ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

christopher-underwood Can it really be that I have never seen this before? Bit surprising if true but seemingly so, perhaps the fairly generic title is to blame and in my mind I had always confused it with Legend of Hell House (1973). Very good though the Matheson scripted film is, I find I prefer this. Richard Johnson is splendid in the central chief ghost hunter (he even reminds me a little of my late ghost hunting father!) although I was a little disappointed he lacked all the usual paraphernalia. Where are the tape recorders, temperature gauges, camera equipment etc? Well this is a stripped down, full on spooky tale that concentrates on the main four chapters and their experiences of the house and very well done it is too. Claire Bloom especially shines. From the very opening with the measured and effective voice-over, through the really scary mostly sound sourced effects until the scariest spiral staircase in history and the inevitable denouement, this is a great 'old dark house' mystery that really grips tight.

deeannratcliff I am completely baffled by the insane number of high rated reviews , truly don't get it! I'm not a young person who can't be scared by black and whit horror with no gore. In fact I usually love those, I would rather be scared by what I don't see or simply a creepy atmosphere, which is what all the reviews on this seem to be. Nothing in this movie was scary, at all!! I watched it alone, in the dark after watching The Changeling so was a little spooked already but this was laughable and a waste of a good horror night and all of you that gave great reviews should pay me $2.99 for wasting my money. Omg, the narrator, Eleanor made it impossible to watch or be even remotely scared, just very annoyed!! A character full of fear and mental issues could be a great character, she was just stupid, whiny, totally unbelievable and well, I'm just stupefied that anyone, even a five year old could be scared of anything in this movie. To me, this movie is a disgrace to classic horror films and truly a disgrace that people actually thought it was good and took the time to write reviews encouraging people to seek it out. I mean really, is this a joke, are people just mad they watched it and want other people to suffer the same misery? There are a couple bad ratings, please, believe those, I wish I had, it's truly not scary, at all! Even if your not watching it to get scared but just hoping for a well done classic, don't! It should be takien off the classic horror list immediately!! If you saw the poorly rated "The Haunting" of 1999, it's actually 10o times better just cuz of some cool set design! Ugh, so mad, I had a feeling the ratings were a hoax, should have gone with my gut!!

Woodyanders Paranormal investigator Dr. John Markway (a fine performance by Richard Johnson) invites fragile repressed psychic Eleanor Lance (well played with touching vulnerability by Julie Harris) and chic clairvoyant Theodora (a winningly sharp portrayal by Claire Bloom) to the legendary "evil" mansion Hill House to clarify if the place is actually haunted. Cocky wisecracking skeptic Luke Sanderson (an excellent and engaging turn by Russ Tamblyn) decides to tag along for the ride.Director Robert Wise relates the compelling story at a steady pace, maintains an elegant quality throughout, and expertly crafts an eerie and unsettling atmosphere that eschews cheap scares and fancy special effects in favor of mood and nuance instead. Better still, Wise and screenwriter Nelson Gidding not only make the creepy and sinister Hill House just as much of a vividly realized character as the human protagonists, but also bring a provocative element of ambiguity that ingeniously keeps viewers on edge and subtly hints that the neurotic Eleanor might possibly be imagining everything that happens to her. Davis Boulton's crisp widescreen black and white cinematography makes the most out of the main location and offers a wealth of striking stylistic flourishes, with especially neat use of dissolves and askew camera angles. Humphrey Searle's shivery score hits the spine-tingling spot. Worthy of its classic status.

Prichards12345 Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is rightly viewed as a classic of supernatural fiction, felt by some to be the best ghost story ever written (it's certainly one of the subtlest). I've read it at least 5 times and it never loses it's power to enthrall.Robert Wise's movie version, The Haunting, is a pretty faithful adaptation, presenting its four complex central characters marvellously well. Julie Harris, Richard Johnson, Claire Bloom and Russ Tamblyn are perfect casting choices, and there is the house itself...I don't think there's ever been a better "house with a personality" in movies than the depiction of Hill House here. Director Wise had form, of course, in the genre; having previously finished off Curse of The Cat People for Val Lewton and The Body Snatcher, both of which are superb films. The "Lewton Approach" is well served here in what Stephen King once described as "The world's only radio horror movie." That famous scene, where Harris and Bloom cling to each other in sublime terror while SOMETHING pounds on the door outside is one of my favourites in all horror movies. Eleanor even laughs at one point and makes a joke, a knowing comment from Wise, perhaps, on the reaction of audiences to horror movies.The basic plot is simply this: four people spend some time in a supposedly haunted house to investigate whether there is such a thing as the supernatural, and, as one of the four begins to submit to the aura of the house, Wise always keeps a balanced view - is it really largely in Eleanor's mind? Did she write the message to herself on the wall? Or is something really there, walking alone? The travesty of a remake that was produced in 1999 is a fine illustration of how low some of Hollywood movie-making has sunk. A total CGI mess, where the original is a masterpiece. Just my opinion - but this is a truly great film. Watch it at night, in the dark...