The Innocents

1961 Directed by Jack Clayton

Apparitions? Evils? Corruptions?

A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.

Deborah Kerr Peter Wyngarde Megs Jenkins Michael Redgrave Martin Stephens Pamela Franklin Clytie Jessop Isla Cameron Eric Woodburn

Country

Language

English

Alternative Titles

Os Inocentes, Schloß des Schreckens, Невинные, The Turn of the Screw

horror

100 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Aaron ★★★★★ 32

Part of Hoop-Tober
“But they haven’t been good, merely easy to live with.”
Beware the well-read virgin. So the saying goes. The imagination will be well lubricated by the endless tomes over which she has pored. She will know of the world, but will not be a part of it—what is worse, she will see this as a virtue rather than a liability. Hers will be a conviction that treats faith as the evidence of things unseen, an unseemly melding of hope and conclusion and fancy into an irrefutable approximation of truth. She will insist upon nothing but the best from people, and will assume nothing but the worst.
Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr, in a tour de force performance) is…
Review by josh lewis ★★★★★ 5

what the fuck
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 10

100
Orgasmic. A stifling scream of sexual release and emerging demons. The greatest CinemaScope film - with Victorian "larger at night" chambers and hallways enclosing their grasp on the suffocated. Let go.
Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★★ 19

#12 of 31 - CineMonster's HOOPTOBER 4.0
I never would have selected this film for viewing in a gazillion years however it became an absolute must see when I had to fulfill CineMonster's HOOPTOBER 4.0's "1 terrible oversight" requirement! I received 3 Horror films via snail mail and I was dreading the time wasted with my butt firmly planted in my chair imagining myself literally counting down the milliseconds till conclusion of the film! Hence it is easy to surmise why I had saved it for the very last film of the night!
Much to my surprise I became thoroughly engrossed with the story unfolding upon my big screen TV! The children actors Martin Stephens (Miles) and Pamela Franklin (Flora)…
Review by Nuno Costa ★★★★½ 12

Viewed on DVD
Criterion Collection #727
Hoop-Tober #12
Miles: What shall I sing to my lord from my window? What shall I sing for my lord will not stay? What shall I sing for my lord will not listen? Where shall I go when my lord is away? Whom shall I love when the moon is arisen? Gone is my lord and the grave is his prison. What shall I say when my lord comes a calling? What shall I say when he knocks on my door? What shall I say when his feet enter softly? Leaving the marks of his grave on my floor. Enter my lord. Come from your prison. Come from your grave, for the moon is…
Review by davidehrlich ★★★★½

“I can’t judge you, Miss. A body can only judge themselves.”
everything that's wrong with modern horror movies, and then some. the new Criterion blu-ray is a thing to behold, i tell ya. full review on the AV Club next week.

Recent reviews

Review by Luca Heurs ★★★★½

„Movies don’t scare me. This one did.“
Durch die herausragend frappante Performance Deborah Kerrs beschwört dieser Gruselfilm eine gewaltig morbide Atmosphäre. In dem wirkungsvollen Spiel aus Licht und Schatten sowie Grautönen zeigt sich, wie viel die Inszenierung in schwarz-weiß zu erreichen vermag und was an einer Farbverfilmung verloren gegangen wäre. Auch die zuweilen spezielle Kameraführung lässt den Atem stocken und trägt zum unfassbar virtuos inszenierten Grusel bei.
Review by Aqy ★★★★

Classic ghost story that isn't really a ghost story, with a fantastic performance from Deborah Kerr.
Review by Brad Hanson ★★★★★

Deborah Kerr said “fuck them kids”
Review by duda ★★★★★

a vasta possibilidade de análises desse filme é o que o torna mais interessante, quanto mais se lê sobre, melhor ele fica. as atuações, principalmente as mirins, são impressionantes e o uso de sombra e luz junto do p&b reforçam o sentimento de estar encurralado em todos os lugares da casa. certamente um ensaio e tanto sobre a sexualidade reprimida e a loucura.
Review by Luca Rojas ★★★★½

What the actual fuck
Review by K.A.U.Ê ★★★★★

Que mecanismo....
Review by Videohuette 2

Gruseliger als die meisten Geister- bzw. Horrorfilme der letzten Jahre und das ohne billige Jumpscares.
Zwei der besten Kinderdarsteller, die ich je gesehen habe, ein fantastisches Set- und Kostüm-Design und eine Atmosphäre, die fesselt wie nix Gutes. Gothic-Horror auf allerhöchstem Niveau!
Review by ZaneSimon ★★★½

The Innocents is kind of a grating, tense experience. Shrieking children, overpowering music, it all makes for a film walking the line of constant discomfort. Which, is really the film’s credit.
The movie adds elements from the base story of The Turning of the Screw, as most adaptations do. But they’re well chosen, careful plot points that serve to make the story darker, more lurid.
All told it’s still not a movie I can really love, because it’s not meant to be loved. It’s meant to be uncomfortable. And it’s definitely that. Even if it’s otherwise going to seem tame by modern horror standards, it’s a fantastic classic ghost story.
Review by kultgestalt ★★★★½

"Schloss des Schreckens"
Wunderschöner, poetischer und doppelbödiger Haunted House Klassiker und mit Abstand die beste Adaption von "Turn of the Screw".