The Haunting (1963)
Dr. Markway, doing research to prove the existence of ghosts, investigates Hill House, a large, eerie mansion with a lurid history of violent death and insanity. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Robert Wise
Written By: Nelson Gidding, Shirley Jackson
Starring: Richard Johnson, Claire Bloom, Russ Tamblyn, Lois Maxwell, Julie Harris, Valentine Dyall, Fay Compton, Rosalie Crutchley, Ronald Adam, Diane Clare, Amy Dalby, Pamela Buckley
Genre: Horror
AKA: The Haunting of Hill House
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The Haunting belongs to 51 collections
1. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by kozan26 - 234 stars)
2. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)
3. The Guardian's 1000 films to see before you die (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)
4. Passed the Bechdel Test (collaborative: moderated by geohawk - 29 stars)
5. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2012 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 25 stars)
6. AAA: Empire's five star movies (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 24 stars)
7. IMDb Top 250 Complete (collaborative: moderated by Jorg - 23 stars)
8. Based on a Book (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 21 stars)
9. They Shoot Pictures' Recommended Viewing (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 19 stars)
10. Edgar Wright 1000 Favorite Movies (Aug 2016) (collaborative: moderated by Aron Ericson - 17 stars)
11. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
12. Doubling The Canon (collaborative - 13 stars)
13. Cinema Discusso Yearly Consensus (2008) (public: PeaceAnarchy - 10 stars)
14. Ghosts (collaborative: moderated by mpowell - 8 stars)
15. Based On Novel (collaborative: moderated by tathiel - 7 stars)
16. Martin Scorsese's Top 11 Horror Movies of All Time (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 7 stars)
17. Arthouse Horror (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 6 stars)
18. Gothic horror (collaborative: moderated by edkrak - 5 stars)
19. Doubling The Canon (2010 update) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 5 stars)
20. Psychotic women (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess - 5 stars)
21. Books by Women that were made into Movies (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx - 5 stars)
22. Haunted House (collaborative: moderated by Moribunny - 4 stars)
23. Cinemag's Best 200 films Ever Created! (collaborative: moderated by hristos - 4 stars)
24. Remade (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer - 4 stars)
25. edkrak films to see (public: edkrak - 4 stars)
26. Horror (public: fruititself - 4 stars)
27. Horror (public: horrorjames - 4 stars)
28. A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (public: kylie - 3 stars)
29. Premiere Magazine's 50 Unsung Classics (collaborative: moderated by Jorg - 2 stars)
30. Is (s)he going insane OR is something else going on ? (collaborative: moderated by livelove - 2 stars)
31. Big-time Hollywood horror (public: djross - 2 stars)
32. Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments (collaborative - 1 star)
33. Doubling the Canon (2011 update) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 1 star)
34. The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Horror 1960s (collaborative: moderated by RoyalB - 1 star)
35. Cinetheque (public: allegreller - 1 star)
36. Homosexual subtext (collaborative)
37. Supernatural horror (collaborative)
38. Films Available on Archive.org (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)
39. Available on Divicast (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)
40. us-tv McD 101 Horrors (public: timxyz)
41. Owned (BD) (public: bizarre_eye)
42. Owned (DVD) (public: bizarre_eye)
43. Horror/Suspense Movies I Own (public: Lord Moe)
44. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 33 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
45. Owned (public: ribcage)
46. Movie Collection (public: BeeDub)
47. Forrest Watch List (public: ForrestQ)
48. A Spook-a-doodle October (public: Tarnop)
49. 100 years of film (public: mutter)
50. HCC (public: Gabriel_p)
51. Read the book and seen the film (public: ylajali)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 10 |  |
BeeDub | 100 97th |
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Probably the definitive haunted house movie. Like its cinematic sibling "The Innocents", it gets a lot of mileage out of its mentally unstable protagonist and the ambiguous nature of its ghosts. Smart, beautiful to look at, and chilling.
