Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

***contains spoilers for the book The Haunting of Hill HouseThe Haunting wasn't a bad film at all. But compared to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, it hardly holds up. As someone who's an enormous fan of the book, it hurts to see the characters that Jackson created so carefully misinterpreted. For instance, Eleanor has no feelings for the doctor in the book, and his wife only really exists as comic relief. The addition of this subplot felt unnecessary and very much against the spirit of the book. Luke is far more likable in the book, and the callous, obnoxious version of him in the film is almost unrecognizable. Additionally, perhaps the most unsettling scene from the novel was removed- when Eleanor and Theodora experience a vision while walking outside the house. I liked the cinematography, and the exterior of the house that was used was nearly perfect, but overall, The Haunting feels like the director only skimmed the novel that his film was based on. I look forward to the upcoming Netflix adaption of Hill House, and can only hope the creative team will stay true to the novel's plot.

I decided to celebrate Halloween this year by reviewing the film "The Haunting", that is, the 1963 version. A lot of people haven't heard of this one, but it's something you really should check out. This features the story of a bunch of people who take part in a study to see if supernatural occurrences in a so called haunted house are real. What's great is seeing these characters play off of each other. The main character of course does the most work here, but her interactions make the film. There aren't many things visually going on. It's perhaps more brilliant by the fact that we the audience don't know whether or not this is real or not.In fact, they even themselves discuss if the weird things going on are just all in her mind. It's mostly left up to us to figure out what's really going on. I love when they're talking about if making she's the only rational one and everyone else is insane. That's actually how a lot of us feel. The atmosphere is great and it's a wonderful psychological story. It isn't violent or gory or graphic or anything, so it's not an offensive movie. It's just wonderfully set up scenes that show off the madness in this woman's mind. Happy Halloween everybody! ***1/2

Perhaps this is a movie that appeals only to certain people. Perhaps it has to be viewed at a particular moment in life. Perhaps it's just too dated for many to get into it. In any case, it's disappointing to see how many simply find it a waste of time.I saw this under special circumstances. I was about 12 years old and my parents were out for the evening when it came on TV. I didn't know anything about it but considered myself quite the connoisseur of horror and sci-fi shown at the small local theater. I figured it would be along the line of Universal monsters and Roger Corman fare, nothing particularly notable.It scared the absolute daylights out of me. Sitting alone the in house at night with the creepy sounds and images emanating from that little B&W screen got to me badly. Even after my parents were home and I went to bed I found myself looking for faces in the plaster walls of my room and imagining every creak as an approaching but invisible malevolent force.I still get it out every couple of years on a dark dreary night, and though the lines of dialog sound more stilted to my now elderly mind I can still remember the effect it had on me so many decades ago.I had an even more intense reaction from Hitchcock's "The Birds" and I've noticed the commentary about that film to be similar to this. Perhaps you just had to be there.

A scientist doing research on the paranormal invites two women to a haunted mansion. One of the participants soon starts losing her mind.So, Martin Scorsese says this is his favorite horror film. What does that mean exactly? I do not know. It is indeed a great horror film, because it relies on a slow build up and there is very little that is outright scary or frightening. This is all atmosphere.What makes it even better is the cast. Richard Johnson is excellent, and Julie Harris is always nice to see. Russ Tamblyn, though, is perhaps among the more interesting actors of his generation, with decades of great roles and films under his belt. I would watch this again and again just for him.