PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Looking for some haunted house movies to get yourself ready for Halloween? Well, we’ve got the list for you! We wrote up a list of our Top 10 Haunted House Movies from oldest to newest, and we just had to share it with you guys. Let’s get to it:
1. House on Haunted Hill (1959)
The house in William Castle’s House on Haunted Hill (read our retro review here) is perhaps not haunted at all. We quickly learn that Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) and his wife, Annabelle (Carol Ohmart), are tricksters. They’ve invited a bunch of semi-random guests to the house, promising them $10,000 if they can last the night. Who wouldn’t be up for that challenge? Oddly, Frederick fixes it so the doors lock at midnight, which makes it harder for anyone to leave and therefore lose.
However, there are hints that the place actually may be haunted. That is overshadowed by the fighting between Frederick and Annabelle, the hysterics of Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig) and the scaredy cat nature of the house’s owner, Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook, in a commendable performance). House on Haunted Hill isn’t without some plot holes, but they can be filled in or forgotten about pretty easily. (just shrug your shoulders or say, “Maybe a ghost did it after all!”) Also, this movie inspired Alfred Hitchcock to make Psycho, in addition to teaching him about serial killer Ed Gein. Interestingly, one of the actresses, Leona Anderson, released an album called Music to Suffer By, deliberately showcasing her lack of singing talent. House on Haunted Hill was her final film.
2. 13 Ghosts (1960)
Is that another gimmicky William Castle movie on our Top 10 Haunted House Movies list? Sure, why not? The original film was shot in “Illusion-O,” where a movie watcher would use a viewer to see the ghosts by looking through the red part or hide them by using the blue. Interesting, right? As for the plot: Unlike House on Haunted Hill, the house in 13 Ghosts is most certainly haunted. In fact, the 13 ghosts in question aren’t particularly shy, and can be downright menacing to the Zorba family. The Zorbas include Cyrus (Donald Woods), Buck (Charles Herbert), Medea (Jo Morrow), Hilda (Rosemary DeCamp) and Dr. Plato Zorba’s ghost (Roy Jenson). The premise is that the Zorbas inherit Plato’s house, which seems like a nice win. The problem is, Plato was a ghost collector!
Also, Bucky boy Zorba is convinced that their housekeeper, Elaine (Margaret Hamilton), is a dang witch! Yes, this film features the woman who played the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. If that’s not enough, the Zorbas are continually haunted by the presence of lawyer Benjamin Rush (Martin Milner). Is he a good lawyer or a bad lawyer? In any case, 13 Ghosts has a certain charm and can be enjoyed even without an “Illusion-O” viewer. Like with the previous entry, this film is definitely more fun than scary, and may be an acquired taste.
3. Nightmare Castle (1965)
Barbara Steele dominates Mario Caiano’s Nightmare Castle, complete with a dual role as a murdered wife named Muriel and her stepsister, Jenny. Who are the ghosts? Well, there’s Muriel and her side action gardener, David (Rik Battaglia). Yes, she was bopping him on the side, which made her husband, Stephen Arrowsmith (Paul Meuller), murderously jealous. As you can imagine, they come back to haunt that sucker and his twisted servant, Solange (Helga Liné). There really isn’t much more to say about Nightmare Castle, other than how it has a classic horror vibe with a nod to Edgar Allen Poe.
4. The Amityville Horror (1979)
Starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder as George and Kathy Lutz, Stuart Rosenberg’s The Amityville Horror is based on the long discredited book by Jay Anson. The film itself has already been compared to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, due to certain undeniable similarities (ax-murdering dad, a son named Danny, etc.) It may be on our Top 10 Haunted House Movies list, but it was also never successful with critics. The Amityville Horror has plenty of fans, and why not? The story’s far-fetched and potentially offensive, cashing in on real murders with a phony haunted house theme thrown in. Still, it’s a fun movie and quite influential.
You have to love the fly scene with the Priest (Rod Steiger), or how about that whole plotline of Amy (Natasha Ryan) and her imaginary friend, Jody, a weird-ass, invisible pig with glowing eyes? Throw in some bleeding walls and a pissed off house that yells at its inhabitants, and what do you get? Box office gold, that’s what! Yes, The Amityville Horror was the most successful independent film ever, until it was surpassed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990. Speaking of which, wouldn’t that be an interesting crossover? Could you imagine Michelangelo shouting, “I love being a Turtle!” and the house shouting back, “Get out!”? Okay, it’s a dumb idea, but not much dumber than this story is already!
5. Poltergeist (1982)
“They’re he-ere!” Who hasn’t seen Tobe Hooper’s/Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist? It is, perhaps, one of the most popular, over-the-top haunted house films of all time, layering spooky trope upon trope. It’s a regular trope-back mountain, right? Well, maybe not. At the time, some of the ideas in Poltergeist were relatively new at the time, or not nearly so clichéd as they might appear now. In fact, Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) still seems like a fairly original character, and we wonder about the mysterious forces contacting her through the TV set… and beyond!
