shining
Home is Where the HAUNT Is. Hollywood’s Scare Affair with the Haunted House
Callaghan
Hollywood’s Scare Affair with the Haunted House By Callaghan
Every community has one, or so the rumors say. Surely you’ve heard tell of your own hometown’s version. You know the “condemned convalescent home” or the “slice ‘n dice bed ‘n breakfast”, or even the “vexed axe lady”. Whatever it was.
It didn’t take Hollywood long to realize that the INT. HAUNTED HOUSE - NIGHT was a setting that audiences would keep coming back to. And they would not have to spend the night inside (as their neighborhood chums as doubled-dared them to back home.) No sir, here in the theatre’s dark spooky auditorium, those brave souls would only have to spend an hour and a half, maybe two…
From The Cat and the Canary to What Lies Beneath - from Old Dark House to Session 9…
How do you know which phantasm flat you’ll want to visit? Which spectral suburbs are not to be missed? Welcome to Callaghan Haunted Tours. If you’ll look out the window to your left, you’ll see…
The Essential Ten
Haunted House Films
The Shining
#1 The Shining (1980)
The Overlook Hotel does act as a temporary residence…Which is good enough for me, but not so much for the Family Torrence.
Haunted By:
-Lloyd the Bartender
-The Grady Family
-Bathtub Broad (shivers)
-Bear Suit Guy (shivers harder)
Poltergeist
#2 Poltergeist (1982)
“They’re here,” said Carol Anne way back in 1982…and “they” subsequently never left our collective consciousness.
Haunted By:
-The “T.V. People”
-Evil Clown Toy
-One Crazy Tree (that used to scare me shitless)
The Haunting
#3 The Haunting (1963)
Director Robert Wise showed the Haunted House fable in all its chilling glory…Quite the departure from his films “The Sound of Music” and “West Side Story”.
Haunted By:
-The Hill House Posse
The Changeling
#4 The Changeling (1980)
One of the scariest films ever, I kid you not…Carried on the acting shoulders of one George C. Scott.
Haunted By:
-Girly girl
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, !
#5 Beetlejuice (1988)
One of Tim Burton’s most bizarrely bad ass creations, Beetlejuice has the unusual power to scare the laugh out of you.
Haunted By:
-I can’t say (seeing as that would be three times)
-Adam
-Barbara
The Legend of Hell House
#6 The Legend of Hell House (1973)
Considered the “Mount Everest” of haunted houses, Hell House is well worth the climb.
Haunted By:
-My Man Belasco
-A Surprise Guest
The Others
#7 The Others (2001)
Proof positive that lackluster remakes are not the way to go if you want to tell a good Haunted House story today.
Haunted By:
-A Great Big Spoiler Alert
The Innocents
#8 The Innocents (1961)
A How-To for crafting good, rounded gothic ghost tales on-screen is this.
Haunted By:
-Miss Jessel
-Peter Quint
-Eerie Atmospheric Filmmaking
Burnt Offerings
#9 Burnt Offerings (1976)
Who woulda thunk that a Bette Davis, Oliver Reed and Burgess Meredith flick could be so disturbing?
Haunted By:
-One Bitch of a House
House on Haunted Hill
#10 House on Haunted Hill (1959)
With this being a Haunted list, I was enticed…to include the irreplaceable Vincent Price.
Haunted By:
-B Movie Goodness
-Things That Go Awesome in the Night
Happy Halloween From Cineobscure!!
Cheers,
Callaghan
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If you like this then please subscribe to the AFI’s DISRESPECT AND SHUNNING OF THE HORROR FILM.
AFI. The American Film Institute. Recently gave us yet another list, the 10 Top 10. Covering categories from Comedy to Drama to Animation and Western, Sports and Mystery. Noticeably off the list ? The category of Horror.
Horror and the art of scaring audiences has been around for a hundred years, not too mention old legends of folklore and Fairy Tales for children. The genre is a staple of Cinema and storytelling as a whole. Why the omission ?
Nate Yapp put it nicely over at Classic Horror with the following word bite on AFI’s Top 100 (100 Years, 100 Movies)
A scant four horror films were worthy of the AFI’s mention: Psycho (#14), King Kong (#41), Jaws (#56), and The Sixth Sense (#89). Significant amongst the omitted is Frankenstein, which held the 87th slot on the same list ten years ago.
I’m not sure which I’m more annoyed with — the poor representation of the genre in general, or the dropping of what I consider to be the cultural milestone in Hollywood Horror. I’m not going to dig into their other selections; each film on the list has its champions and they have spoken. It’s just a bummer that the AFI’s creative think tank is treating horror like the poor cousin. Given the glitzy Hollywood focus of the list, I’m not expecting Night of the Living Dead to make the cut, but why not Rosemary’s Baby? If not The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, what about The Exorcist (which is not a film I enjoy, but it made #3 on the AFI’s own 100 Years… 100 Thrills list)?
