10 Most Visually Stunning Horror Movies Ever

How do you make a haunted house movie scary when you never see anything the entire time? Apparently you hire Davis Boulton, because this master cinematographer helped make The Haunting into one of the great 1960s horror films that holds up remarkably well.

As you would expect from a haunted house movie, shadows are used very effectively, such as in an amazing scene where the holes through a set of stairs create the effect of Eleanor stepping into and out of the darkness. The lens used in The Haunting also makes it quite interesting technologically. Robert Wise and Davis Boulton intended to make short distances like hallways appear endless on camera, and so they wanted to use a wide-angle lens. However, the best Panasonic made at the time was a 40mm. They did have a 30mm, but it wasn't totally finished, so there would be some distortions. Wise didn't care about that, so he actually used the 30mm in the movie, and the strange effect of this unfinished technology works quite well.

Additionally, Wise wanted to make the house feel alive, and so the camera zooms suddenly into characters' faces, spins around, and it just seems to do whatever it wants. The result of all this is one of the best haunted houses in cinema, which feels like it has a life of its own.