The Haunting

I like all genres and all eras and have a very minimal bias. The Haunting may not be on every teen's top ten; it is not a slasher/ gore movie. It IS spooky, frightening and incomparably suspenseful. My wife will rarely submit to watching anything with me but horror movies, and this is her favorite! She has seen them all. If you are under 35 years, and want to see the best of the classics, this is hard to beat. I know, there is competition: The Shining by Kubrick, and a few silent films if you want to get to the roots, but this has my vote!

The Haunting still remains the definitive haunted house story-- a weird assortment of people gathered together to spend the night in a large, extravagent house with a gruesome history. The movie gives us many strange images and leaves the main question intact: is the house really haunted or not? Although I can't say I was moved by Julie Harris' performance, she does her job in making us question the motives of an unlikable character, which is what the other characters do. The real stand-out in terms of acting is Claire Bloom. This was the first movie I'd seen her in and her character is such a seductive earth-mother you want to get to know her better. The implied sexuality of her Theo is still there, but probably bogged down by the censors. The main complaint I have of the movie is the voiceover. We don't need Julie Harris' Eleanor to constantly tell us what she's thinking because we can see it in her hypnotized, and sometimes terrified, expressions. But it is a great story, complex, and the eerie music and awe-inspiring house are icing on the cake. A must-see for anyone interested in ghosts, writing ghost stories, or psychological thrillers.

By far - the best haunted house story (or any film for that matter) ever filmed. I concur with every five star review that I have read on Amazon and do not need to restate the obvious.

But I have a bone to pick with Warner Bros.

The Haunting is considered masterpiece almost unanimously by all the top critic's. Meticulously made and directed by one of the greatest American directors Robert Wise. Yet this DVD version has been given only grade C treatment. The film used for this DVD does not appear to be from a pristine negative bit rather from an OK piece of film stock. It is a bit too grainy and washed out and there are occasional speckles and lines. But my biggest complaint is the lack of dynamics in the sound. The textures of sound, ambient noises, wind, creaks, music, voices, murmurs, "bowling ball" are of the utmost importance in creating the scarey atmosphere. But the sound on this DVD is so flat that it is to the point of sounding canned. I could not begin to get decent sound from this DVD even with a high quality equalizer. The film is much more frightening when the sound is right.

I sincerely hope that some company who cares - maybe Criterion? - will pick up this film and give it the DVD treatment it truly deserves - an ultra clear picture and a clean dynamic surround sound. I for one will gladly re-purchase.

We liked this movie. My teenagers are usually quick to mock the movies I thought were scary at their age but they got into this one and enjoyed it.

The only thing I would add to the (In my opinion)'spot on' positive comments regarding this film, is that I wish that it had a Digital Surround audio track. Can you imagine how much it would add to the film to have those awesome audio effects coming at you from all directions in a dark room, on a dark stormy night?!
I guess I will add one other thing (can't help myself). The fact that it was filmed in black and white, to me, was an indication of just how great Robert Wise (the director) was in his craft. I believe that it added to the anticipation of dread and terror. All those shadows and dark corners... What genius.... The same thing could be said of Alfred Hitchcocks: "Psycho".
I don't see how true afficionados of the ghost story genre could think that this film, (to paraphrase a quote from the film "Legend of Hell House") is anything less than "...the mount Everest" of haunted house films.