THE HAUNTING (1963)

My Halloween film this year is Robert Wise's film version of Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House". I'm sure this choice won't surprise anybody who loves horror movies. If I said it was the best haunted house film of all time I wouldn't get much of an argument and I'd only be repeating what is being said on countless other movie review sites on the internet. So, I'm not going to actually review it further than to say that if you have not seen it then do so, preferably alone, preferably in the dark. I watched it tonight, alone in the dark, and it still works wonderfully. Robert Wise learned his art as a director from the best in the business and like Val Lewton, his first producer, he knew that what you don't see can be a lot scarier than all the blood and gore in Hollywood. This is something that was completely misunderstood by the dreadful spfx driven remake of a few years ago. Somewhere out there Hill House is still standing and whatever walks there walks alone. Happy Halloween! Rating *****