Hmm, another haunted mansion story endorsed by Martin Scorsese. And another experimental '60s film that wasn't a hit at the time. On those bases, I might have expected good cinematography but little fear. OTOH, there is the element of children. It's also based on a Henry James novella, The Turns of the Screw, and adapted primarily by Truman Capote.
In 19th-century England, Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) shakily accepts the invitation of an aristocrat (Michael Redgrave) to be the governess for his nephew, Miles (newly recognizable Martin Stephens), and niece, Flora (Pamela Franklin), who have been largely raised by the various hired help. The children have a good deal of cutie charisma, but sometimes they appear to know too much and/or care too little. Could they know about the merciless-looking figures who spook Miss Giddens but whom no one else confesses to seeing?
The children themselves are not as creepy as you might expect. Their occasional known mischief is mostly the kind we associate with endearing scamps, not hellish hellions, as when Flora sneaks a pet tortoise indoors. That said, she does seem to possess foreknowledge that Miles is returning from school early...because he got expelled, for reasons the school authorities can hardly elucidate. Both kids have a habit of not giving straight answers to questions, usually while smiling shamelessly.
No, the kids are not the main threat, if any. Miss Giddens learns enough from the maid (Megs Jenkins) to surmise that the out-of-place adults she repeatedly sees are the ghosts of her predecessor and another servant, whose lives and deaths were too scandalous for a good influence on the children. She concludes that the ghosts have unseemly intentions for them even now.
This being a 1961 feature, it touches on a subject that would have been forbidden in earlier decades and still could not be stated up front. I'd almost nickname it The Innuendos. At times I suspected that I had missed an implication somewhere, but I gathered enough. Evidently, Miss Giddens is less worried about further deaths than about, well, sick behavior. This does not stop her from kissing Miles in a way I would not recommend for a governess.
Indeed, much of the intrigue lies in the question of whether Miss Giddens is projecting. Maybe the ghosts are only in her head, tho that would leave us to wonder why the kids act as they do and how she should happen to guess a few things about the deceased. Ordinarily, I would fault a horror movie for making the protagonist too afraid too quickly in comparison with the audience, but since she clearly has psychological issues to resolve, maybe there's an excuse.
Some elements of both the script and the cinematography went in directions I didn't predict. Do they work? Mostly, when they don't just confuse. The acting is never less than good, which is more than I can say for some child-heavy vehicles.
It's not the kind of tale apt to give you nightmares, unless you ever find yourself in a similar position to Miss Giddens. You're more likely to get something out of the general intense emotions, as long as you don't demand that they conform to your own.
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