10 Horror Movies Too Scary To Watch Again

What do we actually see in Robert Wise's The Haunting? Bulging doors and wall panels? A door knob turning on its own? Along with a few loud thuds, that's pretty much all. But it's the horrified expressions on Nell's face that sell it, and it's mainly what makes The Haunting one of the most frightening films ever made.

Despite four very strong leading performances, it's the house that's the real star of the show. As cliched as it sounds, Hill House feels almost like a character of its own. "An evil old house, the kind some people call haunted, is like an undiscovered country waiting to be explored": as the characters remark, the house is like an ever-changing labyrinth of corridors that are impossible to navigate. Richard Johnson's introductory voice-over, outlining the history of the house and its many previous inhabitants, sets the film off to a suitably spooky start. The eerie score also sets the tone perfectly.

One scene in particular that sticks shows a horrified Nell in a bedroom surrounded by sinister giggling and moaning, desperately squeezing Theo's hand for comfort. When the disturbance ceases, she sees that Theo has been at the far end of the room, out of her reach, the entire time. She whimpers: "whose hand was I holding?" It's such a simple scene, but it definitely has to be ranked up there with the scariest in any paranormal movie.