Best Haunted House Movies Ranked

Jake

If there’s one subgenre of horror that never goes out of style, it’s the haunted house movie. From creaking floorboards to unseen presences lurking in the dark, these films thrive on atmosphere, dread, and the terrifying idea that your home may not be as safe as you think.

Here are the best haunted house movies ranked.

Best Haunted House Movies Ranked (Top 10)

1. The Shining (1980)
2. The Haunting (1963)
3. The Changeling (1980)
4. The Conjuring (2013)
5. Poltergeist (1982)
6. The Legend of Hell House (1973)
7. The Woman in Black (1989)
8. The Innocents (1961)
9. Burnt Offerings (1976)
10. The Others (2001)

Honorable mention: The Uninvited (1944)

1. THE SHINING (1980)

How could you not see the Overlook Hotel as our number one destination? Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 masterpiece not only cemented what horror in the late 60s and 70s proved true, that the genre could warrant Oscar-caliber talent and product (The Exorcist, Carrie, Rosemary’s Baby, etc.), but The Shining also still holds as the preeminent filmic Stephen King adaptation. With Kubrick’s revolutionary visual panache – the low angle steady cam work, his ability to slowly mount a sense of the foreboding – not to mention the spellbinding (if over the top) performances by Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall, all of it comes together to create one of the best films ever made, in and out of genre. An undisputed masterpiece!

2. THE HAUNTING (1963)

A true testament to the axiom “more is less,” Robert Wise’s seminal haunted house movie relies on the simplest of terror-techniques: creaking windows, rattling floorboards, flittering doorknobs, a pop-up scare now again… all of which boil fear down to its basic essence. For those not in the know, the plot concerns a foursome of strangers who agree to stay at the garish Hill House, which is said to be fraught with a malefic presence. Made in 1963, this isn’t a film heavily reliant on shock-gore, digital augmentation, expensive makeup and F/X, or the type of iconographic violence we largely come to associate with a horror flick (we don’t even see an apparition). No, this is simple suspense-mounted storytelling done the old fashioned way… and all these years later, The Haunting still holds up.

3. THE CHANGELING (1980)

George C. Scott anchors this harrowing tale of a bereaved music professor who lost his wife and child in an auto wreck. When he assumes residence in an old Seattle mansion, he soon witnesses all kinds of paranormal occurrences: noises echoing throughout his room at the same time every morning, his little girl’s ball bouncing down the stairs, a connection via séance with another deceased child who used to reside in the home, etc. As he vets the disturbing history of the abode, a series of ineffable and forever damaging revelations alter the course of the professor’s life forever. This a quiet, reserved performance by Scott that you just don’t find in horror movies. Under the careful direction of Peter Medak, the film retains a glum, ambient 70s sensibility. A true spine-tingler!

4. THE CONJURING (2013)

Not many great movies have come out of the “Conjuring Universe”, but the main Conjuring movies are leagues above most of the spin-offs that have been released over the years. Director James Wan delivered one of the best haunted house movies of this century, and the greatest thing about it is the chemistry between Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as married paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Their interactions alone would make The Conjuring worth watching, but then Wan surrounds them with masterfully crafted scenes of suspense and jump scares as they try to rid a family’s home of an evil spirit and dig into a back story of Satanism and witchcraft.

5. POLTERGEIST (1982)

Perhaps the most palatable demonstration of suburban dread, Tobe Hooper‘s 1982 classic has long been a point of speculation, since it was written and produced by the most popular filmmaker there ever was, Steven Spielberg. If and how much Spielberg actually directed has never officially been disclosed, but the film irrefutably has a Spielberg tenor. What works so well in the film is just that: juxtaposing the supernatural with the mundane banality of everyday life in the suburbs. Of course, the so-called “Poltergeist Curse” only adds to the intrigue, as after every entry in the series, a cast-member perished, often in a way far more grueling than onscreen. Honestly though, it’s Reverend Kane from part two that creeps me out most.

6. THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973)

Likely our most obscure list entry, John Hough’s 1973 haunted house movie The Legend of Hell House brings acclaimed author Richard Matheson’s novel and script to life (or death, should I say?) like few directors have. In this tale – about a throng of parapsychologists who are sent to a ghastly mansion to exorcise a supernatural force that has rendered all prior inhabitants either 6 feet deep or bat-shit insane – you’ll find all the staples of grimy 70s horror on display, even going so far as to pit science vs. religion in an unnerving way as well. Roddy McDowall headlines a minimal off-kilter cast, which, confined inside the Hell House for the duration of the picture, really lends to the cornered, claustrophobic feeling of not being able to escape.

7. THE WOMAN IN BLACK (1989)

Rescued from obscurity by the production of a 2012 remake,The Woman in Black is a British TV movie that was made on the cheap in 1989, yet has an antiquated (some may say dated) quality that really lends itself to its ability to make your skin crawl. Spare, lean, straight to the point, this low-budget effort – about a young solicitor who overtakes a deceased Englishwoman’s seaside abode and consequently encounters a ghoulish specter – has arguably one of the most pulse-pounding jump-scares ever committed to celluloid. With a sluggish pace and surreal tone, the film slowly builds in a way that really sneaks up on you. The titular woman in black is fierce, no doubt, certainly not one you’d wanna see roaming your halls.

8. THE INNOCENTS (1961)

Jack Clayton’s superb 1961 film The Innocents has long remained the finest adaptation of Henry James’ oft cinematized yarn Turn of the Screw. Oddly ambiguous for a film of its time, perhaps the most satisfying thing about The Innocents – about a young governess (Deborah Kerr) assigned to watch over two children at a gaudy British estate – is the fact it doesn’t compromise its true mystery with a spoon-fed finale. Are the spooky happenings and inexplicable phenomena in the house the doings of an ethereal presence, or is it the paranoid musings of Kerr’s schizophrenic mind? Are the children complicit? If so, how? All of these questions backdrop a measured, almost hypnotic pacing (average shot length of 9 seconds) that, combined with Freddy Francis’ stunning cinematography, has a deeply lingering effect long after the credits have rolled.

9. BURNT OFFERINGS (1976)

As if you needed more than the awesome pairing of Oliver Reed and Karen Black, the underrated Burnt Offerings has enough of an unsettling aura and an extremely bleak snap-ending to warrant a coveted top ten spot. For those who missed this gem, it picks up when a couple and their boy rent a summer house for a price too good to be true. Old, eerie and decrepit.. .what’s cool about this particular entry is how the house itself, as unnerving occurrences continue, is able to renew and replenish itself by feeding on its inhabitants. As the bodies mount, the house heals. It’s a pretty original premise, if nothing else. You toss in the always creepy Burgess Meredith, the stark, grainy look of 70s horror, the highly nihilistic finale… Burnt Offerings is a slow-burning horror pearl worth shucking for.

10. THE OTHERS (2001)

How could we ever conduct a comprehensive list of the best haunted house movies without giving a little love to international cinema? Granted, the most indelible haunted house flicks do tend to come from the States, but we’d be highly remiss if we didn’t include Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Amenabar and his profoundly chilling 2001 Spanish flick The Others. Steeped in Victorian goth, the moody atmosphere Amenabar achieves is just as unsettling as the shocking denouement. With gorgeously haunting set design (interiors often lit by candle flame, exteriors clogged with an impervious fog), the film has a mysterious gloom that creeps deeper and deeper into your bones with each passing frame. A truly effective piece of work.

Honorable Mention: THE UNINVITED (1944)

I was truly tempted to include schlock-meister William Castle on this list, be it with his 1959 film House on Haunted Hill or his 1960 film 13 Ghosts. But when push came to shove, I opted against cheap gimmickry for not only an austerely menacing haunted house flick, but one that ranks among Hollywood’s earliest attempts at a ghost story. Lewis Allen’s 1944 effort The Uninvited – about siblings able to cheaply rent a seaside cottage because of a phantasmagoric presence – deftly blends 40s noir tropes with classic horror technique. With Victor Young’s bone-clattering score of “Stella By Starlight” weeping in the background, The Uninvited holds up as lesser known but equally effective as any other haunted house movie on our list.

The best haunted house movie is The Shining, widely considered the gold standard for atmospheric horror. Films like The Haunting and The Changeling follow closely behind, emphasizing psychological dread over jump scares, while modern classics like The Conjuring have redefined the genre for a new generation.

Which films do you consider to be the best haunted house movies? Let us know by leaving a comment below.