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| 5 |  |
Paxton | 77 82nd |
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The question comes down to whether you like jump scares or a building sense of dread. I like both. This is the antithesis of A House on Haunted Hill, and I like that movie too. To be honest, I prefer The Innocents to both of these though. And, being perhaps too honest, I got more chills from Legend of Hell House even though it's an inferior ripoff of this movie. Being blatantly and overly frank, I wet my pants during The Changeling.
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| 4 | anjinash | 99 98th |
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Is this a haunted house film or a psychological thriller? The beauty is that this film lets you decide. The true horror of The Haunting all takes place in your own mind. The setup for this movie is simple; A college professor studying the paranormal enlists three people to stay with him in a reputedly haunted house to study the phenomena. Before all is said and done, at least one member of this party will not leave.
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| 4 |  |
terrymac | 82 89th |
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Beautifully shot, with some very effective setting and set design, this veers between a classic haunted house tale and psychological drama. The cast is very good, even if Harris' character may grate from time-to-time. Despite a couple of slow moments, and a bit of hokeyness creeping in, this is atmospheric and creepy, and quite memorable. Recommended.
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| 4 |  |
loc42 | 65 47th |
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Haunting is a great film in the manner that it treats the house as a fundamental element of the movie. It is a desire and dream machine whose "strange" and supernatural acts all correspond to characters' emotional quarrels. Wise takes a Bergmanesque chamber drama & imbues it with stylistic horror w/o de-intellectualizing it. However, the dialogues and motivations of characters seemed too superficial and sketchy to catch up with films masterful form.
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| 4 |  |
backwardsuit | 84 88th |
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An uncanny masterwork of subtle horror. It seems to float right on the mercurial surface that separates the psychological from the supernatural. Some of the ambiguous or subtle elements can be seen as lazy or boring. For the first third or so I was really in the latter camp but the film gradually crept under my skin and really left a strong impression. Stylistically it shows great restraint and measured intent although narrative structure really isn't its strong suit.
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| 3 | CatScandal | 73 79th |
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A very tasteful and subtle gothic horror, though rife with 60s psychobabble and with a somewhat irritating lead. it has a very hitchcockian feel, recalling rebecca and vertigo strongly, but with a bit more camp and bit less raw acting power. the best part for me is Theo the lesbian psychic who reveals a lot about the odd status of women in the early 60s, but the film certainly laid the foundation of gothic horror as well, despite not being frightening at all.
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| 3 |  |
joseywales | 84 92nd |
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The dead are not quiet in Hill House.
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| 3 | theficionado | 63 61st |
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Atmospheric & effective horror film whose greatest problem is its failure to externalize the internal monologues of the novella's unreliable, lonely, approval-seeking narrator, instead simply relating the thought process through spoken narration. This objectification of the thought process, unfortunately, disambiguates the subjective and the objective, thereby implicitly privileging one reading (house is actually haunted) over another (Eleanor is crazy). Pleasurably creepy & off-kilter, though.
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| 3 |  |
sebby | 85 95th |
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One of the best haunted house movies -- creepy, super atmospheric, and stunning, inventive camerawork.
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| 3 |  |
Icarus | 85 79th |
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Great visual sensibility, extremely disciplined with the camera and with the story, and a 'less is more' approach all make The Haunting an effective ghost story. The line between psychological and supernatural is blurred here to a most creepy and unsettling effect.
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| 3 |  |
Valenzetti | 78 52nd |
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Looks great, some interesting turns, but it fails to create the kind of sustained tension needed for the ending to have any real impact. Worth a watch, but only one, I think.
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| 3 |  |
afx237vi | 80 84th |
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Julie Harris is great in this. The internal monologue and the way her behaviour alternates between spaced-out and slightly manic constantly left me wondering whether it was her or the house that had gone haywire. Comparable to The Innocents in the way it relies on suggestion to create the atmosphere. There are one or two jump-out scares towards the end, but mostly you find yourself freaked out by things that aren't actually there, which is how it should be in a good ghost story.
