It's that time of year again, when we can all watch daring investigators navigate the haunted shadows of forgotten places, in search of nameless dread, all from the comfort of our living rooms. You guessed it - the Ghost Hunters are back with a tenth dramatic season filled with frightening thrills. And what better way to celebrate a full decade of the original paranormal-bothering hit than with a Top Ten? Especially with a certain spooky holiday fast approaching.
Filmmakers have always been drawn to a spooky location, so for those who crave a bit of a fright, or even the open minded non-believers, here are the haunted houses from the world of film that we'd love to see the team behind Ghost Hunters investigate. A word of warning: if you find the Snapchat ghost even a teensy bit creepy, you should probably read this list with the lights on.
So where on the salubrious catalogue of 'haunted house' cinema should we start? Read on if you dare…
UK Exclusive Ghost Hunters Season 10 launches on Sony Entertainment Television (Sky 157, Virgin 193, BT and Talk Talk 331) on Thursday 22nd October, 9pm and plays weekly, alongside the likes of Satisfaction, as part of the channel's entertaining autumn schedule.
10. Amityville Horror
The remake of the 1979 classic is extremely chilling, especially when you allow your Native American-hating ghosts to slip into the chiselled body of Ryan Reynolds.
The film was heavily influenced by real life events. In 1974 Ronald DeFeo was arrested for killing his mother, his father, and four siblings at his house in Amityville, Long Island. He claimed he could hear their voices plotting against him. In 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the home, only to leave 28 days later claiming they were haunted by paranormal activity. Their claims have been submerged in dispute, but you must admit, the demonic looking house would make for one shock-filled investigation…
9. The Haunted Mansion
Eddie Murphy, a haunted mansion and 999 ghosts. Need we say more?
8. Poltergeist
Coming in at Number 8 is the house from the creepy cult horror film that terrified 80s cinema-goers: Poltergeist. Written and produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper, the film depicts the terrifying ordeal of a family whose suburban house is haunted by some very angry ghosts.
This film taught us a valuable lesson - never ever build your house above a burial ground. Warning: This film may inflict an irrational fear of clowns and trees - not that this will affect the highly experienced Ghost Hunters team…
7. Ju-On: The Grudge
You know the pale, long-black-haired female ghosts that wail loudly and slither around like humanoid snakes? Yeah, those ones. The supernatural film trope that's been reused, and continuously abused, by horror filmmakers over the last decade? That's all thanks to Ju-On from The Grudge. The tale centres on a murdered woman's revenge that's regularly enacted inside the house where she was killed. The Ghost Hunters would have a field day hunting down that evil spirit.
6. The Others
This twisty take on a traditional haunting follows Grace (Nicole Kidman), who awaits news about her husband away at war during WWI. Her children cannot be exposed to direct sunlight, so the house they live in has to be run a certain way: All the doors must be locked and curtains drawn. In case you were wondering, her children are not vampires.
The arrival of three servants at the mansion coincides with a number of odd and increasingly disturbing events - disembodied voices, strange noises and the children claiming to have seen several ghostly figures - a typical day in the office for the Ghost Hunters, right?
5. Insidious
The never-ending parade of jump scares turned this family's astral projection problem into an all-night ghost hotel. In at number 5 is the Insidious series, which follow parents (Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne), who take drastic measures when it seems their new home is haunted and their comatose son is possessed by a malevolent entity.
These uncomfortably spooky flicks are just what you need to scare the living daylights out of your mind. You'll probably not want to sleep alone after seeing this.
4. The Conjuring
The Conjuring tells the true story of a family's supernatural encounters in a farmhouse. After finally purchasing their dream home in the winter months of the 1970s, Roger and Carolyn Perron move themselves and their five daughters into a beautiful home full of history. What they didn't know was two former residents had hung themselves in the house. And once they move in, the spirits begin to make their presence known…
Fun fact: The couple who own the home that inspired the film claim that ever since the release of the movie, their home has been besieged by trespassers. They've even received anonymous phone calls from fans who had found their number in the phone book. They wouldn't mind if Jason and the team came knocking on their door, then?
3. The Changeling
The house from the memorable haunted-house tale, The Changeling, posits noises from the attic as the manifestation of long-buried secrets crawling back to the surface. The ghost resides in the historical mansion rented by George C. Scott shortly after the death of his wife and daughter - a tragedy that opens the story with a silent, powerless Scott trapped in a phone booth as his loved ones (stranded alongside a snowy road due to a breakdown) are run over during a freak car crash.
Martin Scorsese included this movie in his list of Top 11 Scariest Horror Films of All Time, and who are we to argue with Marty…
2. The Shining
This classic almost didn't make the list after many arguments over whether or not it really does possess ghosts. But how could we not include it? Based on Stephen King's classic novel, The Shining, film critics have called it the best horror movie ever made. The film features Jack Nicholson as the writer/hotel keeper who loses his mind thanks to an evil and spiritual presence which influences him into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and future.
Spooky fact: The Stanley Hotel in the Colorado Rockies is best known as the inspiration for King's novel, which he wrote after staying there, in room 217. Now a stay in that hotel would make one exceptional Ghost Hunters episode… we can only dream.
1. The Haunting
At number one on our list is Robert Wise's adaptation of Shirley Jackson's novel, The Haunting of Hill House. The main star of the film is undoubtedly Hill House (played by the now Ettington Park Hotel), laced with an incredible eeriness about her: as drafts run rampant, doors seem to open and close on their own and there are the noises at night.
The house was constructed by a man named Hugh Crain, whose wives both died on the property. His daughter never left the home, spending her entire life in the nursery until she died while calling for her nurse (the nurse later hung herself in the library). If walls could talk… Jason and the team would have a field day investigating the house behind one of the world's greatest horror films.
UK Exclusive Ghost Hunters Season 10 launches on Sony Entertainment Television (Sky 157, Virgin 193, BT and Talk Talk 331) on Thursday 22nd October, 9pm and plays weekly, alongside the likes of Satisfaction, as part of the channel's entertaining autumn schedule.
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