There's a shit-load of haunted house movies out there. Some have taken us to extraordinary levels like the godawful remake of "The Haunting," but only three haunted house movies have ever withstood the test of time and the reason is, they were very true to haunted houses and their features.
As someone who grew up in an active haunted home, I've seen every haunted house movie made just to look for features that ring true and movies that covered all the types of phenomena in fairly realistic ways they might go down.
My conclusion? The 60s, 70s, and 80s all had one masterpiece each:
The Haunting (1963)
"The Haunting" makes the list for realistic haunting characteristics from noises, door knobs turning, pounding, footsteps, shadows, cold spots, hand holding and a tragic history, as well as segregating one person in the group to torment.
The Legend of Hell house (1973)
"The Legend of Hell House" makes the list for the idea of a single haunting entity finding manipulative ways to get to folks, for seances and psychic and mental mediums, as well as the concept of a machine that can cancel out the haunting energy.
The Changeling (1980)
"The Changeling" makes the list for having an uber creepy concept of a vengeful murdered child ghost, a hidden room, a ghost trying to get help, the most bad-ass EVP session in the universe, a creepy ghost coming out of floorboards. It's just awesome all around!
I know people will bother me about "Amityville Horror" or "Ghost Story," but the concept of possession and portals to hell, as well as ghosts going across country to bother a family member of someone who did them wrong are all not quite on-spot for me.
Ironically, all three of these movies I listed had ghost hunting involved in the storyline. This gives the seeking of ghosts and interaction even more creepy and the possibilities more shivery than just having a family move into a haunted house (about 80% of haunted house movies, i.e. Poltergeist, Amityville Horror, Insidious, et cetera). Why does the ghost hunting theme work so well? Because a family in a haunted house tries to deny it forever, but the ghost hunting team goes in there to make contact head-on. Much more exciting, I think.
As someone who grew up in an active haunted home, I've seen every haunted house movie made just to look for features that ring true and movies that covered all the types of phenomena in fairly realistic ways they might go down.
My conclusion? The 60s, 70s, and 80s all had one masterpiece each:
The Haunting (1963)
"The Haunting" makes the list for realistic haunting characteristics from noises, door knobs turning, pounding, footsteps, shadows, cold spots, hand holding and a tragic history, as well as segregating one person in the group to torment.
The Legend of Hell house (1973)
"The Legend of Hell House" makes the list for the idea of a single haunting entity finding manipulative ways to get to folks, for seances and psychic and mental mediums, as well as the concept of a machine that can cancel out the haunting energy.
The Changeling (1980)
"The Changeling" makes the list for having an uber creepy concept of a vengeful murdered child ghost, a hidden room, a ghost trying to get help, the most bad-ass EVP session in the universe, a creepy ghost coming out of floorboards. It's just awesome all around!
I know people will bother me about "Amityville Horror" or "Ghost Story," but the concept of possession and portals to hell, as well as ghosts going across country to bother a family member of someone who did them wrong are all not quite on-spot for me.
Ironically, all three of these movies I listed had ghost hunting involved in the storyline. This gives the seeking of ghosts and interaction even more creepy and the possibilities more shivery than just having a family move into a haunted house (about 80% of haunted house movies, i.e. Poltergeist, Amityville Horror, Insidious, et cetera). Why does the ghost hunting theme work so well? Because a family in a haunted house tries to deny it forever, but the ghost hunting team goes in there to make contact head-on. Much more exciting, I think.
