The Haunting (1963)

Eleanor is stuck living in her sister’s house following the death of the mother she was sole carer for, not only that she’s stuck with the indignity of not even having her own bedroom. She’s delighted to receive a letter from Doctor John Markway asking her to meet with him at Hill House in New England, though he doesn’t tell her the reasons behind the invitation.

Eleanor refers to taking a trip for a “vacation” to her sister and brother-in-law and asks to use the car. Her sister is hesitant as Eleanor isn’t telling them where she is going or, more importantly, why she’s suddenly decided to go. Undeterred, Eleanor takes the car anyway, after all it is half hers — or at least that is the excuse she’s using to justify her actions.

During the drive, we get to know Eleanor through her inner monologue. She’s very unsure of herself, not very worldly and is having to constantly tell herself she’s doing the right thing and that she shouldn’t turn around. When she finally makes it to Hill House she’s greeted at the gate by the grumpy caretaker who tries to convince Eleanor to turn around. In an uncharacteristic surge of bravery, she tells the man, Dudley, to open the gate and almost runs him over driving through it.

After making her way down the very long tree-lined driveway, she finally makes it to the house where she’s greeted by the sullen Mrs Dudley. Taken to her room, she’s given instructions: Dinner is at 6pm and breakfast is at 9am. The Dudleys don’t stay overnight and as they live in town no one can hear them if there are any problems.

What problems you might ask? At the beginning of the film, Markway is explaining to the new owner of Hill House about its horrible history. The house was built by Hugh Crain for him, his young wife and daughter to live in but tragically his wife never got to see her new home as she was killed when her carriage overturned and crashed into a tree when the horses got spooked.

Crain remarried, but his second wife died after mysteriously falling down the stairs, Crain went to live in England leaving his daughter in the care of a nurse, but he died in a drowning accident leaving his daughter the only one alive. She lived the rest of her life in Hill House, refusing to move from the nursery that was her childhood room.

As she got older, Abigail took on a companion but she seemed to spend more time with a local farmhand than taking care of her Mistress. So one night when Abigail was calling for help, the companion couldn’t hear her as she was outside with her farmhand friend and failed to save her mistress. Having no other relatives, Abigail left the house to her companion who lived there for many years, ostracised by the locals as they felt she was responsible for Abigail’s death.

Perhaps feeling guilt over Abigail’s death or maybe being unwilling (or unable) to leave, the companion lived in Hill House in solitude for many years until one day she climbed the spiral staircase in the Library and hanged herself from the balcony. The house then passed to Mrs Sannerson, and Markway wants to rent the house from her in order to see if it is truly haunted.

To that end he’s put together a list of people involved in psychic phenomena to help him study the house, see what they experience while there and take notes on what they see, hear and feel. Originally six people agreed to join Markway at the house but, one-by-one, they dropped out leaving only Eleanor and Theo to journey to the house along with the owner’s nephew, Luke Sannerson, who’s there to make sure they don’t get up to no good.

It turns out that the four who dropped out had the right idea as the house guests start to experience more and more bizarre events: voices, cold spots, a harp playing itself and banging that gets more and more violent.

Eleanor and Theo seem to be most in tune with the happenings in the house, with Eleanor feeling as though the house is targeting her specifically. She toys with the idea of leaving several times, but the idea that the house wants her and her growing infatuation for Doctor Markway keep her there.

Things come to a head when Markway’s wife, Grace, arrives and decides to sleep in the nursery to prove that her husband’s ideas are nothing but a fantasy. The house seems to react to the newcomer in a darker way, calling to Eleanor even more.

Will Grace survive her night in the nursery? Will she believe in her husband’s work after her stay? And what of Eleanor? Will she escape or is the pull of Hill House too strong?

History Repeats Itself

🎃Warning! Spoilers for The Haunting ahead 🏚️

It’s easy to see why Eleanor was so determined to get away from her home, even if it’s just for a short time — her sister and brother-in-law don’t treat her very well even though she sacrificed her whole adult life to care for her invalid mother.

It seems though that Markway didn’t make it clear to Eleanor why she was being invited to Hill House, but isn’t it a bit strange to get a letter from a stranger and just pack up and leave without knowing why you’ve received the invite?

I say that she doesn’t know, because he has to explain the history of the house to her so either Eleanor and Theo didn’t want to or couldn’t be bothered to research the house unlike the 4 who dropped. I know it’s the 1960s and it was a different and more trusting time but you would have thought they’d make a phone call to the Doctor (or University to check his credentials) before setting off.

Eleanor seems to be an odd choice for Markway to make as well. With Theo he explains that she’s tested extremely high for ESP at Duke University so isn’t a fraud but Eleanor? She had showers of stones fall on her house over 3 days when she was 10.

There’s no proof that Eleanor was responsible for this, and the only proof that it happened was that there was a police report and Eleanor has convinced herself it didn’t even happen. There’s also no mention of any other events of this nature during Eleanor’s life so she does seem an odd choice, unless Markway was short of candidates.

There is also the issue of Eleanor’s nervous disposition. She’s not the most stable of people and, as she’s been closeted away caring for her mother, she’s not that worldly wise either and has difficulty knowing how to converse with people which again makes her an odd choice for a group study.

Speaking of closets! While it’s not explicitly stated, it’s very clear that Theo is a lesbian and I found her portrayal quite interesting. There were a few mannerisms and things she said to Eleanor — like using her nickname “Nell”, telling her to call her by her nickname of “Theo” rather than the more formal “Theodora”. Then when Eleanor says “We’re going to be great friends, Theo”, Theo pointedly asks “Like sisters?” which is left hanging.

