When the Deetzes returned to their hilltop Victorian in the long-awaited sequel Beetlejuice, viewers were welcomed back home to a familiar horror movie staple too: the haunted house. An imposing space where spirits prey on fears and where a character can run (preferably not down the creaky steps to the basement) but can’t hide, the age-old set piece is still capable of giving viewers the creeps nearly 40 years after the original Tim Burton film—and almost a century since the cinematic archetype’s foundation.
Leonard Maltin, film historian and cohost of the Maltin on Movies podcast, explains, “It doesn’t take much to make us scared inside a haunted house. All we need is an indication or belief that something is there, like a shadow of light through a doorway. Less is more.” The chilling concept dates back to a 1927 silent movie called The Cat and the Canary, in which a family is stalked by a mysterious figure inside a decaying mansion that overlooks New York’s Hudson River.
“The movie became synonymous for a long time with the prototypical old dark house thriller,” Maltin says. Five years later, an entry literally titled The Old Dark House starring Boris Karloff (Frankenstein) and Charles Laughton spooked audiences. In the wake of its success, “the old dark house wasn’t just a title,” Maltin notes. “It was a description and a blueprint for a certain type of horror movie.”
Alfred Hitchcock’s gothic 1940 classic Rebecca puts a twist on the haunted house concept, with a married woman terrorized by the presence of her husband’s first wife inside their mansion. In The House on Haunted Hill (1959), an eccentric millionaire and his wife offer strangers $10,000 to survive a night in their ghost-occupied abode. The concept had staying power, with a 1999 remake starring Geoffrey Rush.
The story of The Amityville Horror (1979) was inspired by the real-life DeFeo family murders in 1974. The Dutch Colonial Revival–style residence, where Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed his family, has since changed its address formally. “You don’t know what’s coming,” Maltin says of the subgenre. “What’s scarier than tiptoeing down that darkened hallway?”
Nail-biters like Halloween (1978), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and Beetlejuice (1988) are all set within homes intended to provide security, but the twisted haunted attractions within them prove otherwise. The idea of a haunted house taps into our primal fears of the unknown, of things that go bump in the night, and of the eerie feeling that we are never truly alone.
As technology advances and special effects become more sophisticated, haunted house movies continue to evolve, offering viewers new ways to experience fear and suspense. From classic jump scares to psychological horror, these films play on our deepest anxieties and keep us on the edge of our seats.
Whether it’s a decrepit mansion on a hill, a suburban home with a dark past, or a ghostly presence that refuses to be ignored, the haunted house remains a timeless and effective setting for horror storytelling. As long as audiences crave that adrenaline rush of fear, the twisted haunted attractions of cinema will continue to captivate and terrify viewers for generations to come.