The Haunting

Perhaps this is a movie that appeals only to certain people. Perhaps it has to be viewed at a particular moment in life. Perhaps it's just too dated for many to get into it. In any case, it's disappointing to see how many simply find it a waste of time.

I saw this under special circumstances. I was about 12 years old and my parents were out for the evening when it came on TV. I didn't know anything about it but considered myself quite the connoisseur of horror and sci-fi shown at the small local theater. I figured it would be along the line of Universal monsters and Roger Corman fare, nothing particularly notable.

It scared the absolute daylights out of me. Sitting alone the in house at night with the creepy sounds and images emanating from that little B&W screen got to me badly. Even after my parents were home and I went to bed I found myself looking for faces in the plaster walls of my room and imagining every creak as an approaching but invisible malevolent force.

I still get it out every couple of years on a dark dreary night, and though the lines of dialog sound more stilted to my now elderly mind I can still remember the effect it had on me so many decades ago.

I had an even more intense reaction from Hitchcock's "The Birds" and I've noticed the commentary about that film to be similar to this. Perhaps you just had to be there.