The Haunting (1963)

Many hail Director Robert Wises’ screen adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel “The Haunting” as no less than the “greatest ghost movie ever made”. Before I sat down to give this one a view, I decided to read the novel first since it’s always interesting to see what changes are made from page to screen with Wise adapting many aspects of the novel into the film…for better or worse. As far as the book went, I found it to be a near impossible read, full of terrible dialogue and nothing remotely “scary” within the pages, save for one or two scenes. So, do the same thoughts apply to the film?

The basic premise here deals with a parapsychologist inviting 3 strangers to spend a week with him in “Hill House”, a place notorious for its reputation as a haunted house due to a rather sordid past of murder and the like. The goal here is to prove that another dimension outside of our own does indeed exist, with each guest having some sort of link to the supernatural. One guest has ESP, another the victim of poltergeist activity, etc. Sure enough, things soon start to go bump in the night via doors closing by themselves, eerie voices and knockings, and the occasional ghostly writing on walls. Tame enough to be sure, but what works here is the film’s subtlety. Unlike the 1999 remake of the same name, everything here is left to the viewer’s imagination.

The use of shadow and sound is used to utmost perfection, and Wise does create a genuine creepy vibe throughout the picture. My favorite scene (as was in the book) was where the character of Nell, after hearing a ghostly rapping on her bedroom door and clutching her roommates hand in terror, realizes that her roommate is sleeping on the other side of the bedroom…so just whose hand was she holding? Brrr. When it comes to the genre of the supernatural, subtlety is the key. It’s always more scary to wonder what may be lurking under your bed as opposed to actually seeing it. The negatives here are truly the cast of characters, everyone save the good Doctor is a self absorbed whiner, and the viewer is never sure if they are supposed to care about these characters or not. I know I didn’t. Another downside for the characters is that the majority of the dialogue comes from the book, meaning that it’s wordy and just well…peculiar. Jackson’s writing style was far from an easy read and Wise rather unwisely (ha ha) incorporated these aspects into his film. All things considered, this one is worth a view to learn and appreciate subtle filmmaking, and is a direct contrast to the 1999 remake of the same name. That atrocity is directly opposite to everything this film, and many horror films of that era, stood for.