The Old Dark House (1932)
The Horror House: A raging storm drives a group of travellers to seek shelter in a foreboding old Welsh mansion, but like all foreboding old mansions, it’s hiding a secret in the attic.
Who Lives There: The Femm family: Horace (Ernest Thesiger), Rebecca (Eva Moore), Roderick (Elspeth Dudgeon), and Saul (Brember Wills), plus their mute butler Morgan (Boris Karloff).
Scariest Room: The aforementioned attic.
How To Survive It: Carry a fire extinguisher and leave as soon as possible the next morning.
Casper (1995)
The Horror House: Whipstaff Manor’s got more than its fair share of ghosts: it’s home to the Ghostly Trio (Stretch, Stinky, and Fatso) as well as their friendlier nephew, Casper. The house’s owner, Carrigan Crittenden (Cathy Moriarty) believes there’s treasure hidden somewhere in the house, but isn’t willing to deal with the spooks, so she calls in a paranormal therapist to help.
Who Lives There: Dr James Harvey (Bill Pullman) and his daughter, Kat (Christina Ricci).
Scariest Room: Wherever the Ghostly Trio are hanging out.
How To Survive It: Make friends with the ghosts – but don’t get close enough that they persuade you to kill yourself.
House (1986)
The Horror House: Movies have addressed the horrors of the Vietnam War many times, but never quite like this. The house of the title is the home of a veteran who hasn’t ever quite managed to get over his experience. He’s now being haunted by a former friend who died in the war, and is getting his revenge through a series of supernaturally silly monsters.
Who Lives There: Horror author Roger Cobb (William Katt).
Scariest Room: The bathroom. The medicine cabinet is a portal into another world.
How To Survive It: Let the past go. Assuming it’ll let you.
House Of Fears (2007)
The Horror House: The House of Fears is a staged haunted house, full of waxworks and other horrors. One of the artifacts on display, though, turns out to be legitimately supernatural – it’s a statue stolen from an archaeological dig that has the ability to manifest a person’s worst fear.
Who Lives There: No-one, really.
Scariest Room: The sand-filled mummy’s tomb is pretty scary, especially if you’re claustrophobic.
How To Survive It: Face your fears.
The Changeling (1980)
The Horror House: An enormous mansion that belonged to Senator Joseph Carmichael (Melyvn Douglas), this house is haunted by the vengeful ghost of a murdered child. Which is always the most dangerous type of ghost.
Who Lives There: Grieving composer John Russell (George C. Scott).
Scariest Room: Anywhere that’s wheelchair-accessible.
How To Survive It: Seriously, just leave. When doors start slamming of their own accord and impossible shadows are swooping around you, why would you stay?
The Uninvited (1944)
The Horror House: Windward House is a great house in a great location – it’s practically on the beach. But it’s been left empty, and is available for a low, low price, which means it’s chockfull of ghosts.
Who Lives There: Composer Rick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland) and his sister, Pamela (Ruth Hussey).
Scariest Room: The inexplicably freezing artist’s studio.
How To Survive It: Call an exorcist and come to terms with your convoluted family tree.
Beetlejuice (1988)
The Horror House: A striking, attractive house surrounded by rolling countryside, this house is the perfect place to raise a family. Except the previous owners haven’t quite moved on.
Who Lives There: Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin); then Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones), plus their daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder).
Scariest Room: The ghosts spend a lot of time in the attic, so that’s a solid contender; but after the Deetzes start redecorating, the whole place looks pretty spooky.
How To Survive It: Stay away from summoning rituals – or at least read the rest of the manual.
House At The End Of The Street (2012)
The Horror House: A nondescript house in the woods that’s gained notoriety after its former inhabitants were murdered, the people living on the rest of the street would happily see this house demolished – but the sole survivor of the massacre is still living there, and the killing isn’t over yet.
Who Lives There: Ryan Jacobson (Max Thieriot).
Scariest Room: Carrie Anne’s former bedroom – it’s an especially dangerous place for teenage girls.
How To Survive It: Bring a gun, or some other kind of heavy duty weaponry.
House (2008)
The Horror House: Technically, the Wayside Inn is more of a pub than a house, but for the purposes of this movie, it functions as a house – one where a deranged serial killer is imposing his own set of house rules. To survive, the various house guests will need to do the killer’s dirty work by murdering one of their own.
Who Lives There: Landlady Betty (Leslie Easterbrook) and her son Pete (Lew Temple).
Scariest Room: The meat locker. Normal houses (and pubs) don’t tend to have meat lockers, which just makes it worse.
How To Survive It: Fight, run, whatever; none of it really makes much difference in the end.
The House Where Evil Dwells (1982)
The Horror House: A traditional Japanese home, in the countryside near Kyoto, this house is haunted by the ghosts of feuding samurai. A hundred years before the current tenants moved in, Shigero found his wife cheating on him with another man and murdered them both – then killed himself. Their lingering spirits aren’t keen on sharing their home with an American family.
Who Lives There: Ted (Edward Albert) and Laura Fletcher (Susan George), and their daughter Amy (Amy Barrett).
Scariest Room: The bedroom, where the original murders took place.
How To Survive It: It’s tricky. Once the ghosts have taken possession of new bodies, it might not be possible.
