The Innocents

Released Dec 25, 1961

1h 40m

Horror

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The Innocents: Trailer 1

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5,000+ Ratings

Based on the Henry James story "The Turn of the Screw," a psychological thriller about a woman who takes a governess job for two orphans in a Victorian home. She begins to see what she believes are ghosts and suspects the children's bizarre behavior is the result of supernatural powers.

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Critics Consensus

Creepily atmospheric, The Innocents is a stylishly crafted, chilling British ghost tale with Deborah Kerr at her finest.

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Times (UK) Staff

Times (UK)

It must be granted at once that no shot, no sequence, approaches James -- but there are moments when the film faithfully reflects that existence of evil in the innocent which is the core of the written word.

Jul 14, 2020

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Kate Muir

Times (UK)

It creeps slowly up on the viewer: a drip-feed of fear fed by creaks, eerie children and shadowy demonic figures on the periphery of this world and the next.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 22, 2015

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Cath Clarke

Time Out

You can watch 'The Innocents' twice and walk away with different conclusions. Psychological horrors have imitated its ambiguous ending ever since. Few have pulled it off half as creepily.

Oct 6, 2014

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Pauline Kael

Film Quarterly

The Innocents is not a great movie, but it’s a very good one, and maybe Deborah Kerr’s performance should really be called great.

Sep 11, 2023

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Zita Short

InSession Film

I’m so happy that this fairly strange picture has been so widely embraced and it is heartening to realize that audiences do gravitate towards artistically ambitious fare sometimes.

Feb 10, 2023

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Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

Child abuse is at the core of this unsettling shocker. Nightmares may follow.

Rated: FIVE STARS

Mar 13, 2022

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Alec B

The more the movie digs into the ambiguity around the haunting the more eerie and unsettling it gets. Also, this is probably Kerr's best performance.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/24

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Peter G

Perhaps still the best version, IMO, to be based on James THE TURN OF THE SCREW. The ambiguity concerning whether the Governess actually sees Quint & Miss Jessel or whether her perceptions result from her own repressed mind are maintained as James intended except for with one particular instance. At one point the Governess hears crying & then when she finds it coming from the room with a piano she observes a tear on the keyboard. Pauline Kael called this tear ‘a pearl of ambiguity' & it does cause the viewer to, if only momentarily, believe in the actual ghostly presences which the Governess are claiming are real. I have seen quite a bit of Kerr's variety of film characterizations but this, IMO, is her ultimate achievement & the 2 children are splendidly unsettling especially Martin Stephens as young Miles. A year before this he was the leader of the alien children in VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED which was an equally fascinating & chilling portrayal as here. Choosing black & white cinematography instead of color adds to the combination of the natural beauty & sinister dread present in the films location. Capote's contribution to the adaptation is also a significant factor in this memorable film.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/30/23

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David F

This old movie adapting Henry James's novel isn't very scary but it has scary good sets. The creation of Bly, the country house populated by a few servants and 2 orphan children left to the responsibility of an absentee London-based uncle, is stupendous, with beautiful woodwork, lovely formal spaces, spacious grounds, and spectacular leaded-glass windows everywhere you look.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/07/23

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Will G. F

The show is better but this faithful adaptation is also fun and rewatchable.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

10/21/23

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Steve

I first saw this when I was only 12. It stayed with me for days.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/15/23

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Wayne K

An old school horror film from before the days of cheesy effects and irritating musical stingers, The Innocents is atmospheric, foreboding and sinister, yet believable and low key. Much of the film is composed of conversations between our lead Miss Giddens and either the maid of the house she's working at, or the 2 children who live there. The tension is slowly built up as we learn more and more about the situation but are left constantly guessing about the eventual income. The simple direction and camerawork allows us to follow the lead without distraction, and Deborah Kerr's gives a fantastic performance as a sensible woman slowly unwinding thanks to forces she doesn't quite understand. The story elements have been subject to heavy analysis, but I wasn't interested in interpretation, I just wanted to see a horror film that actually scared me, and it truly did. There's one scene that was so unexpectedly frightening that I gripped the arm of my chair as goosebumps appeared all over my body. It's great to see a film that can made the audience quiver without dumb fake outs or jump scares. In The Innocents, it's all about the atmosphere, the incredible sound design and the images that make you feel truly unsettled. If you feel like watching it, I strongly recommend you do so with the lights on.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

09/11/23

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Jack Clayton

Director

Deborah Kerr

Miss Giddens

Martin Stephens

Miles

Pamela Franklin

Flora

Michael Redgrave

The Uncle

Peter Wyngarde

Peter Quint

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The Innocents: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Based on the Henry James story "The Turn of the Screw," a psychological thriller about a woman who takes a governess job for two orphans in a Victorian home. She begins to see what she believes are ghosts and suspects the children's bizarre behavior is the result of supernatural powers.

Director: Jack Clayton
Screenwriter: Henry James, William Archibald, Truman Capote, John Mortimer
Distributor: Fox
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox, Achilles
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 1961, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 19, 2016
Runtime: 1h 40m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)