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The Haunting | 
 enlarge | Director: Robert Wise
Actors: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, Fay Compton
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $3.29
You Save: $11.69 (78%)
New (47) Used (19) from $1.75
Rating:  382 reviews
Sales Rank: 6605
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: G (General Audience)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 112 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.6 x 0.5
MPN: WARD65194D
ISBN: 0790746603
UPC: 012569519428
EAN: 9780790746609
ASIN: B00009NHB6
Theatrical Release Date: September 18, 1963
Release Date: August 5, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: ******BRAND NEW****** ** Over 1.5 million orders shipped worldwide and more than 500 000 items in stock, BUY FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE, ESTABLISHED SINCE 1998 - INETVIDEO ~~~
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential video
Certain to remain one of the greatest haunted-house movies ever made, Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963) is antithetical to all the gory horror films of subsequent decades, because its considerable frights remain implicitly rooted in the viewer's sensitivity to abject fear. A classic spook-fest based on Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House (which also inspired the 1999 remake directed by Jan de Bont), the film begins with a prologue that concisely establishes the dark history of Hill House, a massive New England mansion (actually filmed in England) that will play host to four daring guests determined to investigate--and hopefully debunk--the legacy of death and ghostly possession that has given the mansion its terrifying reputation. Consumed by guilt and grief over her mother's recent death and driven to adventure by her belief in the supernatural, Eleanor Vance (Julie Harris) is the most unstable--and therefore the most vulnerable--visitor to Hill House. She's invited there by anthropologist Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson), along with the bohemian lesbian Theodora (Claire Bloom), who has acute extra-sensory abilities, and glib playboy Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn, from Wise's West Side Story), who will gladly inherit Hill House if it proves to be hospitable. Of course, the shadowy mansion is anything but welcoming to its unwanted intruders. Strange noises, from muffled wails to deafening pounding, set the stage for even scarier occurrences, including a door that appears to breathe (with a slowly turning doorknob that's almost unbearably suspenseful), unexplained writing on walls, and a delicate spiral staircase that seems to have a life of its own. The genius of The Haunting lies in the restraint of Wise and screenwriter Nelson Gidding, who elicit almost all of the film's mounting terror from the psychology of its characters--particularly Eleanor, whose grip on sanity grows increasingly tenuous. The presence of lurking spirits relies heavily on the power of suggestion (likewise the cautious handling of Theodora's attraction to Eleanor) and the film's use of sound is more terrifying than anything Wise could have shown with his camera. Like Jack Clayton's 1961 chiller, The Innocents, The Haunting knows the value of planting the seeds of terror in the mind, as opposed to letting them blossom graphically on the screen. What you don't see is infinitely more frightening than what you do, and with nary a severed head or bloody corpse in sight, The Haunting is guaranteed to chill you to the bone. --Jeff Shannon
Product Description
Dr. Markway doing research to prove the existence of ghosts investigates hill house a large eerie mansion with a lurid history of violent death and insanity. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/26/2006 Starring: Julie Harris Russ Tamblyn Run time: 112 minutes Rating: G Director: Robert Wise
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| Customer Reviews: Read 377 more reviews...
 All-Time Best Horror Movie. November 22, 2008
Kevin Conway (Cleveland, Ohio)
I like all genres and all eras and have a very minimal bias. The Haunting may not be on every teen's top ten; it is not a slasher/ gore movie. It IS spooky, frightening and incomparably suspenseful. My wife will rarely submit to watching anything with me but horror movies, and this is her favorite! She has seen them all. If you are under 35 years, and want to see the best of the classics, this is hard to beat. I know, there is competition: The Shining by Kubrick, and a few silent films if you want to get to the roots, but this has my vote!
 Mesmerizing, Beautiful, and...Haunting November 4, 2008
AMC (Indiana, USA)
The Haunting still remains the definitive haunted house story-- a weird assortment of people gathered together to spend the night in a large, extravagent house with a gruesome history. The movie gives us many strange images and leaves the main question intact: is the house really haunted or not? Although I can't say I was moved by Julie Harris' performance, she does her job in making us question the motives of an unlikable character, which is what the other characters do. The real stand-out in terms of acting is Claire Bloom. This was the first movie I'd seen her in and her character is such a seductive earth-mother you want to get to know her better. The implied sexuality of her Theo is still there, but probably bogged down by the censors. The main complaint I have of the movie is the voiceover. We don't need Julie Harris' Eleanor to constantly tell us what she's thinking because we can see it in her hypnotized, and sometimes terrified, expressions. But it is a great story, complex, and the eerie music and awe-inspiring house are icing on the cake. A must-see for anyone interested in ghosts, writing ghost stories, or psychological thrillers.
Five stars for film, two stars for Warner Bros. DVD treatment November 2, 2008
Robert W. Grandcolas (Eatontown, NJ United States)
By far - the best haunted house story (or any film for that matter) ever filmed. I concur with every five star review that I have read on Amazon and do not need to restate the obvious.
But I have a bone to pick with Warner Bros.
The Haunting is considered masterpiece almost unanimously by all the top critic's. Meticulously made and directed by one of the greatest American directors Robert Wise. Yet this DVD version has been given only grade C treatment. The film used for this DVD does not appear to be from a pristine negative bit rather from an OK piece of film stock. It is a bit too grainy and washed out and there are occasional speckles and lines. But my biggest complaint is the lack of dynamics in the sound. The textures of sound, ambient noises, wind, creaks, music, voices, murmurs, "bowling ball" are of the utmost importance in creating the scarey atmosphere. But the sound on this DVD is so flat that it is to the point of sounding canned. I could not begin to get decent sound from this DVD even with a high quality equalizer. The film is much more frightening when the sound is right.
I sincerely hope that some company who cares - maybe Criterion? - will pick up this film and give it the DVD treatment it truly deserves - an ultra clear picture and a clean dynamic surround sound. I for one will gladly re-purchase.
Even good for teens October 9, 2008
M. Murdock (Missoula, MT USA)
We liked this movie. My teenagers are usually quick to mock the movies I thought were scary at their age but they got into this one and enjoyed it.
Just one thing...... August 20, 2008
H. Jackson (Lafayette, Oregon)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The only thing I would add to the (In my opinion)'spot on' positive comments regarding this film, is that I wish that it had a Digital Surround audio track. Can you imagine how much it would add to the film to have those awesome audio effects coming at you from all directions in a dark room, on a dark stormy night?!
I guess I will add one other thing (can't help myself). The fact that it was filmed in black and white, to me, was an indication of just how great Robert Wise (the director) was in his craft. I believe that it added to the anticipation of dread and terror. All those shadows and dark corners... What genius.... The same thing could be said of Alfred Hitchcocks: "Psycho".
I don't see how true afficionados of the ghost story genre could think that this film, (to paraphrase a quote from the film "Legend of Hell House") is anything less than "...the mount Everest" of haunted house films.
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