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!!

katiebonevento ***contains spoilers for the book The Haunting of Hill HouseThe Haunting wasn't a bad film at all. But compared to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, it hardly holds up. As someone who's an enormous fan of the book, it hurts to see the characters that Jackson created so carefully misinterpreted. For instance, Eleanor has no feelings for the doctor in the book, and his wife only really exists as comic relief. The addition of this subplot felt unnecessary and very much against the spirit of the book. Luke is far more likable in the book, and the callous, obnoxious version of him in the film is almost unrecognizable. Additionally, perhaps the most unsettling scene from the novel was removed- when Eleanor and Theodora experience a vision while walking outside the house. I liked the cinematography, and the exterior of the house that was used was nearly perfect, but overall, The Haunting feels like the director only skimmed the novel that his film was based on. I look forward to the upcoming Netflix adaption of Hill House, and can only hope the creative team will stay true to the novel's plot.

ReasonablePiper Eleanor is a broken women. She spent most of her adult life taking care of her sick mother, with little help from her sister. Her mother has passed away, and now Eleanor doesn't know what to do with her life. She receives no support from her sister, who argues with her, and even her niece calls her names. When Eleanor is invited by Dr. John Markway to stay in a mansion, she readily agrees. Dr. Markway studies the paranormal, and he believes Hill House to be haunted, so he invites Eleanor, along with Theodora and Luke, the current owner's nephew, to be witnesses. Eleanor, desperately wanting a friend, takes a liking to Theo. They act close at the beginning of the film, likening their relationship to that of sisters. Theo, however, is implied to be lesbian, so there may be more to their relationship than just sisterly bond. Eleanor also takes a liking to Dr. Markway because he is the only one not to make fun of her.As the film progresses, Hill House lives up to its reputation. Loud noises sound off in different rooms, there are cold spots in impossible places, and something keeps on banging on the doors. Eleanor starts to see things, but is she losing her mind, or is she being influenced by something otherworldly? Theo and Luke make fun of her, which is why Dr. Markway is nice to her.The scares are effective, the tension is constant, and there is never a moment of boredom. The acting is good, and the direction and cinematography are astounding. While watching this movie, I was amazed at Robert Wise's diversity. The only other movies I've seen of his are Born To Kill (1947), a dark and violent noir, and the Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), an intelligent science-fiction movie. My only real complaint is the ending. It's too abrupt. After Eleanor crashes her car into a tree, the others find her, and then it ends. Still, The Haunting was a great movie, and I could see my score going up upon a rewatch.8/10

GL84 Arriving at a supposedly haunted mansion for an experiment on fear study, a group of strangers and their over-seer are witness to an extraordinary amount of physical evidence that forces them to believe the house to be haunted and must find a way of getting out of the building alive.While this one does have some great work here there's some troubling parts as well. There's a lot here that works with this one in dealing with the theory of the supernatural that runs through the film, as this one preys upon the concept of the victim's own imagination to play tricks on what's going on. The emphasis on her guilt and sensitivity, buoyed by the history of the house itself, makes this such a fun time with how the early supernatural scenes from the odd creaks and groans and disembodied voices heard throughout here but also in all the teasing and joking around that soon turn into actual haunting sequences as they explore the house all manage to give this one quite a healthy sense of fear here, while it's big haunting scenes are the main focus. The bedroom scenes here are absolutely chilling as the utterly pounding footsteps echoing throughout the hallways into the room next-door where they begin scratching on the walls to an absolutely fevered pitch that then dies down just as quickly as it appeared, and a second scene where the girls are alone in the room overhearing the echoing footsteps return into the next-door room again and the muffled conversations to the frightened girl prompt their own individual response to the situation before the truly classic hand-holding gag that makes this quite fun. As well, the big centerpiece sequence here is the encounter in the parlor where the pounding footsteps appear leading into the door to the hallway outside which leads to it pushing against the door from outside with enough force to push the wooden door in with quite a powerful display all in front of everyone which gives this as much as it does. That this is the lone haunting done in front of others and is such a thrilling and creative moment makes for quite a powerful scene as a whole. The other big plus here is the actual house itself, which is quite spooky and appropriate setting here for the type of action portrayed which is quite an impressive task, and uses its setting to great effect. These are good enough to make this hold off the few minor flaws here, which comes from the rather bland and drawn-out pace here as while this one isn't boring its' way too long for how little action is present. The encounters are spaced out throughout here in such a big amount of time that it never really settles into a groove about how to play off the dreariness of the pace here. as well, there's also the fact that the films' psychological issues here are considerably downplayed into appearing so clumsy here that the inclusion is really troubling. Otherwise, this one works rather well overall.Today's Rating-PG: Mild Violence.