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DVD : The Haunting [1963]
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![: The Haunting [1963]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZPQ21NMML._SL160_.jpg)
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audience Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Binding: DVD
EAN: 7321900651943
Format: Black & White, PAL
Label: Warner Home Video
Languages:English Original Language Dolby Digital 1.0 French Subtitled English Subtitled Dutch Subtitled Italian Subtitled Arabic Subtitled
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 2
Release Date: September 29, 2003
Running Time: 107 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: September 18, 1963
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Amazon.co.uk Review:
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
Amazon.co.uk Review:
Made in 1963 The Haunting is one of the best-ever movie ghost stories and was adapted from Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House. Suave ghost-hunter Richard Johnson takes a couple of psychic women--neurotic spinster Julie Harris and elegant lesbian Claire Bloom--to stay in Hill House, which has unsettling architecture (the spiral staircase is especially unnerving) and a bad reputation. Russ Tamblyn is along as a jive-talking sceptic, but he soon shuts up as the eerie phenomena mount up. The scene with a breathing door is a wonderful terror highlight, and the business about whose hand Harris is holding in the dark (she thinks it's Bloom, but Bloom is on the other side of the room) provides a moment of unmatched creepiness. Perhaps director Robert Wise allows too much psychology into the picture, letting you off the hook with the possibility that the twitchy Harris is behind all the spookery, but he fills the widescreen frame with really scary stuff and the cast are perfect. Lois Maxwell, of Miss Moneypenny fame, makes a marvellously chilling sudden appearance from the dark. Forget the remake, this is the real deal.
On the DVD: The Haunting comes to DVD with a trailer narrated in character by Johnson, a satisfyingly packed file of stills and an interesting commentary featuring input recorded separately from Wise, screenwriter Nelson Gidding and all four principal cast members. --Kim Newman
Rating:
- I'm sorry I fell fast asleep
Having read the star spangled reviews on "The Haunting" I excitedly entered in my card details and eagerly awaited it's arrival through my letterbox, sat down with a bottle of wine and an Indian and pressed Play.
Oh dear. Is everyone reviewing the same film here?! A lovely sinister looking manor house for the setting (filmed on location in Stratford-Upon-Avon)-looks promising, and some nice Borehamwood room sets... and lots of talking...and more talking...um...oh, sorry I nearly nodded off ... Read More
Rating:
- SPELLBOUND BY THE LIGHT AND SOUND
There is no escaping the fact this movie has one of the most haunting use of camera movement ,light compositions and sound editing creating echoes to explosions in harmony with the horror which is chillingly psychological rather then bloody .
No dead cats or decapatitaed skulls or limbs can alternate for the haunted look on the agonized faces of the characters as they struggle to save themselves and their sanity ,the fact it is broodingly driving them to psychosis is presented as a brilliant ... Read More
Rating:
- the best
Remember seeing this when I was about nine years old and I could not go up the stairs to my bedroom in the attic for weeks,mum had to take me up.I still watch it at least once a year and it still raises the hair on the back of my neck.Watch it alone in candle light or the dark and enjoy a journey into fear.
Rating: - My favourite ghost film of all time
The only film ever to make me hide in the toilets when I saw it at the cinema, and as good now as it was then.
Although it is shaky in places - some of the dialogue and of the acting is clunky - the way that the tension builds throughout this film is unique and astonishing. The malevolent spirit is only heard, not seen, and this makes the viewer's imagination work to fill in the gaps.
It scared me witless when I was 16; it is still very very scary 40 years on.
The remake is OK, but the original ... Read More
Rating: - Horror benchmark!
I agree with all the reviewers that loved this classic chiller.
Thought provoking, spine tingling, never boring, always engaging. All done with no gore and very few but mind ripping special effects. Great sound effects.
I never get bored with this movie.
