The Haunting of Julia - the most underrated horror movie of all time?

Dom Cruise

Dom Cruise

True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
Joined
Jun 18, 2019
The Haunting of Julia from 1977, based on a novel by Peter Straub.

Do yourself a favor and watch this, it's not on dvd or blu ray but it is on Amazon to stream in HD.

Seriously, it's really fucking good and creepy as hell, the basic setup is that Mia Farrow plays an American woman living in England who moves into a London home that is haunted by the ghost of a little girl, there's a lot more to it than that but it's best to go into the movie as fresh as you can.

I'm not being hyperbolic when I say this, the ending of this movie literally gave me gooseflesh and made the hair on my arms stand up, it is chilling, you've got to see it for yourself.

I'm not sure why the movie is so obscure, it sounds like it had a bungled released for some reason, but it's begging for rediscovery.
 
  • Winner
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Syaoran Li, Blondie, IAmNotAlpharius and 10 others
Clop said:
Found it on YT.

Click to expand...

The quality is not as good as on Amazon though, it's worth going the extra mile for, it can be rented for 4 dollars.

Nekromantik2 said:
I love this movie, I love the idea of others loving this movie, but I don't want it to get rediscovered and get a shitty remake full of Blumhouse jump scares.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been imaging what a modern remake would be like and ehhhhh, probably full of jumpscares like you said.

Instead this movie is all about atmosphere, they knew how to make a horror movie in the 1970s.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Pocket Dragoon
If you want to watch one of the best worst movies I recommend Miami Connection. A 80s movie about a Tae Kwon Do rockband of orphans taking on a drugdealing ninja bikergang rockband.

Full movie here:


Trailer here:


It's fun to realize this actually exists. It was just some Korean martial arts teacher that thought he could make an international hit and put in every bit of life savings as well as borrowing plenty of money to make this movie. It's mostly pretty terrible, but it's terrible in the way a poorly knitted sweater is: it was clearly made with love for every detail, just horribly incompetently so.

Most of the actors are students from his dojo.

Unsurprisingly, the fight scenes are generally pretty good; if completely narritively incoherent.
 
  • Winner
  • Semper Fidelis
Reactions: Pocket Dragoon, Chichan, Uncanny Valley and 1 other person
Dom Cruise said:
Instead this movie is all about atmosphere, they knew how to make a horror movie in the 1970s.
Click to expand...
The Night Walker is another movie that's about atmosphere. It's done by William Castle of all people, maybe on of his few films that isn't about a gimmick. Shout Factory resiliently released it on Blu ray. There's a lot of forgotten gems out there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Uncanny Valley
Easterling said:
My biggest guilty pleasure with horror movies was the puppet master series, they got progressively worse as time went on and it even got a reboot last year, the reboot was pretty decent actually, something about nazi puppets killing ethnic minorities in a hotel made me chuckle quite a bit.
Click to expand...

Retro Puppet Master actually starred Mark from The Room as the lead
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Easterling, Nekromantik2 and Damn Near
Dom Cruise said:
So, has anyone watched it yet?
Click to expand...
Yes I just finished watching it.

I watched it super late at night and it’s a very slow start that I almost fell asleep. I’m not sure if I would call it amazing but for it’s time I’m sure it was a great film during its showing. I’ve seen many movies take from this so it wasn’t as new to me as it may to others.

Horror movies now a days have terrible story lines with many jump scares. Unlike today, you could feel the dread and the depression during the movie. The silence and the music really made me think there was something more sinister and dark lying in wait, which scared me more than the plot line itself.

It’s a good movie, but not for everyone, because you need to use your head.
 
  • Agree
  • Like
Reactions: Uncanny Valley and Dom Cruise
Masta said:
Yes I just finished watching it.

I watched it super late at night and it’s a very slow start that I almost fell asleep. I’m not sure if I would call it amazing but for it’s time I’m sure it was a great film during its showing. I’ve seen many movies take from this so it wasn’t as new to me as it may to others.

Horror movies now a days have terrible story lines with many jump scares. Unlike today, you could feel the dread and the depression during the movie. The silence and the music really made me think there was something more sinister and dark lying in wait, which scared me more than the plot line itself.

It’s a good movie, but not for everyone, because you need to use your head.
Click to expand...

There are a few things that are maybe cliche now, but weren't when the movie was first made, either way it even does even the cliches well because the acting in the movie is so good, that's most obvious with Olivia's mother in the asylum, that whole idea of talking to someone in an insane asylum for info and they act all creepy is a cliche scene today, but damn is the actress incredible, she really seems like an insane person.

What did you think of the ending?
 
Dom Cruise said:
What did you think of the ending?
Click to expand...
Ending thoughts:

Yeah that ending was certainly different. It had me putting together a puzzle in my head. There is probably a bunch of scenarios that others put together but the one I believe: Olivia’s spirit is the one possessing Julia, Julia basically killed everyone that was shown, Olivia used Julia to kill everyone that was left from the findings of the death of the little boy, and at the end Julia killed herself because Olivia was done with her. We had to remember that our protagonist is insane herself so she was happy to be used by the little girl that looked like her daughter
I hope no turtles were killed in the making of this movie :c.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dom Cruise
I'm bumping this thread because this movie desperately needs to be seen by more people and is the perfect movie for spooky month.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Syaoran Li
Is this thread about underrated, creepy 70's movies? Because I'd like to nominate Embryo:


Rock Hudson portrays a doctor who wants to stop women from miscarrying. After hitting a dog with his car and rescuing its fetal puppy with Science, he sets up an experiment to bring a human fetus to term outside of the womb. It works, though a little too well, as the fetus he saves ages to adulthood within a few days. She (the fetus ) grows up to be a hot woman, whom the doctor falls in love with for maximum ick factor. This movie is disturbing on all kinds of levels, but the actress playing the fetus lady does such a good job that you feel sympathy for her, even as she is forced to do some pretty heinous things for the sake of her own survival. This is a bleak movie, especially since it doesn't really have any villains or asshole victims in it. Most of the people that die in it really don't deserve to. The movie does end with Rock Hudson screaming at the top of his lungs while strangling a mummy, so it does have some crazy shit for people who like endings with crazy shit in them.
 
