Wise’s adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ (1959) adheres closely to the novel. This is one of the few certainties in Hill House: the film follows the disintegration of Eleanor as she experiences her freedom and an eruption of sexual desire. Presented as part of the Fright’s Out! season, with an introduction by Dr Michael Goodrum

Reviews

‘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.’
★★★★★
Ian Freer, Empire Magazine

‘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.’
James Powers, The Hollywood Reporter