Haunting

THE FLICK: Director Robert Wise, despite his own string of successful films like “The Sound of Music” and “West Side Story,” will always be remembered for his association with legendary film figures Val Lewton and Orson Welles. An editor on Welles’ “Citizen Kane” and creative contributor to Lewton’s series of classy suspense films, Wise’s influences came to bear perfectly with his 1963 film “The Haunting,” an adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel, “The Haunting of Hill House.” A ghost story that uses the power of suggestion not out of budget constraints, but by stylistic choice, no spirits are ever physically visible in the film, but their presence is a near suffocating experience. Hill House was “born bad,” constructed at odd angles and designed to confuse those who wander its halls after dark. Which makes it perfect for Dr. Marquay’s ( )scientific quest to prove the existence of supernatural phenomena. He invites a psychic (Clair Bloom), a non-believer (), and Nell (), who’s naïve, nervous disposition makes her a perfect target for the house’s evil spirits. Wise’s direction is wildly inspired, using bizarre angles, flying cameras and old-fashioned trick photography to amplify the horrors of Hill House. But it’s his use of sound that is most memorable. In one particularly harrowing sequence, Nell and Theo are trapped in their room while an unseen force pounds at their door, producing a cacaphony of deafening noise that, of course, is heard by no one else but them. Shot in black and white at a time when color had all but taken over the cinema, “The Haunting” looks the part of a classic gothic ghost story. Yet the lesbian attraction between Theo and Nell (made very clear even without an excised scene Wise mentions in the DVD’s commentary) along with the innovative direction make the film seem very contemporary. More so than the ’99 remake which replaced the original’s suggested scares with elaborate and underwhelming special effects. THE FEATURES: “The Haunting” is such a special film in the ghost story genre that most fans would have been satisfied with the wonderful anamorphic video transfer. But Warner’s DVD includes some unexpected bonus features. First up is a running commentary from participants Robert Wise, Claire Bloom, ?, ?, and screenwriter Nelson Gidding. Their comments are edited together and provide a truly invaluable amount of information. Bloom speaks of her intentional isolation from the rest of the cast and a bout with depression during the shoot which likely enhanced her performance. Gidding recalls a moment of enlightenment when he and Wise visited author Shirley Jackson to make sure they had understood the novel correctly (Gidding suspected that the spirits were only figments of Nell’s fragile mind...to which Jackson responded “No...but that’s a damn good idea!”). A few pages of the original script (with notes written by Wise) are also provided, along with the theatrical trailer and brief history of memorable cinematic ghost stories. FINAL SCORE: If you’re still looking for endorsement, Stephen King admits he lifted much of the film’s atmosphere to craft his own horror classic, “The Shining.” For those in the know, “The Haunting” is considered the “Citizen Kane” of ghost stories. And finally there’s a terrific DVD to prove it.