The Haunting Review
Between his phenomenally sunny musical successes West_Side_Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965), director Robert_Wise found time to make this brooding, low-key shocker, based on the novel -The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. The material seemed to free up Wise's baser talents: The off-kilter, black-and-white photography goes a long way in intensifying the production's minimal special effects, and the actors uniformly overplay their parts, giving the film a streamlined momentum it might have lacked otherwise. Though the story's lesbian subtext was toned down for the film, the sleek Claire_Bloom injects some much-needed sexual tension into the proceedings; the film is less about the group's battle against poltergeists than about the inner struggle between the virginal Eleanor Lance (Julie_Harris) and her conflicting desires. Jackson's story would be adapted for the screen again, in 1999's sub-par The_Haunting. Michael Hastings, Rovi
Great Film Moments:
- In Theaters
- This Week
- Coming Soon
- New on DVD
Browse More Movies:
