For this year’s 31 Nights of Horror Challenge, the Night 1 prompt is Big Old House. We watched the movie, The Haunting (1963) on Shudder on Amazon Prime.

Storyline

Hill House has stood for about 90 years and appears haunted: its inhabitants have always met strange, tragic ends. Now Dr. John Markway has assembled a team of people who he thinks will prove whether or not the house is indeed haunted.

‘The Haunting’ delivers psychological horror through stunning black-and-white cinematography, atmospheric tension, and ambiguous supernatural elements that blur reality with mental breakdown. Julie Harris and Claire Bloom’s performances anchor the unsettling experience, with Robert Wise’s direction praised for creating dread through suggestion rather than explicit scares. However, opinions sharply divide on engagement, with some finding it terrifying while others felt underwhelmed by slow pacing. Character depth and actual scariness remain polarizing, making this classic resonate differently across audiences.

Our Thoughts on The Haunting (1963)

I enjoyed this production, the old house was impressive and creepy. The scenes with the hammering sounds and the moanings and whispering was very effective. I felt that overall the picture could have been more lively; the dialogue was way too slow in parts. Worth seeing though.

5 out of 10 stars

Trivia

The song “Super-Charger Heaven” by White Zombie opens with the dialogue sample: “Look, I know the supernatural is something that isn’t supposed to happen, but it does happen.”

Most of the film was shot through lenses that add a curvature to the walls, making the house seem even more strange.

For some of the scenes in which characters are tormented by loud ghostly sounds coming from the house, Robert Wise had the sounds on playback so that the actors could react to them authentically. It was a technique that they found very useful and effective for creating just the right mood of terror.