Favourite haunted house film
- Thread starter Reno
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stdPikachu
Plughole in bathtub curve
Alien.
May be set in space, but it's a brilliantly executed haunted house blueprint IMHO.
May be set in space, but it's a brilliantly executed haunted house blueprint IMHO.
Spandex
A crazy bulbous punchbag of sound
hmmm...
Lots of good films on that list.
I'm quite tempted by Devil's Backbone, but having only seen it once it can't really count as my 'favourite' when compared with the inevitable winner for my vote: The Shining.
One of Kubrick's most satisfying films. One of Nicholson's defining roles. One of those films that I've watch numerous times and I know I'm going to watch numerous times again. In fact, just thinking about it now makes me want to watch it.
How can it fail to win this poll?
Lots of good films on that list.
I'm quite tempted by Devil's Backbone, but having only seen it once it can't really count as my 'favourite' when compared with the inevitable winner for my vote: The Shining.
One of Kubrick's most satisfying films. One of Nicholson's defining roles. One of those films that I've watch numerous times and I know I'm going to watch numerous times again. In fact, just thinking about it now makes me want to watch it.
How can it fail to win this poll?
CharlieAddict
nekomimi rocks!!!
what a nice surprised that you included a tale of two sisters.
that is perhaps the most intense horror i watched.
'the others' would be my second if it was on this poll.
otherwise, it'd be the orginal version of 'the haunting.'
a film where the narrator's confusion scared the fuck out of me...even to this day.
but 'the shining' will win this poll hands-down me thinks.
that is perhaps the most intense horror i watched.
'the others' would be my second if it was on this poll.
otherwise, it'd be the orginal version of 'the haunting.'
a film where the narrator's confusion scared the fuck out of me...even to this day.
but 'the shining' will win this poll hands-down me thinks.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Juon is laughable as a horror.
This thread has reminded me to watch the devils backbone, it's been on my to do shelf for a few months. I think I was a bit put off after Cronos not being as goos as I had hoped.
This thread has reminded me to watch the devils backbone, it's been on my to do shelf for a few months. I think I was a bit put off after Cronos not being as goos as I had hoped.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
That's good news.
Perlman was pretty weak.
Perlman was pretty weak.
Reno
The In Kraut
I voted for The Devil's Backbone but I wouldn't be able to decide between that, The Shining, The Innocents, Poltergeist, Beetlejuice and A Tale of Two Sisters. I like The Haunting, but when I watched it again recently the constant narration by the main character took me out of the film. I wished there was less of it, but it's still an amazing film. I only included the The Amityville Horror because it's so famous, but it's not a very good film. I actually prefer the rather sleazy prequel Amityville II to the original.
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Reno said:
It's a haunted house in space.
Is The Shining a haunted house movie? There were no real ghosts or suchlike were there? I got the impression that the Nicholson character experienced some psychosis and that the others that inhabited the house (barman etc) were imagined.
Oh, just remembered the kid was them two girls. Maybe they both went a bit funny?
I vote 'The Innocents' because of it's atmosphere (though Devil's Backbone was similarly eerie).
Oh, just remembered the kid was them two girls. Maybe they both went a bit funny?
I vote 'The Innocents' because of it's atmosphere (though Devil's Backbone was similarly eerie).
"It's a haunted house in space."
More a haunted ship in space.
I mean, haunted houses don't have 18th century whalers' anchor chains hanging from the ceiling.
25th century deep space mining craft always do.
(Can't moan too much- it was partly British, and Doctor Who spaceships now have dangling chains if there is a haunting type thing going down)
More a haunted ship in space.
I mean, haunted houses don't have 18th century whalers' anchor chains hanging from the ceiling.
25th century deep space mining craft always do.
(Can't moan too much- it was partly British, and Doctor Who spaceships now have dangling chains if there is a haunting type thing going down)
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
It's true to the genre. An unknown unseen entity, dark hallways, loads of suspense, pop-up scenes, etc.
And like many haunted house movies, the ending is inconclusive.
And like many haunted house movies, the ending is inconclusive.
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Reno said:
But the ghosts aren't part of the tension between or involving the characters. The device driving the plot is Jacks increasing insanity, not the malevolence of the shades.
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Reno said:Yeah, whatever makes you happy. Go easy on the gin now.
If the shining is a haunted house movie, then so is Alien.
