THE HAUNTING (1963)

 

(Director: Robert Wise. Screenwriter: Nelson GIdding. Based on Shirley Jackson’s 1959 gothic horror novel The Haunting of Hill House.)

 

Review

In the supposedly haunted, ninety-year-old Hill House in Massachusetts, Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson, ZOMBIE, 1979) brings together a group of paranormal researchers to investigate the long-empty abode. In allowing him access, one of the conditions Mrs. Sanderson (Fay Compton), Hill House’s owner, places on Markway is that he must allow her nephew (Luke Sanderson, played by Russ Tamblyn, TWIN PEAKS, 2017) to be present during the investigation. It’s said that no one has stayed in the house for more than two or three days, not since its last owner—who may’ve murdered its previous owner— hanged herself by its spiral staircase inside the library.

Out of the nine investigators Markway invites, two accept. The first is self-assured, darkly funny Theodora, a.k.a. “Theo” (Claire Bloom), a psychic. The second is frangible, psychically sensitive Eleanor “Nell” Lance (Julie Harris, also said to be fragile during HAUNTING’s filming), who’s trying to escape her nasty family. Eleanor, the first to arrive and whose thoughts are voiced for the audience, is immediately drawn to the house in an unhealthy way. Theodora arrives shortly afterward, honestly telling Eleanor that Hill House “wants” her—not that Eleanor minds. She views this macabre outing as a “vacation” and “want[s] to stay, period.”

Dr. Johnson, showing up a few minutes later, informs the two women that “all the doors are hung slightly off-set, which explains why they keep shutting by themselves. . . all the angles are slightly off, not a square corner in the place."

During their initial tour of the claustrophobic, Rococo-style spook house, they meet Luke Sanderson, who doesn’t believe Hill House is inhabited by ghosts. The young man cites “subterranean water”, “atmospheric pressure”, “sunspots” and “electric currents” as the reasons its “disturbances”. The film’s tone is light, humorous, the house well-lit with no shadowy corners.

Later that night, Eleanor—around whom much of the paranormal activity centers—wakes to loud and violent pounding on the walls and her bedroom door, noises that terrify Theo as well. It’s during these scenes that darkness reappears (early scenes relating to the house’s history were shadow-drenched), a tonal, menacing shift furthered by HAUNTING’s sound department, with odd noises and the faint sound of a woman’s mocking laughter.

From there, the situation worsens with more overt manifestations (human or supernatural?), becoming more intense and dreadful. Will any of them leave the house whole, healthy?

HAUNTING, an excellent psychological (and G-rated!) film, with lots of odd tracking shots and pans, constantly roving cameras, and low angle shot, something director Robert Wise and cinematographer Davis Boulton (MODESTY BLAISE, 1966) worked out. These shots and other visual tricks heighten the effect of HAUNTING’s physical aspects (credit interior designer Elliot Scott and set decorator John Jarvis). Humphrey Searle’s well-timed, often nuanced score, along with its actors, complete the overall effect of the film.

 

All of HAUNTING’s players are excellent, from Harris’s volatile Eleanor to Lois Maxell’s ghost-doubting Grave Markway, Dr. Markway’s wife. (Many filmgoers know Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny in fourteen James Bond films, starting with DR. NO, 1962). All of these actors embody and/or lighten (when necessary) the emotional intensity of the expansive, sensory-oppressive manse, in one of the best entries in the spook house genre.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to IMDb, director Robert Wise shot HAUNTING (a title suggested by source-book author Shirley Jackson) in black and white because it added to the “rich atmospheric quality” of the film.

Julie Harris said the film censors dictated that Theo must never touch Eleanor, to downplay Theo’s lesbian attraction to Eleanor. In spite of this, they touched or sat close to each other several times in the film.

Fans of the hard rock band White Zombie might recognize their sampling of a line of dialogue from HAUNTING in their song “Super-Charger Heaven” (off their 1995 ASTRO-CREEP: 2000 album), specifically Dr. Markway’s line “Now I know the supernatural is something that isn’t supposed to happen, but it does happen.”

Russ Tamblyn, in an uncredited role, played a psychiatrist in the streaming Netflix series THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (2018).

Director/screenwriter Ti West is said to be a fan of HAUNTING. His first film, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (2009) is a copycat-title nod to the title given to HAUNTING when originally released in France.