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The Innocents

1961

Jack Clayton

Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins, Pamela Franklin ...

7.7

9,350

Horror. Mystery In Victorian England, the uncle of orphaned niece Flora and nephew Miles hires Miss Giddens as governess to raise the children at his estate with total independence and authority. Soon after her arrival, Miss Giddens comes to believe that the spirits of the former governess Miss Jessel and valet Peter Quint are possessing the children. Miss Giddens decides to help the children to face and exorcise the spirits.

	Author	Review
United States	Bosley Crowther The New York Times	"[Clayton] has done a fine job of infusing this drama with spooky atmosphere and a certain sense of the weird and supernatural"	POS
United Kingdom	Mark Kermode The Guardian	"Oozing ambiguity, Jack Clayton's shimmering gem is a masterclass in suggestion (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Tim Robey Telegraph	"The perfect ghost story for a chilly night (...) Jack Clayton’s immaculate directorial skill is equalled by that of cinematographer Freddie Francis (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Cath Clarke Time Out	"Psychological horrors have imitated its ambiguous ending ever since. Few have pulled it off half as creepily (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"It's a typically British exercise in tasteful tedium (...) His film is finally more indecisive than ambiguous."	NEG
United States	David Ehrlich AV Club	"[An] underappreciated horror masterpiece (...) Part of what makes the film such a timelessly unsettling experience is that Clayton understands the perverse power of the unseen."	POS
United States	Andy Klein Los Angeles Times	"It's Clayton's greatest achievement. Freddie Francis' cinematography is extraordinary (...) 'The Innocents' creates a spellbinding mood"	POS
United States	Bilge Ebiri Vulture	"To this day still ranks among the greatest of horror films (...) Clayton takes the literary ambiguity of James’s novel and internalizes it"	POS
United States	Chuck Bowen Slant	"A work of chilly and well-modulated hysteria (...) The tactility of the photography serves as a counterpoint to the central ambiguity of the story (…) Rating: ★★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	David Parkinson Radio Times	"Deborah Kerr is excellent (...) Never has horror looked so beautiful (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	The Independent	"[It] has a subtlety and nuance that few contemporary horror movies can match (...) Kerr gives an extraordinary, febrile performance"	POS
United Kingdom	London Evening Standard	"The uncanny cinematography never gets old. Ditto the dialogue (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS

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