Until the blood freezes

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Movie
German title Until the blood freezes
Original title The Haunting
Country of production USA / UK
original language English
Publishing year 1963
length 107 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Robert Wise
script Nelson Gidding
production Robert Wise / MGM
music Humphrey Searle
camera Davis Boulton
cut Ernest Walter
occupation

Until the Blood Freezes is a 1963 US-British horror film directed by Robert Wise . It is based on the novel Haunted Hill House by Shirley Jackson .

action

Dr. John Markway, Professor of Anthropology and Parapsychology , tells the story of the notorious Hill House, which has been somewhere in New England for 90 years . Built for his wife in the 19th century by the wealthy Hugh Crain, she dies in a carriage accident a few minutes before she sees the house for the first time. Crain's second wife also dies under mysterious circumstances in the gloomy house when she falls down a flight of stairs. Crain then goes to England, but leaves his daughter Abigail behind in Hill House, where she spends her life without ever leaving her nursery. As an old woman cared for by a young girl from the village, Abigail dies one night while the girl is allegedly having fun with a boy and does not react to the blows of a stick on the wall. The girl inherits the house, but years later hangs herself at the top of the spiral staircase in the house's library.

Now, many years later, Markway has convinced the heiress of the house to let him have the manor for a while to conduct an experiment there. He wants to prove the existence of the supernatural. For this he invited various psychologically sensitive people.

One of them is Eleanor Lance, a withered maiden who until recently cared for her sick mother. After her mother's death, Eleanor lives more badly than right with her sister and sees the invitation as a significant opportunity to change her life. However, when Eleanor arrives at the property, she receives a frosty welcome. Dudley, the caretaker, tries to scare them off at the gate of the entrance to the property. Much greater is her horror at the first sight of the house, a sprawling monster of a gloomy, even threatening-looking structure that, as Eleanor fears, is watching her. At the house she is greeted by the housekeeper Mrs. Dudley, who coolly and at the same time a bit crazy points out that the couple live in the village and that " nobody will be there if you scream ... at night ... in the dark!"

By leaving the house, Eleanor dissuades the arrival of another guest: the brash Theodora takes a biting joke and a few verbal tips against the strange housekeeper and the cluttered, narrow and gloomy building. It is noticeable that Thea apparently knows things about Eleanor without her having mentioned her. On a first tour, the two women promptly get lost, and for the first time both of them sense an unusual coldness and a strange presence in the house, which they are supposed to be watching. When panic spreads, Markway suddenly appears and leads them into lighter rooms. He explains to them that Hill House can literally be called “sloping”, apparently there is not a single right angle in the whole house, which is why doors open and close without help.

Markway's charming manner makes an impression on Eleanor, to which Thea reacts slightly jealous. In the dining room they finally meet the last guest, young Luke Sanderson, a relative of the current homeowner. Luke is a sufficiently charming, if mostly money-interested, greyhound who regards the whole company with obvious ridicule. During the meal that followed, they learned that all the other candidates had canceled the experiment, and Markway explained to the two women why they were chosen. However, Eleanor stubbornly denies the rumble phenomenon she is said to have been inferior to as a child. Markway doubts his choice of people for the first time, but Eleanor is determined to stay in the group as it represents something like a new family and the house a new home.

During the first night in the house, Eleanor is woken up by a distant throb that she takes to be her mother's knocking. She and Thea panic, especially when something unknown hits the door of her room with elemental force. You can hear grinding noises and something is trying to move the doorknob. Only when the "haunt" is over can they make contact with Luke and Markway, who have not noticed anything because they have followed a dog or something similar in the garden. Markway fears the house will want to separate them.

The next morning nothing can stop Eleanor from staying at Hill House. She is convinced that something has to be done that will change her life. Shortly afterwards there is a message written in chalk on a corridor wall: “ Help Eleanor come home! “Eleanor becomes hysterical, accusing the others of being the author of the message, and struggling to calm down. As you explore the house further, you will find a winter garden in which there is a large group sculpture that is mocked as a kind of family portrait, but Eleanor plays it and dances with the imaginary house owner.

