The Haunting (1963) | 100 Movies Bucket List

I'd probably heard of this film before, but I had no idea it was based on 'The Haunting of Hill House' novel, so that was intriguing. I didn't love the Netflix adaptation but that didn't make me feel apprehensive about this one.

I liked this film a lot. 

The opening is great. It does a good job of showing the house's history in a way that's interesting and compelling to watch.

It's nice that we get to spend a bit of time with the characters before we get into the main plot.

Speaking of the characters, they're well written and fun to follow. Eleanor in particular is fascinating and gives 'Janet Leigh in Psycho' vibes. 

The way the characters interact is really fun to watch. Their personalities are so distinct and interesting that at times you forget you're watching a horror movie. The characters are at least as interesting as the story, if not more so. 

The film does a great job of creating the horrors. We're in the same position as the characters, we don't know what's happening. So when they're scared, we are too. 

One of the reasons why the film works so well is that the house is a character in itself, and the Netflix adaptation is the same in this regard. Not only is the house a character, it's the most important one. 

It actually would have been nice to see more of the house and it's haunting. 

But the story is about a lot more than Hill House. This is also a story about Eleanor and I love that. Giving us a character to latch on to makes us so much more invested and intrigued by the overall story. 

Despite being a black and white 60s film, there's a modern feel to it. It definitely holds up, and what it lacks in scares, it makes up for in characterisation.

The ramp up to the conclusion was good but the horror aspects weren't pushed as far as I wanted them to be. 

But that being said, the ending was great! 

Overall I had a great time with this movie and would definitely recommend it!