Haunted home motion pictures make up over half of all horror movies, in all probability, so we determined to rank the 35 greatest. Right here they’re!
October is outlined in Webster’s Dictionary as “31 days of horror.” Don’t trouble wanting it up; it’s true. Most individuals take that to imply highlighting one horror film a day, however right here at FSR, we’ve taken that up a spooky notch or 9 by celebrating every day with a high ten listing. This text about the very best haunted home motion pictures wraps up the 2022 version of our ongoing sequence 31 Days of Horror Lists.
Sure locations appear designed from the bottom as much as play host to horrors. Cabins within the woods. Cemeteries. Underground caverns. Australia. The one which brings us collectively in the present day, although, is one that the majority of us discover acquainted. Our home, a spot that might be cozy and trendy or giant and drafty — the frequent denominator is {that a} household of some method calls it residence. That’s what makes it so unsettling and terrifying when one thing evil begins haunting its rooms and halls.
It’s the explanation haunted home motion pictures — of 1 type or one other — make up roughly fifty-two % of all horror movies. It’s true. Go depend up all of the horror motion pictures ever made, do some math, and also you’ll see I converse the reality. We’ve all lived in a house of some form, and the thought of unwelcome guests, significantly the ghostly form, is the form of spooky none of us need to cope with. Makes for good, creepy enjoyable when it’s another person’s downside although!
And so the fifth version of our annual 31 Days of Horror Lists involves an finish, as they all the time do, with a giant listing. This yr’s subject? The very best haunted home motion pictures! As all the time, we utilized some guidelines as to what constitutes a “haunted home,” and we settled on the best definition — a ghostly presence in a single-family dwelling, which means no house buildings, no workplace buildings, no cruise ships. (And sure, as all the time, our guidelines are topic to mild massaging and fudgery.) We’ll be doing a listing of the particular greatest homes subsequent yr, however for now, maintain studying to see our picks for the 35 greatest haunted home motion pictures, as determined by Chris Coffel, Brad Gullickson, Meg Shields, Anna Swanson, Jacob Trussell, Valerie Ettenhofer, and myself.
35. The Grudge (2004)
Is The Grudge an ideal film? No. Is it a greater film than the Japanese movie on which its based mostly, which can also be directed by Takashi Shimizu and which can or could not additionally seem on this listing? Debatable! However what it does have is indelible and scary, and it may be described in just some phrases: knuckles popping out of somebody’s head within the bathe! In case you want just a few extra, how about these: meowing cat-boy ghost. Scream queen Sarah Michelle Gellar. Produced by Sam Raimi. Plus, the film roots its haunted home mythology in a brutal story that carries it by means of to its intense, fiery ending. (Valerie Ettenhofer)
34. Insidious (2010)
Steer clear of attics, youngsters. Malevolent forces lurk within the mud mites. James Wan‘s Insidious is a relentless frightmare. As soon as younger Dalton (Ty Simpkins) makes demonic contact with the upstairs entity, the movie doesn’t stop with the jolts. Wan solely understands escalation. Put together thy nerves. Insidious is a little bit of a dry run for The Conjuring, the place the director takes the jump-scares to stratospheric heights, however Insidious‘ cozier dread is extra my velocity. In fact, there’s nothing cozy in regards to the movie’s third act, the place it ditches the creaking doorways and far-off spook sounds for the hellish horror that the majority movies of this kind by no means handle to realize. Insidious’ finale is a giant bang that spawns sequels and wannabes, however Wan’s micro-budgeted unique stays king. (Brad Gullickson)
33. What Lies Beneath (2000)
What Lies Beneath solutions that age-old query — what would a Lifetime film appear to be if it had the polish of a Robert Zemeckis movie? Claire and Norman Spencer (Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford) are a seemingly completely happy couple residing the proper life of their quiet lakeside residence in Vermont. After a brand new couple strikes in throughout the way in which, Claire begins to note unusual occurrences and suspects the husband of foul play. As she begins to analyze, she discovers horrible secrets and techniques hidden inside her own residence. What Lies Beneath is a fundamental plot, however with the route of Zemeckis and powerful performances from Pfeiffer and Ford it’s an exciting story of suspense that manages to zoom by means of its two-hour runtime. The ultimate sequence is as thrilling as the rest on this listing. (Chris Coffel)
32. The Pact (2012)
If this listing had been “greatest haunted home motion pictures set throughout Christmas,” you’d be hard-pressed to discover a higher front-runner than The Pact. For these much less within the snow-capped world of vacation horror, although, The Pact has much more substance than its acquainted premise initially lets on. Certain, the movie begins as a rote thriller a few younger girl returning to her household residence to search out solutions to her sister’s sudden disappearance. It’s a setup inflected by traditional haunted home tropes, however the movie quickly offers option to a good higher thriller that spans nicely past ghostly archetypes, providing up twists that I’d wager a guess is everlasting nightmare gasoline for all of us. Director Nicholas McCarthy crafted a movie crammed with putting pictures that lean extra on subtlety than brazen shocks, which makes The Pact a welcome change of tempo from a subgenre that always will get its rocks off by spamming bounce scares to loss of life. (Jacob Trussell)
31. Paranormal Exercise (2007)
In 2007, no place on earth appeared scarier to me than the random suburban residence from Paranormal Exercise. Oren Peli’s cleverly constructed discovered footage hit takes the inside of an exceedingly common home and makes it sinister, then leaves us observing its nooks and crannies ready for some evil to spring forth. Greater than many motion pictures on this listing, I believe Paranormal Exercise is as a lot in regards to the haunted residence as it’s about its residents. I wouldn’t keep in mind Katie and Micah’s names with out wanting them up, however I do keep in mind precisely how that bed room door appears to be like from the safety digital camera angle the place Oren traps our POV many times. Paranormal Exercise succeeds for lots of causes, but it surely’s at its greatest when it’s letting us glimpse issues its doomed protagonists don’t see in time, like a spontaneous fireplace, a door slamming within the evening, or Katie’s eerie trance. Almost every part within the film – till the clearly supernatural ending – is adequately subtle to look each attainable and in a position to be simply missed, and that’s scary as hell. (Valerie Ettenhofer)
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