The 20 best haunted house movies, ranked
From The Haunting to Crimson Peak, these truly frightening films will make you reconsider the phrase home sweet home
Film Lists Haunted house
This house … is clean. Or at least it should be. The enduring brilliance of the haunted house subgenre is its ability to make you feel twitchy and nervous where you should feel safest: in your very own home. The form dates back 100 years to silent films like 1927's The Cat And The Canary and early talkies like 1932's The Old Dark House starring Boris Karloff and directed by Frankenstein’s James Whale. It’s one of the oldest and purest forms of horror storytelling and, well into the 2020s, is still a landscape rife with new ideas and critically acclaimed releases. So with the fast-approaching Halloween meaning dozens of costumed kids “gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door,” here are our 20 picks for the greatest haunted house movies ever—from The Haunting to House On Haunted Hill (look, the word ‘haunt’ is gonna show up a lot, OK?)
115 Comments
Missing “House 2: The Second Story”.
Lake Mungo is garbage. The entire movie literally nothing happens until one split second scene at the end of the film, which really isn’t scary. I was so pumped to see this and when we finally watched it I couldn’t believe the amount of hype this film movie had garnered. Don’t waste your time with it.
Wow, couldn’t disagree more. It’s always a dead end to claim something as scary or not since that’s subjective, but there’s a reason this movie’s so beloved by a lot of people. That split second scene isn’t what’s scary about it.
I’m with the majority and don’t like the movie.
No, Lake Mungo is great
I thought that movie did a good job of building an atmosphere. The actors pulled of the fake documentary style. It just felt creepy throughout the whole thing.
What an embarrassingly bad take.
I’ve always thought of Alien as a haunted house, er, spaceship, movie. Also, I think Cabin in The Woods qualifies as a haunted house movie.
Likewise Event Horizon, which is even more of a haunted house; Alien is kind of a slasher movie once they leave LV426.
Tim Burton made a masterpiece with ‘Batman,’ but blew it with the casting, in my opinion.
Keaton, coming one year off of the titular role in ‘Beetlejuice,’ should have been cast as the Joker. A young Alec Baldwin was right there in front of you for Bruce Wayne.
I’m pretty sure both Tim Burton and Michael Keeton were well known prior to Beetlejuice. Mr. Mom and PeeWee’s Big Adventure were already on endless repeats on cable TV by that time.
Something The Shining gets so right is how wrong it feels to be someplace that should be packed with people when no one’s around. I went to a small conference a few years ago that was held at a ski resort hotel just after Labor Day (I’m sure the price was right). I’d been there both winter and summer in the past, but at that particular time other than us it was dead empty. Walking around the deserted base area felt like a Twilight Zone episode and very much reminded me of the Overlook.
Yeah, I know that feeling. I stayed at a large Hyatt just after travel started recovering from the pandemic. The hotel had a huge atrium that normally would have been occupied by a bar and brunch area, plus conference and ballrooms. All nearly devoid of any people or activity. Even the front desk only had a single person working. Also, I just so happened to be at Disneyland for a conference that was cancelled right when the pandemic started to ramp up. The parks shut down while I was staying at one of the resort’s hotels. What was particularly creepy was they kept all the usual lights and music on in the parks, even though there were zero guests inside (you can see inside California Adventure from the Grand Californian hotel). I remember thinking at the time that I wish a horror writer, or someone with any creative talent, could see what I was looking at in that unique moment.
Sort of like walking around in an abandoned mall.
You mean just a mall these days. No need to be redundant.
I have many problems with Kubrick and The Shining, but he always delivers a message using architecture and interior design like only few others do (Pakula, Fincher)
No Amityville Horror?
Yeah the original wasn’t a great movie but I’m old enough to remember that movie scaring the shit out of people. I would have Insidious on the list as well, they switch houses but it’s still a great haunted “houses” movie.
It definitely has a pop culture footprint, moreso than most of the movies on this list.
