Review of The Haunting

The Haunting is a very good psychological paranormal drama from 1963 and is very ahead of its time,when most horrors of the time relied on daft special effects which don't hold up well today,The Haunting relies on atmosphere .Robert Wise decided to shoot the film in black and white to give added atmosphere,and it works,i don't think colour would have worked as well.I was watching The Haunting the other night and felt really cold as if the atmosphere came into my living room {spooky}ive never felt that before,i wondered if anyone else has felt this way.What also makes this film powerful is that the mansion house you see is real and has a graveyard nearby,the mansion stands in Stratford upon Avon just outside of London so everything you see in this film is real which i think makes it more authentic,i would imagine the house did feel cold and damp inside. The Haunting is a very well written intelligent thriller its slow paced most of the time and not a film you can afford to miss any of as you may find it hard to get back into and follow the story,so you need to watch it from the beginning all the way through to get the best out of it.There is no blood guts or gore no real violence just suspense and a few jumpy moments. The acting between the four actors is excellent and convincing. On the DVD i have there is added commentary from the four actors and the director and screen writer,talking about their experiences while filming The Haunting which is at times very interesting. I give this film a 10 because as a paranormal drama i don't think they get much better than this,and this one in particular was the first of its kind.