On the advice of my sister, to whom I mentioned I was reading THE TURN OF THE SCREW, I rented "The Innocents," a 1961 adaptation of Henry James' novella, from Netflix over the weekend.I recognize in it a lot of horror-movie clichés of today -- the strategic placement of creepily lifelike figures, for example, and the scary little kids who know everything and seem complicit with what's going on. And while I didn't find the movie all that scary (probably because I already knew the plot), there are a few very disturbing images from it which will stay with me. I thought the ending in particular was incredibly well shot, but there's an inherent power to shooting a horror movie in black and white which I believe you really can't get in color, even with a severely restricted pallet.
I was a little disappointed, though, that they didn't include more of James' lines from the book. I know I only notice this because it's so fresh in my memory, but I was listening for some that never came. Still, if you like creepy movies, it may be worth a rental.
Poster: britposters.com
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