CinemaClown A creepy, captivating & chilling British horror that still packs enough power to scare, startle & surprise its audience after all these years, The Innocents is an ingeniously crafted example of its genre that makes impressive use of its remote setting & eerie atmosphere to deliver a tense, taut & thrilling experience, and thanks to the fine line it walks between supernatural & psychological horror, it continues to be a subject of discussion amongst film buffs even today.

leahbrown-86134 The Imagery in this film is just incredible and I didn't expect it to be so subtle and yet so beautiful when I purchased the film. I had wanted to watch it for a long time and when I did I certainly wasn't disappointed. Whereas I wouldn't go as far as calling this film scary and because of this it may immediately seem disappointing to some fans of horror, it's ambiguity and Gothic setting make it well worth a watch.

jhanks-45230 I'm not sure how "forgotten" this movie is, but I had never heard of it until recently. I love the genre of horror, and this is as good as it gets. While it has nothing in the way of gore or jump scares, the plot develops into something truly twisted and disturbing. All the roles are very well acted and convincing, which makes the deeply creepy subject matter even creepier. If you like horror/Gothic stories at all, this one is a must.

calvinnme ..to modify Clint Eastwood's time honored line. A film adaptation of "The Turn of the Screw", this is the story of a governess, Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr), hired to look after the orphaned niece and nephew of a wealthy man. He has had custody of them since infancy, and simply can't be bothered to be a parent to them. He thus gives Miss Giddens complete authority over the children and the household of the country estate where they live. Soon though, Miss Giddens realizes that there are ghosts in the house - two to be exact. The housekeeper tells her of Quint and Miss Giddens' predecessor, Miss Jessel, who had an indiscreet affair with Quint, also an employee in the household. Quint died, and Miss Jessel drowned herself in her grief. This film is in the same league as "The Haunting" in that you don't actually see that much. The suspense is in the music, cinematography, and atmosphere as a whole. There are a few reflections of the ghosts in windows and one very creepy scene by the lake, the one scene that has stayed with me since I saw this one as a child. Giddens' interest is in protecting the children, but she is a bit dithery, a touch unbalanced, and maybe not too bright. She makes up her mind that the ghosts are possessing the children,seems to be making up what she has to do to rid the children of the ghosts, and in fact she seems to be making up all of what has to be done as she goes along. She never stops to think what powers the ghosts might possess, and her decision to charge full speed ahead at exorcising them leads to a bad outcome, one in which she seems genuinely surprised.All of this I have just mentioned is why I truly think that The Innocents is Deborah Kerr's finest moment , she pulls off depicting this (at times) irritating and possibly daft and certainly hysterical and unhinged woman so well that I still liked her; and I was touched at the end by her pain instead of being angry with her for "causing" the bad outcome of the exorcism. It's a standard Kerr role, with touches of her various nuns, governesses and stuffy Brits from earlier films, so her seeming effortlessness in the part is an explainable plus, but in The Innocents she really reaches inside and pulls out something deeper to show us that her every moment is genuine.The children were absolutely perfect in their roles, which begs the question why was Pamela Frankin, who played the female child here, put in so many horror roles? Meg Jenkins plays it docile and down to earth as the housekeeper who befriends Giddens. You can tell she thinks the woman is daft, even though she has heard and seen things that make her believe that Quint and Miss Jessel are still "around" in some way. She tries to give Giddens some of her wisdom from a lifetime of taking care of children, but when her ideas are dismissed, in the end she just follows orders like the servant she's always been.