The ghost story has proven to be a very popular theme in horror cinema. It is the monster you often don’t see. It allows filmmakers to marry mystery and suspense with jump-out-of-your-seat moments that bring both instantaneous shock value as well as lingering malevolence that buries itself under the skin.
The best ghost stories in cinema play on the absence of tangible danger meaning just about anything, from the mundane to the extraordinary, can prove deadly.
What are the best films about ghosts and haunted houses?
Ghosts – more than any other cinematic monster – provide the horror filmmaker with the opportunity to influence the audience to scare themselves. In other words: the most effective scary ghost stories in film often torment their audiences by stimulating the imagination. Just as Steven Spielberg taught us in Jaws, sometimes the scariest thing “on screen” is what you’re not actually seeing.
There’s also the overpowering sense of dread that comes from the fact this “monster” doesn’t need to open doors or break through walls to get you. It’s horror born from an ethereal threat.
This is what stays with the viewer after the credits have rolled; when you’ve gone home, curled up in bed, and turned off the light. The door might be locked, the windows might be closed, the room may seem empty but the ghost could be there – watching, waiting, contemplating its first move…
Let’s check out some of the scariest movies featuring ghosts…
The Shining
Dir. Stanley Kubrick (1980, USA)
“Here’s Johnny” – the infamous line spoken by Jack Nicholson as he bashes his way through a locked bathroom door to terrorise his petrified wife and young son. The woman and the boy had locked themselves in the bathroom to escape the once-loving husband and father, now an axe-wielding madman driven crazy by the collection of sadistic ghosts that reside at the Overlook Hotel.
They had moved into the hotel when Nicholson’s character Jack Torrance took over winter caretaking duties during the out-of-season period when the hotel sits dormant. During their time there, Jack struggles to write his novel while their son Danny begins to see the apparitions of two young girls.
Jack sees other apparitions including the ghost of Grady, the hotel’s previous caretaker, who tells him he must “correct” his wife and son. Given Grady’s shady (and murderous) past this almost certainly means death. Meanwhile, Danny’s ability to “shine”, or see glimpses of the past including the ghosts themselves, allows him to pre-empt his father’s breakdown.
This fascinating film is one of the finest of the 1980s and the best movie adaptation of renowned horror novelist Stephen King. Kubrick immerses the story in an icy chill, visualised in the snow drifts that imprison the huge hotel while also being apparent in the ominous, overpowering size of the building and in the cracking bonds that once held this family unit together.
Don’t Look Now
Dir. Nicolas Roeg (1973, UK)
Similar to The Wicker Man, Nicolas Roeg’s film, which has been described as as “a ghost story for adults”, has an ending that will shock, infuriate, and unnerve. Telling the story of a couple who have yet to recover from the trauma of losing their daughter to drowning, Laura (Julie Christie) and John (Donald Sutherland) have retreated to Europe while John works on the restoration of a church in Venice.
Laura begins meeting a clairvoyant who claims to be in contact with their dead daughter. As Laura becomes more obsessed with the possibility of speaking to their child beyond the grave, John is distanced, disbelieving in such activity. But he keeps seeing a figure in a red coat who resembles his child.
Questioning his own sanity the film climaxes with one of the most memorable final sequences in horror cinema. Roeg’s use of visual motifs and the Venetian backdrop make Don’t Look Now a visually spectacular horror movie, and one that lingers in the mind long after the credits have rolled.
The Fog
Dir. John Carpenter (1980, USA)
John Carpenter’s The Fog has a classic campfire ghost story quality about it that gives it a sort of timeless aura, the kind of film you return to for a “good scare”. It’s still a thrilling experience from a director at the top of his game; the deep focus widescreen frame’s extremities invaded by the supernatural fog. Carpenter says was inspired by the 1958 British film The Trollenberg Terror about monsters hiding in the clouds.
The Conjuring
Dir. James Wan (2013, USA)
The inaugural Conjuring Universe film concerns the Perron family. After they move into an old farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island with their five daughters, strange things begin happening. The clocks stop at 3.07am every night, birds fly kamikaze style into windows, and the dog mysteriously dies. While the children appear to endure the brunt of the nightly supernatural events, forcing the family to sleep downstairs all together for their own safety, it is mother Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor) who begins to form unexplainable bruises on her body. In their desperation they reach out to renowned paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren for help.
The Conjuring 2
Dir. James Wan (2016, USA)
The Conjuring 2 boasts moments of real terror that will thrill both casual horror fans and the more hardened aficionado. One sequence sees the ghost of an old man manifest itself as Patrick Wilson’s paranormal investigator Ed Warren tries to communicate with it. Wan allows the scene to play out largely in a single take with the ghostly manifestation remaining out of focus in the background. It’s a delightfully effective way to raise the hairs on your neck.
