Director Robert Wise was held to a million dollar budget by MGM to make this film, so he had to dispense with ideas he had for eerie special effects. Relying on his own creativity, Wise came up with a competent psychological thriller, though I didn't get the sense that this was all that scary for a horror flick. That's perhaps because one of the principal characters, Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris), carries on conversations with herself in a manner that suggests she may be delusional and suffering from some form of mental illness. The idea was further reinforced for me when her wild mood swings, particularly with Theodora (Claire Bloom), ranged from friendly warmth to psychotic hatred. I couldn't reconcile her behavior with someone who might have been a guest at Hill House experiencing unexplained bumps in the night that would have scared the pants off a normal person.
When I think of scary movies and when I originally experienced them, I always revert back to the Vincent Price creep-fest, 1959's "House on Haunted Hill". The main reason I think that that one affected me the way it did is because I was only about nine or ten when I first saw it, and one knows how impressionable a kid can be. If I saw this one at the same age, I might have formed a different opinion, especially because the film used a lot of great camera angles and offered up a neat batch of horror type elements, like the pounding on the walls, the harp that plays by itself and the breathing door. But in and of themselves, those instances didn't seem particularly frightening to this viewer.
But don't let all that stop you from catching this picture. I thought the film was competently made and the cinematography is quite rewarding. The idea that the house 'wants' Eleanor may have a profoundly different effect on you, whereas her breakdown at the end of the story suggested that her own personal demons were what were responsible for her demise. Now if you want to contemplate something really scary, take note of how much it cost for twenty four hour off-street parking in the city garage where Eleanor kept her car - one would have to pony up a whole two dollars and fifty cents!!!
When I think of scary movies and when I originally experienced them, I always revert back to the Vincent Price creep-fest, 1959's "House on Haunted Hill". The main reason I think that that one affected me the way it did is because I was only about nine or ten when I first saw it, and one knows how impressionable a kid can be. If I saw this one at the same age, I might have formed a different opinion, especially because the film used a lot of great camera angles and offered up a neat batch of horror type elements, like the pounding on the walls, the harp that plays by itself and the breathing door. But in and of themselves, those instances didn't seem particularly frightening to this viewer.
But don't let all that stop you from catching this picture. I thought the film was competently made and the cinematography is quite rewarding. The idea that the house 'wants' Eleanor may have a profoundly different effect on you, whereas her breakdown at the end of the story suggested that her own personal demons were what were responsible for her demise. Now if you want to contemplate something really scary, take note of how much it cost for twenty four hour off-street parking in the city garage where Eleanor kept her car - one would have to pony up a whole two dollars and fifty cents!!!