The Haunting
G

The Haunting

You may not believe in ghosts but you cannot deny terror.

1963 • 112 min • Horror

Synopsis

Dr. John Markway recruits three strangers for a sleep-disorder study at the eerie and isolated Hill House. It soon becomes clear his real interest lies in the mansion itself and its sinister history, as they are forced to confront the nature of its horror…

Our family guide

Best from age 12
88
Movie Knight Score
731 reviews
  • 100 Reviewers · 4 · 60%
  • 71 Audience · 727 · 40%

A doctor studying sleep disorders gathers a small group at the infamous Hill House, known for its disturbing history. As they stay, the house begins to exert a powerful, unsettling influence on its guests, especially one woman, revealing its sinister nature and their own inner turmoil.

Violence & peril
2/10
Language
1/10
Drinking, drugs & smoking
2/10
Romance & sensuality
1/10
Scary moments
6/10

Heads up

  • Psychological horror elements
  • Characters experience mental distress
  • Mentions of past suicides and accidents

What it models well

  • Perseverance through fear
  • Seeking understanding
  • Compassion for others

Talk about it after

  • The power of suggestion and belief
  • How different people react to fear
  • Recognizing mental health struggles

Written by the Movie Knight editorial team for The Haunting. Our own words, our own scoring — always double-check against your family's standards.

Where to watch

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Top billed cast

Director: Robert Wise • Crew: Nelson Gidding

Trailers & clips

Trailer

The Haunting: The Implicit Cut - Arrival (Scene comparison)

The Haunting: The Implicit Cut - First Encounter (Scene Comparison)

The Haunting 1963 - In Colour

EttingtonParkHotel B&W Tribute to "The Haunting" 1963

Dan Ireland on THE HAUNTING

The Haunting - Trailer

Reviewer notes

Recommended

The wealthy "Crain" builds a gothic mansion in a remote part of New England where he plans to house his new wife and daughter. Mysteriously, she doesn't survive long enough to ever move in and as we skip forward almost a century, we find the house bleak and run-down and now inherited by a distant relative of the daughter. It's this house that "Dr. Markway" (Richard Johnson) is determined to investigate. He has con...

RecommendedTrusted family reviewers

**A simple film with a basic script, but which scares us in such a way that it still has an influence on horror productions today.** Movies about haunted houses? Whoever saw one of them, saw them all… right? I like to think not. And this film is probably the grandfather of a good number of them! Currently forgotten due to the passage of time, the film had a much weaker remake in 1999, and I believe that it is i...

RecommendedTrusted family reviewers

And whatever walked there, walked alone. The Haunting is directed by Robert Wise and adapted to screenplay by Nelson Gidding from the Shirley Jackson novel The Haunting of Hill House. It stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn and Lois Maxwell. Music is by Humphrey Searle and cinematography by David Boulton. Hill House has a troubled history, death, either by accident or by suicide, h...

RecommendedTrusted family reviewers

Many years ago little nutshell asked Mommy and Daddy for permission to stay up and watch this movie. He soon regretted it, as this bone-chilling ghost story nearly caused the young lad to soil his shorts, and it would be several more days until he could fall asleep with the lights out. Even today, I can't watch this movie in an empty house with the lights off. It's just too damn scary. Robert Wise had one of th...

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Gallery

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Details