I watched this through the supplied YouTube link last night. Pretty excellent film, though it won't be for everyone.

Up until the Mystery Plot begins, it's pretty standard, predictable fare, if well-made. But the weird, inexact parallels between that story and the main story/situation are unsettling and intriguing. And the full relevance to the main character doesn't really slide into focus until the ending, where you are forced to reevaluate the events of the film. (It's clear a Shyamalan-esque twist is going to come, but it was done elegantly.)

As for the significance of the ending (and what a haunting final sequence... perfect casting for the dead little girl), there are a few different possibilities:

- We are meant to conclude Julia has gone insane with grief and guilt and has been causing the deaths we've seen throughout the film. As the elderly mother of the murdered German boy says, "murder is an eternal crime," and though it's never stated by anyone, Julia clearly believes she murdered her own daughter in a frantic attempt to save her. Her husband's death and her own at the end of the film both involve stabbing to the neck, and many (all?) of the deaths seem to involve sharp objects in some way. (Also: Julia is the feminine version of Julius... and Julius Caesar was stabbed to death.)

- Julia is possessed by the spirit of the dead, psychopathic girl, explaining her behavior. A creepy possibility. The psychic medium does say ghosts cannot directly do anything and have to influence living people.

- The ghost of the dead, crazy girl is directly responsible for the killings, and she kills Julia at the end of the film, achieving a dramatically ironic and appropriate ending for Julia's character. (Since she is technically a killer.)

Anyone who enjoyed this film should check out The Orphanage, an excellent and overlooked horror drama from 2007 that I have to believe was influenced by this film. This story also has a lot in common with The Turn of the Screw, wish I suspect most people have read because of school. If not, it's definitely worth reading. It's obvious why it has become so influential and timeless in popular culture.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dom Cruise
frozenrunner said:
I watched this through the supplied YouTube link last night. Pretty excellent film, though it won't be for everyone.

Up until the Mystery Plot begins, it's pretty standard, predictable fare, if well-made. But the weird, inexact parallels between that story and the main story/situation are unsettling and intriguing. And the full relevance to the main character doesn't really slide into focus until the ending, where you are forced to reevaluate the events of the film. (It's clear a Shyamalan-esque twist is going to come, but it was done elegantly.)

As for the significance of the ending (and what a haunting final sequence... perfect casting for the dead little girl), there are a few different possibilities:

- We are meant to conclude Julia has gone insane with grief and guilt and has been causing the deaths we've seen throughout the film. As the elderly mother of the murdered German boy says, "murder is an eternal crime," and though it's never stated by anyone, Julia clearly believes she murdered her own daughter in a frantic attempt to save her. Her husband's death and her own at the end of the film both involve stabbing to the neck, and many (all?) of the deaths seem to involve sharp objects in some way. (Also: Julia is the feminine version of Julius... and Julius Caesar was stabbed to death.)

- Julia is possessed by the spirit of the dead, psychopathic girl, explaining her behavior. A creepy possibility. The psychic medium does say ghosts cannot directly do anything and have to influence living people.

- The ghost of the dead, crazy girl is directly responsible for the killings, and she kills Julia at the end of the film, achieving a dramatically ironic and appropriate ending for Julia's character. (Since she is technically a killer.)

Anyone who enjoyed this film should check out The Orphanage, an excellent and overlooked horror drama from 2007 that I have to believe was influenced by this film. This story also has a lot in common with The Turn of the Screw, wish I suspect most people have read because of school. If not, it's definitely worth reading. It's obvious why it has become so influential and timeless in popular culture.
Click to expand...

The whole thing just being in Julia's mind is an interesting take, but I think it's pretty clearly supposed to be a tale about an actual haunting.

And the ghost can manipulate small things like flipping the heater on, but of course as she influences Julia she's able to use her to kill more and more people.
 
Well, since everyone else is harping about this movie, I finally took the time to see it. It was a well done slow burn mystery. Lots of beautiful atmosphere. I confess, at one point I thought the ending reveal would be that the "evil child" was Julia's own daughter coming back as a vengeful ghost because the last thing she saw in life was her own mother stabbing her neck. The mystery turned out to be a bit more convoluted than that. It also left me wondering why the evil Olivia ghost was so powerful. Sure, she was evil incarnate, but did she come from a long line of witches? Was her father really the devil? I suppose if the film were remade in this day and age, they'd give Olivia a detailed backstory, leaving nothing to the imagination, which would detract from the final product. Actually, I can't imagine anyone remaking this movie, since it's all thematic and intellectual, and doesn't have any burning houses or explosions. I'd rate the film right up there with the Changeling on the creepy scale...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back