Reno
The In Kraut
Johnny Canuck2 said:
So what ? It still is a film about a house haunted by ghosts, ergo it's a haunted house film. You'll find that in many of the most famous stories about haunted houses the ghost are tied to a troubled central character. Have you seen The Haunting, The Innocents or A Tale of Two Sisters ?
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Reno said:
Yes, but many are not. Also, in most ghost movies, even with a troubled character, the ghosts are or are part of the nemesis. Not the case in The Shining.
Reno
The In Kraut
Johnny Canuck2 said:
Ever read Henry James' The Turn of the Screw (adapted as The Innocents) or Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (adapted as The Haunting). They are the two most famous haunted house stories ever written. Both are exacly about what you are telling me most ghost stories aren't about: damaged central charaters where the ghosts appear to be a manifestaion of their personal demons. Stephen King wrote The Shining to emulate those stories and this is still present in the Kubrick adaptation.
It had a ghost for many of the characters.
For different reasons.
Old D du M was big on ghosties.
She did a brilliant one about a bloke who goes back in time to 13th century Cornwall to rescue a maiden in distress, after he saw ghosties.
Can't remember the name of it, but it would have made a bang on cheap to make film with the right actors.
For Yank benefit, a little known Thirties author, Thorne Smith wrote some excellent comic ghost stories.
They were made into films, "Topper takes a trip", 'The Jovial Ghosts' and others I can't remember.
I believe, 'Turnabout' where a boy changes place with his stockbroker father was made into a sort of '80's pastiche of the Yuppie era was quite successful, 'Big' I believe they called it. Or was it 'changing places'?
Anyway, as ever I digress; 'Rebecca' would have been difficult not to have been made into a spooky film, the trick being that one never sees her, but the presence is always there.
Thorne Smith's books, far from being the light hearted fluff demanded by Yank audiences, had an undercurrent of pathos and gravity in his writing.
The Jovial Ghosts, for example, were a pair of young caners who died in a stoned car crash. They dedicated their afterlives to showing a banker who lived with his mum a good time, as, being dead, they couldn't do much else.
The film turned it into 'pair of young scallywag ghosts torment respectable banker- cue chortlage'
The point? well, the film ignored the darker side.
Thorne Smith died in an asylum aged 33.
There are unresolved mysteries concerning his incarceration.
For although he loved a ghost story, he was a deeply rational atheist, with communist sympathies. Perhaps not so good in The 30's States.
As for 'Rebecca'- the one we never see- well I guess anyone who liked the tale has an image.
For different reasons.
Old D du M was big on ghosties.
She did a brilliant one about a bloke who goes back in time to 13th century Cornwall to rescue a maiden in distress, after he saw ghosties.
Can't remember the name of it, but it would have made a bang on cheap to make film with the right actors.
For Yank benefit, a little known Thirties author, Thorne Smith wrote some excellent comic ghost stories.
They were made into films, "Topper takes a trip", 'The Jovial Ghosts' and others I can't remember.
I believe, 'Turnabout' where a boy changes place with his stockbroker father was made into a sort of '80's pastiche of the Yuppie era was quite successful, 'Big' I believe they called it. Or was it 'changing places'?
Anyway, as ever I digress; 'Rebecca' would have been difficult not to have been made into a spooky film, the trick being that one never sees her, but the presence is always there.
Thorne Smith's books, far from being the light hearted fluff demanded by Yank audiences, had an undercurrent of pathos and gravity in his writing.
The Jovial Ghosts, for example, were a pair of young caners who died in a stoned car crash. They dedicated their afterlives to showing a banker who lived with his mum a good time, as, being dead, they couldn't do much else.
The film turned it into 'pair of young scallywag ghosts torment respectable banker- cue chortlage'
The point? well, the film ignored the darker side.
Thorne Smith died in an asylum aged 33.
There are unresolved mysteries concerning his incarceration.
For although he loved a ghost story, he was a deeply rational atheist, with communist sympathies. Perhaps not so good in The 30's States.
As for 'Rebecca'- the one we never see- well I guess anyone who liked the tale has an image.
Reno
The In Kraut
Leica said:
I love The Canterville Ghost.
The 40's film version with Charles Laughton is quite nice, though it chucks out most of the Oscar Wilde story. There are strong traces of it in Beetlejuice (ineffectual ghosts vs rational, nouveau riche Americans) and Poltergeist (venturing to the other side through a wall).
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Leica said:Ghosts really need people to want them otherwise they get lonely and suffer too
viz: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
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