The Haunting

The haunting 1963 which was directed by Robert Wise is not only visually beautiful but the story is also well made. The start of the film really sucks you in as you are guided through the history of hill house and the deaths that occurred up to date. This gives the viewer an understanding of how the house haunting work leaving little to no confusion as to why the house is  haunted. It also gives the viewer the urge to keep watching and to find out what happens next. This review agrees with my comment”The Haunting begins with both guns blazing, so to speak. As a haunted house film, it starts beautifully”  (Brandt Sponseller: 01-06-2001 ).

In the film you never see the culprit of the surprise haunting and so as this review agrees. “its what we don’t see in the haunting that makes it scary”. (John Puccio: 2003)The method used in this film to conceal the ghost so that it is never seen gives the viewer more of a fright as we are scared of things that are unknown. The unknown lets us create our own worst fear as to what the ghost looks like where as if it were to be seen I fear that the ghost would be less frightful.

Although this film is 47 years old it still has the flare of horror. The house is very creepy and the camera angles and sets give the scary house a more spooky depth. The arches and gargoyles give the house an unfriendly and almost fiendish look. The main character like almost every other horror movie is very timid and fragile just as our modern day horror films do and although this film is quite an old horror film its styles work the same as our modern day horror movies. This review sums up the film in on sentence. “A dark brooding atmosphere, disturbing psychological insights and a handful of suddenly executed surprises make this old horror as fresh and vital as the day it was made. (Film 4: 2004)