Wise told him to keep his eyes steady, to blink less, and to try not to time his acting (Wise said he would take care of that in the editing room). Wise saw Johnson in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Devils. Jackson's novel relies on terror rather than horror to elicit emotion in the reader, using complex relationships between the mysterious events in the house and the characters’ psyches. In 2010, Cinema Retro magazine hosted a screening of the film at Ettington Park, the country house used for exterior shots of Hill House.

This gave the visual impression that the characters had turned pale due to a drop in temperature. But she also chose it because she had a long-standing interest in parapsychology. [10], The Haunting opened in New York and Los Angeles on 18 September 1963. [18] Although some sounds were replaced during post-production, the "pre-scored" sounds were left on the soundtrack just as the actors heard them. Hill house is the titular location in The Haunting of Hill House. [31] The film is also one of the few Hollywood motion pictures to depict a lesbian as feminine and not predatory.

It was only given to Wise on condition that he sign a memorandum in which he acknowledged that the lens was imperfect. Wise had initially wanted the actors to simply play up "the 'quality of [being] cold' in [the] sequence", but he quickly recognized that an additional visual effect was needed to more clearly emphasize the temperature drop. When the cable was slackened, elements of the stairway loosened up and moved freely.

"How Do You Photograph Nothing?

[21] Wise says that Lewton's theory of horror was that people were more afraid of the unknown than things they could see. The Haunting Theatrical release poster Directed byRobert Wise Produced byRobert Wise Screenplay byNelson Gidding Based onThe Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson Starring Julie Harris Claire Bloom Richard Johnson Russ Tamblyn Music byHumphrey Searle CinematographyDavis Boulton Edited byErnest Walter Production companies Argyle Enterprises Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Release date 18 September 1963 Running time 114 minutes CountryUnited Kingdom LanguageEnglish Budget$… [41] Kael said of it, "It wasn't a great movie but I certainly wouldn't have thought that it could offend anyone. Hamblin, Dora Jane. Actor Richard Johnson said that the sets' eeriness created a "subdued atmosphere" among the cast and crew.

The group find the mansion's walls were constructed with angles askew, resulting in off-center perspectives and doors that open and close by themselves.

[44] However, not all critics think so highly of the film; Yoram Allon and Neil LaBute have stated that they believe the film is "frankly overrated",[45] and professional filmmaker Russell Evans has argued that few people truly find the film shocking or disturbing. In 2010, The Guardian newspaper ranked it as the 13th-best horror film of all time. [13] Someone suggested to Wise that he approach MGM's Borehamwood Studios subsidiary. Theo remarks that Eleanor got what she wanted—to remain with the house. Wise achieved this effect by using the staircase's handrail as a makeshift dolly track: a camera was attached to the rail and then slowly allowed to slide down (all the while being controlled by a wire so that its fall could be controlled). To enhance the actors' performances during scenes in which they react to off-stage voices or sounds, Wise and his sound editors created a "pre-scored" soundtrack of voices and noises.

The Haunting was released on DVD in its original screen format with commentary in 2003, and was released on Blu-ray on 15 October 2013. [22][23] The sets were designed to be brightly lit, with no dark corners or recesses, and decorated in a Rococo style. [39] Writing in The Atlantic magazine, critic Pauline Kael called the film "moderately elegant and literate and expensive", but criticised Russ Tamblyn for being "feeble [and] cowardly-comic". "Great New Scary Film", "The Haunting: No 13 Best Horror Film of All Time", "Cinema Retro's Movie Magic Tour Reunites Richard Johnson with Hill House", British Film Institute's "10 Great Haunted House Films", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Haunting_(1963_film)&oldid=979478870, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Find a dedicated community, comprehensive plot summaries, and more! Wise's agent then suggested that, since Wise owed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) a film under an old contract, Wise should take the project there. Had Theodora been heterosexual, Eleanor's growing attraction to Markway would not have threatened her.

