On H List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
The Haunting (1963)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
12/11
12/11:
Hey, quick!
Somebody put Julie Harris in a white straitjacket because she badly needs one. The first moment Eleanor (and hell
no, I'm not going to call her Nell) started showing off traits that would make her a prime candidate to be placed
in the insane asylum, I knew she was going to be the worst character of The Haunting.
But what I didn't prepare for was two painful hours of her. Amazingly enough, everybody accepted Eleanor for a
while, even the "professor" thought of her as a charming, genteel lady with perfectly normal mood tendencies.
What an idiot! As a matter of fact, shouldn't he have interviewed his potential assistants prior to the experiment?
As for the rest of the film, although horror is the name of the game, it feels like a comedy with numerous moments
of unintended hilarity. Check out the female servant who loves saying, "...no nearer than..." After a couple of
repeats, her effect was lost, and then she became a joke. Upon the sight of four characters at the beginning of
the tour, I immediately said, "Not enough people!" That's one of the serious flaws; the movie needs to involve
more. Otherwise, there's not much of room to run.
Despite the negatives, there's a good amount of stuff that are right up to par with Alfred Hitchcock's
films. The only supernatural effect, apart from the silly draft, is the door bending. Take it away, and what's
left is an hallucination, or rather a bag of tricks, that's being played on the mind. Explaining the whole thing
at the end about Dr. Markway's wife is what finally destroyed the credibility.
All in all, I thank Julie Harris for ruining The Haunting.