MovieChat Forums > The Haunting (1963) Discussion > Filmdom's best ghost movie

Filmdom's best ghost movie

posted 9 years ago by PrometheusTree64
8 replies | jump to latest

And I would put THE INNOCENTS in second place.

Both films were shot in that end-of-the-world/TwlightZone era of the early-'60s when all you had to do was turn a camera on (I often refer to Opie losing his baseball in the haunted murder mansion on the edge of Mayberry, which is ridiculously creep despite being comedic).

But while THE INNOCENTS is beautifully composed and has some of the most effective deep-focus B&W cinematography in the history of movies, that film always feels like a series of brilliantly-realized macabre vignettes strung together, while THE HAUNTING's narrative holds together better.

In other words, THE INNOCENTS creates its atmosphere visually, optically, to a great degree, while THE HAUNTING creates it atmosphere psychologically (although both films do both, to some degree).

I also find Deborah Kerr to be too shrill for my tastes in THE INNOCENTS and I find it a distraction. Many fans insist that Julie Harris is also terribly shrill in THE HAUNTING, and she is, but that seems like the character being shrill, while Miss Kerr seems like it's the actress being shrill.

Anyway, I place THE OTHERS(2001) with Nicole Kidman and THE UNINVITED (1944) with Ray Milland at third and fourth place for best spook/haunted house films.

--
LBJ's mistress on JFK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcXeutDmuRA

[–] AStrangeOldMan 9 years ago

What are your feelings about The Changeling (1983)? It restored my faith in a good ghost story after the depressing debacle of The Shining. Though it borrows very heavily from The Haunting, it still has its moments - many. In total agreement abut The Others, with the scariest portrait in history (you should've heard the audience!) and The Innocents. It's amazing what you can do with silence and stark black and white.

I saw The Haunting a few years back for its fiftieth anniversary in a large (purportedly haunted) theater in Glendale with a new print and good sound.

It holds up quite well.

No fate but what we make. -Terminator II

[–] PrometheusTree64 8 years ago

THE HAUNTING will always hold up. It's holy. It hits a dead bullseye the subject matter, and no ghost film will ever quite touch it. It can't.

--
LBJ's mistress on JFK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcXeutDmuRA

[–] Huskies545874 9 years ago

Then The Innocents is next on my list to watch. I absolutely loved The Haunting. I've watched it twice now and I am kicking myself for waiting so long to watch it. I think part of that is due to watching the remake some years ago and hating it. Better late than never, huh?

[–] PrometheusTree64 9 years ago

Yes, that's the evil danger of remakes: they often turn people off from checking out the original (almost always far superior).

--
LBJ's mistress on JFK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcXeutDmuRA

[–] Sonatine97 8 years ago

The original THE HAUNTING, will always remain as my Number One "Scary Film/Haunted House Film" (categorize as you will). It scared the hell out of me as a kid, and still does to this day, some 40 odd years on!

It has its faults of course (the shrill Eleanor, perhaps being the main one perhaps), but they are minor distractions compared to the overall ensemble - and it achieves what it sets out to do - to give us nightmares of every little sound, every little shape, shadow or pattern that in the blackness of night can become something of dread & fear when our mind's eye goes into overdrive!

As for 2nd place - for me, it's a toss-up between THE INNOCENTS and THE OTHERS. Both excellent films in their own right, and especially the latter because I didn't think Nicole Kidman could be quite so convincing in her role, as well as being ably supported by two child actors.

“We learn from history that we do not learn from history”
― Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

[–] PrometheusTree64 8 years ago

Although I'd argue Eleanor's shrillness isn't a flaw -- she's ill.

--
LBJ's mistress on JFK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcXeutDmuRA

[–] snickz 8 years ago

I thought The Others was good. Very atmospheric.

[–] psmithyyyyy 8 years ago

Yes! the Uninvited is another great movie, and Julie harris was such a great character, so sad and tragic, the movie left an impression on me. I totally understood her, as I'm sure many do.