It’s scary movie time, and for me, there is none scarier than the original 1963 movie “The Haunting.” I saw it the first time decades ago, and it is still frightening today.
I had the rare opportunity to see this film in the theater a couple of decades ago as part of a lecture by Ed and Lorraine Warren, who are perhaps the foremost experts in the paranormal there are. I had been intrigued by the paranormal and knew a bit, but these two taught me a whole lot from their first hand experience. The slide show and lecture was chilling. I have read some of their books and they just scare the crap out of you. It’s one thing to hear ookie stories, but to meet these very serious, down to earth people and know they are not exagerating, it just gets to you. You see it in their eyes. They wish these things were not true. They have no interest in celebrity. They are hard at work for the Good.
So I learned a lot about hauntings and in particular, the fact that much of what occurs is indeed in your mind. That’s not to say there is no spirit involved, just that, you may see a window shatter, and that window is really fine. The spirits have more ability to mess with your mind than real things.
This movie keeps very faithfully to the facts of the paranormal. It is not over the top with the jumping out at you and the ooky stuff. It just paces it out, in a “natural” sort of way. The odd lesbian theme adds something strange to it all as well. These are the sorts of things you can well imagine happening to you, tonight.
Rent it if you can. Forget the new version.
For extra creepy time fun, check out the Warrens website: Warrens.net I want to go their Most Haunted Places tour one day…