Post by klep on Sept 20, 2021 14:15:55 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 9/20: The Haunting
The most important part of any haunted house movie is atmosphere. Sure it helps to have a good story. Sure it helps to have a great cast. But if you can't make the audience feel like the house is haunted, none of it is going to work.
Fortunately Robert Wise's adaptation of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has atmosphere in spades. The opening narration establishes the menace of the Hill House by detailing a number of the women who died there, making the estate out to be a living thing with an agenda of its own. Obviously that wouldn't be enough by itself, but Wise also makes a number of other choices which bring out every bit of creepiness and terror in his magnificent set.
Wise had the choice of filming in color or black & white, and he correctly chose the latter. It lets him create sharper and deeper contrasts in the frame, with inky shadows and brilliant pale whites that let ghosts hide and terror show more freely on his characters' faces and in their eyes. He uses strange camera angles, going beyond the easy dutch angle to unsettling subordinate perspectives and off-center wide shots. He'll pan the camera in unusual ways, encouraging you to search the negative space for things that aren't there.
And there's lots to see in that negative space. Hill House has the clutter of 90 years of steady but inconstant use. Its strange geometry is disorienting, and Wise never lets us (or his characters) have a good idea of where rooms are in relation to each other. A rickety spiral staircase carries a menace all its own, and there's a fantastic sequence where growing shadows reveal a distorted face in the filigree on a wall. He also utilized a number of other special effects to increase the supernatural menace, including filter-sensitive makeup and a door that buckles in a disturbing manner. Complete with world-class sound work, it's impossible to get through the film without being set on edge.
Aided by an excellent cast and Jackson's story, Wise is able to leverage all this atmosphere into a suspenseful and unnerving film. Led by Julie Harris' Eleanor Lance, it tracks the slow dissolution of her sanity as the house works its will upon the characters. Contrary to the rest of the cast (who are also excellent) Harris went method for the role, giving her performance an otherworldly intensity that both distances her from the others and makes her slide from an already questionable level of stability to a kind of madness. An echoey voiceover gives us her internal monologue as she runs through her insecurities and increasing fear and despair. At the end she achieves the cool clarity of the truly mad, and she and the house finally come to a tragic accord. The shot of her face in the car as she realizes she's lost control is one of the most haunting images in the film.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 9/27: Annihilation
TRANSITIONS WEEK!
In 2018 four discordant notes and a rainbow shimmer got our hearts racing in anticipation for the next film from Ex Machina director Alex Garland. For Transitions week, we'll spend time talking about some characters who go through some very strange transitions indeed in Annihilation. Be sure to join us next week; Annihilation is available on Paramount+ and for rent at the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 9/21: Strange Days
Piggybacking off a pair of films dealing with memory, next time the podcast crew are taking the opportunity to discuss Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days and the problems of streaming availability in a special one-off episode. Join us Wednesday for our discussion; Strange Days isn't streaming anywhere.
HOME SWEET HOME WEEK!
Note: This essay is a re-run of the essay I wrote for when The Haunting was covered by the Next Picture Show Podcast
The most important part of any haunted house movie is atmosphere. Sure it helps to have a good story. Sure it helps to have a great cast. But if you can't make the audience feel like the house is haunted, none of it is going to work.
Fortunately Robert Wise's adaptation of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has atmosphere in spades. The opening narration establishes the menace of the Hill House by detailing a number of the women who died there, making the estate out to be a living thing with an agenda of its own. Obviously that wouldn't be enough by itself, but Wise also makes a number of other choices which bring out every bit of creepiness and terror in his magnificent set.
Wise had the choice of filming in color or black & white, and he correctly chose the latter. It lets him create sharper and deeper contrasts in the frame, with inky shadows and brilliant pale whites that let ghosts hide and terror show more freely on his characters' faces and in their eyes. He uses strange camera angles, going beyond the easy dutch angle to unsettling subordinate perspectives and off-center wide shots. He'll pan the camera in unusual ways, encouraging you to search the negative space for things that aren't there.
And there's lots to see in that negative space. Hill House has the clutter of 90 years of steady but inconstant use. Its strange geometry is disorienting, and Wise never lets us (or his characters) have a good idea of where rooms are in relation to each other. A rickety spiral staircase carries a menace all its own, and there's a fantastic sequence where growing shadows reveal a distorted face in the filigree on a wall. He also utilized a number of other special effects to increase the supernatural menace, including filter-sensitive makeup and a door that buckles in a disturbing manner. Complete with world-class sound work, it's impossible to get through the film without being set on edge.
Aided by an excellent cast and Jackson's story, Wise is able to leverage all this atmosphere into a suspenseful and unnerving film. Led by Julie Harris' Eleanor Lance, it tracks the slow dissolution of her sanity as the house works its will upon the characters. Contrary to the rest of the cast (who are also excellent) Harris went method for the role, giving her performance an otherworldly intensity that both distances her from the others and makes her slide from an already questionable level of stability to a kind of madness. An echoey voiceover gives us her internal monologue as she runs through her insecurities and increasing fear and despair. At the end she achieves the cool clarity of the truly mad, and she and the house finally come to a tragic accord. The shot of her face in the car as she realizes she's lost control is one of the most haunting images in the film.
In the end, all of the characters finally believe in the supernatural evil at work in Hill House. And so do we.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 9/27: Annihilation
TRANSITIONS WEEK!
In 2018 four discordant notes and a rainbow shimmer got our hearts racing in anticipation for the next film from Ex Machina director Alex Garland. For Transitions week, we'll spend time talking about some characters who go through some very strange transitions indeed in Annihilation. Be sure to join us next week; Annihilation is available on Paramount+ and for rent at the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 9/21: Strange Days
Piggybacking off a pair of films dealing with memory, next time the podcast crew are taking the opportunity to discuss Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days and the problems of streaming availability in a special one-off episode. Join us Wednesday for our discussion; Strange Days isn't streaming anywhere.