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The Haunting: Difference between revisions
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The ultimate example of less-is-more in horror cinema. Eleanor "Nell" Vance (Julie Harris) has volunteered for a study on paranormal activity conducted by Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson), with two other participants: Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn), who stands to inherit Hill House, where the study's being held, and Theo (Claire Bloom) a woman with ESP skills. Turns out the doctor's suspicions about the existence of ghosts are correct. There's something in the house with them. But what?
Made in 1963 and directed by [[Robert Wise]], it was based on the book ''[[The Haunting of Hill House]]'' by Shirley Jackson.
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* [[Psychic Powers]]: Theo is an Esper and it shows, subtly.
* [[Screaming Woman]]
* [[Supernatural
* [[Title Drop]]
* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]: Theo and Nell.
* [[Man Child|Womanchild]]: Eleanor, somewhat.
* [[You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost]]
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* [[Died Happily Ever After]]: {{spoiler|Nell}} dies confronting the ghost of Hugh Crain, who kept the spirits of the children he killed imprisoned in the house. He is banished to Hell, and {{spoiler|her}} spirit joins those of the children as they all float up to Heaven. What makes this unusual (and a bit disturbing) is that thanks to the earlier scene in the mirror carousel room which implies reincarnation, it isn't clear if it is {{spoiler|Nell}}'s spirit or {{spoiler|Carolyn}}'s that ascends.
* [[Dissonant Serenity]]: Nell, for a good portion of the movie. It's genuinely creepy.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: The assault upon Nell in her bedroom by Hugh Crain--his ghost plunges down from the ceiling toward her with a wide, leering mouth ([[Squick|filled with many grasping arms]], no less), while the bed is pulled toward him and Nell is held pinned in place by [[Refuge in Audacity|numerous long, thin wooden spikes decorated with barbs]]. [[Word of God]] described the ceiling moving downward and [[Double Entendre|the spikes growing longer]] as a manifestation of Nell's claustrophobia, but [[Freud Was Right|hmmm]]... See also [[Heir Club for Men]].
* [[Dull Surprise]]: The reactions of most of the actors to the CGI, but particularly Dr. Marrow and Luke during the rescue of Nell from the bedroom assault.
* [[Dysfunctional Family]]: Nell's.
* [[Ethical Slut]]: Theo.
* [[The Eyes Have It]]: The stained-glass windows in the scene where Crain assaults Nell in her bedroom, complete with [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]. More subtle examples occur when statues shift their eyes or turn their heads out of view of the characters; an easily missed one occurs with the hooded statue which Theo, Luke, and Marrow pass as they race to find Nell in the nursery.
* [[Gaslighting]]: Variation--instead of trying to drive the participants of his study mad (though that ends up being the ultimate effect for Nell anyway), Dr. Marrow is attempting to use a fake sleep study as a smokescreen to frighten them and then examine the results. There's plenty of carefully constructed tales to help put the idea of haunting in their heads, the dispensing of some of it to the ladies and some to Luke to encourage mistrust and suspicion, denial of events as having a natural, rational explanation or simply being imagination, and so on. The attitude behind this is exemplified when Marrow tells his supervisor, [[Manipulative Bastard|"You don't tell the rats they're actually in a maze!"]] and, even after Nell starts descending into madness, still continues making recordings about what's happening.
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* [[Ominous Music Box Tune]]: In the locked nursery.
* [[Orphan's Plot Trinket]]: Nell's necklace, it turns out.
* [[Pater Familicide]]: A particularly disturbing variation: Hugh Crain, the [[Eccentric Millionaire]] who built Hill House, not only seems to have killed or [[Driven to Suicide|driven his wife to her death]] (and the second one too), but the children from the mills whom he 'adopted' were also slain by him, or else allowed to waste away due to neglect. So even though, presumably, the mitigation of what ruined his life (no offspring) should have made him happy and fulfilled, the industrialist instead destroys the very thing he'd been seeking for so long.
* [[Psychic Link]]: Nell seems to have one with the children's ghosts, possibly Carolyn and Hugh Crain as well.
* [[Psychic Powers]]: Aside from Nell, both Marrow's snide commentary and her own reactions to the house imply his assistant Mary has these too. [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|Which may be why she was injured and made to flee the house]].
* [[Scenery Porn]]: The sets of the house itself are intricate and ''gorgeous''.
* [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]: Nell's quest to free the children from the mills.
* [[Spooky Painting]]
* [[Tempting Fate]]: Luke really shouldn't have attacked Hugh Crain's painting...
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[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
[[Category:One Hundred Scariest Movie Moments]]
[[Category:The Haunting]]▼
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:The Hidden Fortress]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haunting, The}}
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