I've been getting into this kind of movie lately. I actually think two of the best movies were more recent ones, Insidious (especially the first half) and Paranormal Activity. The Others was fairly good, I thought Poltergeist was thoroughly mediocre. Burnt Offerings (80s) is a pretty good slow burning one if you have the patience. I'm still waiting on The Haunting (60s) from Netflix. I've watched other supernatural horror as well such as The Ring which I thought was OK. If you have any thoughts on the genre or movies to direct me toward, I'd love to hear it.

I recently saw The Innkeepers at the Munich fantasy film festival. I can highly recommend that one. Check out my capsule review in the thread.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_innkeepers/

The Innocents, the film version of "The Turn of the Screw." Fine film.

These both look great

was thinking of ordering this On Demand, but the feedback I'm hearing is sort of disappointing(that's its really a horror comedy, not a straight up haunted house flick)

The comedy derives from the normal interaction between the lead characters, who are both extremely convincing as people you would actually know. The comedy is not self-aware or snarky, like in Scream for example, and is not at the expense of the supernatural elements (with one exception). Because the characters are so well-played, and because they react like real people would react in the situations, not like movie characters would (or are supposed to) react simply because the script tells them too, the events that unfold are that much more affecting when they happen, because you care about the characters so much.

I highly recommend it. If the haunted house elements were not leavened with some relief, given the effectiveness at how they are slowly ratcheted up, this film would be a difficult watch.

It is definitely not a "horror comedy" like a Scream or Tucker & Dale, for example.

The Others 2001 - tasetful in an old-fashioned kind of style.

I'll give a quick shout-out to The Orphanage. It might be my favorite horror film of the last decade.

The House On Haunted Hill remake was pretty good(The Haunting remake, not so much) Didn't really like Orphanage or Insidious though.

Very solid genre flick from Ty West. He's one to look out for.

And I second The Orphanage. One of the best of the decade absolutely.

Is Inkeeper out yet?

I'm putting Orphanage on my list.



I saw new and old versions of The House On Haunted Hill on TV and I liked both. Not for everyone though.

I saw The Awakening recently at the Dubai Film Festival and really liked it. It was a straightforward genre effort as far as haunted house movies go but I thought it was a really well directed film and the acting from Rebecca Hall was especially really good. Definitely worth a watch if you are into the genre.

I have to echo Syd's recommendation of The Innocents. I'd read about it a long time ago, and thought I knew the whole plot before I went in, but between those years I'd fortunately mixed it up with something else, so the experience was completely fresh.

The Orphanage was a let-down for me, with no scares and I never felt involved with the characters. You could also check out The Changeling from 1980.

I'm also a fan of several of the Dark Castle remakes: House on Haunted Hill, Thirteen Ghosts & Ghost Ship. Hardly good films, but dumb fun if you're into that.

Here's a review on the Ebert site-- http://blogs.suntimes.com/demand/2012/0 ... epers.html

I guess it's out only on video on demand at the moment and will receive a limited theatrical release on February 3rd. Boy, I love film festivals!

The Uninvited from 1944 (Ray Milland) is really good. Alas, I don't think it's on DVD, so you may have to wait for it to pop up on TCM.