[6] Harris incorporated her own depression into her performance. The role of Luke became more flippant, and Dr. Markway (Montague in the novel) was made a more confident character. Infrared film stocks were quickly rushed to the location shoot from Belgium. He perceived the book to be more about mental breakdown than ghosts, and although he was informed after meeting author Shirley Jackson that it was very much a supernatural novel, elements of mental breakdown were introduced into the film. [18] However, the location did not sit well with Harris and Bloom who upon arriving at Ettington Park thought it was "scary looking outside", and Wise had to reassure them. Markway becomes alarmed at Eleanor's obsession with Hill House in spite of the dangers it poses. The banging then proceeds to move towards the nursery, where sounds of destruction are heard. [17] Uncredited actress Freda Knorr is seen in shots before and after the fall; it is her face audiences associate with the "Second Mrs. Crain". [21] Interior sets were constructed and shot at the MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.

The Haunting was formally remade in 1999 under the same title. Luke observes that Eleanor deliberately aimed the car at the tree, but Markway asserts that something was in the car with her, noting that the tree was also the one that killed Mrs. Crain. This led to some of the most active camera movements in Wise's film career. [26] The effect was created by tying portions of the steps and railing to a cable that ran inside the staircase's central support column. [15] Sound editors collected and created sounds in an empty manor house for a week to create the pre-score. [52] King returned to the project in 1999, completed a revised script, and successfully pitched the script to producer Mark Carliner. [12], Wise approached United Artists with the project, but after much delay they turned him down. [24] The new film worked. Following another night of loud disturbances the team discovers the words "Help Eleanor Come Home" scrawled on a wall, which causes Eleanor distress. Among several prospective choices only two individuals accept Markway's invitation to join the investigation—a psychic, Theodora and Eleanor Lance, who experienced poltergeist activity as a child. The number of characters was cut down, the backstory was significantly shortened, most of the supernatural events depicted in the novel were kept off-screen, and the greater part of the action was set inside the house to heighten the audience's feeling of claustrophobia.

That night, Theo moves into Eleanor's room and they fall asleep in the same bed. Eleanor spent her adult life caring for her invalid mother, whose recent death has left Eleanor with severe guilt. [35] In Houston, Texas, a local cinema promoted the film as so chilling that it held a contest to see which of four patrons could sit all the way through a midnight screening; the prize was $100. [42] Richard Johnson says that Steven Spielberg considers The Haunting one of the "seminal films" of his youth, and Robert Wise says that Spielberg told him The Haunting was "the scariest film ever made!

The announcement generated extensive controversy. Check out an entire wiki for The Haunting of Hill House over at The Haunting of Hill House Wiki. [7] It was also during their visit to speak with Jackson that Wise and Gidding chose the title for the film. [37] Director Martin Scorsese placed The Haunting first on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time. The critical consensus reads: "Both psychological and supernatural, The Haunting is a chilling character study. Julie Harris was cast by Wise, who found her ideal for the psychologically fragile Eleanor, though during production she suffered from depression and had an uneasy relationship with her co-stars. Wiater, Stan; Golden, Christopher; and Wagner, Hank. [8] Wise and Gidding traveled to Bennington, Vermont to meet Jackson, who told them that it was a good idea but that the novel was definitely about the supernatural. The film was released on 18 September 1963. Robert Wise was in post-production on West Side Story when he read a review in Time magazine of author Shirley Jackson's novel, The Haunting of Hill House. The collapsing staircase effect was designed by a metalworker at the Borehamwood studios. This modern reimagining of the Shirley Jackson novel follows siblings who, as children, grew up in what would go on to become the most famous haunted house in the country.. Now adults, they are forced back together in the face of tragedy and must finally confront the ghosts of … [52][53][54] The project went into turnaround and a complete script was written, but Spielberg demanded more thrills and action sequences while King wanted more horror. The interior sets were by Elliot Scott, credited by Wise as instrumental in the making of The Haunting. Eleanor runs towards the source and discovers Grace is missing. In part, however, the decision to cast Bloom and Johnson was because of Eady Levy requirements that the cast be partly British. [6], The Haunting is notable for its lesbian character, Theodora. [38] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times cited The Haunting as "one of the most highly regarded haunted house films ever produced" but surmised that "there is really no point to it". [32] Theodora's lesbianism helps to create conflict in the picture. A camera was fixed over the bed, and four different actresses (each a different age) posed in the bed beneath the camera. The decision to show little that was supernatural was made very early in the picture's pre-production. [28] To accentuate the feeling that the house was alive, exterior shots were filmed so that the windows appeared to be eyes. [36] Despite these stunts, The Haunting was only an average success at the box office.