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The Haunting, a review by addicted2dvd

The Haunting (1963/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Warner Home Video Director: Robert Wise Writing: Nelson Gidding (Screenwriter), Shirley Jackson (Original Material By) Length: 112 min. Rating: G Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Mono, French: Dolby Digital: Mono, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

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Stars:
Julie Harris as Eleanor Lance
Claire Bloom as Theodora
Richard Johnson as Dr. John Markway
Russ Tamblyn as Luke Sanderson
Fay Compton as Mrs. Sanderson
Rosalie Crutchley as Mrs. Dudley

Plot:
"It was an evil house from the beginning, a house that was born bad." The place is the 90-year-old mansion called Hill House. No one lives there. Or so it seems. But please do come in. Because even if you don't believe in ghosts, there's no denying the terror of "The Haunting."

Robert Wise returned to psychological horror for this much admired, first screen adaptation of Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House." Four people come to the house to study its supernatural phenomena. Or has the house drawn at least one of them to it? The answer will unnerve you in this "elegantly sinister scare movie. It's good fun" (Pauline Kael, "5001 Nights at the Movies").

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Feature Trailers
• Gallery
• Production Notes
• Closed Captioned

I must say... I liked this one more on the second viewing. On first viewing I found it to be a little too slow for my taste... and was expecting more. On this second viewing... knowing ahead of time what to expect I enjoyed it much more. Very good story... great cast and wonderful atmosphere. Definitely well worth watching.


Scorecard:

TV Eps: 6
Movies: 3

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon on October 3rd, 2014)

My Winnipeg, a review by Danae Cassandra

My Winnipeg
Year of Release: 2007
Directed By:  Guy Maddin
Starring: Ann Savage, Louis Negin, Amy Stewart, Darcy Fehr
Genre: Documentary, Drama, Fantasy

Overview:
The geographical dead center of North America and the beloved birthplace of Guy Maddin, Winnipeg is the frosty and mysterious star of Maddin's "docu-fantasia." A work of memory and imagination, the film burrows into what the director calls "the heart of the heart" of the continent, conjuring a city as delightful as it is fearsome, populated by sleepwalkers and hockey aficionados. Take part in Winnipeg's epic annual scavenger hunt! Pay your respects to the racehorses forever frozen in the river! Help judge the yearly Golden Boy pageant! What is real and what is fantasy is left up to the viewer to sort out in Maddin's hypnotic, expertly conceived paean to that wonderful and terrifying place known as My Hometown.

My Thoughts:
Is the truth important? How important is truth to memory? What truly matters: what really happened or how you perceive it and remember it? Are the stories of your hometown important because they are true? Or because you believe them? If they are false, does that make them less true? Maddin's blend of memoir, documentary and fantasy asks these sorts of questions and doesn't exactly provide answers. We all have local legends that will never be proven, we all have memories that didn't happen the way we remember them, we all have embellished family stories. Maddin's ultimate point might just be that all of this is important in how we see the world - just as important as the actual truth.

Bechdel Test:  Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From March Around the World 2016 on March 11th, 2016)

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

5. BRUTAL YOUTH
Jimmy's boyhood pal comes staggering into the newsroom - white-haired, wrinkled and old.

My Thoughts:
This is a fun episode. For more then one reason. I enjoyed the storyline. Especially seeing Lois panic about her mortality. Seeing and old Lois with a still young Superman was pretty comical. I also liked that they had the guest star of Jack Larson playing the old version of Jimmy Olsen. For those of you that don't know that name. His is the guy that played Jimmy Olsen in the Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves. So it was cool seeing him reprive that role (well some what) after all these years.


6. THE PEOPLE VS. LOIS LANE
The D.A. has an airtight case against a suspected killer; the crime and film and a city full of eyewitnesses. The accused: Lois Lane.

My Thoughts:
This is a very good 2 part episode. Enjoyed it quite a bit.


7. DEAD LOIS WALKING
Will Lois get the chair? Not with Superman around! One prison break later, Lois and Clark hunt for the real killer.

My Thoughts:
While a very good conclusion... I think I liked the first part a little more. I didn't care much for how Lois looked in that wig she wore in a couple of the scenes in this episode.


8. BOB AND CAROL AND LOIS AND CLARK
Lois and Clark's new best buddies Bob and Carol seem too good to be true. And they are: Bob is the cold-blooded assassin Deathstroke.

My Thoughts:
This one is enjoyable... but really no more then a filler episode. I thought it was kinda funny to have Deathstroke use the same glasses technique for a secret identity as Clark does... but over all while enjoyable I think it could have been better. Some of the acting by the guest stars was a little on the stiff side.



(From Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Marathon on August 3rd, 2009)