An elegantly sinister scare movie, literate and expensive (though basically a traditional ghost story), with those two fine actresses Claire Bloom and Julie Harris.

| Jul 6, 2022

Wise brilliantly uses black and white widescreen to strand his characters in odd-shaped rooms or corridors, making the watcher's eye skitter frantically over the letterbox screen to catch every ingeniously rendered detail.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 8, 2020

When The Haunting digs into the internals of its story, summons its spirits and lets them play havoc with cold reason, it has a power and fervor unmatched by any film ghost stories.

| Nov 2, 2018

People stare about in terror and squeak: 'The house, it's alive!' The picture, it's dead.

| Oct 19, 2008

Properly creepy, unlike like the dodgy remake.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 25, 2007

The artful cinematic strokes of director Robert Wise and staff are not quite enough to override the major shortcomings of Nelson Gidding's screenplay.

| Sep 25, 2007

Pretty effective when it came out; it may be a little stiff in the joints by now, but it's still a much better scare show than the recent stinker remake.

| Sep 25, 2007

What makes the film so effective is not so much the slightly sinister characterisation of the generally neurotic group, but the fact that [director] Wise makes the house itself the central character, a beautifully designed and highly atmospheric entity.

| Sep 23, 2006

Makes more goose pimples than sense.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 9, 2005

One of the best haunted-house movies ever. Very spooky.

| Oct 1, 2003

One of the all-time creepy classics. Don't miss it.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 5, 2002

You might not have a lot of answers by the end but you'll find various scenes stay with you long after the movie is over.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 13, 2001