Another sequence involves Vera Farmiga’s psychic Lorraine Warren finding out that a painting might have a life of its own. The figure in the artwork by her husband depicts a deeply unsettling image of a ghostly nun with piercing yellow eyes – imagine a 60-year-old Marilyn Manson auditioning for Sister Act. It just goes to show what can be achieved from a simple image
Under The Shadow
Dir. Babak Anvari (2016, UK/Jordan/Qatar)
Under the Shadow’s neat trick is to slowly unveil its supernatural malevolence amidst unnerving realism. It’s where Islamic folklore in the guise of “djinn”, better known in Christian faiths as demons, and the fall of Iraqi bombs during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, combine to unsettle through strange, inexplicable occurrence and the tragic weight of socio-political struggle. Here – in Tehran – a defiant mother (Narges Rashidi) battens down the hatches with her young daughter, compelled to stay at home despite the terrors emerging both outside and in.
Paranormal Activity
Dir. Oren Peli (2007, USA)
Ghosts are perfect fodder for the found footage genre as director Oren Peli proved. Paranormal Activity enjoyed phenomenal success at the box office, striking a chord with audiences and winning acclaim and adoration through word-of-mouth in a similar way to The Blair Witch Project. And rightly so, given the director’s smartly orchestrated scares and tension-filled build-up to a haunting climax. The performances are also a cut above the usual level you see in the genre.
The Innocents
Dir. Jack Clayton (1961, UK)
The influence of The Innocents cannot be ignored. Jack Clayton’s adaptation of Henry James’ novella The Turn of the Screw took the horror genre in a new direction. Through its ornate depiction of late 19th century gothic, the film balances classical familial melodrama in a setting of unfamiliar macabre. Underlining it all is an ambiguous battle between the supernatural and the psychological, the tangible and the intangible.
The Innocents took its subject matter, which includes the strong possibility of paranormal activity occurring in a lavish English countryside mansion, with a seriousness not often seen within the genre by 1961. Previous attempts to popularise horror saw very discernible villains do battle with the power of good (the early Universal monster movies like Dracula and Frankenstein with Bela Legosi and Boris Karloff in the 1930s, or Hammer’s movies with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in the 1950s) leaving less to the imagination in favour of visceral shocks and, latterly, when colour film became prevalent, blood-red gore. The Innocents strips away the artificiality of these monster movies in order to offer something far more riveting. Indeed, in Clayton’s film it isn’t clear who the villain of the piece really is.
It is in this enigmatic prose that the film draws its ability to unnerve and disarm the audience. Much of its success comes from its technical ingenuity such as the use of the wide, letterbox frame to create a sense of spatial disorientation (you never know what might be in the corners) while deep focus and slow dissolves add an immediacy to the drama and an ethereal quality respectively.
Deborah Kerr is also brilliant as the sexually repressed governess Miss Giddens. As the traumatic experiences slowly crack at her strength of character, her psychological downward spiral becomes a captivating emotional struggle. Despite an unrelenting determination to do the right thing for the children in her charge, her antagonist remains distinctly enigmatic. It makes for an experience that unsettles the mind in much the same way as Miss Giddens’ tranquil existence is rattled by the events that take place.
Hereditary
Dir. Ari Aster (2018, USA)
Ari Aster’s feature debut (after a number of highly regarded shorts) possesses a craftsmanship that elevates its effectiveness as a slow-burning, atmospheric horror film. Both its enigmatic qualities and carefully constructed suspense complement its stylistic flourishes, putting it not just in the spiritual domain of genre classics like The Wicker Man and Rosemary’s Baby, but in the same league too.
Framed around the death of an unusual matriarch, Annie Graham (Toni Collette) quickly reveals, by way of her eulogy, a troubled relationship with her mother. She hardly knew her; and in her final days, while living with the family (Annie’s two children Charlie and Peter, and husband Steve) she was largely uncommunicative. But the passing of the old woman appears to open old wounds that begin to show themselves in increasingly disconcerting ways.
The Orphanage
Dir. J. A. Bayona (2007, Spain)
Director Juan Antonio Bayona stylishly tells this traditional ghost story as well-meaning Laura (Belén Rueda) returns to her childhood home – an ex-orphanage – in order to transform the aging building into a care centre for children.
Not long after moving in, her young adopted son develops a peculiar friendship with a boy that no one else sees who he describes as wearing a sack over his head.
