The Haunting (1963)
Tonight’s Saturday night picks are a special double feature. I’m recommending two of the best ghost story/haunted house films ever made, The Haunting and The Uninvited. These two films are quintessential examples on how to make a great, spooky ghost story.
Up first is 1963’s The Haunting, based on the classic Shirley Jackson novel ‘The Haunting of Hill House‘ and directed by the legendary Robert Wise (The Body Snatcher, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Sound of Music). The Haunting is a classic example of what’s not showed is infinitely more frightening that anything that could be showed onscreen. The mind comes up with more terrifying frights than anything a filmmaker can come up with. For this reason, The Haunting is probably the greatest haunted house film of them all, it’s often imitated but never equaled.
The Haunting is written by Nelson Gidding and Shirley Jackson based on her novel. It is directed by Robert Wise. The film stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn and Lois Maxwell.
Plot Synopsis
Dr. Markway, doing research to prove the existence of ghosts, investigates Hill House, a large, eerie mansion with a lurid history of violent death and insanity. With him are the skeptical young Luke, who stands to inherit the house, the mysterious and clairvoyant Theodora and the insecure Eleanor, whose psychic abilities make her feel somehow attuned to whatever spirits inhabit the old mansion. As time goes by it becomes obvious that they have gotten more than they bargained for as the ghostly presence in the house manifests itself in horrific and deadly ways.
Watch the trailer here,
The Uninvited (1944)
The second half of tonight’s double bill features another classic haunted house story, The Uninvited from 1944. Just as in The Haunting, The Uninvited’s scares are more from what you don’t see than what you do. It’s a classic tale full of suspense with a wonderful cast led by Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey. It’s definitely one to check out if you haven’t seen it.
On a side note, The Uninvited happens to be playing on Svengoolie tonight on Me-TV across the U.S.
The Uninvited is written by Dodie Smith, Frank Partos and Dorothy Macardle based on her novel. Lewis Allen directs a cast including Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Dorothy Stickney and Alan Napier.
Plot Synopsis
A composer and his sister discover that the reason they are able to purchase a beautiful gothic seacoast mansion very cheaply is the house’s unsavory past.
Watch the trailer here,
