The Haunting - 1963 ***

I'm going to seriously irritate horror fans when I say that I found this to be incredibly boring and non-descript. This is also one of the only times where I have enjoyed the remake much more than the original and it's almost embarassing to say so!

We are presented with a group of not particularly nice individuals who are all brought to a 'haunted house' by a man intent on showing the world that ghosts etc really exist.

We have Claire Bloom, a rather mean lady who seems to have a lesbian obsession with the other woman yet goes out of her way to taunt her, Julie Harris (who I think is one of the most annoying and whiny actresses I have ever had the misfortunate to see) a boring and spineless woman who cannot bond with any of the other people and seems to delight at being the centre of attention ALL the time, Russ Tamblyn ( that bloke from 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers') a smarmy and playboy type character who doesn't take anything seriously and lastly the Doctor who seems the most grounded of them all despite trying his hardest to prove that ghouls wander around the house.

They all stay in the house and hear some bangs and bumps and get scared out of their wits but we never really understand the cause or much of the history (whereas you do in the remake).

Far from being scared I was actually yawning at one stage so not a good sign. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't very good. Robert Wise the director has however made some excellent films in his time so hopefully this was just a one off dud.

(By the way before anyone rushes to criticise my opinion and say that I wasn't scared because it was an old film I suggest you take a look at the whole of my blog and see that that couldn't be further from the truth. My favourite films in the world are old black and white ones.)