30 THEATRICAL TERRORS: The Haunting (Day 19)

I’ve been enjoying the reimagining of Shirley Jackson’s classic book, The Haunting of Hill House, over on Netflix this last few weeks.

It’s a brave thing to adapt something as iconic as that book into another medium—let alone one that had such a  powerful adaptation as the 1963 film The Haunting.

After all, it was attempted, to very overwraught results, in 1999 with quite an able cast. So, it is screenwriter Nelson Gidding and director Robert Wise’s original take on the subject that is the focus tonight.

Wize read Jackson’s novel and found it frightening and went to his screenwriter, Neslon Gidding to get a script made up. And, in working on the story, came to believe the story was more about a the character of Eleanor Vance having a nervous breakdown and having to undergo shock treatment. But, upon talking to Jackson directly in Vermont, the writer and his director were corrected. It truely was about a haunting. And so it was.

Though the script and directing are a great foundation (especially since Wise was attempting a tribute to Val Lewton with this film), it is Claire Bloom and Julie Harris who elevate the film with their performances that are at once fully believable and raw. Add to this a bare effects budget and you put more weight on the performances than before.

Here’s a peek at the trailer,

in the night,

in the dark…