I would definitely put Insidious above The Conjuring (which was okay) or the Ethan Hawke one that isn’t technically called Insidious.
I never thought the film was that good, but my favorite part is when Brolin can’t find the money for his kids wedding or something and his exasperation slips…you get that new homeowner sensation of money just disappearing.
Also gave us the classic Eddie Murphy bit about why there aren’t more black people in horror movies (and supplied the name for Jordan Peele’s first movie).“I really love this, this is really nice…”GET OUT“Too bad we can’t stay.”
It’s funny, I think the scene where the money disappears is one of the the e most memorable scenes in the whole movie, but it’s part of what makes the story so silly – the ghosts stole James Brolin’s money! What a bunch of assholes!
Its almost as if the whole ghost aspect was a complete fraud used to get cover up financial problems!
Technically they stole his brother-in-law’s money.
It doesn’t really get explored in the film but there was a dread of being financially in over your head.
1979’s The Amityville Horror has been aptly described as economic horror.
I like that….not a meme per se but I’m stealing it. Your receipt:
I feel like Amityville Horror is a big miss here. Whatever you might think about it, it’s hard to deny its cultural impact, especially at the time.
TBF, the book probably had the bigger cultural impact.
At least as big if not bigger. For people who weren’t around then, it’s hard to believe that, probably. That book was everywhere for a while.
I don’t see how a black and white film like The Innocents can have striking color contrast. Can you explain what you meant?
I mean, how much more contrasting can you get than white on black?
It’s a stark and striking contrast from color, that’s for sure!
thought the same thing. also, the metaphor in that last sentence? wow. each frame is a painting, but the picture itself is a master stroke?
Does Evil Dead count?
Hot taek: I thought the Conjuring was okay, but no idea how it spawned a franchise.Also, I can understand why it was excluded, but I have a place in my heart for We Are Still Here. That was a random find that I happened to enjoy a lot, even if I understand it is not the world’s greatest haunted house movie.
Same on The Conjuring. I really didn’t think there was anything unique about the first movie that made it stand out from other haunted movies. It’s all pretty standard stuff. The sequel is actually better imo, but I think it’s just a rule that all horror movies become franchises. There are very few standalones. (Crossing fingers for The Babadook 2)
Revenge of the Babadook!
We Are Still Here was so good and scary until Larry Fessenden showed up. It seemed like the movie couldn’t stick to one tone after that.
I know it is not considered a great movie but I would rank it higher than many that made the list (though I am biased as both the movie and original book by Mr. Matheson are favourites of mine).(If the embedded video does not show up/play it is the trailer for “The Legend of Hell House”.)
The book was fantastic. One of the few I’ve read that gave me the creeps.
I am huge Matheson fan, and agree that the book was much better.
I think the movie The Legend of Hell House is quite decent, but the book is one of the greatest, scariest horror novels ever written
Maybe I will have to reread it, but at the time when I read it I thought it was just a cheap exploitation of The Haunting (with shocking sex! Sex! Shock!). It was really a surprising disappointment after reading other books from Richard Matheson and knowing his career as scriptwriter.
It’s been years since I’ve seen it, but I thought the same thing.
Thank you — TLOHH is one of the scariest haunted house movies ever made…
If we’re going to include haunted hotels with The Shining, I would include The Innkeepers (top 5 in this list). My number #1 would be The Haunting ‘63; I find The Innocents to be a bit too dry.
I agree 100%. I like the Innocents, but it’s no Innkeepers (although including a To West movie would mean comments about how boring it is). Of the movies on the list, I’d put the Changeling at #1.
No “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken”???It’s right there in the title – there’s a ghost!… and there’s Mr. Chicken.Seriously, I love that Don Knotts movie. SO many great character actors in it.
The Ghost and Mr Chicken was my favorite movie when I was eight years old
I will see you one Ghost and Mr. Chicken and raise you Don Knotts and Tim Conway in a spooky old English manor in Private Eyes.
