Follow TV Tropes

This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.

Following

Nightmare Fuel / The Haunting (1963)

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_haunting_nightmare_fuel.jpg
As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

  • The overall paranoia of the film (culminating with Nell going completely insane).
  • The scene with Nell asking Theo to stop holding her hand so tightly, in a death grip. And then the lights come on and:
    Nell: Oh God! Whose hand was I holding?
  • At one point almost human faces appear in the wallpaper. In almost any other horror film it'd be ridiculous, but here, the shadows slowly revealing the face and indistinct voices make it effective.
  • Doors provide a frequent source of horror:
    • The breathing door, which pulsates and flexes in a way no wooden door should be able to do. Even if it does lead to one of the very few comical moments in the movie.
    • The previous door scene as well; rarely has a rattling doorknob been so terrifying.
    • Slightly before that, said door slams shut suddenly only after a lengthy scene of a silent shadowy figure walking into the room where Nell, Theo, and Markway are all sleeping. It's just Luke, but until his features are fully revealed, it's left fully to the audience's imagination.
    • A bit of Fridge Horror: in the prologue the second Mrs. Crain tries to close a door, which repeatedly opens on its own. Later on we learn that all the doors are hung off center and should swing shut by themselves, meaning that something was holding it open.
  • The Wham Shot of the suddenly open door to the nursery.
  • Hugo Craine, between his backstory and apparently being the most active spirit in the house, provides some good scares:
    • During the wallpaper scene, the angry male voice (presumably Craine reading scripture aloud), combining with the crying child, combining with the shrieking, combining with the hysterical laughter.
    • Craine forcing his traumatized daughter to look upon her mother's corpse laid out on a chair.
    • After Nell suggests that the statue in the conservatory could represent Craine himself, she sees the statue move out of the corner of her eye.
    • The close-ups of Craine's wives upon their deaths, especially the second one's horrified eyes.
    • Watching the slow transition of Abigail from little girl to old woman, her expression never changing.
  • Mrs. Dudley. While her husband is merely a bit hostile and unfriendly towards outsiders, she seems not entirely sane. Her idea of a welcome for the guests is to remind them repeatedly that they'll be all alone in the house once night falls, and no one will come to help them. In the night. In the dark. Smile.
  • During the search for John's wife, Nell runs down the hall with that deep, booming background score, and suddenly something pops out of the left side of the screen and Nell screams... it's just her running into her own reflection in the mirror, but with the way the shot is framed, we don't realize this until about the same time she does. Rarely does cinematography mess with your mind so effectively.
  • On the first night, after everyone has gone to bed, the scene lingers in the huge, darkened hallway. A heavy booming sound, of unknown origin, shudders through the house. Nell and Theo, petrified with fear of this furious yet inscrutable force, shelter from a sudden intense cold, whereupon the booming is succeeded by a frantic banging on the bedroom door. The noise and chill mercifully stop, but are followed by a disembodied screech of maniacal laughter.
  • The two Jump Scare moments involving Grace and Nell at the climax and ending. Since most of the film's terror is atmospheric and heavily uses dread and suspense, those scares are extra surprising.
  • A clearly unhinged Nell climbing the spiral staircase as it starts to collapse. It's also the only real moment of suspense that's not presented as supernatural - it's just an old house and an unsafe stairway.

Top