really scary mostly sound sourced effects until the scariest spiral staircase in history and the inevitable denouement, this is a great 'old dark house' mystery that really grips tight.

It's been a long while since I've seen this film, just watched it again recently. I have to say that it's even better than I remembered it to be. I would describe the film as suspenseful and thrilling.The story is good but your average story: a group of people get invited to stay in an old mansion that is haunted... but it's the way this story plays out that is above average.What helps this above average ghost story is the cinematography... the movie is beautifully filmed and it really adds a layer of eeriness and suspense that is beyond what you normally see in a film of this nature.If you are looking for a good ghost story then look no further than this "The Haunting 1963". A great late night movie! 9/10

My dad was a big fan of scary movies, and he and I watched a ton of them when I was growing up--probably more slasher flicks than an adolescent should be allowed to see. But I always remember him talking about how his favorite was "The Haunting". He had a recorded copy of it on VHS, and he loved to go on about how it was the best scary movie ever made, but for some reason we never watched it together--though I did remember bits and pieces that I must have caught along the way at some point.That said, I caught it on Turner Classic this week, and I have to say it was a bit of a let down. This is a film that was made in 1963, a good fifteen years before the advent of the 80's slasher films and the more grotesque genre of horror film that has come to dominate the genre ever since. When this film was made, there were two kinds of horror movies: monster movies in the style of Dracula, The Mummy, and various 50's B-rate flicks; and Alfred Hitchcock-inspired films in the style of Psycho and Rebecca. "The Haunting" fits into the latter category. Indeed, having seen the whole thing, I'm very surprised that it's not in fact a Hitchcock film, as it follows the Hitchcock formula closely. The movie is made in black and white, and the acting is rigid like a "classic film". The script could carry over well into a theatre production, and for the style of film that it is the movie is extremely well made--well shot, well produced, etc.Still, I just found it hard to get into. Perhaps that's because of my age, as a Gen-Xer. I enjoy classic film, but horror is probably my least favorite genre of the classics, since the style is so different--and so less scary--than a modern day horror vibe. And so, while I found this film to be exceptional in terms of style and production quality, I can't help but mark it down in terms of likability. 5/10 stars.

A scientist doing research on the paranormal invites two women to a haunted mansion. One of the participants soon starts losing her mind.So, Martin Scorsese says this is his favorite horror film. What does that mean exactly? I do not know. It is indeed a great horror film, because it relies on a slow build up and there is very little that is outright scary or frightening. This is all atmosphere.What makes it even better is the cast. Richard Johnson is excellent, and Julie Harris is always nice to see. Russ Tamblyn, though, is perhaps among the more interesting actors of his generation, with decades of great roles and films under his belt. I would watch this again and again just for him.