1922’s Nosferatu
Makes no sense to me and is a virtual slap in the face to all moviegoers. We’re not talking about harcore horror or cultish fanboy stuff, I’m talking about omitting some of the greatest films in history, films that scare people and leave legitimate impact on them.
Whether outright horror (looks like, tastes like, feels like; it must be …) or horror sub-genres, Great, great films have been made that are screaming for attention
Four films listed on this one, and not a single category of respect in their latest 10 Top 10. I personally don’t even consider Animated Films to be real films (it’s my own spin) and am wondering how they could not come up with the Top 10 Best ever horror films for the respect of the genre.
Many a director has gotten their start in horror while others, even great ones have built entire bodies of work in the subject matter.
The Masta
Masters of the genre:
John Carpenter (The Thing, Escape from New York, The Fog, Halloween), Alfred Hitchcock, forever known as the Master of Suspense (The Birds, Psycho) , Brian De Palma (Carrie, Dressed To Kill, Sisters), Cronenberg (Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly), George Romero (The Dead Trilogy), Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead Series), Dario Argento (Suspiria), Lucio Fulci, Wes Craven (The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street), Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects) and Richard Donner (The Omen)
Not too mention, notable Directors who got their start in Horror
Peter Jackson (Bad Taste, Heavenly Creatures, The Frighteners) and Steven Spielberg (Jaws) come to mind. I would love to see Steven tackle a legitimate horror film.
Which brings me to my (and it seems many) all time favorite horror films. It takes a lot to scare m in a movie, to really have any kind of serious affect. I’m making this list an unofficial AFI list, it is authoritative.
10. Salem’s Lot
‘Salem’s Lot is a 1975 horror novel written by Stephen King, and was the author’s second published novel. The title King originally chose for his book was Second Coming, but he later decided on Jerusalem’s Lot. The publishers, Doubleday, shortened it to the current title, thinking the author’s choice sounded too religious.
I don’t think there’s ever been a film that scared me more that was a Made For TV movie. Directed by Tobe Hooper, this film left scars on my child hood ass.
9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film written, directed, and produced by Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel. So bizarre it could happen. Which is exactly what makes a horror film scary. Realizing that it could be you.
8. Carrie
Carrie is a 1976 American horror film directed by Brian De Palma and written by Lawrence D. Cohen, based on the novel by Stephen King. The film and the novel deal with a socially outcast teenage girl, Carrie White, who discovers she possesses telekinetic powers after being subjected to both physical and mental harassment by her peers, teachers, and her mother. The film stars Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Betty Buckley, Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, William Katt and John Travolta.
Regarded as a watershed in the horror genre and is arguably one of best feature film adaptations of a Stephen King work.
7. Rosemary’s Baby
Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into an apartment in a building with a bad reputation. They discover that their neighbours are a very friendly elderly couple named Roman and Minnie Castevet, and Guy begins to spend a lot of time with them. Strange things start to happen: a woman Rosemary meets in the washroom dies a mysterious death, Rosemary has strange dreams and hears strange noises and Guy becomes remote and distant. Then Rosemary falls pregnant and begins to suspect that her neighbours have special plans for her child.
6. Jaws
Favorite film of all time, first film I remember seeing. My brother asked me “Jaws ? A horror film?” I said “Can you go in the ocean and not think for just one moment that Bruce is coming?”
5. Night of the Living Dead
Played to death in the public domain, I remember seeing this growing up and being mesmerized by how freaked out I was.
Here, watch the entire film for free
4. The Exorcist
Ain’t no intro needed
3. Psycho
2. The Shining
1. Halloween
Channel 4 recreates The Shining Tracking Shot !
I found this courtesy of AICN via Movie City News. Not one who finds contentment in pillaging and plundering other sites scoops, but I’m headed out to the Gaslamp and I don’t have time to go shot by shot through my next Visual Language Series.
When I was younger, I didn’t get Kubrick. Always a fan of The Shining, but never much a fan of the man himself. That is until I started paying attention and growing my own internal palette of cinematic influence. As I investigated his work further, I discovered I was indeed a fan of this genius filmmaker; Lolita, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket being among my favorites.
This recreated tracking shot by Channel 4 of The Shining is just too good to not post here. Walk in Kubrick’s shoes as he prepares to shoot the Hallway scene from the film. Turning the corner only to walk through the ice maze stage is a virtual treat.
Source: Channel 4 Creative Services
From Channel 4:
Channel 4 has painstakingly recreated the set of Stanley Kubrick horror film The Shining, complete with look-a-likes of the crew and cast members including Shelley Duvall, for a TV ad to promote a More 4 season of the director’s films.
The 65-second promotional spot has been filmed as a one-take tracking shot through the