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starring: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, Fay Comptondirected by: Robert Wise
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780790746593
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Original recording reissued, NTSC
ISBN: 079074659X
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Release Date: August 21, 2001
Running Time: 112 minutes
Sales Rank: 4139
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: September 18, 1963
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video:
Certain to remain one of the greatest haunted-house movies ever made, Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963) is antithetical to all the gory horror films of subsequent decades, because its considerable frights remain implicitly rooted in the viewer's sensitivity to abject fear. A classic spook-fest based on Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House (which also inspired the 1999 remake directed by Jan de Bont), the film begins with a prologue that concisely establishes the dark history of Hill House, a massive New England mansion (actually filmed in England) that will play host to four daring guests determined to investigate--and hopefully debunk--the legacy of death and ghostly possession that has given the mansion its terrifying reputation.
Consumed by guilt and grief over her mother's recent death and driven to adventure by her belief in the supernatural, Eleanor Vance (Julie Harris) is the most unstable--and therefore the most vulnerable--visitor to Hill House. She's invited there by anthropologist Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson), along with the bohemian lesbian Theodora (Claire Bloom), who has acute extra-sensory abilities, and glib playboy Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn, from Wise's West Side Story), who will gladly inherit Hill House if it proves to be hospitable. Of course, the shadowy mansion is anything but welcoming to its unwanted intruders. Strange noises, from muffled wails to deafening pounding, set the stage for even scarier occurrences, including a door that appears to breathe (with a slowly turning doorknob that's almost unbearably suspenseful), unexplained writing on walls, and a delicate spiral staircase that seems to have a life of its own.
The genius of The Haunting lies in the restraint of Wise and screenwriter Nelson Gidding, who elicit almost all of the film's mounting terror from the psychology of its characters--particularly Eleanor, whose grip on sanity grows increasingly tenuous. The presence of lurking spirits relies heavily on the power of suggestion (likewise the cautious handling of Theodora's attraction to Eleanor) and the film's use of sound is more terrifying than anything Wise could have shown with his camera. Like Jack Clayton's 1961 chiller, The Innocents, The Haunting knows the value of planting the seeds of terror in the mind, as opposed to letting them blossom graphically on the screen. What you don't see is infinitely more frightening than what you do, and with nary a severed head or bloody corpse in sight, The Haunting is guaranteed to chill you to the bone. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Better than I Expected
Usually before I watch a movie I look at all the bad and good reviews to see what others say. With that in mind I had a low hope for this movie so I rented it 1st and I was really surprised. I wouldn't say its my favorite of all time but I didn't find myself disliking it. I really enjoyed not seeing but hearing everything which is not something you see often throughout a whole movie. The sound of the knocks and beating is somewhat continuous through the whole movie without much variation besides ... Read More
Rating:  - OK, I guess, but NOT scary
Maybe I'm jaded and ruined by modern cinema, but to have a neurotic, child-like woman run around in a house at night, dressed in kid's nightgown while hearing "mysterious" pounding on the walls is NOT scary. It was well made, though, and somewhat interesting, mainly because of its lack of a massive special effects budget. The Doctor made me think of the crazy British guy in Rocky Horror Picture Show (which was made more than 10 years later, I know), and Ms Bloom was gorgeous. It is amazing, you must ... Read More
Rating:  - All-Time Best Horror Movie.
I like all genres and all eras and have a very minimal bias. The Haunting may not be on every teen's top ten; it is not a slasher/ gore movie. It IS spooky, frightening and incomparably suspenseful. My wife will rarely submit to watching anything with me but horror movies, and this is her favorite! She has seen them all. If you are under 35 years, and want to see the best of the classics, this is hard to beat. I know, there is competition: The Shining by Kubrick, and a few silent films if you want to ... Read More
Rating: - Mesmerizing, Beautiful, and...Haunting
The Haunting still remains the definitive haunted house story-- a weird assortment of people gathered together to spend the night in a large, extravagent house with a gruesome history. The movie gives us many strange images and leaves the main question intact: is the house really haunted or not? Although I can't say I was moved by Julie Harris' performance, she does her job in making us question the motives of an unlikable character, which is what the other characters do. The real stand-out in terms ... Read More
Rating: - Five stars for film, two stars for Warner Bros. DVD treatment
By far - the best haunted house story (or any film for that matter) ever filmed. I concur with every five star review that I have read on Amazon and do not need to restate the obvious.
But I have a bone to pick with Warner Bros.
The Haunting is considered masterpiece almost unanimously by all the top critic's. Meticulously made and directed by one of the greatest American directors Robert Wise. Yet this DVD version has been given only grade C treatment. The film used for this ... Read More
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