The best haunted house movies
The top 3 according to 142 votes from people: The Shining (1980) · The Conjuring (2013) · The Others (2001). (Updated Jul 31, 2023.)
Creaking floors, cold spots and houses that don't want you there: the haunted house films that top critics' and fans' rankings (AV Club, MovieWeb, JoBlo).
Top 15
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1
The Shining (1980)
Jack Nicholson, the Overlook Hotel and a long winter.
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2
The Conjuring (2013)
Ed and Lorraine Warren take on a Rhode Island farmhouse.
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3
The Others (2001)
Nicole Kidman, two children who can't see daylight, and that twist.
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4
Poltergeist (1982)
"They're here": a suburban house and a TV set.
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5
The Haunting (1963)
Robert Wise's Hill House: terror without showing a thing.
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6
The Legend of Hell House (1973)
Investigators spend a week in the 'Mount Everest of haunted houses'.
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7
The Amityville Horror (1979)
The Long Island house that started a franchise.
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8
The Changeling (1980)
George C. Scott in a mansion with a secret in the attic.
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9
Insidious (2010)
It's not the house that's haunted, it's the son.
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10
The Innocents (1961)
Deborah Kerr as a governess, from Henry James.
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11
House (1977)
Japanese schoolgirls and a house that devours them, totally unhinged.
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12
Beetlejuice (1988)
The ghosts are the victims here.
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13
The Devil's Backbone (2001)
Guillermo del Toro's ghost in a Spanish Civil War orphanage.
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14
Hereditary (2018)
A family grief that turns into something far worse.
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15
The Uninvited (1944)
Ray Milland and a seaside house on the Cornish coast.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 15… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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16
The Orphanage (2007)
Belén Rueda and a children's home on the Asturian coast.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (2)
The Changeling is so underrated, that bouncing ball scene...
The Haunting (1963) still scares me more than anything made in the last 20 years. No effects, just sound and a door.