Attaboy, Luther!
Attaboy, Luther!
I rewatched it as an adult and was breathless and crying with laughter. The look on Don Knott’s face when his speech notes fly away from him in the breeze. And the speech that follows. And the shears in the throat! And the “BAM!! RIGHT ON THE HEAD!!” And they used Bon Ami! And the…well, you know Alma.
I wish I could say something more in depth, but all I can muster is Crimson Peak sucked. Would replace with 1979’s The Ammityville Horror.Dark Water isn’t very good either, The Others would be higher for me, The Orphanage lower, and could a case be made for Dana’s apartment in Ghostbusters?
Crimson Peak is mediocre, but so is the Amityville Horror – replacing one with the other is just an age before beauty thing.
I would honestly call Amityville Horror the worst horror film to have any significant cultural penetration. The pacing in that one is so bad, because they’re faithfully following a bad lie- there’s no sense of escalation or growing dread, just random supernatural shit keeps happening until it’s time for the end. When Margot Kidder can’t save your movie you’re in trouble.
The annoying thing about Crimson Peak is that the haunted house stuff all ended up being misdirection
I wouldn’t even consider them a misdirection. The lead essentially had a series of ghosts trying to keep her alive while she was stuck in a scenario that was a combination of Misery and Pride and Prejudice while in a love triangle with a Jotunn and a Jaeger pilot.
Yeah, I would have liked Crimson Peak better if it actually were the haunted house movie the promotional material made it look like
I loved the others. The twist got me good.Anybody else remember a movie (I think made for TV) from the 70’s called Crowhaven Farm, starring Hope Lange? Haunted farm movie about Puritans, witches, and suffocation by large rocks. Just terrifying to young me.
OMG, I so loved that movie as a kid. And it’s on YouTube!
No, but anything involving Puritans and witches is likely to be good. These are our gnarly roots.
The Witch is one of most horrific things I’ve seen on screen.
Haven’t seen it, but kudos on the rocks. That was a common way to kill suspected witches in America. No, they didn’t burn them. There was some of that in Europe but here in America we killed them in civilized ways with rocks like good wholesome cavemen.
The Others is rock solid, for sure.
I think the issue is that Crimson Peak isn’t really a ‘horror movie’ despite having horror elements (and being marketed as such). It’s more of a gothic romance murder mystery than something you’d watch for scares.
Pretty much the only thing making the film scary was the ghost design.Though… it was a visual feast in terms of set design and atmosphere.
It sucked so badly. I feel so much second-hand embarrassment for Del Toro.
You can’t do much with a few sets. There just wasn’t much to the house, despite the fact this it’s enormous.
Can’t really fault this. Apart from Crimson Peak – good film but just not scary. Relies too much on CGI, which is saying something for Del Toro.
My recollection was that The Orphanage also has essentially zero scares. But hot damn was it a good movie.
If I was going to chose a Del Toro haunted house movie, I’d pick “The Devil’s Backbone” over Crimson Peak any day.
What about the other House with William Katt?The Orphanage is so good, I’m surprised there hasn’t been an American remake.
Came here to say this.
House was one of the few (semi?) successful blends of comedy and horror out there. Even the first sequel was decent. Watched it a lot back in the 80s and 90s but haven’t seen it in a long while. Going to have to look that one up again.
Arrow usually has all four House blurays on sale.House, House II: The Second Story, House III: The Horror Show, House IV: The Repossession.
