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The Haunting

Genre Genre has many aspects to it, from elaborate plans as to genres, sub genres and mixed genres. Some people feel taht genre is more crucial as a marketing device than anything else. None the less, film studies continues to use the concept of genre as a kind of film - nut a kind based on whtt? Some genres seem to be based on atopic - "westerns/frontier films" which tend to have stories which deal with the bringing of civilization to an untamed wildernmes. Other genres are often thought to be determined in part by style. The most of common of these is film noir which is sometimes denied the status of a genre and is seen as a style typified by images of entrapment and chiaroscuro lighting.

Some genres are defined by the set pieces whihch occur in them. Monster films often have as their set pieces the first appearance of the monster, but more recently films like "gore" films or "slasher" films are defined by their specularizatioin of grisly on screen murders or shots of partularly gory body parts. Films like Saw and <>Hostel fall into this category. Some genres have a tendency to have specific kinds of sub texts. Horror films are often held to have a sub text which deals with the "eruption of the repressed", in which the repressed is often sexual and the films have something of a Freudian underpinning.

Still other genres are defined by the kind of emotional response the film makers hopes to evoke in the audience - comedy and terror genres are of this sort.

Sub genres are tighter specifications of the kind of films Within horror there are sub genres like "psychologucal horror" (Psycho) or "surpernatural horror" (Curse of the Demon).

Some films confound the issue however - are all monster films horror films? (i.e. is "moster film" a sub genre of "horror" or does it stand alone?) Some films like Harry and the Hendersons are clearly not horror films - and it is questionable even when the film is a monster film. Part of the problem lies in the definition of monster. If the creature in question is not frightening, is it a monster? Ghosts certainly can be found in horror films, but they also can be found in fantasy films. If the ghosts are well behaved the film tends to be classified as fantasy, if ill behaved then the film may be seen as a horror film. The Uninvited is an example of dangerous ghosts, while Ghost, Topper and Canterville Ghost are all examples of films which have "friendly" (or frghtened) ghosts are are classified as fantasy.

Simlar problems can be found with crime films, mystery films, trial films and so on. Most films will fall into one or more genres since some genres like drama, melodrama, comedy deal with emotional reasctions while others deal with content.

In some sense one might argue that a film has many aspects to it and certain mixtures help clarify the genre to which one miight assign the the film. Similar problems are encountered by librarians who have to make decisions on which number should be used to classify a book. Should a book on Japanese film be classified by a number indicating that its subject matter is something Japanese or that its topic is film?

One set of classifications would yield something like the following:

. The Horror Genre

Sometimes defined as the "eruption of the repressed". but this may apply more to a specific sub genre - i.e. the psychological horror film.

Classic horror film is Psycho where Norman Bates' repressions erupt as "mother".

Some Sub genres of horror are:

Not everyone would agree however. Slasher films and gore films may be separate genres as might monster films. Much depends on how the genre is described.

ound

Lighting

chiaroscura lightening (high contrast): pools of light
Shadows of characters
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Narrative

: First person: Story told by a single narrator who is a character in the film. Audience knows only what the one character knows
Omniscient: Story is seen from a point external to the characters. Audience knows more than any character does.

Film Stock

Different film stocks respond to different amounts of light. Some films respond to heat (infra red film) etc.
Other categories in which "horror films" are often found categorized are "thriller" and "suspense" In many cases it is extrememly important to distinguish between "horror films" and "horrible films" although some entries in one category are also in the other.
Similarly, monster films like King Kong may be classified as adeventure or fantasy, whereas those that result from nuclear experiments may be seen as sci-fi. The Creature from the Black Lagoon is generally thought to be horror. Horror vs. Sci-Fi

One question which is raised in this film is whether or not the supernatural elements should be taken to be real or not.

This film (The Haunting) poses an interesting question in this regard.

The Haunting

First - is the supernatural meant to be real or can the supernatural events be explained in other ways?

Many of the things that happen are seen or heard by several people - the noises outside the bedroom, the racket upstairs when Mrs. Markway disappears.

On the oher hand, the noises could be made by either Markway and or his wife as part of the experiment or perhaps even by the Dudleys

There is however, little evidence that this is the case. None the less, the fact that the film is narrated by Eleanor makes us wonder whether this isn't something in her mind as well. The author of the book, Shirley Jackson says it was not her intent to have the supernatural in anyone's head. She meant it to be real, but at the same time she thought it was an interesting idea to have it "created" by Eleanor.

Eleanor certainly seems repressed enough to have something erupt. She is made parallel to many of the people in the house. Her mother pounded on the wall as did Abegail and both she and Abagail's caretaker seem to have ignored the pounding once and the bed ridden person died. Theo asks if Nell was sorry her mother died and is told she was not. She says that she won't say she is sorry now. Later Theo says that she doesn't know why Eleanor is mad at her since she doesn't think that Eleanor killed her mother. Eleanor's reastion indicates some feeling of guilt on her part.

The house itself becomes a character in the film. There are several times when there are POV shots from the house's POV. Elaenor looks up at the house and the windows appear like eyes. The next shot is looking down from the house's "eyes" at Eleanor. When ELeanor first arrives the camera implies a point of view shot as the house "looks her over". Later the house becomes an "active participant" as the camere (representing the house) moves in quickly on Eleanor from a height as she leans backwards over the balcony looking up at the house. "You have to watch this house all the time" she says. The house in effect has tried to kill her by pushing her off the balcony

In two scenes the film answers Eleanor's rather rhetorical questions - When asking why she locked the door to her ("Against what?") and when she realizes itr was not Theo who was holding her hand "Oh God! Whose hand was I b holding?) The answer appears in the film's editing since in both cases the shot which follows is of the house as if to answer the question.

There are many unsettling "Dutch angle" shots that mirror the idea that the house is "out of line" (There are no right angles and it all adds up to one big distortion). The camera work on the spiral stairway gives a dizzying view of the house as well. The camera is very mobile and is often in motion in odd ways, floating around Nell as she dances with an imaginary Hugh Crane.

Many shots of furniture change uncanily before your eyes from leaf designs to faces. There are some "shock" shots when things appear suddenly in the frame (sculpture etc.) and when Eleanor sees her reflection suddenly in the mirror/

Robert Wise (the director) used an extreme wide angle lens which distorted to give some of the eerie moments to the film. By tilting the camera he is able to distort a great dal of the house and make it appear to move and seem alive - especially when Nell is outside the nursery.

Nell runs in the nursery (or appears blown into the nursery) and is suddenly wrapped in a curtain which is shroudlike.

There seems a problem with Nell's sexuality and Theo's lesbianism which leads to the complicated relationship between them. Nell's reperssed sexuality which is directed at Dr. Markway often engenders hostility from Theo who seems to be jealous of Nell's hoped for involvement with Markway rather than with theo.

The house "wants" Eleanor. She fits the profile of the people who are caught by the house. At the end she narrates the opening statement made by Dr. Markway and indicates that she is now one of those in the house that "walks alone" giving rise again to the idea that much of what we have seen in in Eleanor's mind. However that fact that we hear the narration after she is dead is an indication that the supernatural is, in this film, real.

At one level the supernatural has to be accepted. People in the film experience things with other people as witnesses. At a sub textual level the house may represent Eleanor's mind and her descent into insanity. As a textual level this is hinted at in the statement made by Eleanor's brother in law whe he talks about "digging up the family skeleton". So in this sense, we have to accept the supernatural at the level of the "text" but not at the level of the "sub text".