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| 3 |  |
Lord Moe | 89 82nd |
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A subtle, ingeniously executed haunted house story. Relies on sound and wonderful camerawork for its scares.
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| 3 | xacviant | 89 90th |
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Robert Wise's haunted-house thriller (from Shirley Jackson's acclaimed novel) remains surprisingly fresh 50 years on, thanks to Wise's imaginative direction (aided hugely by Davis Boulton's nervy cinematography) and the superb cast: Julie Harris as the troubled Eleanor, Richard Johnson as the sly Dr. Markway, Claire Bloom as the sardonic psychic Theo, and Russ Tamblyn as the smug Luke are all remarkably good. There are some gaps in the story, but it's too brilliantly crafted to matter much.
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| 3 |  |
Calabria | 95 99th |
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There will never be a better looking Haunted House movie. The way Theo's glares C their way into, and dominate, the A-B conversations going on in the foreground of scenes is brilliant. The internal monologue comes dangerously close to being cheesy...but overall this was the movie that made me rethink what makes "horror" movies great, and I gotta respect that.
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| 3 |  |
The Pirate | 83 72nd |
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This movie actually gave me goosebumps! Eleanor is a fascinating character, easy to sympathize with but also incredibly disturbing. I usually say it's better to just let the story elements progress rather than have the characters analyzing everything, but once you see this movie from start to finish, it instantly becomes worthwhile.
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| 2 |  |
pilgermann | 95 98th |
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I rewatched this by myself in my darkened basement late at night and I must admit that I was afraid to move at times. If you're on this film's wavelength it'll give you shivers.
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| 2 |  |
nilkynarfy | 95 96th |
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I needed a hug and reassurance that it was only a movie afterward... I was 20
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| 2 |  |
Stain | 100 95th |
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In all likelihood the most terrifying film ever made. I want to rate this higher than 100, please
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| 2 |  |
KasperL | 60 50th |
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Well-made and pretty effective. I wasn't crazy about the voice over, and it's a rather slow film, but Wise's direction and the good performances carry it over the finish line.
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| 2 |  |
MArkjp | 85 80th |
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Beautifully filmed and extremely creepy English thriller/horror. Recommended viewing.
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| 2 |  |
Syntheseizur | 75 42nd |
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An intensely eerie film, helped by the black-and-white cinematography, interesting characters, and experimental effects. It's not without it's flaws, namely the grating nature of Eleanor and the abrupt ending, but it achieves it's title as a milestone horror movie by being relatively smart and overwhelmingly frightening.
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| 2 |  |
talonmalon | 89 79th |
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An excellent psychological and creepy haunted house film. Everything you see in this film, as well as everything that you don't see, is handled perfectly.
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| 2 | jspidah | 86 95th |
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Great film. I found all of the characters to be extremely charming and fun to watch. All of the random stuff packing every room along with the "off" geometry and the way the rooms are all fully lit up made the film feel disorienting when the tension ratchets up and the camera work becomes more dynamic. I wasn't expecting this to be more of a psychological horror than a ghost film, but I think I found it even more affecting if you think of the film as being from her perspective.
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| 2 |  |
TimeCapsule | 72 68th |
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The fantastic set design and some creepy atmosphere bring to life this "haunted house" ghost story/psychological drama. Although, despite appreciating some of the film's moments of creepy tension, unfortunately the movie's subtle ghost story isn't really something that frightens me exactly. Additionally the grating nature of "Eleanor", as well as aspects of the other characters, kind of lessened my enjoyment in facets of the psychological drama too. A mildly spooky classic still worth the watch.
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| 1 |  |
MartinTeller | 64 23rd |
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What I like about this film is that it never relies on fake scares. It jumps right into the real stuff. There are a few spooky moments and some sense of atmosphere. But much of it is dull. The film doesn't have enough plot to fill its running time, so we get a lot of Julie Harris (an intensely annoying and tiresome performance) fretting over this and that. The stretches between the scary parts are so uninteresting. I did enjoy some of it, but I wish it had a more consistent air of tension.