Right in the middle of our Top 10 Haunted House Movies list, Poltergeist has plenty of oddball moments involving toys, angry trees, furniture, steak, skin removal and a bunch of skeletons. Other than O’Rourke, memorable performances include JoBeth Williams as Diane Freeling, and especially, Zelda Rubinstein as the ultra-memorable Tangina Barrons. Also, while Craig T. Nelson gave more skill to his old TV show, Coach, Poltergeist isn’t about him much anyway. It’s about the dang ghosts, or ghost, or whatever the hell a poltergeist ultimately is.
6. House (1985)
A Steve Miner horror-comedy, House definitely gets pretty zany at times. In fact, it’s difficult to pin down exactly what the film’s trying to say, as there are some more serious elements scattered throughout. At the end of the day, though, House is more about the gimmicks than making much sense, which is fine. Roger Cobb (William Katt) is a Vietnam vet and successful author, but insists on writing his next book about the war. He’s traumatized by guilt for abandoning his a-hole war buddy, Big Ben (Richard Moll), who comes back to haunt him with a vengeance. He’s also recently divorced from his movie star wife (Kay Lenz), and their son (Erik and Mark Silver) has totally vanished.
To complicate things even more, he’s staying in the haunted house of his aunt (Susan French) who had committed suicide. So what does all this have to do with thrashing swordfish, flying garden tools, closet monsters and bloated she-beasts? Practically nothing, but we’ll take all that anyway. This fine slice of 1980s cheese also features Cheers‘ George Wendt as a lovable neighbor, Harold, and a Little Critter played by Jerry Maren ?— the last surviving Munchkin from The Wizard of Oz, who only just followed the yellow brick road in 2018.
7. Beetlejuice (1988)
I know someone who admitted that she hasn’t seen Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. My question for her was: How? Beetlejuice is one of those movies you need to see, and is definitely among the better haunted house flicks on this list. Somehow, Tim Burton can transform a bunch of totally off-the-wall ideas into something almost normal. He turned gothic weirdness into pop culture Americana, and Beetlejuice is one of his crowning achievements. Michael Keaton rocks as the hyper-obnoxious Betelgeuse, a ghost halfheartedly hired by a recently deceased couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) to chase off a living family from their home.
It turns out that Betelgeuse becomes the problem, overstepping his bounds at every opportunity. They end up needing to stuff the dirty genie back in his bottle before someone really gets hurt. Also, let’s face it, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz could easily turn a regular person into a goth! While there’s talk of a sequel, one can easily enjoy this by itself, perhaps complimented by the oddball cartoon series which ran from 1989-91. Of course, if you want to experience the mood outside of the movie and you happen to live close enough, you can always head to the Tim Burton-themed bar, Beetle House LA. Interesting fact: Burton wanted Sammy Davis Jr. to play Betelgeuse, which would have made it a very different movie!
8. The Others (2001)
Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others is a well done haunted house story. Like every such tale, some elements are a little strange. However, The Others manages to present them with some restraint, making it one of the more modest haunted house stories on our Top 10 Haunted House Movies list. Undoubtedly, Nicole Kidman’s acting primarily carries The Others, reminding us that, despite how media covered her for quite some time, she’s more than just that pretty lady who married Tom Cruise. The film maintains a haunting mood, never really gets cheesy and is fairly unique. It also stars Alakina Mann as Anne Stewart and James Bentley as Nicholas Stewart, two children who are ultra-sensitive to sunlight.
9. The Orphanage (2007)
J. A. Bayona’s The Orphanage is one of the best movies on this list. The ghostly parts are scary, the mystery and characters are engaging, and the performances are spot-on. It’s smart, but not too smart for its own good. Basically, you’ll only whine about this film if you can’t tolerate scary stories involving children. Sure, it’s not as action-packed as Bayona’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and it’s definitely not a horror comedy. It stars Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep, Mabel Rivera and Montserrat Carulla.
10. Haunt (2014)
I have already reviewed Mac Carter’s Haunt for Pophorror, suggesting it’s not a masterpiece but is still reasonably well done, deserving a place on our Top 10 Haunted House Movies list. There are two reasons you may wish to see it:
1. If you’re a fan of Hulu’s Light as a Feather, know that Haunt stars Liana Liberato.
2. It actually has good CG effects, which is not the most common experience with that supposedly advanced technology.
As stated in the original review:
“Haunt is not subtle at all… it’s very stylized throughout. Fortunately, the style is competent, and the CG effects aren’t cheesy or even overly prominent… This is a basic thing the movie got right, despite being imperfect in other key ways.”
The film also stars Harrison Gilbertson, Jacki Weaver, Ione Skye, Brian Wimmer, Danielle Chuchran and Ella Harris.
What are your thoughts on our Top 10 Haunted House Movies list? Did we miss any good ones? Let us know in the comments!
