I've had 'The Haunting' sat in my 'To watch' pile now for the better part of 2 and a half years, and having never seen it, coupled with the fact that Halloween upon us yet again. I decided to bite the bullet and check it out.
Plot wise, the film is a pretty generic 'Haunted House' picture, with one Dr. Markway, leading a scientifically driven paranormal hunt at the infamous 'Hill House' the location some 90 years previously of several unexplained gruesome deaths. With a small group of hand picked specialists in the field, Dr. Markway and his team make the journey to hill house with the intention to stay there for a long spell and document any interesting happenings that may occur.
However, one of the women involved in the team, by the name of Eleanor is currently grieving the death of her ill mother, and the films main focus through the runtime seems to be a psychological paranormal thriller in which Eleanor slowly starts to experience unusual happenings in the house, which when coupled with her fragile state of mind, begins to spiral her and the other associates into a world of fear and terror.
This ones kind of awkward to review for me honestly, chiefly because its successes and failures are so starkley polarised, I dont really have much more to say about this thing than 'It's amazing' or 'Its awful'.
The script is a wonderfully slow boiling pressure cooker of a picture, one of the finest 'haunted house' movies of the 20th century quite honestly. the tone is wonderfully macarbre, the characters are rich with multiple layers and influences that help drive their goals. the twists and turns are fun, the act structuring was superb. As a story, this things awesome honestly.
That being said...while I appreciate that the slowboil nature of this picture massively enhances the rich nuance of the storytelling, character arcs and intreague...at nearly 2 HOURS LONG...This thing wore its welcome out with me with about 40 minutes left to go on the runtime.
When the film gets moody, pondering and interesting, its fantastic. But with this thing being made in the early 1960s, it cant help itself but stop for large chunks of the runtime to overdeliver on character backstory or the history of Hill house. This is one of those circumstances where less ABSOLUTLEY gives you more. But it was made in an era that didnt trust the audience enough to let them get on with proceedings. As such we grind to a halt every 20 minutes or so for a 10 minute idle back and forth where we DO learn some backstory...but nothing that helps improve the film, nor anything that advances the plot. it's chatter, additional lore for the people who REALLY want it...and I, really didnt.
Add into this that I personally struggled a little bit to really get a 'read' on Eleanor as a character, shes introduced to the film as an overly aggressive character, and for the rest of the runtime she seems to wildly swing between being overly timid and affable, to screechy, overly aggressive and unpleasent. the shifts are unexplained other than a passing remark on her deceased mother, and realistically...I think the film wants us to believe that our leading lady IS just that way, flipping hard between those two character types because 'Thats just who she is'...
Anyway; outside of the script we have some utterly GORGEOUS cine and direction here. the composition and lighting have often been cited as being an influence on Sam Raimi, and I can very easily see the comparison. we have nothing short of a masterclass in how to properly light for black and white film here. OOZING with style and compositionally astounding for the time. 'The Haunting' is a creative powerhouse of a movie, unashamed to try new things, genre defying in the sheer amount of successful jib shots, thoughtful experimental edits and tracking. Given how busy the 'Hill House' set is, its a wonder the camera crew didnt take out half the set with some of the shots this thing tries to pull off.
It's genius quite honestly, and a total testimony to Robert Wise. Who astounds here with is complex and considered approach to direction. This films art in places. dripping with character, its impossibly easy to find yourself lost in the composition of 'Hill House' and, for my money, I think this thing needs to be seen on the biggest possible screen for the maximum effect.
The performances are a little hoaky in places, just a smidge on the campy side, but they do pull some very sombre and macarbre performances out of their characters and because of how well defined our core cast is, it gives them all the more scope to really push the boat out in trying to explore and add subtlety to their roles. Scope I might add that they seize with great relish.
They're very physically animate, use set space perfectly and, while not every line delivery is a winner. the hits do outweigh the misses. That's equally not even BEGINNING to get into the scoring, which is a wonderful orchestral arrangement that perfectly compliments the uneasy cinematography, they experiment with sound throughout the film to give a 'Ghostly' impression to Hill House and I feel they absolutely succeed on their brief.
All in all, if it wasnt for the length, i'd wholeheartedly recommend 'The Haunting' it's a super moody, very richly written and solidly paced haunted house psychological piece. Unfortunately, the sheer length of the thing and a few wobbly performances, tonal issues and the ending being a bit of a damp squib, do stop this from being an out and out rec from me. I really enjoyed the tone. But I think it's best watched when your in the right headspace, and at just shy of 2 hours, i'd basically have to take an afternoon or evening out to catch it again...which is seldom possible these days unfortunately.
Good film, but it just fell short for me.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-haunting/
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