Later, Laura’s son goes missing, with not a shred of evidence to his whereabouts uncovered. With the police offering little help, Laura sets out to find her son and begins to find clues that lead her back to the orphanage’s dark past.
Ringu
Dir. Hideo Nakata (1998, Japan)
The inspired premise of Ringu sees a mysterious video killing anyone who views it. Only the one who solves the mystery can stay alive. The film is the highest grossing Japanese horror film of all time, drawing bone-deep dread out of almost every scene to create an atmosphere that truly unsettles. Chilling sound design and haunting imagery helps Ringu create a sense of foreboding that gets under the skin.
The Sixth Sense
Dir. M. Night Shyamalan (1999, USA)
The Sixth Sense has all the chills and twists of a modern supernatural narrative, with all the style of a classic Hollywood movie. Dr Malcolm Crowe is a child psychologist who takes a special interest in eight-year-old Cole Sear. He effectively helps Cole with his dilemma of dealing with the “dead people” who are constantly communicating with him. But Crowe’s dark past is soon to become Cole’s present as the child reveals truths that’ll lead to one of the great Hollywood twist endings.
The Amityville Horror
Dir. Stuart Rosenberg (1979, USA)
Based on a true story, The Amityville Horror looks at the events surrounding the Lutz family’s ill-fated 28-day stay at 112 Ocean Avenue, a Dutch Colonial house in the suburban neighbour of Amityville, New York.
The roots of the story begin in 1974 when the eldest son of the DeFeo family – Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. – shot and killed his mother, father, and four siblings while they slept in their beds at the house. Despite claiming insanity in his defence due to demonic possession, he was later convicted of their murders and is currently serving six concurrent sentences of 25 years to life.
Thirteen months later, the Lutz family move into the house and within 28 days flee for their lives, claiming to have been terrorised by an evil paranormal presence. The Amityville Horror dares to chart their horrifying experience.
Insidious
Dir. James Wan (2010, USA)
INSIDIOUS, Patrick Wilson, 2010. ©FilmDistrict/courtesy Everett Collection
Director James Wan, who would arguably improve upon Insidious by creating the Conjuring Universe in 2013, shows why he’s a great ghost story stylist with this tale of a family terrorised by a demonic spirit. Taking its cues from the likes of The Amityville Horror, Poltergeist and The Exorcist, the film finds a desperate couple calling on the help of paranormal investigators and a psychic after their son’s prolonged coma cannot be explained or treated by conventional medicine.
Insidious: Chapter 3
Dir. Leigh Whannell, (2015, USA)
Given that Insidious: Chapter 3 is as good, or better, than the franchise’s previous instalments makes me wish first-time director Leigh Whannell had stepped behind the lens sooner. The co-creator of the Saw and Insidious films with long-time collaborator and talented filmmaker James Wan, Whannell has preferred to remain in the background but that’s all changed now. His supreme talent for staging suspense from the page is now extended to delivering it through the camera. His achievement is something friend and obvious influence Wan would be proud of; indeed, the director of the first two Insidious movies should be leading a standing ovation.
This chapter in the franchise takes place before the events of the original film, ostensibly providing an origins story for spiritual medium Elise Rainier (the brilliant Lin Shaye) by way of a demon who has attached itself to sweet-natured girl Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott). In trying to contact her recently deceased mother from the beyond the grave Quinn has opened a doorway welcoming a rather nasty spirit with bad feet and breathing problems into her life. She calls on Elise for help but she is at first reluctant given her own problems with an evil ghostly presence. Meanwhile, Quinn’s widowed father (Dermot Mulroney) has an increasing sense of helplessness as his daughter’s predicament worsens.
Ghost Stories
Dir. Andy Nyman/Jeremy Dyson (2017, UK)
Horror and comedy are two genres that are difficult to get right at the best of times. Even more so when you combine the two. Ghost Stories, an anthology of scary supernatural tales in the tradition of Amicus’ output from the 1960s and 1970s, finds a sweet-spot that leans towards genuine scares and sustained suspense with some fleeting moments of sparkling wit.
Written and directed by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson based on their successful stage play, Ghost Stories follows career debunker Phillip Goodman (Nyman) as he investigates three of ageing paranormal investigator Charles Cameron’s unsolved cases.
The writer-director pairing of Nyman and Dyson understand how to build suspense prior to a satisfying pay-off. As well as wonderful use of lighting and sound to create tension, camera position is strategically choreographed to make full use of off-screen space and its associated ambiguity.
Coupled with lots of close-ups to heighten our emotional attachment to the predicaments of the characters and enhance a sense of claustrophobia, Ghost Stories isn’t just technically efficient, but smartly fine-tuned.
