Wednesday, July 30, 2014

My Favorite Haunted Houses

Right now, haunted house movies are a making a comeback. A remake of Poltergeist comes out next year, another installment of The Amityville Horror franchise does aswell. Not to mention, Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak.

With all this happening, I took a little bit of time to think about my favorite haunted houses in TV/film and decided to share my list with you. This list is in no real order, however.

Murder House (American Horror Story) - I refuse to go into full detail on the haunting of "Murder House" in American Horror Story season one. It would ruin what I consider to be some of the best television I've ever seen. But I will say this, the things that happen inside Murder House are pretty terrifying. The first season is on Netflix and with the Halloween season approaching quickly, this should be added to your watch list.

The Amityville Horror House - Regardless of how you feel about the real life occurrences, or lack thereof if that is your point of view, the house is famous. It also has had a long and sordid past in motion pictures. The original cannot be topped, but many have tried. I look forward to the next film in the series, as it should be interesting to return to the house for the first time in ten years (As The Amityville Haunting does not count).

The House on Haunted Hill - If you can survive a night in this house, you get $10,000...if not, you'll wind up dead. The House on Haunted Hill is a classic. Not only is the house extremely spooky, what is inside is just as bad. This film proves that people can be just as terrifying as ghosts. The House was turned into a former insane asylum for the remake, but it works just as well.

Hill House (The Haunting) - Toted as one of the scariest films of all time, The Haunting features Hill House, not to be confused with the above house. The film revolves around the notion of a person, as well as the house, being haunted. Sadly, the legacy of this house is tarnished by an inferior remake, but you can always cling to the perfect original.

House - Of all the haunted houses, this one has some of the strangest stuff occurring. Roger Cobb, probably based on Stephen King, decides to live in his aunt's house after her passing, the disappearance of his son, and a separation from his wife. Things get weird when he becomes attacked by monsters and discovers a portal to the otherworld in his bathroom. If I had to say, House is the weirdest haunted house movie you will probably ever see. And, if you can brave it, there are three more "stories".

The Freeling House (Poltergeist) - In the quite community of Cuesta Verde, there is a house...built on top of a graveyard. The family inside is dealing with those repercussions. Of all the houses on this list, this one is the scariest. Why? Because the exterior is not scary. If you were to drive past this house, you'd never know that the family inside was experiencing such a horrific ordeal.

Bad Dream House (The Simpsons) - Featured in the first Treehouse of Horror episode, Bad Dream House is an amalgam of various houses on this list. Built on an Indian burial ground, looking like Amityville on the side, like a mix of The Addams House and The Munsters House in the front, and destroyed like The Freeling House, it's almost perfect. Bad Dream House lives on as one of the best segments of the Treehouse of Horror series.

Rose Red - From the mind of Stephen King mixed with The Winchester Mystery House wrapped up in a cocoon of The Haunting of Hill House, comes Rose Red. Airing in 2002 and lasting four hours, Rose Red is something I keep coming back to. I am enticed by every aspect of the house and in this four hour miniseries, I was legitimately scared a number of times. You can't help but watch it all in one sitting.

So, make some popcorn and be prepared to be scared. If you planned to sleep tonight, I'm sorry.

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