Horror is such a broad genre, with an almost limitless amount of sub-genres, so it’s natural that popularity of some will ebb and flow with the times. However, with the success of Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, the slow-burn horrors of a good haunted house movie are making a wild comeback.
Haunted houses seem like such a staple in horror, yet their mechanics have been underwhelming for modern audiences in a lot of ways. Typically, they are low on gore and bloodshed, though not exclusively. While they do typically employ some level of jump scares, the sub-genre on the whole has suffered in the past from too many in total or too many at once. Occasionally, they are too slow-burn to hold an audience’s interest, and the setting, while able to explore a beautiful, unique aspect some will enjoy, as Guillermo del Toro did with his 2015 gothic horror, Crimson Peak, the aesthetic is often not enough to sell an experience for horror buffs.
When done correctly, however, haunted house movies are some of the most potent and lasting staples of the horror genre. Recently, director Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep) adapted Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel, The Haunting of Hill House, for a Netflix original series of the same name. It was just enough to kickstart audience interest, and breathed new life into the dusty old corners of the haunted house sub-genre just in time for a new decade.
Haunted House Movies Are Making A Comeback
The Haunting of Hill House was a wild success for Netflix and Mike Flanagan both, playing off the old mysteries of films within the same sub-genre from years past. Flanagan was not the first to adapt Jackson’s novel. His series was actually the third major project to do so, following two movie adaptations: The Haunting (1963) and The Haunting (1999). The former was better received than the latter, but both contributed different aspects of the same story, which Flanagan expanded on tremendously for the 10-episode season. Other major players in this particular sub-genre are House on Haunted Hill (1959, 1999), House (1985), and the entire Amityville Horror franchise. Many of these movies stem from fictional works and classic stories from the Victorian era, but the concept of a house being haunted is as old as time itself.
Flanagan’s series was so successful that Netflix green-lit a second season, which Flanagan stated will be drawing on a different haunted house story based on the 1898 novel, The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James. The second season, which has been titled The Haunting of Bly Manor, will also feature aspects of other stories by James, though the aforementioned is its primary focus. James’ novel is also being adapted into a movie, The Turning, which is slated for a January 2020 release. The Grudge remake is also getting a January 2020 release, and while it can be argued that this is a haunted house movie because the curse is connected to the house, it’s not what audiences traditionally think of when they think of the haunted house movies of old.
Traditionally, haunted house movies conjure up old-fashioned aesthetics and conceptualize atmospheric scares over more definitive possession and haunted object films. Like the houses themselves, they are meant to breathe with a looming sense of dread that permeates the entirety of the film or series. Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House did this expertly by making the house almost a character in and of itself, which is truly the mark of a great haunted house film, and likely is why, for many years, the concept seemed to fade away entirely. If season two is successful and The Turning manages to do well in theaters, it’s very likely there will be a major resurgence in the sub-genre, as has been done with other sub-genres that faded into temporary obscurity in the past.
Next: What To Expect From The Haunting Of Bly Manor
- The Turning Release Date: 2020-01-24
