The Innocents
Composite Score: 85.2
Starring: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave, Martin Stevens, Pamela Franklin, and Clytie Jessop
Director: Jack Clayton
Writers: William Archibald and Truman Capote
Genres: Horror, Drama, Thriller
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Box Office: $30,103 worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
The Innocents is the 1961 film adaptation of Henry James’s novella The Turn of the Screw about a governess who cares for two children in a large estate and comes to fear that the estate is haunted and that the children are being possessed by the ghosts. It stars Deborah Kerr in the lead role of Miss Giddens the governess, joined in carrying the film by the children Miles and Flora, portrayed by Martin Stephens and Pamela Franklin, respectively; rounding out the cast is Megs Jenkins as the housekeeper Mrs. Grose. The film adapts the iconic story well, bringing the psychological and gothic elements to the forefront on the screen, inviting the audience to ponder how haunted the house really is and how much has to do with Miss Giddens’s own psychological repressions. It’s a classic film, which was nominated for two BAFTAs that year and is still considered one of the best psychological horror films of all time.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
The Innocents is not necessarily comparable to modern horror films, even the most “elevated”, in that it lacks any kind of heart-pounding sequences of terror. It instead creates an atmosphere of unease and eeriness, which still works to unsettle the audience while not necessarily getting their pulse up. The film’s score remains slow and mournful for its full runtime, and the jump-scares are limited to a single, brief flash that definitely ranks fairly far down on the list of scariest moments in film. It’s not a film that every horror fan is going to love, focusing its energies on pleasing fans of gothic horror with its production design and of psychological thrillers with its increasingly untrustworthy plot. It’s not scary in a jumpy way that modern audiences might be expecting in a horror film; rather its horror is focused on the effects of repression and paranoia on the mind of Miss Giddens and her perceptions of the world around her. It might not please all horror audiences equally is what I’m trying to say, I suppose.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
The Innocents stands the test of time predominantly through its ability to chill its audience with atmosphere, mystery, and characterizations. From its mournful score to its claustrophobic cinematography that keeps the audience uncomfortably close to the film’s leads at all times to the sets that blend immaculately kept mansion rooms with abandoned and decrepit locales in the same manor, the film keeps the audience at a sense of unease throughout, unsure whether Miss Giddens’s visions could be real or simply figments of her imagination captured for us the audience as well. This sense of unease is then compounded by the unfolding of the film’s underlying plot with each new detail of the children’s and the mansion’s recent history driving us further toward the paranoia that is slowly taking hold of Giddens as well. Finally, the children themselves serve as a constant eerie monolith, as children so often do in horror stories, keeping everyone uncomfortable with their whispers and singing and games that just might be more sinister than they initially appear. It is a hallmark of a good horror film to utilize children to increase the audience’s terror, and the performances of Martin Stephens and Pamela Franklin are some of the best the genre has to offer in that department.
The Innocents is a hallmark of gothic psychological horror, capturing the essence of its iconic source material by never letting its protagonist nor its audience escape the growing sense of unease built by its filmmakers’ careful crafting, marking it as one of the Greatest Films of All Time. Its lack of direct jump-scares and heart-pounding terror might make it less enjoyable for some modern horror audiences, but its glorious eeriness ought to be enough to warrant at least a first watch. This film currently isn’t available to stream anywhere, but you might be able to find a stream of it on YouTube if you know where to look and want to check it out instead of saving it for next year’s spooky season.