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| 1 | Nouilles | 92 90th |
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scary and suspenseful without showing much
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| 1 |  |
wayofthegun | 65 29th |
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The Haunting has a creepy atmosphere and set design along with good utilization of voice-over in the vein of Psycho; however, it gets quite dull about halfway through and doesn't quite regain momentum.
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| 1 |  |
PeaceAnarchy | 85 81st |
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Really gets under your skin with the creepy photography and sound. It features some really creative shots and shadows and it's never quite clear where things are going, which helps with the suspense. The only real issue is a somewhat unlikeable lead, but the supporting cast makes up for it.
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| 1 |  |
twincinema | 70 53rd |
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As someone spooked by the sudden slam of the door, this had me cowering behind my blanket.
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| 1 |  |
tonydal | 70 40th |
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That never quite worked for me (any more than did the book).
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| 1 |  |
babamots | 89 85th |
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Oh, it got me (you know the part I mean). I can't remember the last time I was so scared during a movie.
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| 1 |  |
Vandelay1 | 71 79th |
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good movie
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| 1 |  |
moraesfelipe | 75 80th |
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Everbody has the right to run away. Pretty good-looking and still effective -- oh, the vibes of that first hour, Eleanor arriving and sensing that Hill House is staring at her -- gothic horror on trauma, loneliness and suicide entirely built on stuff we all recognise in any flick today -- things bumping at night, banging at your door, an invisible hand holding yours, cold spots, weird architecture with "wrong" angles, darkness laughing and crying -- but that still can make us chill.
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| 1 |  |
mrandersen10 | 80 77th |
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It takes awhile to get going due to some hokey exposition, but once the crew is settled in Hill House, it becomes a solid psychological thriller. There are some truly gripping moments in the final act all done in a refreshingly low-key manner.
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| 1 |  |
ribcage | 91 94th |
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very good atmosphere. some interesting camerawork. without spoilers -- the moment with the door doing the weird thing was unexpected and well done. loved the cast.
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| 1 | theaceoffire | 100 84th |
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I DON'T like horror movies. Gave score for the quality of this film.
This is the scariest movie I have ever seen. Ever. Almost no special effects, and you can never be sure if any of it happens at all. Still scares me to this day.
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| 1 |  |
W00DY | 75 71st |
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The first act is spooky and atmospheric, leading to a slightly disappointing middle section, before picking up again for a riveting finale. The photography is stunning throughout and really creates the tone while the actors, especially Johnson and Tamblyn, give fine performances. 'The Haunting' is essential viewing for fans of psychological horror .
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| 1 |  |
Jimmy Suede | 90 93rd |
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I've seen scarier movies, but this is genuinely creepy and psychological. It has outstanding cinematography.
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| 1 | mwestcott | 99 90th |
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The Haunting is nothing short of brilliant film making. The story leave just enough ambiguous to be far more interesting than modern horror movies. The acting is perfectly in keeping with the times. The camerawork is to a standard that would not be invented for years to come. It balances bombast and subtlety perfectly and exists as one of the scariest movies of all time.
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| 1 |  |
kfol | 63 64th |
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Interesting characters, good camerawork. The internal monologue ruined the realism a bit but other than that an enjoyable film. Big up the fashionable lesbian though.
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| 1 |  |
Scrib | 85 90th |
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Remarkably effective for a film so old - but then again, it's only doing what all of the best horror does: simplicity & restraint. The mind is more frightening than anything produced via VFX, which is why paranoia is such a powerful theme and works so well here; that grouped with loneliness, misplaced purpose, guilt, fear of the unknown... And what better way to keep the unknown frightening than to keep it out of sight? The monologue is overused, but restrained enough to keep things effective.
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| Average Percentile 63.48% from 1085 Ratings |  |