THE HAUNTING (1963)
“THE HAUNTING” is not even half as good as you would have expected. Dr. John Markway is
orchestrating an experiment to see if ghosts and the supernatural really exist. He plans on getting a
group of people together in a haunted house and write down their observations and experiences each
night. At the start of the film we are guided through an explanation of the evil history of Hill House
(headquarters for our curious cast).
The four main characters in the house are Dr. Markway, head of the project. Then there is our star; shy
and psychotic Eleanor “Nell” Lance, skillfully played by Julie Harris.
Theodora “Theo” is a young beautiful psychic with a cruel sense of humor. Luke Sanderson is my least
favorite. He is a young curly haired comic-relief character. I desperately wanted him to walk into another
dimension and be done with it, but alas, cool stuff like that doesn’t happen in this movie. If Hitchcock were
to make a ghost picture, this would be it, but it would have been much more spooky and more real
tension.
The star of this movie is not the house as you might think, but Nell. It feels as if she is slowly going
insane, her past is always after her and she doesn’t feel safe in her own skin.
I started to get the point midway that her mental breakdown is the key plot and the haunted house (if it is
haunted at all) lay in the background. The few spooky scenes leave much to be desired . The chemistry
between Nell and Theo is vibrant. There were points where I felt one was going to lean in and give the
other a kiss on the mouth. This alone would have earned the movie a coffin.
After so much build up the end is incredibly poor. My heart was faint because it did not ejaculate, did not
climax in a satisfactory way. The movie as a whole can really depress a person. I am totally aware of
these atmospheric mood black and white pictures. I loved “THE INNOCENTS”, probably my favorite ghost
movie ever. Here I was barely entertained. If the characters of Nell and Theo would not have been
performed as good as they were I would have given this movie a red death coffin, hanged myself and let
ghosts run the website from now on !!
- Jorge Antonio Lopez
orchestrating an experiment to see if ghosts and the supernatural really exist. He plans on getting a
group of people together in a haunted house and write down their observations and experiences each
night. At the start of the film we are guided through an explanation of the evil history of Hill House
(headquarters for our curious cast).
The four main characters in the house are Dr. Markway, head of the project. Then there is our star; shy
and psychotic Eleanor “Nell” Lance, skillfully played by Julie Harris.
Theodora “Theo” is a young beautiful psychic with a cruel sense of humor. Luke Sanderson is my least
favorite. He is a young curly haired comic-relief character. I desperately wanted him to walk into another
dimension and be done with it, but alas, cool stuff like that doesn’t happen in this movie. If Hitchcock were
to make a ghost picture, this would be it, but it would have been much more spooky and more real
tension.
The star of this movie is not the house as you might think, but Nell. It feels as if she is slowly going
insane, her past is always after her and she doesn’t feel safe in her own skin.
I started to get the point midway that her mental breakdown is the key plot and the haunted house (if it is
haunted at all) lay in the background. The few spooky scenes leave much to be desired . The chemistry
between Nell and Theo is vibrant. There were points where I felt one was going to lean in and give the
other a kiss on the mouth. This alone would have earned the movie a coffin.
After so much build up the end is incredibly poor. My heart was faint because it did not ejaculate, did not
climax in a satisfactory way. The movie as a whole can really depress a person. I am totally aware of
these atmospheric mood black and white pictures. I loved “THE INNOCENTS”, probably my favorite ghost
movie ever. Here I was barely entertained. If the characters of Nell and Theo would not have been
performed as good as they were I would have given this movie a red death coffin, hanged myself and let
ghosts run the website from now on !!
- Jorge Antonio Lopez
Writers: Shirley Jackson (novel)
Nelson Gidding (screenplay)
CAST---
Julie Harris ... Eleanor 'Nell' Lance
Claire Bloom ... Theodora 'Theo'
Richard Johnson ... Dr. John Markway
Russ Tamblyn ... Luke Sanderson
Fay Compton ... Mrs. Sanderson
Rosalie Crutchley ... Mrs. Dudley
Lois Maxwell ... Grace Markway
Runtime: 112 min
Nelson Gidding (screenplay)
CAST---
Julie Harris ... Eleanor 'Nell' Lance
Claire Bloom ... Theodora 'Theo'
Richard Johnson ... Dr. John Markway
Russ Tamblyn ... Luke Sanderson
Fay Compton ... Mrs. Sanderson
Rosalie Crutchley ... Mrs. Dudley
Lois Maxwell ... Grace Markway
Runtime: 112 min
N / A
N / A
N / A
OVERALL
BLOOD
BREASTS
BEASTS