Action & Adventure • Adult • Anime • Children's • Classics • Comedy • Crime, Thrillers & Mystery • Documentary • Drama • Fitness • Gay & Lesbian • Horror • Interactive • Music • Musicals & Classical • Science Fiction & Fantasy • Sports • Television •
The Haunting [1963]
starring: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, Fay Compton
directed by: Robert Wise
directed by: Robert Wise
Our Price: 108,246.60
Prices excluding shipping charge.Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Audience Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Binding: DVD
EAN: 7321900651943
Format: Black & White, PAL
Label: Warner Home Video
Languages:
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 2
Release Date: September 29, 2003
Running Time: 107 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: September 18, 1963
Related Items:
- The Innocents [1961]
- The Legend of Hell House [1973]
- Dead Of Night [1945]
- House On Haunted Hill [1959]
- The Devil Rides Out [1968]
- see more
Editorial Review:
Amazon.co.uk Review:
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
Amazon.co.uk Review:
Made in 1963 The Haunting is one of the best-ever movie ghost stories and was adapted from Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House. Suave ghost-hunter Richard Johnson takes a couple of psychic women--neurotic spinster Julie Harris and elegant lesbian Claire Bloom--to stay in Hill House, which has unsettling architecture (the spiral staircase is especially unnerving) and a bad reputation. Russ Tamblyn is along as a jive-talking sceptic, but he soon shuts up as the eerie phenomena mount up. The scene with a breathing door is a wonderful terror highlight, and the business about whose hand Harris is holding in the dark (she thinks it's Bloom, but Bloom is on the other side of the room) provides a moment of unmatched creepiness. Perhaps director Robert Wise allows too much psychology into the picture, letting you off the hook with the possibility that the twitchy Harris is behind all the spookery, but he fills the widescreen frame with really scary stuff and the cast are perfect. Lois Maxwell, of Miss Moneypenny fame, makes a marvellously chilling sudden appearance from the dark. Forget the remake, this is the real deal.
On the DVD: The Haunting comes to DVD with a trailer narrated in character by Johnson, a satisfyingly packed file of stills and an interesting commentary featuring input recorded separately from Wise, screenwriter Nelson Gidding and all four principal cast members. --Kim Newman
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- I'm sorry I fell fast asleepHaving read the star spangled reviews on "The Haunting" I excitedly entered in my card details and eagerly awaited it's arrival through my letterbox, sat down with a bottle of wine and an Indian and pressed Play.
Oh dear. Is everyone reviewing the same film here?! A lovely sinister looking manor house for the setting (filmed on location in Stratford-Upon-Avon)-looks promising, and some nice Borehamwood room sets... and lots of talking...and more talking...um...oh, sorry I nearly nodded off ... Read More
Rating:
- SPELLBOUND BY THE LIGHT AND SOUND There is no escaping the fact this movie has one of the most haunting use of camera movement ,light compositions and sound editing creating echoes to explosions in harmony with the horror which is chillingly psychological rather then bloody .
No dead cats or decapatitaed skulls or limbs can alternate for the haunted look on the agonized faces of the characters as they struggle to save themselves and their sanity ,the fact it is broodingly driving them to psychosis is presented as a brilliant ... Read More
Rating:
- the bestRemember seeing this when I was about nine years old and I could not go up the stairs to my bedroom in the attic for weeks,mum had to take me up.I still watch it at least once a year and it still raises the hair on the back of my neck.Watch it alone in candle light or the dark and enjoy a journey into fear.
Rating:
- My favourite ghost film of all timeThe only film ever to make me hide in the toilets when I saw it at the cinema, and as good now as it was then.
Although it is shaky in places - some of the dialogue and of the acting is clunky - the way that the tension builds throughout this film is unique and astonishing. The malevolent spirit is only heard, not seen, and this makes the viewer's imagination work to fill in the gaps.
It scared me witless when I was 16; it is still very very scary 40 years on.
The remake is OK, but the original ... Read More
Rating:
- Horror benchmark!I agree with all the reviewers that loved this classic chiller.
Thought provoking, spine tingling, never boring, always engaging. All done with no gore and very few but mind ripping special effects. Great sound effects.
I never get bored with this movie.
Action & Adventure • Adult • Anime • Children's • Classics • Comedy • Crime, Thrillers & Mystery • Documentary • Drama • Fitness • Gay & Lesbian • Horror • Interactive • Music • Musicals & Classical • Science Fiction & Fantasy • Sports • Television •
