Among the most prolific filmmakers of all time, Robert Wise was a master of versatility, crafting masterpieces in genres ranging from musicals (West Side Story (1961); The Sound of Music (1965)) to science fiction (Star Trek (1979), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)), Westerns (Blood on the Moon (1948), Two Flags West (1950)), and horror (The Curse of the Cat People (1944), The Body Snatcher (1945)). Of all Robert Wise’s exceptional works, his 1963 film The Haunting, based on Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The House of the Haunted Hill, is undoubtedly my favorite film that masterfully merges supernatural horror with psychological drama, making it one of the best-haunted house films ever made.
The 90-year-old Hill House in Massachusetts, shrouded in a history of violence and tragedy, is rumored to be haunted. Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson), eager to prove the existence of ghosts, rents the mansion and organizes a paranormal investigation, assembling a group that includes Luke (Russ Tamblyn), a skeptical young man poised to inherit the house; Theodora (Claire Bloom), a confident clairvoyant with an enigmatic presence; and Eleanor (Julie Harris), a shy, fragile woman haunted by guilt over her mother’s recent death. While getting accustomed to the house, they become increasingly aware of an eerie presence and soon realize they have gotten into something far more than they bargained for.
The Haunting begins at a leisurely pace, with Markway narrating the house’s detailed 90-year history before delving into Eleanor’s predicament and gradually introducing Luke, Theo, and Markway briefly as they gather in the house. However, the genuinely terrifying events unfold once everyone gets settled in the house. Even though the film isn’t your typical jump-scare flick that uses shock value or even shows a demon or supernatural presence, the cinematography, sound design, and production design work together to create an eerily atmospheric and haunting experience.
With canted angles and shadow-drenched, icy visuals, David Boulton’s cinematography captures a sense of disorientation and unease, perfectly complementing the house’s gothic production design, complete with elaborate sets and dense props. The chilling sound effects, from eerie creaks and ghostly knocks to groaning walls, create an invisible presence that viewers can vividly imagine, transforming the house into a living entity and one of the scariest ever depicted in cinematic history. The best example is the sequence where Eleanor, frightened, begins to hear a cacophony of noises—the walls pounding, sounds of footsteps, a woman laughing, echoes, etc.—while clinging desperately to the hand of Theo, who is sound asleep in a twin bed beside her. However, when Eleanor awakens, she discovers that she has switched from bed to couch and that the hand she was gripping was not Theo’s. Another terrifying sequence occurs when the group decides to sleep in the main room, only to hear hammering and loud banging as an unknown thing attempts to push its way into the room, causing the door to bulge inward.
Apart from nailing supernatural horror, the film also excels as a psychological drama, offering a rich and detailed exploration of Eleanor’s complex personality. After spending the better part of her adult life caring for her sick mother—with whom she had a complicated relationship—the spinster Eleanor feels profound guilt over her mother’s death. As a result, she develops into a shy, uptight, withdrawn, and broken woman living on her sister’s couch, missing out on everything a normal girl would have experienced in her adult life. The choice to incorporate her voiceovers lends depth to her character and sheds light on her inner conflict; the progressively unstable nature of these voiceovers introduces ambiguity and makes us wonder what is real and what is a creation of her imagination. Eleanor longs for a place where she can fit in, where she can escape to, and where she can start over. Regrettably, despite the warning signs and the strange happenings, Eleanor is both terrified and captivated by the haunted house and believes it holds the key to escaping her mundane and uninspired life. Additionally, Eleanor thinks that she’s more susceptible to supernatural events than the others, sensing that the house is beckoning her. Believing someone wants her to stay, she chooses to remain there.
The standout performance of The Haunting is Julie Harris’s portrayal of damaged, mentally unstable Eleanor, particularly her depiction of her character’s deteriorating mental state throughout the film. Also, the fact that Julie Harris was depressed and paranoid during filming adds to the performance and makes it more credible, even if one can only imagine what it would be like to deal with her on set. In her remarkable performance as Theo, Claire Boom skillfully portrays a psychic with extrasensory perception, radiating an enigmatic presence. Theo’s flirtations with Eleanor, her nurturing behavior despite Eleanor’s mocking, and her jealousy over Eleanor’s attention to others imply a possible lesbian inclination.
The Haunting will leave you thinking for days after it ends, and its truly terrifying aspect is the way it depicts the startling connection between people and their traumas and how it can have a devastating influence on them and cause terrible consequences.
The Haunting movie links: Letterboxd, Wikipedia
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