Continuing my research into haunted houses, I'm watched The Haunting both the 1963 and 1999 versions. Based on a book called the Haunting of Hill House, they chronicle the haunting and mental decline of a woman named Eleanor as she explores a strange house with a disturbing past.
Warning lots of spoilers!!
The Haunting (1963)
This black and white film debut a few years after the original novel was purchased. Like many classics, it had to lean more on presentation than special effects (which has the effect of making for a satisfying movie).The Haunting begins with the character of Dr. John Markway recounting the history of Hill House while we watch them unfold. I enjoyed the story but it might be a bit too direct for modern audiences.
Hill House was built by Hugh Crain as a home for his wife and family. His wife dies before reaching the house as her horse rears up on the road to the house. His second wife dies of a fall within the house. His daughter perishes of old age and neglect while her companion hangs herself.
After that melodramatic recounting, we meet the main character Eleanor, a terminal shut in who has been left guilt ridden after the death of her mother (who she cared after for 11 years and who died when she didn't come at her call for the first time). Her sister seems to be completely unsympathetic to what she endured and oblivious to her unstable state of mind.
Eleanor (or Nell) has a past with the supernatural, which we learn through the course of the movie. She might have suffered a poltergeist attack (which, to my mind at least, might indicate she is a latent psychokinetic). She wants to escape her life and thinks Hill House might be a refuge for her. As she slowly suffers a mental breakdown the manifestations within Hill House grow in strength and strangeness. The fundamental question of the movie thus is: is she going crazy or is there really something supernatural going? Or is it both and that her own powers hastening her decline?
The other main character of the movie is the house itself. This ornate mansion contains several interesting rooms. The library is one of those awesome rooms with a metal spiral staircase and chock full of beautiful books. The conservatory holds creepy statues which might represent the former residents of the house. At the heart of the house lies the nursery where the daughter lived out her life (and whose circumstances mirrors Eleanor's mother).
During the movie Dr. Markway makes the distinction between ghoulish and ghosts. Hill House is less haunted than deranged. The house contains no right angles and the doors are hung so they close and open on their own. The result is a hybrid of Lovecraft and Gothic, a house that is just wrong.
Filling out the cast we have the caretakers Mr. and Mrs Dudly, Dr. Markway and his wife, Theodora, and Luke. The caretakers are strangely rude and cheerfully creepy at the same time. By Scoobie Doo logic they would be the true villains. Theodora, or Theo, is a psychic and subtly hinted at being romantically interested in Nell, in much the same way Nell falls for Dr. Markway. This sets up some extra dramatic tension which helps to push Eleanor over the edge. Luke is the flippant heir to the house and generally brings a touch of humor and skepticism to the movie.
The manifestations run the spectrum from classic cold spots to mysterious pounding (which recalls the pounding of Eleanor's mother on the wall) to shadows forming faces on the walls. At its greatest extent we hear strange laughter, the sounds of children, and a door that flexes unnaturally. Nothing we can hold onto but which remains disturbing regardless.
Some of the phenomena only happens to Nell. Other (later) sights are there for all to see. Things escalate once Markway's wife arrives, dashing Nell's romantic aspirations. The wife soon vanishes after staying in the nursery and the search leads to Nell finally becoming totally unhinged. As they try to send her way, Eleanor reveals she has nowhere to go and flees. In the process she suffers an "accident" and dies at the same spot as Crain's first wife. Did she fail to spot the turn in time or was it suicide? Or was it the house?
The movie concludes with another soliloquy, echoing John’s narration at the beginning, but by Eleanor who now is one of the lonely ghosts of Hill House.
All in all the ambiguity helps the movie as a whole. The hints the movie provides leave the viewer more room to fill in with their own ideas and fears. I need to get a permanent copy of this at some point.
The Haunting (1999)
The recent remake pales in comparison to the original. Where the older movie leaves some doubt as to whether the supernatural is real, this film throws CGI ghosts, grossly animate furniture, and other silliness at us.To be clear, my intent was to watch this version for the house itself (which is even more ornate and whimsical than the original).