Shortly afterwards, they also want to explore the library, but the stale smell reminds Eleanor of her mother's hospital room, and she refuses to enter the room. It is dominated by a gigantic, gloomy spiral staircase that turns out to be wobbly and dilapidated. Meanwhile Eleanor fantasizes about the death of the supervisor and almost falls from the balcony, Markway can save her at the last moment. He wants to send her away again, but then decides against it because of the experiment. To be on the safe side, however, the women should spend the night together. Thea tries to find out something about Eleanor, but she whispers something to her about her non-existent new life. Late in the evening, in front of Abigail's nursery, which is always locked, you discover a cold spot that no one can explain.

At bedtime, the women get into an argument, not least because Thea's telepathic talent belies Eleanor's stories. However, in the dark, Eleanor hears inexplicable noises. A child cries and sobs, a monotonous voice memorizes a religious singsong, in the wallpaper, it seems, a face emerges. In utter fear, Eleanor believes that the equally frightened Thea is holding her hand and ultimately crushing it until she can no longer take it and jumping up screaming. But when the light comes on, Thea is in bed and Eleanor on a distant divan. Shaken, Eleanor asks whose hand she was holding all this time.

The next morning, Markway tries to refute Eleanor's fear that there was no real threat, but she surrenders to the complex of being to blame for her mother's death for not listening to her knocking signals. When he tries to calm her down, she is about to reveal her feelings to him, but Markway is too attached to his work. Instead, Thea teases her for her lies. At that moment a new visitor arrives at Hill House: Grace Markway, his wife. She thinks her husband's work is ridiculous and should leave immediately if he wants, but Eleanor irritates her by mentioning the children's room as the “haunted room” of the house. In fact, the door of the room is surprisingly suddenly open - Grace will spend the night there.

Markway orders all the rest to the drawing room for the night; Luke stays as a guard in front of the nursery. As he sneaks into the drawing room for a sip of whiskey that night, the door slams and the four hear the noises from the first night again. Again something hits the door, which curves inward as if she were breathing. Then the noises recede towards the nursery, which alarms Markway. A confusion arises over the course of action in which Eleanor separates herself from the others. After seeing no more opportunities at Markway, she surrenders to the will of the house to which she feels she belongs. She even climbs the old spiral staircase in the library from which she has to rescue Markway at risk of death. Just as she is about to get down, she sees the frightened Grace looking through a trap door and is almost frightened to death.

Markway now organizes a quick departure for Eleanor, although Grace is still not found. Eleanor is against it and refuses to leave her new "home". When the friends are inattentive for a moment, she starts the car and drives off. Still on the property she sees a shadowy figure and drives the car against the tree under which the first Mrs. Crain died. When she is retrieved, she is already dead and Grace shows up in the park. Maybe she was the figure. The house has what it wanted. Luke comments on the sight of the gloomy walls with the words: “ Burn to the ground. And sprinkle the earth with salt. "

reception

Until the blood freezes is one of the most famous horror and scary films . While in this genre attempts are often made to create horror with visually shown supersensuality (ghosts, monsters, vampires) or with violent effects, in this film director Robert Wise has concentrated on doing without visible monsters (the house itself is evil ) and on visual showmanship, instead creating an underground fear by concentrating on atmosphere and mood. He achieves this primarily through innovative camera work (“subjectivization”) and editing (frequent changes of perspective) as well as through a calm sound backdrop that comes to the fore at crucial moments. So one hears the thoughts of Eleanor again and again as a ghostly inner monologue .

Reviews

"A ghost film above average in the area of ​​special effects for the time it was made."

- Lexicon of international film

Others

Ettington Park
  • The exterior shots were taken on the English property "Ettington Park", which is now a hotel. The interiors were filmed at MGM British Studios in Borehamwood .
  • Lead actress Julie Harris tried to break any friendly relationship with Claire Bloom during filming, as this would help her empathize with her role as an eccentric person. It was only after the film was over that Harris apologized to Bloom for this behavior and told her the reason.
  • In 1999 Das Geisterschloss , a free remake of Until the Blood Freezes, was released . The Netflix series Spuk in Hill House , which appeared in 2018, is also based on the novel by Shirley Jackson and is based more closely on the original film - even individual dialogue quotes ( "Whose hand have I held?" ) Have been included in the series.
  • The costumes that Claire Bloom wears in the film were designed by Mary Quant .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Until the blood freezes. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Tony Reeves: The Haunting film locations. In: web presence movie-locations.com. The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations, accessed April 24, 2013 .