Classic Movies: "The Haunting"

"We live over in town, miles away...so there won't be anyone around if you need help... we couldn't hear you...in the night...no one lives any nearer than town, no one will come any nearer than that... in the night...in the dark."

A simple narrative by Mrs. Dudley, the Hill House chambermaid, still evokes chills even to those who have seen the movie multiple times. She utters it virtually expressionless with the exception of a barely perceptible all-knowing grin before she exits. What classifies "The Haunting" as a classic movie? That subtlety. It is the hallmark of the kind of suspense so few films of this genre supply in modern-day computer-effect Hollywood. A resounding example is the perfectly awful 1999 remake of "The Haunting," which neither Liam Neeson nor Cathryn Zeta-Jones could save.

The original "The Haunting," was directed in 1963 by Robert Wise who helmed "The Sound of Music" and "West Side Story," two of the most celebrated musicals of all time. Several hand-picked guests are invited for a weekend at Hill House by Dr. Markway, who is investigating the paranormal. Several deaths have occurred there through its long history, so it is a prime candidate for this type of research. The guests all have skeletons of a ghostly nature in their respective closets, with the exception of the character played by Russ Tamblyn (who also performed in Wise's "West Side Story"). He's a relative of the owners and stands to inherit the house.

Wise guides us through various teeth-chattering scenes through the skillful use of camera angles and shadows. Hill House is shot from the exterior to make it appear as if it's watching you as you watch it. And consider the scene in which Julie Harris hears a child crying at night. The patterns on the wall, heretofore simply decorative style, take on the appearance of laughing faces. There's not a special effect to be found...only suggestion.

Terrifying and mysterious, "The Haunting" remains one of the truly classic movies.

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