Monster House is really good and often talked about as underrated, I guess that may be true since it didnt make this list
I may have moved Poltergeist up a few notches simply because of bias but it really hit and hit well. It was a damn scary movie and it was in the middle of a summer absolutely packed to the gills with now classics which says something.Plus it was the unique story among the haunted house flicks….a haunted house in a normal suburban sprawl and updated modern household. You had the nuclear family with the day to days having to deal with something so off it elicited very real reactions….the mother fascinated (at first), the father wary, the kids rotating between curious to scared outta their gourds.I will say I read the original movie adaptation and wished they had a few things in the movie from it. They had more than a few scenes where one of the family would turn around and find the freaking clown doll sitting someplace where it wasn’t before early in the story. Definitely added some great creep factor to it because they would be this internal monologue of ‘damn kids leaving their toys all over the place’ then them realizing the kids were away all day. People are never attuned to something out of the ordinary until it’s right in front of them and then they make excuses for it even while a bit of consideration may actually make them realize something is rotten in Denmark.
Here I was all set to sign in to mention “The Innocents,” “The Haunting,” “The Changeling” and “The Uninvited” when to my shock they were all here you beautiful thing you.Seriously, check out “The Innocents” and “The Haunting.” Both are master classes in horror filmmaking.
The Haunting demonstrates brilliantly that you don’t need to show the audience anything supernatural or have any jump scares and it can still be terrifying…… well, there is kind of one jump scare at the end of the film when Eleanor suddenly appears in front of the car…
And when that trapdoor opens unexpectedly!
Also the appearance of Mrs. Markway after she’d disappeared into the house. I love this movie.
After a few rather lazy recently published AV Club lists, I am pleasantly surprised they got this one mostly right. The Haunting is as good as it gets. I’d swap out a few of these for A Ghost Story, which is actually less about the ghost and more about the house.
You can complain that they didn’t mention that The Innocents is based on “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James, and that it succeeds despite Deborah Kerr having been at least 15 years too old for the role. And, if you’re in the mood, you can point out that leaving out The Old Dark House is a major lacuna.
Worthwhile trivia about The Haunting: in his commentary to the DVD, Robert Wise mentioned that prior to the making of the film, he discussed the book with Shirley Jackson, and when he suggested that the whole thing is a projection of what’s in the protagonist’s mind, she replied that that was an interesting interpretation, and one that had not previously occurred to her.
She was perfectly at ease with readers interpreting her works in ways she hadn’t imagined. I think she said that once it had been written and published, it was no longer hers, and belonged to the reader. She really enjoyed the various and myriad interpretations of “The Lottery”, and said her favorite was that it was a metaphor for the destructive nature of gossip.
I can guess why it’s not here but SESSION 9 is such a relentlessly unsettling flick (it’s an asylum, not a house; technically not haunted but everything seems haunting). I recommend it A LOT.
Yes, that was an unsettling movie.
Those recordings alone are worth the movie!
Legend of Hell House is great until the resolution, then it kinda falls apart.
I was really excited about Haunted Mansion until I realized it was probably just a two hour commercial for the Disney ride. A good haunted house movie is hard to find but it’s my favorite sub-genre of horror, particularly if it’s fun and the scares outweigh the gore. I’m happy to see some classics on this list, and some of my favorites.The Changeling is a standout in my opinion and one many don’t know about. What I love most about it isn’t just the house and the haunting, but how late ‘70s Seattle really plays a supporting character. I’m morbidly fascinated with mid-century urbanism, particularly the disparity between extreme wealth and extreme blight, and how they occasionally shared a space. It wasn’t unheard of for moderately wealthy people, or even ordinary ones, to rent or buy dilapidated mansions just to keep them from falling into disrepair. So much from that era is prime real estate for haunted house fodder.The only one I would have added is Housebound (thank you for not including either of The Haunting of… series). Housebound’s one of those oddball down under films you stumble upon on Netflix and decide to give a go; a rare gem in a library of duds. New Zealand doesn’t make a lot of movies, but when they do, they do it right.
I absolutely love The Changeling. Such an under the radar spookfest. The bang bang bang bangs echoing throughout that huge house are terrifying—and that planchette session! And I love when he finds the boarded up room. It’s an amazing movie. I usually make a point of watching it every few years.
