Wonderful Movie

Absolutely Fantastic

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I saw this wonderful film when I was almost twenty in a very unique and intimate theater in Eugene Oregon. The film was incredibly intense and remarkably scary. I lived out in the country at the time, and i must admit I was scared of the dark for many months after watching this what I call "classic" ghost story. The film grabbed and sucked you in to its web quickly and effectively. It is one of the best ghost stories I have ever seen on film. It is a tragedy that this film is not available on other mediums. I am shocked to find it still has not made its impact to current generations. Someone out there must have this film stored somewhere - I would love to see it again and experience the terror or a truly ghostly and haunting encounter. I encourage anyone who has ever seen this wonderful film to comment and encourage someone who may have this stored away to make it available to the general public. A timeless masterpiece. Barbie Connell, Manchester, Connecticut 2012

A superb period ghost story.There aren't any actors that I recognise in the film,but that doesn't matter one jot.The film has a strange timeless quality to it,and for the most part the performances are flawless.It's hard to fathom why a film of this quality has all but disappeared and is only available as a bootleg.Having said that the less than perfect picture quality of the copy I watched added to the atmosphere! Superb musical score too.Highly recommended if atmosphere is more important to you than visceral shocks.Does anyone know if this ever got a theatrical release in the UK, or if the Temple video release was it's only official release?They don't make them like this anymore!

Great period piece but severely lacking in the spooky department. Sort of "little womenish". A lot to do with early 20th century victaoriana and Gibson girlish concerns and very little to do with a haunting, which, is supposed to be the point of the film. The one or two instances of the haunting are attention getters but it soon goes back to the days of gilded girl fantasies of horseback riding and tea parties without much focus on the plot. This movie had potential but it was wasted on build up and needless dialogue without any follow through. I was intrigued by the title because it was supposedly atmospheric and eerie but the atmosphere is not that of a movie about a haunting, rather it's that of a film about romanticized victorian days told in a sort of TV moviesh fashion. The Changeling with George C. Scott was a measuring stick against which others must come before. Unfortunately none have measured up, and this unfortunately doesn't either.

As with the Berkeley commentator, I too saw The Haunting of M in its theatrical release, likely after a favorable review by Siskel and Ebert. I remember a cold night, no drizzle. I remember a theater in San Francisco, somewhere in the Northpoint area. Three of us saw it, and we were all quite impressed. It had what is now considered an 'indy' feel. I don't think I ever connected the director with any film since, though I've seen a few of them (El Norte, Mi Familia -- both in the Pasadena area on the strength of friends there). I definitely remember the rocking chair, the bare visibility of its movement. I remember an old photo the characters commented on, where a blurred figure in the crowd photographed 'must have moved' to account for its indistinctness. This was very atmospheric, and really more aesthetically 'fit' than many. It's hard to get honestly scary; for me, haunted houses and hauntings generally do the trick, and this is one of the top half-dozen, whatever its budget