by Stacey A. Smith

Created on: January 31, 2009

What is the Horror movie genre's favorite and most easiest set-up? The haunted house. In a horror movie, the haunted house sets the scene for most anything to happen: ghosts, crazy people living under the stairs, dead bodies reappearing, etc. And haunted house movies are personally my favorites of all the types of horror movies. That being said, there are many to choose from but I will share my two of my personal favorites.

The Shining (1980) is the king-daddy of all haunted house movies. Although it is set in a hotel (imagine a really big house), the story is highly unsettling with a realistic-feeling. Based on a short story by horror author Stephen King, it was director Stanley Kubrick who's vision brilliantly translated the story to the screen. The storytelling is layered with such anticipation that it builds and builds until the climax when you are sure the main character Jack has gone mad.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"...who hasn't heard of that line? The plot is quite basic actually, a family becomes the caretakers for a hotel with an unusual dark history during the winter season while its closed. From there the movie takes on a realistic day by day feeling. The filming is more about what is not said and shown than what is and leads to horrifying results. *Spoliers* The scene where Jack is talking to the old caretaker, Jeeves, in the ballroom and the viewer comes to realize that everyone in the room dancing is dead, is extremely chilling. And the end where you see the picture from the 1920's and finally realize that the caretaker has always been Jack and he's always been there is just an amazing ending. The Shining is just a great example of a haunted house movie.

The AmityvilleHorror (originally 1979) is anotherfine example of a great movie about a haunted house. Based on a true story the film begins when a couple, just married, moves into a house in the country where the previous inhabitants were murdered. The family begins to experience strange manifestations that will drive them away. This movie was more recently remade with the same scary seventies vibe yet with better acting and special effects. The key to this movies success is the believability that it was based on a true story, that somewhere a family experienced a lot of what is in the movie. That makes it doubly spooky.

So, whether its these two great examples of Haunted House movies or two others, the horror genre will always rely on its old standby to scare viewers with the classic Haunted House.

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