Hell House LLC
Dir. Stephen Cognetti (2016, USA)
Even though Hell House LLC, writer-director Stephen Cognetti’s found footage horror film, sticks closely to the conventions of the genre, its mechanics tried and trusted countless times since The Blair Witch Project, it finds an unsettling contemporary niche. Its premise, inspired by a haunted house attraction-gone-wrong, bears the tragic hallmarks of a smartphone-filmed frenzied dash for safety following a terrorist attack.
Premiering in 2015 at the Telluride Horror Show and winning Fear Fete Film Festival’s Best Paranormal Film, Hell House LLC is a great example of the idiom “be careful what you wish for” as a group of immersive theatre professionals attempt to set up a scary haunted house attraction only to find very real supernatural malevolence attacking them with, in some cases, their own props.
The Pit And The Pendulum
Dir. Roger Corman (1961, USA)
Director Roger Corman’s second foray into the world of Edgar Allan Poe is a delightful mixture of gothic camp and the macabre. Led by the incomparable Vincent Price, the classically trained actor picks up where he left off in Corman’s 1960 effort The Fall of the House of Usher. Yet again, he’s in the role of an enigmatic aristocrat, chewing the scenery as Medina family patriarch Nicholas. When his wife mysteriously dies, her brother Francis Barnard (John Kerr) arrives at the Medina castle to find out why. But his attempts to uncover the real truth behind his sister Elizabeth’s (Barbara Steele) passing is met by resistance.
Nicholas firstly claims she died of a rare blood disorder but with his psychological state diminishing his assertions seem unreliable. Fittingly, this is contradicted by Doctor Leon (Antony Carbone) and Nicholas’ own sister Catherine Medina (Luana Anders) who agree that Elizabeth literally scared herself to death. Yet the presence of Elizabeth still lingers, such as the sound of her beloved harpsichord playing by itself in the middle of the night.
Exhuming the body to prove her death reveals why Elizabeth might be rather angry in the afterlife. She was buried alive, confirming a ghastly theory Nicholas had. Further events such as noisy disturbances and the ransacking of her former room suggest her spirit remains at unrest. Perhaps Elizabeth’s ghost is out for revenge, or maybe there is something even more sinister going on.
The Haunting
Dir. Robert Wise (1963, UK)
Based on the book The Haunting of Hill House, Robert Wise’s thrilling ghost story sees a team of paranormal investigators spend a number of nights in a haunted mansion.
Hill House is plagued by death and strange occurrences, ultimately seeing it lay vacant and unused. Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson) is investigating the possibility of ghosts and gains permission to take residence in the house to carry out his experiments.
Far better than the CGI-overloaded 1999 remake, Wise’s film is a technically superior effort that rightfully makes the haunted house a central “character” in this psychological thrill-ride.
The Changeling
Dir. Peter Medak (1980, Canada)
Another ghost story based on supposed real life events, The Changeling takes its inspiration from the experiences of writer Russell Hunter while he lived in the Henry Treat Rogers Mansion of Denver, Colorado.
The film sees composer Dr. John Russell (George C. Scott) having to come to terms with life after the tragic deaths of his wife and daughter in an automobile accident.
Deciding to rent a large Victorian-era mansion that is clearly in need of some tender loving care, it doesn’t take long before things begin going bump in the night.
As John delves into the mansion’s dark past he discovers a family murder and subsequently the young boy who haunts the house. The film is particularly effective in its use of off-screen sound.
The Babadook
Dir. Jennifer Kent (2014, Australia)
Relying more on unsettling its audience through atmosphere than cheap jump scares, which have become the norm for horror movies nowadays, The Babadook is a proper, return-to-form, horror movie that is disturbing and sinister one minute, yet heartfelt and genuinely moving the next.
The performances from both Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman are terrific, and the Babadook itself is one of the scariest monsters ever created. The Babadook breathes new life into the horror genre whilst not being afraid of tackling real fears and emotions.
The Devil’s Backbone
Dir. Guillermo del Toro (2001, Spain/Mexico)
While writer-director Guillermo del Toro would find greater commercial success with 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth, both his 2006 film and this earlier 2001 ghost story would receive similarly widespread critical praise.
This genuinely creepy tale, set during the tail-end of the Spanish Civil War, focuses on an orphanage run by Casares (Federico Luppi) and Carmen (Marisa Paredes).
When a young boy seeks refuge with them he begins to see a ghost-child the other children call Santi. They say he went missing when an unexploded bomb landed in the orphanage’s courtyard.
With a captivating backdrop this intricate story rewards repeat viewing. It also benefits from one of the best jump-out-of-your-seat moments of any ghost story movie.
