La Maison du diable

I watch old horror movies in self-denial, but this one was able to justify its cult status. Given the year it was made, it’s almost surprisingly scary and something that no horror fan should miss. It’s also one of those films that relies on the fact that we’re afraid of things we can’t see. The Haunting will not show you any monsters, but you’ll surely be scared. Brilliant. (04/06/2009)

Probably even the Lumière brothers with the first film ever wanted to scare the audience. It stuck with the filmmaking industry since then and in every decade, we get to see how far films would go to frighten their viewers. With The Haunting I was really curious about that. The premise was more than good. However, it is apparent that we live in a completely different time now, because what happens in the film had little to do with haunting, yet the atmosphere was still quite good. It’s a pity that the main character was so snobbish, and the professor was waltzing through the house as if he didn’t give a fuck about the ghosts. (08/04/2016)

I have two criticisms: 1) It's long. 110 minutes is too much, particularly because the real "scares" don't kick in until half an hour before the end. The rest of the runtime is taken up with long-winded dialogues about nothing, or about the main character’s relationship with her mother. Freud would surely be pleased. And 2) The main character is solidly deranged, but unfortunately to such an extreme (whiny monologues) that it destroys any sort of viewer empathy. I’m giving it a better three stars, noting that I still crave to see Robert Wise’s films. There was something to that gentleman. (08/08/2008)