Rent The Haunting (1963)

Atmospheric Haunted House Classic - The Haunting review by GI

Robert Wise' fantastic haunted house film based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (a real treat if you haven't read it). What sets this apart is that it's a film about atmosphere and character with no reliance on special effects or 'cattle-prod' style jump scares. The result is a very spooky and interesting film that centres on Eleanor, played wonderfully by Julie Harris, as a woman arguably suffering from delusion. The end result is the film opens up the opportunity for a variety of readings, all of which make it a classic of the ghost/haunted house sub-genre. If you are only familiar with the inferior 1999 remake or the recent TV series then I highly recommend you seek this little gem of a film out, it's worth the effort. Oh and watch it late at night it'll unsettle you too!

Psychological Horror. - The Haunting review by Steve

Psychological ghost story set in New England, though shot in UK. Robert Wise is obviously influenced by head of RKO horror in the '40s, Val Lewton, who gave Wise his debut as director. The idea is that terror conjured up in the mind of the audience is more daunting than any screen monster. So the horror is offscreen, mostly suggested by sound.

 The set design of the haunted stately home and the expressionist shot compositions are brilliantly unsettling. But we don't see any ghosts. In fact, the ambiguous script implies that the haunting may be happening inside the fractured psyche of the pale, neurotic medium (Julie Harris), who is an unreliable narrator.

Richard Johnson plays an academic who wants to prove the existence (or otherwise) of the paranormal, so enlists two women who have experience of the supernatural, Claire Bloom plays the other, a chic socialite who has the gift of ESP, so knows what everyone is thinking. Russ Tamblyn is a sceptic, who brings the wisecracks and the martinis.

This isn't unlike the kind of B horror William Castle was famous for in the 50s-60s. But there's a bigger budget, and it's more sophisticated... And scarier. The ensemble cast is excellent, but Harris excels as the lonely, unstable conduit for the spirits who possess the old house. Who want her to remain. It's her vulnerability and suffering that stays in the memory.