Wait… was this a comedy? The acting is so hammy, the dialogues are laughable, horror? don't make me laugh… LOL… did people in the 1960s actually find this scary? Morons… this needs a remake. BORING!
shareAbsolutely ! Not a second of horror in it.
sharePersonally I err to the other side, I love this film. Always have.
I'm a fan of horror, anything and everything, but especially implied horror. I have no problem with gore, blood but there's something beautiful about the subtlety in horror. For example that staircase scene in The Haunting still chills me to the bone, just done to absolute effect with the haunting score too. There's very few films of this calibre that get to me on another level, barely any in today's market.
I can understand why some won't like this film and all taste is different but for myself I think The Haunting is a fantastic film with striking performances and a sense of dread. Just a beautiful film :-)
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~Willow: ..two eggs sunny side up. I remember because they were wiggling at me like little boobs~
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I agree. There is just something very very unsettling about "The Haunting" - because of its generally low key subtlety, the cinematic skills of Wise, the very lack of any in your face "boos" with heads rolling and buckets of blood, means it comes over as more something that one could experience....even if just in the mind. My favourite moment is the "talking wallpaper" - listen to the voices, the male who sounds like a deranged preacher, you can't hear really what he's saying, but the distorted voice rising and falling is like something from a Hell we can never properly imagine, something out of a nightmare.
I also like the way Markway's attitude changes - he starts so full of confidence, solid, sensible, wise, well read, he thinks he has an idea how to deal with what he'll encounter - later it becomes apparent that he has been very wrong, and he shows it - what they have come into contact with is quite beyond any human power to deal with, comprehend or accommodate.
I agree, it's the lack of rolling heads, buckets of blood, monsters, and overt "Boo!"s that make it so chilling.
My favourite moment is the "talking wallpaper" - listen to the voices, the male who sounds like a deranged preacher, you can't hear really what he's saying, but the distorted voice rising and falling is like something from a Hell we can never properly imagine, something out of a nightmare.
I think it was pretty clear that that house was ruled by a very patriarchal"God-fearing" old-school zealot. Interesting how the nursery wall has the Biblical quotation "Suffer the children..." on it- which by itself may not have been that unusual for a 19th Century nursery because in this case "suffer" meant "allow"- but since Hugh Crain seemed to have something sinister about him that word suffer takes on the negative connotation we see in the modern definition!
"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
(King James Bible)
..and there's the sinister book of ghoulish Biblical illustrations and frightening quotes Luke finds. Hugh probably read it to Abigail at bed time.
Yes that book, and in the film's opening montage we see Abigail as a child reading the Bible and there's a crucifix in the background in the room.
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