Has Hollywood ever made a good "haunted house" movie?

[DrWeird]

I'm trying to think of one, but I can't.

There was the dreck from the last few years: "House of 10,000 Corpses" or whatever it was called.. "What Lies Beneath" (terrrible), "House on Haunted Hill" (Geoffrey Rush? wtf), "The Haunting" with Liam Neison, all just horrible movies. Although I've heard the original "Haunting" is good, I haven't seen it.

The Poltergeist was really good, although it was awfully Speilburgian. Not what I think of when I think of a good horror movie.

There was something called "Hell House" which I only caught the first half of. Seemed decent but haven't found it on video.

Saw that old black and white "Turning of the Screw" which started out OK but stunk on delivery.

You'd think that at least one good one would have been made, but I can't think of one.

[rwenos]

1. "Rebecca"

But it's British, not Hollywood.

Best ghost story written in the 20th century, in my book.

[rednek_Liberal]

2. The Entity

especially if you like supernatural sex scenes.

[CatWoman]

5. The Entity rocks

there is also a movie, "The Haunted".

Made in the late 80's.

Ghosts attack a family to run them away, then the evil spirits follow them.

[Fenris]

3. The original "Haunting"

If you prefer atmosphere to gore, check out the original version. "The Others" is also an excellent atmospheric "haunted house" movie.

[CatWoman]

7. Fenis is a really scary movie too, I hear

:P

[Fenris]

8. So is "CatWoman" LOL

:D

[CatWoman]

11. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

GODDAMMIT!!!

Touche!!!!!!!!!!

:D

[Doug Decker]

4. "The Haunting"

the one from the sixties, was probably the scariest movie I've ever seen.

[Individualist]

23. Agree!

Although viewers never see a "ghost", so much is left to the imagination. I also was impressed with the way it focused on Eleanor's neuroses. Julie Harris was perfect for that part.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

6. The Others.... Wow!

And 13 ghosts was fun as well.

Haunting of Hell House good too.

[leeman67]

15. I thought of The Others as well, but then realized it's

probably more of straight up ghost story. But a good one at that.

[gmoney]

9. The Shining?

"Here's Johnny!"

Some might question if it's a haunted house movie... haunted resort hotel is just splitting hairs.

Oh, and "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" is sublime, too.

[DrWeird]

14. Ah! Can't believe I forgot that!

But, like The Poltergeist, it's not really a straightforward haunted house movie in a conventional sense. But a very, very good film.

[jpgray]

10. Beetlejuice

Stretching the term a little, but it's still a haunted house movie. :D

[capriccio]

12. OMG!

Poltergeist...the best!

[leeman67]

13. Would The Shining qualify as a "haunted house" movie?

Well, perhaps not. It's amazing how inept Hollywood has been at making good haunted house movies. You wouldn't think it would be that hard.

(I did enjoy Poltergeist when it first came out back in '82).

[rednek_Liberal]

18. No technically thats a psycho-killer movie.

But the Hotel is kinda the biggest star in the movie , so then again maybe it could.

[sundog]

16. "Amityville Horror" & "Burnt Offerings"

"Amityville" gave me nightmares & then some (especially the part with Jodie the pig).

"Burnt Offerings" might suck if I saw it today, but it scared the shit out of me as a kid (the garderner with the mirror glasses).

Also "The Changeling" has a cult following.

I didn't think What Lies Beneath was that terrible. Good audience movie. I think Zemeckis is good at what he does.

[CatWoman]

20. Two movies that ALWAYS give me the willies

The Exorcist and Night of the Living Dead.

[Wickerman]

17. The Ghost and Mr Chicken

http://imdb.com/title/tt0059221/

with Don Knotts

Man, that rocked. Or not.

Luther Heggs is a jerky, quirky typesetter for the town paper who aspires to move up from his basement office to be a full-fledged reporter. He also pines for town babe Alma, who's already seeing the newspaper's main writer, Ollie. The film is centered around the Old Simmons House, which is known as a "murder house" around town due to the murder/suicide of Mr. and Mrs. Simmons 20 years earlier. Rumor has it that you can hear the ghost of Mr. Simmons playing the organ at midnight. To boost newspaper sales, Luther is assigned to spend the night in the house on the night of the 20th anniversary of the murders. All is well until midnight, when Luther sees the old organ begin to play by itself (the film's title tune is used in this and other scences). His story makes him the town hero until Nicholas Simmons, nephew of the deceased couple, sues Luther for liable. In the courtroom, Luther is made to look the fool, but the judge orders the courtroom to the Simmons House at midnight to allow Luther to prove his story. Nothing happens, of course, but after everyone but Luther leaves, the old organ begins to play and he finds Mr. Kelsey, the newspaper's janitor, tickling the keys...

[Bossy Monkey]

19. "House" scared me to death

but a) I'm probably unique in this regard; and b) it's more of an animated-house movie than a haunted-house movie. I forget if it was Miner or Cunningham (I think the latter); one of the Friday the 13th hacks anyway. Better than that series at least.

[Tom Kitten]

21. "The Uninvited"

From 1944, starring Ray Milland, I think this the first serious "haunted house" movie. It's quite good, very atmospheric, and like all good ghost movies leaves it up to your imagination.

Like the others who mentioned it, the original "The Haunting" from 1964 is the best...It still creeps me out, but the novel it's based on, "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson is even creepier!

"the Legend of Hell House" from 1973 with Roddy McDowell is also good, but the plot parallels "The Haunting" in a lot of ways.

and yes...that movie "The Haunted"...I saw it on the Sci-Fi network awhile back and it is quite scary, for a more modern day movie!
And I would consider "The Shining" a haunted house movie... although the house is a hotel, it is full of ghosts that are quite malevolent and it has a lot of really creepy scenes...

[Swede]

22. The Sentinel was pretty scary.

It still holds up today.