CAST
JULIE HARRIS, CLAIRE BLOOM, RICHARD JOHNSON, LOIS MAXWELL, RUSS TAMBLYN

DIRECTED BY
ROBERT WISE

This classic laid the ground rules for haunted house movies. Based on the seminal novel “The Haunting of Hill House”, The Haunting focuses on a group of four characters who stay at a haunted mansion in search for paranormal activity. Chilling atmosphere, smouldering sexual tension, great set design and innovative direction from Robert Wise still makes The Haunting one hell of a spooky movie.

CAST
GEORGE C. SCOTT, TRISH VAN DEVERE, MELVYN DOUGLAS, JOHN COLICOS, JEAN MARSH

DIRECTED BY
PETER MEDAK

No, not the Clint Eastwood film. The Changeling is an overlooked haunted house classic which starred George C. Scott as a composer dealing with the loss of his family while dealing with a spectre haunting his rented home. Great direction from Peter Medak and an excellent soundtrack are just a couple of reasons why The Changeling should be in any horror buffs collection, while an eerie séance scene belongs in the top tiers of all time scariest movie moments.

CAST
DEBORAH KERR, PAMELA FRANKLIN, MEGS JENKINS, MICHAEL REDGRAVE, MARTIN STEPHENS, PETER WYNGARDE

DIRECTED BY
JACK CLAYTON

A commanding lead performance from Deborah Kerr headlines the spooky thrills of The Innocents, taking the haunted house movie to chilling new heights in its tale of depraved spirits hounding the children of a broken aristocratic family. It’s up to Kerr’s governess to put an end to the haunting. Based on the classic Henry James ghost story “The Turn of the Screw” this is one moody, dark haunted house movie which still has an impact some 50 years later.

CAST
KATIE FEATHERSTON, MICAH SLOAT

DIRECTED BY
OREN PELI

Oren Peli’s low budget thriller Paranormal Activity took the world by storm with tis simple handheld theatrics and brooding menace. The film focused on a middle class couple who have to deal with a demonic presence haunting their every move, and left many viewers with sleepless nights afterwards. Two equally chilling sequels were spawned from the success of this original, with a fourth entry on the way.

CAST
BELEN RUEDA, MONTSERRAT CARULLA, FERNANDO CAYO, ROGER PRINCEP, MABEL RIVERA

DIRECTED BY
JUAN ANTONIO BAYONA

Released when Spanish horror was at its apex, The Orphanage is one of the strongest haunted house flicks released in some time, weaving credible scares with strong visuals and featuring a strong leading performance from new queen of horror Belen Rueda.

Produced by the prolific Guillermo Del Toro and directed by Juan Antonio Bayona (his debut), The Orphanage was a breath of fresh air during a time when horror movies concentrated too hard on grossing people out and too little on tone in story.

CAST
NICOLE KIDMAN, JAMES BENTLEY, CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON, FIONNULA FLANAGAN, ALAKINA MANN

DIRECTED BY
ALEJANDRO AMENABAR

Released after The Sixth Sense made Hollywood ghost crazy, The Others also ushered in a rich era of Spanish horror with acclaimed director Alejandro Amendabar taking on classic haunted house conventions and making them anew.

Nicole Kidman does her best Deborah Kerr as Grace Stewart, a mother of two photosensitive children who live in a darkened haunted mansion. Cue creepy bumps in the night and one hell of a twist that innovatively plays with haunted house conventions.

CAST
STEVE JODRELL, DAVID PLEDGER, MARTIN SHARPE, ROSIE TRAYNOR, TALIA ZUCKER

DIRECTED BY
JOEL ANDERSON

Australia’s take on the found footage movie resulted in one of the best Aussie horror and overall haunted house movies in Lake Mungo.

A film that is as heartfelt as it is genuinely frightening, Lake Mungo looks at your typical middle class family who have to contend with ghostly occurrences after one of their own tragically dies. An American remake is one the way, yet it is doubtful it can match the emotion and chills which writer/director Joel Anderson has created here.

CAST
CRAIG T. NELSON, JOBETH WILLIAMS, HEATHER O’ROURKE, BEATRICE STRAIGHT, ZELDA RUBINSTEIN

DIRECTED BY
TOBE HOPPER

This Steven Spielberg conceived, Tobe Hopper directed horror movie remains a haunted house classic and with good reason.

From the superb special effects to its perfectly staged scares where even the backyard tree becomes a monster, Poltergeist upped the ante in terms of what a haunted house movie could deliver with its story of a middle class American family hounded by a pesky spirit with bad intentions both an entertaining and scary one.

CAST
JACK NICHOLSON, SHELLY DUVALL, DANNY LLOYD, SCATMAN CROTHERS

DIRECTED BY
STANLEY KUBRICK

When Stanley Kubrick turned his perfectionist gaze to horror with his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining, he created one of the genres best movies.

Where other haunted house movies feature a creaky old shack or cobwebbed mansion, The Shining is set in an isolated hotel where novelist Jack Toress (Jack Nicholson) and his family play caretaker during the winter season. Yet it doesn’t take long for the evil spirits within to make themselves known and one “Here’s Johnny!” later, Jack is hunting his family with an axe.

Kubrick created a haunted house horror movie that was psychologically, atmospherically and violently shocking, where rivers of blood run down hallways and spooky British children appear at the end of corridors with nasty intentions. King famously decried Kubrick’s vision of his story, yet the “master of horror” turned out to be the ultimate fool with The Shining still packing a wallop some 32 years on.