Following changes in viewer expectations, this film provides no history lesson. Instead to we jump straight to Eleanor. Here we see a much starker version of the characters. Eleanor's family is utterly horrible with her sister oblivious to Eleanor's suffering and only offering to take her in as "the help". Basically her sister wants to sell the house and kick her to the curb. The original left the brother-in-law at least somewhat sympathetic to her plight. Eleanor takes her car (which is about the only thing that belongs to her) and leaves the moment she gets a call to join a psychology study into insomnia.
Dr. Marrow (who replaces Markway) is a somewhat unethical psychology professor researching fear. He's less sympathetic and more skeptical than Markway. Luke is translated to a goofy insomniac. Theodora, bisexual in this version, is also an insomniac. Mr. Dudley comes across warmer if creepier than the original. He and his wife ironically seem more human and reasonable. Why couldn't they have spared that work for the main characters? Generally speaking the characters are less like-able and interesting (with the exception of Nell).
The house itself remains imposing. This version takes ostentatious to outrageous heights. Numerous statues adorn the rooms along with ornate wood carvings and some insane decor. The grand hall holds a fireplace large enough to roast a bull and huge painting of the evil Hugh Crain. The characters twice traverse a hall/pool that uses books at stepping stones as well as a spinning room of mirrors. None of this matters to the plot, perhaps to the story's detriment.
The major positive element here is the character of Nell, who comes off as much more persuasive and wittier than in the original. Where the original movie made her fairly unsympathetic and insane, this Nell seems to be better able to convey what's going on to others (and us).
The story starts off under the cover of an insomnia study. Weirdness starts off relatively blatantly (to the audience at least), a clavichord tightens itself and snaps, slicing Marrow's assistant's face.
Hugh Crain is also much more a villain. A textile baron who wanted to fill his house with children, his own children were stillborn. His wife killed herself and He went into seclusion. But he kept building.
The first night the knocking begins and rapidly reaches the same level that the original reached at its height. The doctor doesn't believe his subjects of course. Later that night we get the first of the CGI ghosts. This being early CGI, it is cartoonish at best. Anyway the ghost, a child, asks her to “find us.” Basically Crain was child thief and won't their souls go.
Things continue on like this. Red foot prints on the ground, something in the fireplace, Crain's face replaced with a skull, a missing second wife, bones of children in the fireplace. So far, so good.
Eventually the other subjects clue in to Marrow's deception. Eleanor meanwhile tries to rescue the spirits of the children. Things escalate and it is not scary or particularly convincing. CGI hands reach out of doors, walls warp like play-do and the bed animates and attacks. Eventually everyone is forced to believe in what is happening, right about the point they lose the cellphone and any chance of contacting the outside world.
They try to escape and fail. I guess because if you can't drive, why bother climbing over a wall. Except then you wouldn't die!
Nell learns she was destined to come here. The house called her. She is Crain's long lost great-great-grandaughter. Eventually she manages to send his ghost to hell at the cost of her own life. The children escape.
Marrow and Theo remain as the sole survivors since Luke got his head knocked off by the flue.
So the result is yet another movie where special effects stand in for real storytelling and where a lack of ambiguity crushes what otherwise could have been a good movie. The house was so elaborate that whole sections were literally stealing the scene. Much like the house, sometimes less is more.
Gaming Ideas
So what do these movies offer for gaming? The first is a lesson for running a good horror game: less is more. Fear of the unknown is one of the primal fears and the easiest to bring to the table. Hint, suggest, but don't reveal the full truth until you've reach the climax (if then). Is that growling beast in the dark a dog or a werewolf? Is it a product of twisted science or the supernatural? Can I hit it on a 6 or do I need to roll higher?Repeating the axiom I proposed last week is that bad movies make better fodder for roleplaying games. The 1999 film about subjects of a psychology study facing off against an evil ghost trapping the souls of children would probably work out better than the 1963 concept of a paranormal investigation into a haunted house with no real threat than one's own instability.
I do think however that Dr. Markway's team would make for a good bunch of monster hunters. In Hunter: the Vigil terms they'd be a pair of psychics and a rich socialite led by a member of the Null Mysteriis.
That's it for now. Next week Dreams of the Witch-House and something yet to be determined.
No comments:
Post a Comment