“We must pretend we didn’t hear it, then we won’t imagine things.”
“Well … sometimes one can’t help … imagining things …”

This one gets more and more glorious each time I watch it. Children and horror are about the greatest cinematic combination there is, and these kids are truly among the creepiest. It’s probably the most beautifully shot film of all time, Freddie Francis’ high contrast black and white cinemascope suiting the story perfectly, astonishingly not nominated for any awards according to the IMDb, let alone the Academy Award.

Whenever the movie begins I always find myself trying to remember what’s so scary about it, but I soon find out every time. It’s simple atmospheric unsettlement. Wide open spaces with only 4 (real, at least) people to occupy them, 2 of whom are children; children who we’re warned have the knack for wrapping adults around their little finger; adults, one of whom is clearly very highly strung. The seeming mental collapse of Miss Giddens (if that’s what it is) is seriously disturbing because it feels like it could happen to any of us in a bad week. And that kiss! Or, those kisses, rather – I’ve really been loving Kate Bush’s song “The Infant Kiss” recently, which was inspired by this movie, it was interesting to see it again with that song in mind. Like the movie as a whole, I still don’t know quite what to make of the kisses myself – I just know they send shivers down my spine, and that final moment of Giddens and Miles parting, leaving the screen dark, really leaves me shaken.

I think I must’ve missed the news of Deborah Kerr’s death 2 weeks ago Which made this kind of an unintended tribute. I haven’t really seen many of her movies – would love to see her in the original End of the Affair – but if her work here is anything to go by, then she was a true great, and beautiful to boot. She’s not the only shining member of the cast here though – in addition to the children, creepy Martin Stephens and adorably creepy Pamela Franklin, Megs Jenkins is a great presence as housekeeper Mrs. Grose. One of the all time great horror movies, for certain – and I guess Carrie isn’t so lonely afterall as a horror movie that also happens to be damn beautiful (incidentally, of course, Eyes Without A Face struck me immediately following that review as also falling into this wonderful category).

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 at 2:22 am in 5 hearts, Movie Reviews and tagged as cuties, haunted house, horror, Sixties, top 250. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.