[Editorial] Best 9 Haunted House Horror Films

The Paranormal Horror genre has had a chokehold on audiences for eons. It’s followed us home and from the theatre, it’s had us checking around the dark corners of our bedrooms, our heart jumping at every ping, ding, and crack from our homes. 

I culminated this list by only house or domicile related hauntings. We’ve seen apparitions, wraiths and other ghastly beings haunt towns, villages and even space, but there’s something intrinsically terrifying about the isolation of being bound by an entity and being stripped of that safety and security that we depend on from four walls and a door. First up is…

9) House (1985)

“Ding, dong, you’re dead!” The incredible poster art for this film says a lot about what’s to come for poor Roger Cobb, played by William Katt, (Carrie, The Greatest American Hero) a Vietnam Vet making his way as an author in the horror genre. Things are already going from bad to worse for Roger, whose son’s disappearance, his divorce and the sudden violent death of his aunt come crashing in on him one after the other. His plans to move into his late aunt’s home turn out to be the worst decision as the house is a portal for evil and shows Roger this at every turn. Spawning three sequels, this franchise kick off is good scary fun. 

8) Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Now, you take one part F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus, Scarface), one part Matthew Lillard (Scream, Scooby-Doo) and one part Tony Shaloub (Monk, The Marvelous Ms. Maisel) and you’ve got yourself one hell of a mind crank horror movie. Abraham’s character, ghost hunter Cyris Kriticos and Lillard’s quirky psychic, Dennis Rafkin are in the midst of trapping a ghost called the Juggernaut. Within this capture, Kriticos dies, ending the mission and his nephew, Shaloub’s Arthur to inherit his odd mansion, thriving with sigils and mayhem. 

From this moment forward, we should just sell in the event of a demise, eh? 

They mistakenly trigger a mechanism set to keep unruly spirits trapped in the home, setting off a meandering chain of events with several menacing wraiths hell bent on completing the mission: family betrayal. Stick with it. The ghosts are imaginative and fun, and Lillard and Shaloub smash it. 

7) The Others (2001)

This movie stuck with me for a long time. Its weaving storylines of grief, isolation and paranormal experiences are a wonderful mix. Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman, Practical Magic, The Undoing) and her two young children are living in a large, candlelit country home in the Channel Islands. Desperately waiting for her husband (Chris Eccleston, Doctor Who, 28 Days Later) to return from war, Grace helicopters over her children, constantly keeping watch and care over their photosensitive skin. When three previous staff members arrive (Fionnula Flanagan, Elaine Cassidy & Eric Sykes) offering to help her care for the place, things take an odd turn. Pianos play by themselves, curtains close and open, thuds and knocks occur. Grace takes a strong defense against ghostly intruders until a nice twist ending sets her sights on her mission in a new direction. A little slow in getting to the point by today’s standards, but still quite a fun ride.

6) The Haunting (1963)

The closest adaptation to Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel, The Haunting of Hill House. Not that Mike Flanagan’s Series of the same name didn’t knock it out of the ever-lovin’ park (how is someone THAT good?) but we’re talking films, here. Although a bit slow and subdued, this film is an excellent baseline for anyone seeking a psychological scare that will stay with you.

5) Stir of Echoes (1999)

This film really unnerved me. Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon, Tremors, Hollow Man) is a working-class everyman who lets his spiritualist hippie sister-in-law Lisa (Illeana Douglas, Cape Fear, To Die For ) hypnotize him during a party following which he begins to have disconcerting nightmares about a ghost girl. Unrelenting, these visions manifest into an obsession, as Tom is driven to find out how the girl died. The spirit permeates Tom’s life, his home and haunts his young son coming to a painful and horrific conclusion. Trigger Warning: Assault.

4) Paranormal Activity (2007)

This found-footage style film really took the world by storm, which found-footage always does, just a helluva sub-genre! Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) are that couple that really wants to get married but not like anytime soon. Moving into a new starter home, Katie feels beleaguered and haunted by an entity she believes has followed her all her life and is now creating much havoc in her new home. Taking her distress to heart, at first, Micah sets up a camera in the bedroom to record any goings-on at night, and there are plenty, so of course the duo calls for backup. There’s a lot of old adages here with what not to do if you think there’s a spirit in your house and our pals Katie and Micah try their hands at all of them: Ouija Boards, checking the attic, not listening to the psychic etc. Things deteriorate as Katie gets terrifyingly dragged out of bed by an unknown entity setting off a smooth final one-third  of non-stop dread and jump scares. 

3) The Amityville Horror (1979)

Growing up a few short hours away from the actual Amityville home where Ronald DeFeo Jr murdered his family always gave me squished up emoji face and still does. This movie does a fantastic job of spiraling a family into terror. The based-on story for the film focuses on the Lutz Family, an actual family that moved into the DeFeo house after the murders and well informed on the um….happenings at the residence, The Lutz’s go all in and buy the place below cost….of course. Kathy (Margot Kidder, Superman, Black Christmas) and George (James Brolin, WestWorld, Sweet Tooth), and their three children seem happy to start their new lives together until strange happenings begin to disrupt the household. A priest blessing the house falls ill, becoming a harbinger of horror and George becomes obsessed with the chill in the air and begins to act out of character. Something is haunting the family and will stop at nothing until they leave, which they gladly do. 

2) The Shining (1980)

Absolute, number one favorite King adaptation for me. He hated it, I know, I know. But here we are at The Overlook Hotel, in room 237, having a splash of a time, right? Struggling writer (aren’t we all) Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Batman) decides to take his barely held together family, wife Wendy (Shelley DuVall, Roxanne, Frankenweenie) and his gifted son Danny (Danny Lloyd, Room 237, Doctor Sleep) up to the Colorado mountains to function as caretaker of an isolated hotel for the winter. A recovering alcoholic, we see Jack grappling with reality and bouncing from temperament to temperament. Young Danny finds a friend in Mr. Halloran (Scatman Crothers, Twilight Zone: The Movie), the cook, who also shares a psychic gift, Wendy finds melancholy and detachment from Jack and well Jack finds ghostly visions, evil voices and mental spiraling into heinous thoughts and even deadlier actions. Just admitting writer’s block might’ve just been easier. 

1) Poltergeist (1982)

Undeniably the greatest of all time, well at least for me. I was exactly the same age as Carol Anne’s character in this film, so seeing static on the TV even as an adult is a big deal for me. We enter the film with the Diane (Jo Beth Williams, The Big Chill, Wyatt Earp) and Steve (Craig T. Nelson, The Devil’s Advocate, Parenthood) enjoying their new home in the Cuesta Verde development in California with their three children, Dana (Dominique Dunne), Robbie (Oliver Robbins) and Carol Anne (Heather O’ Rourke). Things seem idyllic until Carol Anne starts talking the television, chairs start stacking themselves and trees start coming to life and it’s in this vortex of mayhem that Carol Anne gets taken to another dimension, snatched by force into a closet and now trapped in the very television set she befriended at the top of the film. In a 90-minute quest to retrieve their daughter, the Freeling’s encounter face-tearing parapsychologists, a disquieting psychic, nefarious real estate developers and skeletons in their swimming pool. This petrifying film spawned two not nearly as good sequels and more than a few upsetting tragedies but holds its place in my big, haunted heart as the scare of all scares. 

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