How to do you make a classic to scare the living bejeezus out of you?
Behold the necessary ingredients...........
"Hill House" One glance at this place is enough to make you start running in the opposite direction. Brilliant black and white photography makes it look like the house is staring you down.....with nothing good on its mind......
Creepy Prologue History Just the look on that woman's face before something unseen hurls her down the stairs......only a few minutes into the movie and we're already frozen in our seats. And we don't even want to remember the expression on that other woman's face as she climbs up the spiral staircase, noose in hand, to hang herself.......
Mrs. Dudley The Housekeeper....played with profoundly unsettling calm by Rosalie Crutchley. Take notice of her evil little smile right after she finishes her standard "we couldn't hear you....in the night....in the dark " speech.
Theodora, The G-Rated Lesbian....Always amusing to listen to the 1963 dialogue nimbly dance around Theodora's sexual preference.......much like "North By Northwest" treats 'Leonard' and his 'woman's intuition'.....
"Whose hand was I holding??" If this bit doesn't give you convulsive shivers, then check you pulse......fast.
The never seen Boom-Boom Ghost....by far the film's most inspired idea. No Special Effects wizards could ever hope to duplicate what you yourself imagine prowls the Hill House hallways, methodically pounding on the doors........and making God-knows-what noises when it stops to lean its unspeakable bulk against the bending wood.......
"Wait till I tell James about this...." What a delightful surprise to find our scholarly ghost hunting Prof is married to Miss Moneypenny herself, Lois Maxwell. And we love it when Maxwell, still crisply delivering her lines like Moneypenny, goes storming into the the most haunted room of the house.......
Russ Tamblyn's final line.....about what he'd really like to do with the house he'd hope to inherit. Perfect. Bone chilling.
No Halloween should go by without watching this movie.....5 scary stars (*****), one of the BQ's greatest FIND OF FINDS. Best viewed with all the lights out......in the night....in the dark.....
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