View Full Version : The Haunting (original version)
Richard2001
22-10-2001, 09:05
Has anyone heard whether or not this is going to be released?
jonathan.e
22-10-2001, 09:31
You have excellent taste. It’s a possible 2002 release from Warners.
Richard2001
22-10-2001, 09:39
Now that is good news. I watched it again last night and maintain it is still the spookiest film ever, despite being nearly 40 years old.
jonathan.e
22-10-2001, 10:22
It’s a very cool flick - Jan (One hit wonder) de Bont and every actor involved in the remake should be ashamed of themselves .
Anyone else feel that the old version of The Haunting is just not scary or spooky in the slightest ?
It's by no means a bad film just one with no suspense and a film which i find IMO to be totally over-rated.
I actually found the newer one to be more creepy than the old one (though its still a bit of a stinker)
jonathan.e
22-10-2001, 11:34
mr_woo, I respect your right to your opinion but you are just about as wrong as you can be.
IMDB users give it 7.7 out of 10 with comments like A scary, masterfully crafted ghost story. Amazon reviewers give it an overall 4.5 stars out of 5 with comments like The Citizen Kane of Horror films.
Doubly remarkable when I bet the majority of people are basing this on viewing pan&scan versions on network TV (interrupted by ads) instead of the glorious widescreen Panavision version that was available on laserdisc (and will only be pried from my hands upon death or a DVD release) and will hopefully be available next year on DVD with (please God) a commentary track from Robert Wise. The man is not getting any younger and it would be criminal to not get him to do one, as long as he’s willing of course.
Suggest you re-watch it and we’ll forget you said the re-make was better and allow you to stay.
Creamstick
22-10-2001, 11:37
I've got the Panavision 2.35:1 or there abouts version taped from TNT years ago.
One time I was watching it in broad daylight, with the sounds of people going about their day outside coming in from the window, and was so scared i had to turn it off.
Truly a chilling masterpiece.
Michael Brooke
22-10-2001, 11:46
I simply cannot fathom how anyone could say the original film "has no suspense" - how much more do you want?
Virtually every set-piece is based upon the notion that something is lurking either outside or inside the rooms where the human characters are cowering. Since we know that something's definitely there, but we don't know what or even where that something is, surely this is suspenseful by definition?
Kevin Harper
22-10-2001, 12:02
Well said Mr Brooke....the film is a testament to the show nothing an imply everything school of film making that has it's roots with Val Lewton (with whom Robert Wise and Jacques Tourneur started out in the 40's). Special effects (no matter how well executed) are no match for a well directed, well acted and perferably well written scene of sheer suspense.
And whilst we are on the subject of Lewton/Tourneur - where are Cat People and Night of the Demon on DVD ? I admit they probably need a lot of work in the restoration department but remain unsurpassed in their field.
The original not scary ? Formative viewing for me. First saw it when I was about 12 and that viewing has - thankfully - informed every subsequent adult viewing. Not scary ? The 'bulging door' sequence is off the scale.
sideshowbob
22-10-2001, 13:04
It's a darn sight more scary than the original version of House on Haunted Hill ...
I have to say, it's one of my favourite B&W movies and it is definitely leagues ahead of the remake in terms of suspense, despite the latter's special-effects focus. You can put me down for a copy when it comes out ... I just hope Warner do it justice. A bit surprised that Criterion haven't picked up on it.
Richard2001
22-10-2001, 15:34
Mr Woo. How anyone can be unmoved by this movie escapes me, and I'm a hardened horror movie fan!
Panavision
22-10-2001, 15:40
AWESOME picture, great for Halloween night. Make sure it's loud!!!
Have no intention of seeing the re-make.
Richard2001
22-10-2001, 15:49
IF it is realsed next year, if would be so superb if the sound was converted to 5.1
Imagine that banging in DD
oh dear looks like the mob are out to get me! :D
I'll gladly give it another look when it comes out on dvd since it has been a number of years since i seen it but i can honestly say that when i first watched it i remember not being that impressed with it.
