Trailer of the Week: The Haunting (1963)

"It was an evil house in the beginning -- a house that was born bad."

I know it sounds slightly ridiculous, but that's always the line of dialogue that resurfaces from my memory when I think of The Haunting. To say that it made an impression on me in my youth would be an understatement: I think it's the definitive ghost story. Sure, there's no gore and very little violence -- heck, there isn't even the obvious appearance of a malicious creature, but Director Robert Wise (whose horror credentials also include Curse of the Cat People and The Body Snatcher in the 1940s) has used other means to create a classic, psychological horror film. What's scary is simple: it's the unseen -- the tension that mounts, the noises and the strange, unexplainable occurrences. Just watch the films opening scene, which details the gruesome back story to Hill House, and the deaths of its previous occupants. It creates a mounting sense of dread through out The Haunting.

You know, I guess I've put myself in the mood for watching this ghost story again.