Tag: Richard Johnson

Another movie from my October movie challenge that inspired the creation of this blog. My pick for October 11th was 1963’s “The Haunting”, based off the novel “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson. Yes the same source material as the Netflix series (and also a second movie in the 90’s). Unlike the TV series this film stays mostly true to the source material, though there are definitely links between the two versions. 

 

Messing with the Supernatural

The movie is helmed by Robert Wise (The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Andromeda Strain) and stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn (Who made a cameo in the TV show). Unlike the TV series this focuses on four strangers that are gathered together by investigator of the paranormal, Dr. John Markway (Johnson) as an experiment to prove the existence of otherworldly things. There were meant to be more, but the others heard rumours about the place and decided against it. They probably had seen horror movies before. As a result the only participants to show up are Eleanor (Julie) and Theodora (Bloom). They are joined by Dr. Markway and Luke Sanderson (Tamblyn) who will one day inherit the property.

Theodora is very similar to her namesake in the TV show (i.e. Gay and psychic), though toned down because it was 1963. Eleanor though is our main character and the target of the Houses evil desires (Her equivalent in the show is pretty much all the other female characters… yeah she’s basically screwed).

Things that go Bump in the Night

This is black and white and a great reminder of just how effective a haunting can be without evil nuns and bent limbed monstrosities crawling at you on their back in stop motions. Instead this relies on shakes and sounds and the actions of the characters (and in the case of Eleanor, her thoughts) and it’s incredibly effective. In the case of Eleanor we get to see her go insane as she is both terrified and seduced by the house. There are some great visuals (and sound bytes! I recognised the opening of White Zombies “Super Charger Heaven” early in the film) including a lot of camera work that reminded me a lot of “The Evil Dead” so I’m guess this movie was a big influence on Sam Raimi.

This is a masterfully crafted horror movie whose only real downside is that we are so used to all the modern visuals that some may consider this a bit too tame. But the characters are all interesting in their own way, the frights are effective and the manipulation of poor Eleanor was well executed. Over my October viewing I would watch several ghost stories and this stayed firmly at the top of the list. There is a reason why updating the story with modern visuals was so effective for the TV series and it’s clear that the show owed a lot specifically to this movie (instead of just the original novel). But while that had the benefit of modern effects, this shows almost nothing and yet is extremely effective. It really is a masterclass in how to do horror without gore or CGI. If you are a horror fan you owe it to yourself to give this a watch.