Films About Haunted Houses and Obsessions
Older Movies About Hauntings and Stalkings Still Frighten
These films are so effective because they touch on basic human emotions, which have not changed throughout millennia.
Films About Haunted Houses and Haunted People
Films about haunted houses remain some of the most popular, because of the elements of the macabre and the unknown. Long, dark hallways, doors to mysterious rooms, and the possibility that injury or death lurks close by are as frightening now as they were centuries ago. Anne Radcliffe did not become a famous author because her Gothic novels were cheerful reads. Her work scared people. And so do these films.
- House of Wax, 1953, remade in 2005. The original version of this film is recommended here, because it was done so well in the 1950s. Vincent Price plays a devoted wax sculptor who is pressured by his business partner to give up making beautiful exhibits and devote more space to sensational exhibits to make more money. When Vincent Price’s character refuses, the business partner sets the wax museum on fire and splashes Vince Price with kerosene, leaving him to die in the fire. But he does not die. But those around him begin to, starting with his murderous business partner. Vincent Price, horribly disfigured, opens a new wax museum. And then a women notices a remarkable likeness of her dead friend in Vincent Price’s beloved Marie Antoinette figure.
- House on Haunted Hill, 1959, remade in 1999. Both versions of the film are recommended, as Geoffrey Rush does a commendable job of reprising Vincent Price’s role in the original. It is recommended to see the earlier version first, and then the second. This film is about an eccentric millionaire (Vincent Price, Geoffrey Rush) who throws a party for the sake of his fourth wife, so he says. Five strangers are invited to stay in the house overnight, with the stipulation that all of the doors will be locked and the power cut off. Anyone who survives the night will get $10,000.
- Little Shop of Horrors, 1960, 1982 (musical), 1986, and a 1991 animated television series. It is suggested that viewers begin with the original 1960 film, a black comedy with elements of farce. The story is about an inept young florist’s assistant who cultivates a plant that thrives on eating human flesh and blood.
- Legend of Hell House, 1973. This creepy film stars Roddy McDowell as a physical medium who revisits a notorious mansion with a group of investigators set out to determine whether or not it is haunted by its former owner, eccentric millionaire Emeric Belasco, a pervert and supposed murderer who disappeared after a massacre at his mansion. Roddy McDowell’s character is the only survivor from a previous investigation of the house and stays aloof for much of the film, watching the mayhem surrounding the other investigators. The story grows more frightening and grotesque as it develops.
- Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, 1964. Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland star in this haunting black and white film. The haunting is of a different sort than discussed above, with one human being tormenting another. But the horror is still as shocking as any story involving ghosts. In fact, this also is a poignantly sad film. It begins in 1927 when Davis’ married lover is murdered in the summerhouse during a party. No one sees the murder, but Davis returns to the party with blood on her dress, and she is linked to the murder from then on. The film then skips to Davis as a middle-aged spinster recluse who calls on her poor cousin (de Havilland) to come and help her fight the highway department, which wants to demolish her house to build a road. Once the menacing cousin arrives, Davis begins to lose her sanity, slowly and painfully.
These films about haunted houses still entertain and scare audiences today because the subjects explored are ideas that have fascinated humans throughout the ages.
Films About Stalkers
- I Saw What You Did, 1965. Two mischievous teenage girls are babysitting and decide to place some crank calls, telling each person who answers, “I saw what you did, and I know who you are.” One such call is, unfortunately, placed to a man who has recently murdered his wife. He believes his crime is known, and he sets out to find and silence the girls.
- Play Misty For Me, 1971. This film is both a beautiful love story, featuring Roberta Flack singing “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” and a chilling tale of obsession. This film stars and is directed by Clint Eastwood in his directorial debut. Eastwood plays a radio disc jockey who has a female caller repeatedly requesting him to “Play ‘Misty’ for me” during his show, referring to the classic love ballad. Her obsession with him turns into rage, which morphs into murderous insanity. The terror comes in watching the disintegration of a mind and how this disintegration affects the victim of it and all others around her, especially the object of her obsession. This film opened the door for later films with female antagonists, namely the horrifying Fatal Attraction, and other more recent films that try to play on the same scenario, though not quite as successfully, gracefully, or eerily.
Older films about stalkers strike at the heart of the need for survival. When one is being hunted, life falls apart and the basic flight-or-fight response kicks in. However, when families or others also are involved, flight is not an option.
These films are worth seeing today, as a refreshing change from plain gore films that do not offer believable or even likable characters and have weak storylines, with characters serving only as fodder for some maniacal murderer.
These older films about haunted houses and stalkers still can chill and frighten audiences today, turning the blood cold and making the heart race, because they have tight plots, good storylines, and the interaction of individuals, which in turn create timeless tales of terror based on the basic human need for survival.
Source: Wikipedia
Older haunted house films still frighten.
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