Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 136

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Popular Culture Review

dynamic, multilayered soundtrack, a sense of irrevocable doom, and of course, an
accent on the unseen)” (479). This 1963 version of The H aunting plays on our
deep-seated fears of “being isolated, stalked, and trapped — all conveyed with an
accent on the unknown, on the dark” (480). Bansak quotes Stephen King’s
comments in his nonfiction work. Dance_Macabre\ In the Wise film “we never
actually see what it is that haunts Hill House. Something is there, all right ...
something is scratching at the door... What we have in the Wise film is one of the
world’s few radio horror movies. Something is scratching at that ornate, paneled
door, something horrible ... but it is a door Wise elects never to open” (481). In this
film, we never really know whether Hill House is haunted, or if the events are all
brought about by Eleanor’s mental state. This is left unexplained. She meets her
end by crashing her car outside Hill House.
Carlos Clarens in his Illu stra ted H is to ty o f the H o rror Film, takes another
view, suggesting that Wise’s decision to make the film stemmed from a popular
fascination in the 1960’s with extrasensory perception and psychic phenomena
(152). The film is described as playing a double game. The house, itself is described
in the film as the cause of many accidental and suicidal deaths. It is the reputation
of Hill House which inspires Dr. Markway (Dr. Marrow in the De Bont film) to
entice Eleanor and Theo, two mediums he has discovered are receptive to
supernatural or paranormal experience. When an unknown, unseen force brushes
Eleanor’s face and spells out her name, and when all of Hill House seems to vibrate
and emit strange sounds, the phenomena are explained as resulting from Eleanor’s
(or perhaps Theo’s) subconscious. Is Hill House the agent, or merely the setting
for the evil going on?
The central question may be, not just what is going on in a film, but why?
What is the motive? The source? What does it look like? Should I be afraid? The
imaginings and fears of the characters are crucial, but if these somehow tap into
our own experiences, our own imaginations, our own fears, we are, as viewers,
also participants in the process. This may be a prime factor in the success of The
B la ir Witch Project, which has been described as “a genuinely creepy, disquieting
film” (Johnson-Ott, 1). A viewer’s need to paint his own pictures of what may be
“out there” creates a sense of involvement in a work which is limited, or even
lacking, when the pictures are totally served up and there is no stimulation, even to
fill in between dotted lines. As John Brosnan puts it in The H orror People, “the
better films are those that leave a lot unexplained and avoid showing too much”
(253).
Jan De Bont’s H aunting does offer visual interest and it does stimulate our
curiosity. But it does not inspire fear or terror. The thought of bringing in new tools
and technologies to update a project completed before these advanced technical
approaches and lavish budgets were available is perhaps commendable and is