Review of The Haunting (1963) by Daryl R — 19 Mar 2010

The movie takes place at a creepy old mansion called Hill House. Dr. John Markway, who believes in the mansions' more "supernatural" tendencies, invites a group of people who have witness or suffered paranoia activity of their own, to stay the night in order to prove if supernatural powers exist.

Among these people are Eleanor (though she is called "nell" throughout the movie, not sure if "nell" is a nickname of Eleanor, but whatever, it was distracting) a lonely, lost ex-servant of her invalid Mother; Theodora (whose nickname is "Theo") a sarcastic psychic; and Luke, (who has no nickname) the last heir of Hill House and the most skeptical of the four.

Things almost immediately start happening once the four are winding down for the evening. With most the scary things centered towards the ladies, who room together. Strange noises, loud thumpings, winds that appear from nowhere.

All the right elements are here, a mysterious groundskeeper and his mysterious maid of the house wife, who lead you to believe they know a lot more than what they're willing to say. Dr. Markway's suave, yet almost menacing way of making Eleanor feel "special." Theo's nails digging into Eleanor at every opportunity she gets. Even Dr. Markway's wife, who appears in the middle of the night, gives you the feeling that something is up.

Right off the bat, you begin to understand that Eleanor isn't right. Is the mansion making her crazy? Or was she crazy before she even entered Hill House? And how she can turn on and off her craziness with such ease also made me think - is she ACTING crazy on purpose?

I tried to view this with an open mind but it was hard seeing how a lot of the scenes either left me going "huh?" or "what happened?" I was expecting a few plot twists and explanations, but at the end of the so called "climax" I was left wanting more. It didn't really pay off for me. Which isn't to say I didn't enjoy the movie. There were some awesome shots of the mansion and the direction in certain scenes (especially the scene with the winding staircase) was brilliant. I guess I just expected more from a movie that is on several critic's lists of "one of scariest movies of all time." I'll give a C for the story line, but the direction gets a B.