The Haunting (1963)
Who knew one of the most rated horror films would be a subtle queer gem.
Film still from The Haunting (1963) MGM.
The Haunting (1963), directed by Robert Wise tells the story of a haunted house, centred around a group of individuals who for a research project gather and spend time at the house in a bid to prove the presence of paranormal activity. It’s a film that has influenced the horror genre greatly, spawning, reinterpretations, and remakes, including a Netflix series.
Horror is a fertile genre for queer depictions. In the past horror filmmakers visualised queerness and ‘the other’ as monsters or vampires, in a bid to talk about queer topics and queer identity. Creating beings that were seen as dangerous and threatening to religious values, the family unit and society in general. Yet, this is not the case with the representation in The Haunting, which is now seen as a subtle queer gem
The film’s queerness lies with the character Theodora (Claire Bloom) an empowered, modern, independent woman, the antithesis of the usual queer depictions (of the time and since) portrayed either as monstrous or predatory or is these depressed meek individuals. In the podcast we further look at her relationship and possible mutual attraction with the film’s protagonist Nell (Julia Harris).
For this episode we invited along visual artist and filmmaker Jonny Long, where we investigate both the film’s queer and horror credentials.
Links to listen to episode here.
Links to everything mentioned in the podcast:
https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/queer-now-1963/
https://pitt.libguides.com/queerhorror
https://decider.com/2014/10/09/throwback-the-haunting/