Is this the film with the woman who screams, crys etc all the time throughout the duration ? I remember that being a thing about the film which really put me off in a big way, i just wanted to slap her about and tell her to shut up!!
Maybe i've even got the wrong bloody film in mind!
...whilst we are on the subject of Lewton/Tourneur - where are Cat People and Night of the Demon on DVD ?...
...FYI - the following Jacques Tourneur-directed movies are available on French DVD:
Experiment Perilous
http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/fiche.php3?id=2215
Cat People
http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/fiche.php3?id=2215
I Walked With a Zombie
http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/fiche.php3?id=2221
The Leopard Man
http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/fiche.php3?id=2216
. . . :o . . .
Just Call Me Wanda
22-10-2001, 18:29
I've never seen it but I guess I'm in for a treat! - Really looking forward to it, as I'm seeing it in all its glory - at the cinema next monday. :D
Creamstick
22-10-2001, 20:21
Originally posted by Just Call Me Wanda
I've never seen it but I guess I'm in for a treat! - Really looking forward to it, as I'm seeing it in all its glory - at the cinema next monday. :D
Which cinema???!!!!!
adamvbarker
22-10-2001, 20:23
To follow up Hendrik's point,
There's also a couple directed by Robert Wise in the same french series:
The Curse of the Cat People
http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/fiche.php3?id=2219
The Body Snatcher with Karloff and Lugosi, very good.
http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/fiche.php3?id=2220
Kevin Harper
22-10-2001, 20:37
Thans for the info Hendrik - nice box artwork on the French DVD's - anyone have any idea of the picture quality ? I have only seen these films in ropey old prints that leave a lot to be desired. I know they aren't up to the Citizen Kane class but they always looked grey and white in the past and really soft.
I have also seen an uncut print of The Body Snatcher - as you say a little Robert Wise gem that is really quite scary in it's own way.
Just Call Me Wanda
22-10-2001, 21:55
Originally posted by Creamstick
Which cinema???!!!!!
Don't know the name but it's the art house cinema in the middle of Sheffield. Get to see it free as well! :D
Kevin Harper ...I own Experiment Perilous - which is a neat noirish costume drama, by the way - and it's a quite respectable transfer of a clean print... plus, of course, Hedy Lamarr (tagged as "The Most Beautiful Woman In The World"), while not filmdom's greatest actress, was certainly quite lovely to look at - and very intelligent, too: she was co-inventor of the transistor ... I think...
* * * * * * * * * *
...later... nope, it wasn't the transistor, but something just as useful: http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/inventorsI-Q/lamarr.html
. . . :o . . .
adamvbarker
22-10-2001, 23:03
Kevin,
I own The Body Snatcher and Cat People .
Both are decent prints with not much in the way of damage. They are perhaps a little soft, and the blacks could be a little blacker. But that's to compare them with the finest of restoration jobs (like the R1 Citizen Kane or the french La Bete Humaine ).
It would probably take some serious work to get them looking better than they do, and I'm not sure I can see that happening any time soon, given that they are a little way off the mainstream.
Incidentally, the company also do the Jacques Tourneur film Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer.
http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/fiche.php3?id=2588
Creamstick
22-10-2001, 23:50
Originally posted by Just Call Me Wanda
Don't know the name but it's the art house cinema in the middle of Sheffield. Get to see it free as well! :D
DAY-AM!!!! I'd love to see it too.. oh well, i'll have to settle for The Fly on Saturday.
Just Call Me Wanda
28-01-2002, 15:05
Anyone else feel that the old version of The Haunting is just not scary or spooky in the slightest ?
Yep, I was disappointed in the film - probably because it got hyped up a bit in this thread before I saw it.
In a similar vein, I am eagerly anticipating a full scope, DVD release of Jack Clayton's classic The Innocents.
It is beautifully filmed in black and white, and is, in my opinion, a more suspenseful and (dare I say it) superior film to The Haunting.
vBulletin® v3.7.0, Copyright ©2000-2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.