I thought of another oddball film haunted house aficionados might have missed: 2020’s You Should Have Left. It’s not great, but it was clearly influenced by Mark Danielewski’s book, “House of Leaves,” which in my opinion is the definitive haunted house book, namely that as you read on you begin to realize that the book itself is the house. A running theme in the book – that the house measures larger on the inside than the outside – is only subtly expressed in the film, but that’s the kind of eerie dreaminess that taps into the best haunted house ideas. I also liked 1986’s House. I’d add It, either one, though the first was a miniseries.
The first It had one hell of a child’s cast. Every one of the Losers was incredible. (The adults were a more mixed bag.) As terrible as the SFX were at the end (it was TV in the early ‘90s), the performances were terrific. My favorite shot was Ben’s dead dad waving at him across the pond and gradually turning into Pennywise.
Any such list that doesn’t include “The Legend of Hell House” fails miserably. And c’mon — as wonderful as it is, “Beetlejuice” is a comedy, not a horror film…
In my opinion, one of the most underrated horror movies, and the most underrated haunted house movie, is Skeleton Key. Jordan Peele’s Get Out so brazenly rips off Skeleton Key scene by scene, not to mention it’s unique premise and ending, I’m amazed more people haven’t called out critics for praising Peele’s unauthorized adaptation while panning the original.And Skeleton Key has the good lines: “I bet they don’t have gardens like this in New Jersey.”
“Actually, it’s the Garden State.”“I very much doubt that!”In a fairly critiqued world, Gena Rowlands’, “Child, I believe you broke my legs,” would be as household as “Here’s Johnny!”
In my opinion, one of the most underrated horror movies, and the most underrated haunted house movie, is Skeleton Key. Jordan Peele’s Get Out so brazenly rips off Skeleton Key scene by scene, not to mention it’s unique premise and ending, I’m amazed more people haven’t called out critics for praising Peele’s unauthorized adaptation while panning the original.I liked Skeleton Key a lot but never thought of it once while watching Get Out. Thinking about it now I’m still not seeing what’s so similar?
There are a lot of incidental similarities that move the plots along: the best friend with common sense, both are amateur photographers, parental abandonment, blaming the older victim’s outburst on a stroke, the ritual initially passed on to kids, the partner/love interest secretly the enemy, “be careful with the body,” hypnotism, the car crash on the property, the remote setting itself (the modern home in Get Out is a stylistic nod to plantation architecture), and grainy footage of the “Mad Doctor.” But the biggest similarity is the plot itself: transplanting souls into stolen bodies – one through hoodoo and one through science – to potentially live forever. Both the antagonists’ and protagonists’ races are reversed, but both films are very much about race, this admittedly in their own unique ways. Skeleton Key’s commentary on race is less subtle in that it channels back to the root of America’s systemic racism while Get Out is more about the modern prejudices that have since manifested themselves. Peele’s is more nuanced while Kruger’s is more direct; both serve their purposes well. The two films are visually very different. Skeleton Key is in line with horror films of its era, though I’d say Softley elevated it above others like The Ring and The Grudge. It’s more than a popcorn flick. He refused to shoot in Los Angeles, insisting the actors immerse themselves in bayou culture. Instead of building a set, they filmed in a real plantation home to avoid breaks when characters were moving inside and out, something that happens often in a region as hot as Louisiana’s bayous. Get Out, on the other hand, is signature Peele. And I mean that as a compliment. The man has a vision and voice that defies genre; a style that demands its own alongside Lynch and Kubrick. I love his work. Us was amazing. That’s what makes it so frustrating to recon with how much he borrowed from a movie panned by critics while his ironically won an award for Best Original Screenplay.
Inspiration, or even borrowing heavily from other films, isn’t uncommon. Softley even commented on the comparisons, stating, “It’s not unprecedented and you could argue it’s legitimate that one film is influenced by another. It happens all the time and the best people do it,” conceding he enjoyed Get Out. But for fans of both Skeleton Key and Jordan Peele, the similarities were disappointing. At the end of Get Out, I was blown away. Not because of the twist, but because I knew the exact twist that was coming.