Whilst I do trust my Gaydar, I did have to look it up to make sure it wasn’t going wonky and sure enough Theo is a Lesbian and there was supposed to be a scene earlier in the film showing that she was sharing an apartment with her girlfriend and they are in the process of going through a breakup.

This makes the scene where Eleanor asks about where Theo lives even more poignant. Theo describes her apartment saying “we furnished it ourselves…. we like fixing up old things” and when Eleanor asks if Theo is married and she replies “No” Eleanor looks a bit embarrassed and says she’s sorry.

For a modern audience this interaction might not mean much but don’t forget this is the 1960s where an unmarried couple living together was extremely taboo and the depiction in the media consisted of lesbians being manipulative conniving homewreckers trying to steal all women away from their partners. So while Theo’s sexuality isn’t overtly expressed it’s nice to see positive lesbian representation from a 1960s film when so much of it depicted lesbians as evil seductresses, or was relegated to the cutting room floor. It’s also nice to know my Gaydar’s still working!

As for the events in the house, it’s clear it’s real and something is happening as even the sceptic Luke can hear, see and feel things which makes it odd that on a couple of occasions Markway says that Eleanor might be hallucinating and if it were found out that she was his study would be ruined. Mate! She had a witness, she’s not hallucinating!

The only reason I can think that he’s said this is to give Eleanor a get-out clause — to make her so angry that she’s not being believed that she storms out of the house which saves her face by not admitting she’s scared and giving up.

As Eleanor starts to become more and more unhinged, which is in tune with events in the house getting more and more powerful, the arrival of Grace is seemingly the catalyst of Eleanor’s downfall. At one point Eleanor is questioning why the house chose Grace over her, thinking that Grace is the chosen one, not Eleanor despite the connection she feels with The House.

This isn’t the case though, Grace’s disappearance is a way for the house to finally get full control over Eleanor. Thinking that both The House and Markway have cast her aside in favour of Grace, she begins to completely unravel and is forced to leave.

Saying she’ll drive as it’s her own car, Eleanor takes off before Luke can get in the passenger seat and setting off down the driveway she feels like The House is trying to control her car. Again I think this is actually happening — that it isn’t Eleanor’s subconscious trying to drive her off the road but The House trying to force her to stay.

I thought I’d mark this next bit as a spoiler so as to not fully ruin the end of the film if you haven’t seen it yet — and if you haven’t go and watch it now and then come back and see if you agree with me!

The House, for whatever reason, is evil and either wants to collect souls or simply cannot bear to be alone. The first wife’s death is a strange one as she has never seen The House before she is killed but maybe Crain’s adoration and love for his wife drew The House to keep her there for eternity.

The second wife is a bit more obvious, she was in the house when she died so she could have easily been spooked at the top of the stairs and fallen, although I will admit I did wonder whether Abigail might have been involved in the death of her “evil” step-mother, maybe goaded into doing so by The House/her dead mother.

A Directing Masterclass

Robert Wise uses the camera as the eyes of The House. When The House starts to react to Eleanor and Theo, the camera angles become oblique through the use of multiple Dutch angles and the lens starts to shake, mirroring Eleanor and Theo’s breath as they get more and more terrified.

In other shots the camera is placed low to the ground, changing the perspective to make it seem like the ceiling is pressing down on Eleanor and acting like a spy or interloper of the events happening within The House’s own walls. The House is watching their every move. No matter what room they are in it will know what they are saying, how they are feeling and their only escape is to flee which would be to admit defeat.

And then we have the use of wide angle and distorting lenses that make the angles of the house just seem “wrong” somehow and assists in increasing the dramatic effect of the bulging parlour door as The House tries to get to those inside. It creates a tension for the viewers imitating the growing tension that those in The House are feeling.

Framing is also used to great effect with Eleanor usually sat on the left of the screen with whomever she is conversing with on the right, there is a distance between them but it’s not so great that she couldn’t reach out and touch them, to have the human relationship she craves, but the space serves to show the disconnection she feels with the others in The House.

And finally, we have The House itself. Rather than it being a mere location or a prop, The House is also treated as another character in the film with its own motivations and even a form of dialogue through the whispered voices, screams and banging.

Wise uses the furniture to great effect with mirrors on the walls angled to provide skewed visions of the characters, showing that all isn’t right and you’re always half expecting something sinister to be lurking within them, or in the shadows of the rooms that are left purposely unlit to provide tension and a place where evil may lurk. This negative space makes an already large house seem even more unnaturally large, as if it could swallow them whole at any moment so they would be lost forever within its walls.

Unlike other supernatural thrillers of a similar period, you’re never left wondering if any of this is real or if it’s merely imagined. Everyone agrees that there is something most definitely wrong with The House, but it’s never explained what has caused it.

In other films such as Poltergeist and The Amityville Horror, the evil occurrences are blamed on the properties being built on sacred burial grounds, Paranormal Activity and The Exorcist involved demonic entities and The Enfield Haunting was a teenager playing a prank (if you watch the TV version and not the terrible Conjuring 2 one).

But in The Haunting, no explanation is ever given. The House just “is”. Is what? We don’t know, and the camera never tells us either. It could simply be lonely or it could be something more sinister lurking amongst the various bric-a-brac and trinkets filling every room.

And while concrete answers might disappoint some, I think being able to make up your own backstory for The House without having the explanation handed to you on a silver platter explains why The Haunting still resonates with viewers over 60 years after its release. It also rightly justifies its place amongst the greatest horror films of all time.

Watch The Haunting if you want to see a masterclass in film making and acting, or to understand why you should never climb up that spiral staircase no matter how fun it looks.

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