Although we often tend to equate cinematic horror these days with gratuitous gore, cheap jump-thrills and completely uninspired storytelling, AITH is proud as f*ckin’ punch to shine some light on the kind of horror flick that’s been around since the dawn of Hollywood’s Golden Age; the haunted house flick. Rather than the watered down formula of onscreen violence as a purveyor of terror, we’re celebrating the films able to incur, often with little resources, true heart-stopping fright. And with Tod Williams’ PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 just around the corner, what better way to call out a gimmicky film franchise than to remind us all how true hair-raising, spine-tingling, blood-curdling haunted house flicks ought to be constructed?!? Here now, is our Top Ten Haunted House flicks…
WARNING: MINOR TO MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!
#10. THE OTHERS
How could we ever conduct a comprehensive litany of haunted house flicks 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 affective piece of work.
#9. BURNT OFFERINGS
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As if you needed more than the awesome pairing of Oliver Reed and Karen Black…the iniquitously underrated BURNT OFFERINGS has enough of an unsettling aura and an extremely bleak snap-ending to warrant a coveted top 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…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.
#8. THE UNINVITED
I was truly tempted to include schlock-meister William Castle on this list, be it with his 1959 film THE 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 a pair of sibling 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 over 65 years later as lesser known but equally effective as any on our list.
#7. THE INNOCENTS
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 so? 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 affect long after the credits have rolled.
#6. THE WOMAN IN BLACK
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Perhaps not so much now that a remake is on the way, THE WOMAN IN BLACK is an obscure 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 jinni in black is a fierce bitch, no doubt, certainly not one you’d wanna see roaming your halls.
STAY TUNED FOR PART 2!