A lot of those things are superficial and found in a lot of other movies as well, though. They’re very familiar horror tropes. Get Out has explicit nods in it to some of its obvious inspirations, but I’d be surprised if Skeleton Key was that high on the list of them if it was there at all. I knew had a pretty good idea of that type of plot it would be from the commercials because it looked like The Stepford Wives, despite that not being about identity transferrence.
No love for House? The “good” one with George Wendt that had a wacky sequel that went full comedy and involved ghost cowboys and the Crystal skull.
I try to avoid all horror movies but I still get drawn in. The Others featured a house that, to me, felt like a living organism and what better way to make a dwelling symbolic of those who lived and died in it? A haunted house should be a character. I have to vote for Poltergeist too. Damn, a whole subdivision full of horror. Your house is next, neighbor. And the Haunting’s house was so intricate and elaborate that you just have to love it for existing.
I feel like the apartment building from Rosemary’s Baby should be here,
Not a haunted house (or is it?) but the mansion in The Hunger was incredibly atmospheric in a scary/sexy kind of way.Everyone should see that Bowie/Deneuve/Sarandn film. It was also Willem Dafoe’s ‘breakout’ role – two whole shots! But so well played.
I’m not sure it belongs in the top 22, but I recall seeing Burnt Offerings when it came out in 1976, and I loved it! Anyone else remember it?
With regards to “The Innocents”….“Ah, hello, you’re the new governess. I’m the housekeeper, Mrs. Gross. We should talk. You may have heard what happened to the previous governess; bad business all around, mind you. The children have just about gotten over it; I strongly advise not bringing it up with them. At all. Also, this is a very big and old house. Too big for just the four of us, if you ask me. If I were you, I’d invite the neighbors over. Get to know people, bring some life to this place. At least ask the vicar ‘round for tea once a week or so.”
I think I would toss in Burnt Offerings before Crimson Peak.
Nice selection. Would add Burnt Offerings and not that many more.I don’t know if people are aware of Poltergeist being the first contact as a gen x to the horror genre, and how the Spielbergian tone was actually a depth charge to get to the haunted house jumpscares that really really scared us, or at least me when I was not even entering puberty.
Good call on the 1989 Woman in Black – alongside Salem’s Lot it traumatised a generation of British 80s TV watchers.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/aug/07/the-woman-in-black-britain-horror-film-herbert-wise
I love that TV thing from the UK, the one with Parkinson. Clever and scary.
As of last week I would have said that UK television rarely commits to the big hoax these days, but then this week Channel 4 went big. It’s just a shame that now that we have more than 3 or 4 channels these things don’t have the same impact.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jul/26/british-miracle-meat-story-behind-one-best-hoaxes-tv-history
Actually a pretty good list, I think. Nice to see The Innocents and The Haunting (a great double feature) up high. Also loved the Japanese Dark Water.
While maybe not quite a great movie, I was surprised not to see Burnt Offerings which seems to have been rediscovered recently.
Just dropped in to say – The Innocents at number one? Perfect choice. One of the scariest movies ever, with not one special effect. (Well, there are a few lighting tricks if that counts.)
I have no skin in this game but it’s weird to call a movie the scariest film of all time and then rank it #18
Nice list—there’s a few I need to check out for sure.The one thing I’d add—and given that ‘found footage’ films are not everyone’s cup of tea—is Hell House, LLC. It’s a good, simple and plausible premise (entrepeneur starts an ‘underground, viral haunted house’ that moves from creepy location to creepy location each year, and this year they chose poorly). Those fucking clowns are nightmare fuel even before they…get a lot scarier. The fourth film in the franchise just released on Shudder so they’re milking it for all it’s worth, but the first one is very effective, and the sequels are even decent—retreads of the first, of course, but still manage to have their own moments while expanding on the original.