Martin Scorsese has said that The Haunting is his favorite horror movie and it’s easy to see why. The film is dripping with classic scary-movie iconography. Certainly, The Haunting is one of the all-time best haunted house movies ever made. What makes it even more unique is its total lack of typical horror trappings. There’s no blood & gore, no lazy jump scares, etc. It provides enough hints that if you let yourself get wrapped up in the story, your imagination does most of the scaring.
Directed by Robert Wise (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Sound of Music), whom I’m a big fan of, Wise chose to shoot the film in black & white, giving it a surreal atmosphere. The acting is overly melodramatic (typical for the era) but that doesn’t stop the scary moments from still hitting with gusto.
In some ways, The Haunting plays similar to what Hitchcock might have done if he had made a haunted house movie. There’s careful character development, well-placed scares, mundane moments that turn disturbing just with the simple use of sound and clever camera tricks. And it’s a very psychological horror film.
I’ll admit that for some viewers, this film will not hold up today. It takes its time building up the scary moments. Many of the best scenes may feel like haunted house cliches but that’s only because so many films after used this movie as inspiration. Nevertheless, if you’ve got a solid attention span, this is well worth the watch.