Let me start by saying, I’m not artistically talented. For a lot of my posts the featured images I find free art online. I really wish there was a better way to determine what is AI and what is made by artists. This is likely AI but there are also talented graphic designers who could do this same thing. I will never knowingly post AI generated material on my site because I believe in the talents of people and the hard work they put into it.
While we were sitting outside around the fire on Haloween I was asked by our friends what my favorite horror movies are. They are non-horror fans. As I thought about it, I realized I could probably put together a book of all my favorite horror movies to watch for all kinds of occasions, tastes, and fear factor level.
Last year I seemed to pick movies that took place in or around corn fields. I didn’t intend that but when I looked back at the post that was surprised by that the one common theme in all but the anthology movies. This year I am going with some of my favorite Haunted House movies. Haunted House is one of my favorite sub-genres of horror.
House on Haunted Hill (1959/1999)
I’m going to start off with a classic. House on Haunted Hill is such a fun movies and i like both the original with Vincent Price and the 1999 remake with Geoffrey Rush in the Vincent price role. The movie brings a bunch of seemingly random strangers to a house for one night to celebrate the birthday of the millionaire host’s wife. Each guest will be paid very well if they can survive the night locked in the house. Check out the trailers for both.
The Haunting (1999)
Based on the classic book by Shirley Jackson (Also a really good book) the Crain mansion has a history of death and tragedy around it. 130 years after the suspicious death of HughCrain, Dr David Morrow invites 3 people under the guise of conducting a sleep study attempts to wake up the psychic energy in the house. Sadly, I have not seen the 1963 movie so I am talking about the 1999 movie.
Hell House LLC (2016)
I am not a fan of found footage, but there is something about this franchise that I love. The first time I watched this movie was in 2020 and we had just moved into our first house from an apartment the summer of 2019 and we were sheltered in place due to Covid. I watched this on my iPad with my headphones in and loved every minute of it. I remember after watching the movie we heard a noise in the basement and my wife sent me to check it out. I was so scared to look down those steps I turned on all the lights in the house and ran from the basement once I looked around.
This movie is shot in a documentary style looking into the tragic malfunction of opening night of a Halloween Haunted house that killed 15 patrons.
Tales from the Crescent (2024)
Transitioning to my last recommendation we go to an actual documentary. This hotel is real and still run as an open hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. My wife and I recently took a couple of days and stayed in Eureka Springs for our Anniversary. We did a midnight ghost tour with paranormal gadgets and had some odd encounters. This is the story of the hotel from when it was created through the history leading up to today. I have been wanting to do a longer post about the experience but just haven’t gotten to it.
Hope you had a chance to watch some great horror for Halloween. What are some of your favorite haunted house movies?
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