The Haunting

Saturday 7 November 2009
On 4th november I watched "The Haunting" directed by Robert Wise, 1963. It's one of those good horror films that were produced in cinema. The story tells us about a group of reasearches who are trying to find supernatural forces in Hill House.


Visualization.

The House itself is made on solid mark "5". Mysterious corridors, statues and automatically closable doors give you an illusion that this house is alive. Interior plays a vital role in this process. The work of tremendous operators (for those times) makes you feel the whole situation even more deeply. I was pleasantly surprised. You don't see this quality even in modern films, because the accent is made on blood and cruel scenes which, I suppose, are very horryfing from editors point of view. It usually makes people laugh though. I was satisfied with the quality of scenes. It's not the best but at least it is not a usual boring massacre going on throughout a film.

Characters.

I was so touched by Fay Compton's performance. Maybe there was a bit of overplaying, but generally it was tremendous. Unfortunately, nothing bright and special to say about the group of researches. Maybe Theo - because she was beautiful - and Eleanor - because she was annoying, irritating psychopath. Possibly her being this psycho was meant to be in the script. If so, she did it brilliantly.

Remake of "The Haunting" directed by Jan de Bont

Someone could say that this film isn't good etc. But I enjoy watching it. Of course, the house lost it's intrigue - CG ruined it all. House is moving and everything is clear. It is scary because of some sudden scenes and generally not a bad film.
The reason why I watched it are the actors. Liam Neeson ( Qui-Gon Jinn Star Wars : The phantom menace ) as Dr.David Marrow and beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones as Theodora 'Theo'. Only because of her everyone should watch remake :).

The Lesbian theme.
It's obvious that Theo is a lesbian. It is especially noticeable in the remake. When I was watching the old one, I was waiting for some lesbian action...

Overall.
I liked both films. Each of them has it's own point. Thanks to this course, if I wasn't here, I would never see this film.

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Jackie said...
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