The Haunting (1963)
Spooky Season is HERE!!! With it comes late night classic horror films. For tonight's discussion, I thought it would be to talk about Robert Wise's horror film The Haunting.
Wise was fresh off of the romantic musical West Side Story when he read Shirley Jackson's chilling novel The Haunting of Hill House and thought it would make an excellent film. Taking advantage of tax credits in the United Kingdom, he moved the production to England despite the film being set in "eerie New England."
He assembled a great cast of stage actors: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, and the legendary Richard Johnson. But he wanted one movie star, the American Russ Tamblyn, who he worked with on West Side Story.
Get your coke and popcorn or wine and pizza and enjoy Robert Wise's spooky adaptation of Shirley Jackson's riveting novel.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 30 | November 8, 2023 1:17 AM
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Also it is fun to mention Lois Maxwell (Mrs. Moneypenny) plays Richard Johnson's skeptical wife.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | September 20, 2023 11:53 PM
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I never found this movie scary or interesting. It just seemed a mess. ..
by Anonymous | reply 3 | September 21, 2023 1:17 AM
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I love Shirley Jackson and need something to distract me. I hope I can find it. Thanks, OP.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | September 21, 2023 1:27 AM
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And whatever walks there, walks alone.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | September 21, 2023 1:36 AM
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I love Richard Johnson in this, He was so sexy and sophisticated.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | September 21, 2023 3:06 AM
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“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met nearly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
by Anonymous | reply 8 | September 21, 2023 10:47 PM
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No one will come any closer than town. No one will come any closer than that...in the night...in the dark.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | September 22, 2023 12:00 AM
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R10 she was creepy as hell
by Anonymous | reply 12 | September 22, 2023 2:01 AM
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natures mistakes they're called-YOU for instance!
by Anonymous | reply 13 | September 22, 2023 4:06 AM
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Every decade I rewatch but it never quite grabs me.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | September 22, 2023 4:13 AM
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“Then who was that holding my hand ??!!”
by Anonymous | reply 16 | September 22, 2023 5:17 AM
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Probably Theo because...well...you know...
by Anonymous | reply 17 | September 22, 2023 5:48 AM
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Proof a film can be quite scary with hardly any special FX.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | September 22, 2023 5:54 AM
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The man who played The Caretaker, hubby of the creepy house keeper, was in another great horror film, Horror Hotel, a few years before.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | September 22, 2023 9:02 AM
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The scariest thing about the film was Richard Johnson's pornstache.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | September 22, 2023 9:36 AM
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I usually watch it when TCM shows it. I read the Reader’s Digest condensed version several times as a child and it scared the shit out of me but when I got older I read the actual novel and there was a lot of scary stuff in there that wasn’t in the Reader’s Digest version or the movie.
Also, you could tell it was filmed in England. Almost everyone sounded English.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | September 22, 2023 11:01 AM
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R21, I usually watch Horror Hotel when TCM shows it too. I first saw it as a kid. I’m actually not into horror movies at all but sometimes if they’re atmospheric enough they’ll get my attention.
I also want to say the remake of The Haunting was so ludicrous and over the top it was laughable.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | September 22, 2023 11:06 AM
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Maybe Russ Tamblyn was temporarily hot at the box office after WSS but can’t remember when he was ever a real box office draw. Bloom and Harris were bigger names than he was even then.
Bloom had been in several big movies like The Brothers Karamazov, The Buccaneer, I can’t think of them all - plus some big TV anthology shows in things like Anna Karenina.
Julie Harris had been in Member Of The Wedding, East Of Eden, Requiem For A Heavyweight, but was even more famous for all her TV anthology roles like The Heiress, The Lark, Victoria Regina, Doll’s House, Pygmalion, etc.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | September 22, 2023 11:41 AM
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R25 I think Peyton Place, where he played the sissy Norman Page, put him on the map.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | September 22, 2023 4:14 PM
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I always enjoy this movie; I think the voice over of Nell's inner dialogue helps create the air of unease and fear. As a character, Nell is an interesting one: pitiable, but also a hysteric with a persecution complex. She's less a liar, more a fabulist - she just lives in her fantasy world. She's probably not unlike a lot of unmarried women of her time who aren't allowed any kind of agency so they turn manipulative & bitter. When she kills herself & becomes part of HH, it's probably the only direct action she's ever taken in her life.
by Anonymous | reply 27 | November 7, 2023 3:06 PM
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My great grandmother played in the 90s remake.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | November 7, 2023 3:41 PM
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Insipid and completely dated within a few years of release. Only a melting Mary or a wilting Wanda could be scared by this film today.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | November 7, 2023 5:39 PM
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I rewatched it a couple of weeks ago when it aired on TCM (last viewing was about a decade ago). I always wind up hating Nell for her attention-seeking histrionics, and breathe a sigh of relief at the denouement.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | November 8, 2023 1:17 AM
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