Ah, screaming kids, my least favorite genre.
As we come to the end of the first 50 films, we end with five titles where their reputation exceeds my personal opinion of them. #51 will start another run with titles from the very top of my personal list and that will complete the Top 100.
One of the most visually savvy horror films ever made, Clayton’s filmmaking musters as much Gothic chills in bright sunlight as by candlelight, and could serve as the pinnacle example of the genre. Only Robert Wise’s The Haunting matches its menace, gothic angst, and suggestive creepiness.
While it looks great and the design is impeccably creepy, the film seems content with just the idea of ghosts being a troublesome presence, rather than giving the audience a chance to follow through the mental and emotional steps to go from being simply the childrens’ caretaker to someone who believes supernatural things are happening and also believes that she can somehow stop them. There is little no indication that she has any belief in ghosts beforehand which prevents me from finding a sympathetic way into the film. Ambiguity works for me often, but this was not one of those times.
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