In partnership with the Hollywood Theatre’s Feminist March programming, the Creeping Museum is thrilled to co-present THE HAUNTING (1963), the definitive adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House. Join us for a rare opportunity to see this groundbreaking (and genuinely frightening) film in all its 35mm black and white glory—in the night... in the dark.
Directed by Robert Wise (THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, WEST SIDE STORY), this slow-burn horror classic has influenced generations of filmmakers. The scenario is now a familiar one: A mysterious invitation, a group of strangers, a foreboding mansion with a notorious history. But at the heart of this quintessential haunted house tale is the complex, uneasy relationship between two women: fragile, isolated Eleanor (Julie Harris) and self-assured femme Theo (Claire Bloom).
THE HAUNTING—which debuted to audiences the same year as the publication of The Feminine Mystique and the signing of the Equal Pay Act—reflects a generation of women growing increasingly discontent with the constraints of postwar gender roles. Eleanor’s instability and repressed rage—and her entrapment within the confines of an oppressive home—echoes Jackson’s own unhappiness and alienation in her role as a homemaker in 1950s America. In Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, biographer Ruth Franklin writes, “Her body of work constitutes nothing less than the secret history of American women of her era.”
About the Creeping Museum:
The Creeping Museum is an ongoing experiment in art and philanthropy. We're a volunteer-run not-for-profit collective whose goal is to help artists use their work to give back to their communities. Darkness Within, our most recent collection, was inspired by the 1959 Shirley Jackson novel The Haunting of Hill House. Find out more at http://www.creepingmuseum.com.
Guest Passes: Guest Passes and Member Guest Passes accepted.