The Haunting, 1963

I’m at number five in my exploration of queer horror, which puts us a quarter of the way through already! *sheds a single queer tear* Number five proves that we’re really cruising through history and landing on something positive. Not only does Robert Wise’s The Haunting give us our first adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House, it also gives us one of the first gay horror characters that isn’t a predator or the root of the evil. Of course, the gayness isn’t fully embraced until more recent film and TV adaptations (if you haven’t yet seen Mike Flanagan’s Netflix series, get on that). Michael Koresky (2018) writes a bit about how the lesbianism in the film was tamped down:

For some viewers, this passage might not seem fully legible because of the film’s inability or unwillingness to fully “out” Theodora. Wise revealed in the Warner Brothers DVD’s audio commentary track that the original script by Nelson Gidding featured an early breakup scene that established Theodora’s sexuality more explicitly. Before first setting out for Hill House, she would have been seen writing “I HATE YOU” in lipstick on her bedroom mirror before yelling out of her window at a departing woman. Aside from more directly addressing her same-sex attraction, the scene might have also set her up as tempestuous and unlucky in love. Yet due to its explicitness of theme, Wise says he cut “that lesbian scene.” Yet no matter how much they tried to hide Theo from us—and from herself—she remains a figure of undulled fascination and strength. Flash forward 55 years to the Netflix series. One of the main characters is named Theo (Kate Siegel) in proper tribute, and she is introduced picking up another woman in a bar and bringing her home for a quick and gratifying sexual bout. Theodora finally gets some, and making subtext text, history gets the last laugh.

The Haunting tells the story of a paranormal researcher and the group of oddballs he’s invited to investigate a supposedly haunted house. This film must’ve had an incredible influence on Stephen King. His own TV series Rose Red is very similar (especially the character of Nell who has some type of psychic corruption, leading her to be drawn to the evil of the house-- See Annie Wheaton). I don’t recommend that series, but I highly recommend The Haunting. It’s a wonderful, low-key creepy haunted house film with a lot to offer with its psychological goings on and of course, its characters.