Countdown to Halloween: Did you have any weird dreams last night?

I know I have a tendency to throw the word “favorite” around a lot, but in the case of 1963’s The Haunting there is no other word that fits. The Haunting — and the book it was based on, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House — is a movie I’ll watch whenever I happen to get the chance, and one I want to watch whenever I happen to think about it. It is simply one of the best, if not the best, haunted house story put to film or paper and if you haven’t already, I’d recommend you give both a try.

The Haunting does an excellent job of capturing the mood and growing terror that gives the book so much of its atmosphere, and its dreadful sense of inevitability is perfectly relayed by the film’s small cast of characters. It’s an example of an old idea that’s been lost in a lot of modern horror movies; sometimes, what’s scariest is what you can’t see.

Speaking of legendary horror movies, it’d be hard to argue with calling A Nightmare on Elm Street a modern classic of the genre.

And if you do want to argue, I will fight you.