Night 21: ‘The Haunting’ (1963)
This is part of the ‘31 Nights of Horror Classics’ series, which I’ll be doing for Halloween 2017. Every night of this month, I’ll be watching a horror film made before the 90s and I’ll be posting a short review here.
What happens when your place in the world is not amongst the living? Would you follow your call, or refuse it?
Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson) gathers a group of people to visit the apparently cursed Hill House. Thus, shy Eleanor (Julie Harris) joins a clairvoyant and the inheritor of the property in order to see if there’s actual paranormal activity in the place. However, her inner conflicts with her past and her neurotic behavior as she convinces herself that the house wants her, will affect the expedition and everyone involved in it.
As a child of the 90s, I’ve been familiar with the ’99 version of the tale for most of my life. I remember liking it a lot as a kid, but being very aware of its flaws as time went by.
Still, for years I have heard that the ’63 version of The Haunting is the better adaptation of the two. And after finally seeing it, I must agree.
Despite dealing with the tired ‘haunted house’ subgenre, The Haunting is not your typical movie full of ghosts and jump scares. In fact, the film manages to create a permanent sensation of horror without actually showing you too much, or explaining a lot about what is happening or where it comes from.
The movie relies in some of the greatest use of lighting, framing and camerawork I have seen in years to create a charged and exhaustingly eerie atmosphere. It’s a wonderful reflection of the main clash between Eleanor’s inner demons and the apparently real spirits who are haunting the place.
In fact, the framing is so distorted and odd at times, that it leaves you wondering if what you are seeing is real or just inside Eleanor’s mind. The use of mirrors and reflective surfaces in increasingly confusing ways will throw you off more than once.
This version also takes its time to create better, more interesting characters. A plus, perhaps, of having a really small and contained number of them. Eleanor, of course, is the one that receives the most exploration, and her arc from jittery victim to actually taking the reins of her destiny in her hands –however odd that destiny might be!- is very interesting to watch.
Another character that intrigued me throughout the entire film was Theodora (Claire Bloom). She is, perhaps, the second most complex of the main four. Not only does she seem to be struggling with her own nature –is she LGBQT?-, but she goes back and forth between sympathetic and kind, to sharp-tongued and almost cruel. It’s fascinating!
On the downside, the film does feel a little too long, and Eleanor’s initial weakness can make her too unlikeable to make us root for her. Likewise, some hints at things in the narrative are never quite cleared out, so you leave with more questions than answers –although that’s not particularly terrible.
Nonetheless, The Haunting is one of the most beautiful and surprising horror movies I’ve seen in quite a while. Without gore or too many special effects, it manages to be elegant and effective in a way many modern movies just cannot.
If, like me, you are only familiar with ’99 version, it’s time to give the 1963 adaptation a watch!
Grade: 8/10. Atmospheric horror at its best.
Scare Factor: very creepy.
Gore/Violence: none.
Nudity/Sexual Situations: none.
Previous Night: ‘The Raven’ (‘35)
Next up: ‘Creepshow’ (‘82)
