AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Matthew Hopkiins 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!

merri-1 I TOO saw this about 20 years ago.. I was a student at the time and went to all the art films that I could. This was (and still is) at the top of my all time favorites;I still think of it. I love that it wasn't violent as so many film of the "horror" genre tend to be. I remember the scenes that the other commentators have brilliantly mentioned and will add something that also appealed to me. When the haunted girl was about to "see" the ghost there'd be a, "thud", sort of noise; kind of like your heart thumping at seeing something frightening...and there'd he'd be, just looking at her. Yes the scene where she gets into a boat and is being rowed across the lake, then she looks and sees that it is him...wow...

mailerfool2 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

rolivire I saw this movie over 20 years ago, but with a few others still haunts me. The music of Chopin and Janacek, together with the sepia dark images works very effective on your emotions and mood. Years after I can still feel the effects of this movie with the final epitome when the ghost tries to take the haunted M with him (to the world of ghosts?). A soft wind can be heard blowing through the trees, the music quite soft, sombre and romantic, the light is almost absent: all is set for this final important moment in the movie.Together with the earlier movies of Ingmar Bergman, Antonioni and the also forgotten masterpiece of Schlöndorff "Die Fällschung" (destruction of Beirut), I rank this movie to the highest order of the art.