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.

gavin6942 A scientist doing research on the paranormal invites two women to a haunted mansion. One of the participants soon starts losing her mind.So, Martin Scorsese says this is his favorite horror film. What does that mean exactly? I do not know. It is indeed a great horror film, because it relies on a slow build up and there is very little that is outright scary or frightening. This is all atmosphere.What makes it even better is the cast. Richard Johnson is excellent, and Julie Harris is always nice to see. Russ Tamblyn, though, is perhaps among the more interesting actors of his generation, with decades of great roles and films under his belt. I would watch this again and again just for him.

Johan Louwet Usually I'm not one who likes movies which are more about atmosphere than story. I think "The Haunting" is somewhere in between. The story looks pretty basic about a professor who wants to find evidence of supernatural and this in the spooky mansion Hill House where over the years some people died through accidents and suicide. We see this movie mostly through the eyes of Eleanor, a young woman living in with her sister's family desperately seeking for her own place. She is delighted that she is asked by professor Markway to join him in his quest. The other 2 paranormal investigators are Theodora and the legal heir of the mansion young guy Luke. No this movie doesn't have the sudden ghost faces that we see in today's horror. The horror is here created by noises and the visuals. And also the black/white cinematography as well as the mansion itself enable to create the creepy atmosphere it needs. I especially liked how we get to feel Eleanor's emotions through the voice in her head. She is terrified of the house yet also experiencing a strange attraction tot it. I think together with "The Innocents" one of the best haunted house movies.