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Candyman
Dir. Bernard Rose (1990, USA)
Say his name five times into the mirror and he shall appear ready to gut you with his bloody hook. Based on Clive Barker’s short story The Forbidden, the film follows grad student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) as she investigates urban legends.
She is specifically interested in the legend of the Candyman who, having grown up in America as the son of a slave, was once a talented artist during the Civil War era.
He met his traumatic demise after impregnating a white girl, prompting her father to cut off his hand, replace it with a hook and smear his body in honey. He was ultimately stung to death by a swarm of bees. When Helen unwittingly summons his spirit her life is turned upside down.
Bernard Rose’s film perfectly makes use of its backdrop – the Cabrini-Green “projects” – a rundown public housing scheme that, in real life, had become so synonymous with gang violence and poor living conditions the name “Cabrini-Green” was often used to describe the worst American public housing neighbourhoods.
This graffiti-ridden, poverty-stricken social dumping ground presents such an overpowering, ominous aura, that the presence of a frightening evil spirit becomes almost secondary. But that’s what makes The Candyman so damn good.
Stir Of Echoes
Dir. David Koepp (1999, USA)
Stir of Echoes is an absorbing ghost story featuring Kevin Bacon as father and husband Tom Witzky who begins having strange and disconcerting visions after a hypnotherapy session. As hallucinations begin to get more sinister, his family life breaks down as Witzky becomes increasingly aware that a murder may have taken place and the soul of the deceased is trying to reach out to him.
What Lies Beneath
Dir. Robert Zemeckis (2000, USA)
A Hitchcockian supernatural thriller from Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis, the wonderfully stylish What Lies Beneath stars Michelle Pfeiffer as a woman finding herself increasingly questioning her own sanity when paranormal activity begins occurring in the large Vermont home she shares with husband Norman (Harrison Ford). The film features some terrific jump-out-of-your-seat moments and an unexpected twist ending.
Poltergeist
Dir. Tobe Hooper (1982, USA)
The film follows the experiences of the Freeling family after they move into a new home that, unknown to them, was built on an ancient Indian burial ground. Heather O’Rourke as Carol Anne, the Freeling’s youngest daughter, is the pale-faced sweet and innocent child who becomes the target of the evil spirits that plague the house. The film doesn’t overdo the use of special-effects in its playful but frightening depiction of a modern haunted house. Zelda Rubenstein also needs singling out as the unforgettable squeaky-voiced spirit medium Tangina Barrons.
The Entity
Dir. Sidney J. Furie (1982, USA)
This frightening tale sees a woman – Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey) – terrorised by an evil spirit which continually rapes and mutilates her. Fleeing from her home with her children, the entity follows, attacking Carla in her car causing her to lose control. Seeking help from a psychiatrist proves fruitless as the doctor believes Carla’s problem is purely psychological and somewhat self-inflicted. She eventually seeks the help of parapsychologists who begin to investigate the possibility that an evil spirit is targeting her.
The film is effective for a number of reasons, not least Barbara Hershey’s strong performance as a woman breaking down under the constant fear of a tormentor she cannot see. There is also the powerful notion that this sadistic entity can attack at any time with no understanding of its motives and subsequently no way of stopping it. And, like Friedkin’s The Exorcist, The Entity’s depiction of violation, specifically in relation to women, is terrifyingly potent.
The Blair Witch Project
Dir Sanchez/Myrick (1999, USA)
One of the most influential horror films, The Blair Witch Project showed just how well the found footage genre could work, both critically and, importantly, commercially (the two filmmakers who oversaw the entire production became so rich off the back of their debut film, they’ve hardly worked since).
Aside from a brilliant marketing campaign that included a documentary and a website alluding to the idea that the events were real and that the three filmmakers that disappeared in the course of producing the film were really being sought by police, The Blair Witch Project is, plain and simply, a wonderfully frightening experience.
Found footage is aesthetically realistic but as others have discovered before and since, that doesn’t guarantee authenticity. Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick’s film takes a simple premise and makes one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen.
Three student filmmakers take a black and white 16mm camera and a colour video camera into woodland near Burkittsville, Maryland to film a documentary about the mysterious Blair Witch. The legend tells of a crazed hermit who murdered children before turning himself into police claiming he was forced to do it by the spirit of a dead witch.
As the three students carry out their investigation strange things begin to occur such as their tent being attacked in the middle of the night by what sound like a group of children. When they escape the tent they find nothing outside. When one of the group goes missing the realisation sets in that someone or something is pursuing them with deadly intentions. Ultimately, no trace of the group is ever found apart from their cameras. The footage details their traumatic final few days and their terrifying end.
Over to you: what is the best ghost story in film?
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