Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 133

Jan de Bont’s T h e H a un ti n g

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string snaps out and lashes her face, across her eye. The audience was given reason
to expect something of this sort, as the peg holding the string was clearly seen
rotating just before she touched it. This is not shown from the perspective of one of
the film’s characters, so we have no reason to suspect that imagination or
premonition was involved. Mary is rushed away for medical attention and that is
the last we see of her.
Later, Dr. Marrow is shown alone as he dictates into a voice recorder. He
notes that he has presented the subjects with the story of Crain and Hill House,
setting up the experiment to follow. Thus, the audience is invited to question whether
the strange events they are about to see in this film are the result of Marrow’s
experimental manipulations, the warped imaginations of the subjects in his study,
supernatural occurrences, or actual, objective reality. Herein lies the central premise
of The H aunting.
Early on, the mansion is full of eerie bumping and crashing sounds as moving
camera shots explore the architectural features of Hill House, suggesting the lurking
presence of something just beyond the range of comprehension. The music
complements these visual images, with the combination effectively stimulating
the sensation of uneasiness. As they assemble in the kitchen to discuss these, it
becomes clear that Eleanor is not the only one who senses these goings on, but the
collective diagnosis is simply noisy plumbing in an old house.
The hauntings of Hill House become increasingly explicit and less subtle as
the film progresses. We see the moving images of children just under the sheets on
Eleanor’s bed. Is it possible she is dreaming this? When she summons the others
and reports hearing sounds from a huge fireplace. Dr. Marrow tries to convince
Eleanor that she is just imagining things. And when “Welcome home, Eleanor” is
found painted across Hugh Crain’s portrait, it is clear Eleano r thinks the others
believe she is responsible. When Eleanor is alone and experiencing the weird events
of Hill House, we are tempted to suspect that it is her troubled hallucinations or her
own deliberate doing. Does she imagine that her mother is thumping the walls? Or
perhaps this is just part of Dr. Marrow’s experiment. As events proceed and become
more evident and observed by others in the house, as well as by Eleanor and Dr.
Marrow, any sense of mystery about the unknown dissolves. What might have
been a frightening movie becomes less actively involving for the audience and
results in a relatively passive viewing experience.
In De Bont’s execution of the film, the range of possible explanations is,
unfortunately, not allowed to flower. Instead, we are treated to mere spectacle as
one computer generated effect follows another, each more technically elaborate
than the last. As the story moves along, it becomes increasingly clear that these
haunting happenings are experienced, not by an individual, or by the imagination
of one person stimulating that of another, but by reality. Somehow the spell is