It was an evil house form the beginning , a house that was born bad. The place is the 90-year-old mansion called Hill House. No one lives in there. Or so it seems. But come in. Because even if you don't believe in ghosts, there's no denying the terror of The Haunting. Robert Wise, returned to psychological horror for this much admired, first screen adaptation of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Four people (Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn) come to the house to study its supernatural phenomena. Or has the house drawn at least one of them to it? The answer will unnerve you in this elegantly sinister scare movie. It's good fun (Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies).
Certain to remain one of the greatest haunted-house movies ever made, Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963) is antithetical to all the gory horror films of subsequent decades, because its considerable frights remain implicitly rooted in the viewer's sensitivity to abject fear. A classic spook-fest based on Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House (which also inspired the 1999 remake directed by Jan de Bont), the film begins with a prologue that concisely establishes the dark history of Hill House, a massive New England mansion (actually filmed in England) that will play host to four daring guests determined to investigate--and hopefully debunk--the legacy of death and ghostly possession that has given the mansion its terrifying reputation. Consumed by guilt and grief over her mother's recent death and driven to adventure by her belief in the supernatural, Eleanor Vance (Julie Harris) is the most unstable--and therefore the most vulnerable--visitor to Hill House. She's invited there by anthropologist Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson), along with the bohemian lesbian Theodora (Claire Bloom), who has acute extra-sensory abilities, and glib playboy Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn, from Wise's West Side Story), who will gladly inherit Hill House if it proves to be hospitable. Of course, the shadowy mansion is anything but welcoming to its unwanted intruders. Strange noises, from muffled wails to deafening pounding, set the stage for even scarier occurrences, including a door that appears to breathe (with a slowly turning doorknob that's almost unbearably suspenseful), unexplained writing on walls, and a delicate spiral staircase that seems to have a life of its own. The genius of The Haunting lies in the restraint of Wise and screenwriter Nelson Gidding, who elicit almost all of the film's mounting terror from the psychology of its characters--particularly Eleanor, whose grip on sanity grows increasingly tenuous. The presence of lurking spirits relies heavily on the power of suggestion (likewise the cautious handling of Theodora's attraction to Eleanor) and the film's use of sound is more terrifying than anything Wise could have shown with his camera. Like Jack Clayton's 1961 chiller, The Innocents, The Haunting knows the value of planting the seeds of terror in the mind, as opposed to letting them blossom graphically on the screen. What you don't see is infinitely more frightening than what you do, and with nary a severed head or bloody corpse in sight, The Haunting is guaranteed to chill you to the bone. --Jeff Shannon
Curb Your Enthusiasm is the brainchild of star-creator Larry David, who cocreated Seinfeld and was the basis for the easily rattled George Costanza. Like George, David has a tendency to speak too much, blow things out of proportion, and, most often, fail in the end (and often liking it that way). David's new show is also like its predecessor; it's about "nothing" except following the day-to-day ramblings of a sometime writer and comic (this time in LA). Eternal questions stemming from universal daily dilemmas are honed to perfect comedic absurdity. A notable exception is that the show is only scripted by plot; much of the action is improvised. The first season starts with a one-hour mockumentary following David's return to stand-up for the first time in years. The other 10 episodes follow a more traditional sit-com setup. David plays "himself" (as does his friend, Richard Lewis) although his manager and wife are played by comedians Jeff Garlin and Cheryl Hines. Although this first season is a comedic gem, one can't take more than an episode or two at a time--it's caustic, biting comedy. The episodes are often built like a house of cards, which the irritable David will surely collapse by the end. --Doug Thomas
William Shawcross' (Martin Clunes) search for love is hampered by his work: not many women want to date an undertaker. He decides to take matters into his own hands and regsiters with a dating agency. Things start to look up when he is captivated by dark haried beauty Mary (Julie Graham) on one of the agency videos. Mary's an attractive divorced mother of two; and working as a midwife she only meets men who are expectant fathers and married doctors. Once the two get together there
Three ex-cons kidnap a famous movie star and force her to have tripple x-rated sex live on the internet. Fans will pay an absolute fortune to see it. But their plan begins to unravel as fear greed lust and power make a deadly combination and a new game arises... who will live and who will die?
William Shawcross' (Martin Clunes) search for love is hampered by his work: not many women want to date an undertaker. He decides to take matters into his own hands and regsiters with a dating agency. Things start to look up when he is captivated by dark haried beauty Mary (Julie Graham) on one of the agency videos. Mary's an attractive divorced mother of two; and working as a midwife she only meets men who are expectant fathers and married doctors. Once the two get together there
William Shawcross' (Martin Clunes) search for love is hampered by his work: not many women want to date an undertaker. He decides to take matters into his own hands and regsiters with a dating agency. Things start to look up when he is captivated by dark haried beauty Mary (Julie Graham) on one of the agency videos. Mary's an attractive divorced mother of two; and working as a midwife she only meets men who are expectant fathers and married doctors. Once the two get together there
Catherine Cookson was born Catherine McMullen in 1906. Her life began in poverty and she grew up believing her real mother was her sister. In a life that could have been taken from any of her own novels Catherine aspired to achieve more than many of her time. From poverty to wealth she left the sadness behind to start a new life in Hastings where she was to meet her husband Tom Cookson. As a form of therapy Catherine began to write and never stopped and became one of the world's be
William Shawcross' (Martin Clunes) search for love is hampered by his work: not many women want to date an undertaker. He decides to take matters into his own hands and regsiters with a dating agency. Things start to look up when he is captivated by dark haried beauty Mary (Julie Graham) on one of the agency videos. Mary's an attractive divorced mother of two; and working as a midwife she only meets men who are expectant fathers and married doctors. Once the two get together there
William (Martin Clunes) likes Mary. Mary (Julie Graham) likes William. However the trials and tribulations of everyday life not least William's unusual job as an undertaker means that the path of love is destined not to run smooth...
A Jean-Pierre Jeunet double-bill featuring Amelie and his latest effort A Very Long Engagement. A Very Long Engagement (2004): Never let go... From the director of 'Amelie' comes this very different love story. Set in France near the end of World War I it tells the story of a young woman's relentless moving and sometimes comic search for her fiance who has disappeared. Featuring another fantastic performance from Audrey Tautou this film has an amazing cast full o
In Claude Chabrol's La Ceremonie the wealthy Lelievre family live in a grand estate in the calm isolation of the French countryside. All that lacks in their lustrous lifestyle is the perfect maid who they believe to have found in the shy and recalcitrant Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire). The match seems to be perfect and Sophie proves to be ""a bit bizarre but a real pearl"" according to Madame Lelievre (Jacqueline Bisset). Sophie remains distanced from the family and only comes out
A complete collection of the filmed adaptations of Catherine Cookson novels. Includes: The Mallen Secret / The Mallen Curse / The Mallen Girls / The Mallen Streak / The Fifteen Streets / The Wingless Bird / The Round Tower / The Black Velvet Gown / The Black Candle / The Rag Nymph / The Moth / The Girl / The Tide Of Life / The Glass Virgin / The Gambling Man / The Man Who Cried / The Cinder Path / The Dwelling Place / The Colour Blind / The Tilly Trotter / The Storyteller / The Secret / Dinner Of Herbs
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