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Price: $34.10 as of 03/21/2010 18:07 EDT details
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Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 7321900651943
Format: PAL
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageDolby Digital 1.0FrenchSubtitledEnglishSubtitledDutchSubtitledItalianSubtitledArabicSubtitled
Number Of Discs: 1
Region Code: 2
Running Time: 112 minutes
Theatrical Release Date: September 18, 1963
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video:
Certain to remain one of the greatest haunted-house movies ever made, Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963) is antithetical to all the gory horror films of subsequent decades, because its considerable frights remain implicitly rooted in the viewer's sensitivity to abject fear. A classic spook-fest based on Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House (which also inspired the 1999 remake directed by Jan de Bont), the film begins with a prologue that concisely establishes the dark history of Hill House, a massive New England mansion (actually filmed in England) that will play host to four daring guests determined to investigate--and hopefully debunk--the legacy of death and ghostly possession that has given the mansion its terrifying reputation.
Consumed by guilt and grief over her mother's recent death and driven to adventure by her belief in the supernatural, Eleanor Vance (Julie Harris) is the most unstable--and therefore the most vulnerable--visitor to Hill House. She's invited there by anthropologist Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson), along with the bohemian lesbian Theodora (Claire Bloom), who has acute extra-sensory abilities, and glib playboy Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn, from Wise's West Side Story), who will gladly inherit Hill House if it proves to be hospitable. Of course, the shadowy mansion is anything but welcoming to its unwanted intruders. Strange noises, from muffled wails to deafening pounding, set the stage for even scarier occurrences, including a door that appears to breathe (with a slowly turning doorknob that's almost unbearably suspenseful), unexplained writing on walls, and a delicate spiral staircase that seems to have a life of its own.
The genius of The Haunting lies in the restraint of Wise and screenwriter Nelson Gidding, who elicit almost all of the film's mounting terror from the psychology of its characters--particularly Eleanor, whose grip on sanity grows increasingly tenuous. The presence of lurking spirits relies heavily on the power of suggestion (likewise the cautious handling of Theodora's attraction to Eleanor) and the film's use of sound is more terrifying than anything Wise could have shown with his camera. Like Jack Clayton's 1961 chiller, The Innocents, The Haunting knows the value of planting the seeds of terror in the mind, as opposed to letting them blossom graphically on the screen. What you don't see is infinitely more frightening than what you do, and with nary a severed head or bloody corpse in sight, The Haunting is guaranteed to chill you to the bone. --Jeff Shannon
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
A group of investigators are assembled to stay the week at the supposedly haunted Hill House in order to determine whether there is any paranormal activity occurring in the isolated mansion, but creaky floorboards and distant moans are only the start of the odd happenings that befall them. Unlike the other spook shows of the time (particularly in the cases of William Castle's gimmicky HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL or 13 GHOSTS), Robert Wise's THE HAUNTING reveals very little on screen, opting for subtly ... Read More
Rating: -
From 1963 a true classic from a underappreciated director who had more than his share -- THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE SAND PEBBLES, WEST SIDE STORY, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE -- Robert Wise. Among the subgenre of haunted house movies there are only a few that really matter: THE HAUNTING, THE UNINVITED, THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE and HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. These films all have a common denominator: they scare you but show little, if anything. This ... Read More
Rating:  -
....and it scared the H*LL out of me!
My friend Mike and I were about 14, and we saw it on a Saturday afternoon at a theater in downtown Minneapolis. No ghosts, no monsters, very few special effects, small budget, B&W, no big stars.
Just a very frightening old house and four people. This is what can happen when you have an artist in control, someone with imagination.
Huge budgets and incredible special effects are unnecessary, and often, they end up sinking a movie. Similarly, many ... Read More
Rating: -
Ok, this is a great edge of your seat, your imagination runs wild type of haunted house movie. This movie lets you take the plot where you would like it to go, although the film is horror genre, it is a great psychological thriller, much like the film Pyscho. The thrills are not the actual ghost, spooks, or ghouls which reside in the house, rather the atmpsohere the actors create playing their parts. The acting is solid and the direction is second to none with some big name stars of the time. The characters ... Read More
Rating: -
All the great things about this movie have been pointed out by those far more articulate than I. The fact that it was shot in black and white is one of the movies' most important assets. The musical score is brilliant - subtle and creepy like no other horror film. By far the best aspect is that none of the ghosts are seen, yet they - or whatever the presence is - are scarier than the ghosts of any other movie I've ever seen. Watching Luke's sneer (Russ Tamblyn) get smudged from his face is priceless. Eleanor's breakdown ... Read More
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