It is almost Halloween. Instead of dumping numerous recommendations on you a day or two before Halloween, I thought I’d give you a few weeks head-start.
Lets start with ghosts, spirits and haunted places. This may be the oldest type of horror/supernatural story. Ancient writers such as Plutarch passed along ghost folklore. Odysseus saw the shades of fallen heroes when he travelled to Hades. Hell, we probably told these stories when we still lived in caves.
I will focus on a few films that don’t seem to get much attention, at least compared to some movies. Therefore, I will not discuss films such as The Shining, The Sixth Sense, Poltergeist or 1963’s The Haunting, which may be the Citizen Kaine of haunted house films.
Ironically, Hollywood was late to using the idea of a ghost or a haunted house in horror films. There may be some minor film that did so before the ‘40’s, but for the most part, ghosts were mostly played for laughs in such films as Topper or The Ghost Goes West. Or, the ghost isn’t real and merely used to scare people away from some nefarious goings on (just like Scooby Doo). Although Marley, in the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol terrified me when I was young.
For me, the heart of any good ghost story is atmosphere. Even a low budget film can succeed if the writing is good and the right atmosphere exists.
The Uninvited (1944):
We may as well start early and with a black & white movie. The Uninvited tells the tale of siblings Roderick Fitzgerald and Pamela Fitzgerald. The duo are vacationing in Cornwall when they stumble on the abandoned Windward House. Of course, they just have to have the house. They purchase it, at a bargain (of course) from Captain Beech, and move in.
Captain Beech’s daughter fell to her death in the house. Beech now lives with his granddaughter, Stella. Stella meets Rick and Rick begins to fall in love with Stella. Meanwhile, the Fitzgerald’s discover a secret room in Windward House, feel chills, hear an unseen entity cry,,,There is even a rustic, superstitious Irish servant and a séance.
I won’t go further as most good ghost stories hinge on a good mystery. My research does indicate that this is likely the first film from a major American studio, Paramount, to use a haunting for chills rather than laughs. It strikes me as odd that such a primal fear was not used by Hollywood before 1944. Even Universal, which covered a lot of horror ground in the 1930’s, lacked a ghost story entry for years.
The Uninvited was directed by Allen Lewis and stars Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp and Gail Russell.
If you haven’t seen The Uninvited or its been awhile, it will be on Turner Classic Movies on October 17, 2019 at 8:00PM (EST). Check it out. It created many of the tropes we know and love today.
The Changeling (1980):
This is one of my favorites and is often forgotten when people discuss ghost/haunted house films. John Russell (George C. Scott) is a composer from New York City who moves to Seattle after the death of his wife and daughter in a car accident. He hires areal estate agent and rents a large Victorian house that has been...you guessed it...abandoned for over a decade. And yes, the rent is cheap.
Russell hears loud noises every morning. he sees a young boy being drowned in the tub. Water faucets turn on by thenselves. The usual haunting-like stuff. Russell begins to investigate and is aided by the real estate agent that rented him the house, Claire Norman (played by Scott’s wife Trish Van Devere). Like The Uninvited, The Changeling is moored by an underlying mystery which I will not give away but it does involve a United States Senator.
Also, the movie boasts one of the most chilling scenes I have ever seen in the genre. It involves a ball, a simple child’s toy. The relationship between Russell and Norman is well-done and does not devolve into a contrived romance. Van Devere is quite charming in her role. Scott, as usual, commands the screen and displays an uncharacteristic vulnerability. The film also stars Melvyn Douglas, as Senator Joseph Carmichael.
This is a good one and often forgotten. You won’t be disappointed.
Stir of Echoes (1999):
In Stir of Echoes, we move from abandoned, solitary homes to a working class neighborhood in Chicago. Tom Witzky is a telephone lineman that lives paycheck-to-paycheck with his wife Maggie and young son. They are expecting another child. The neighborhood is working class to middle class and Tom and Maggie rent their home from a neighbor. Tom once aspired to be a musician (again with the musicians) but that dream is slipping away.
Tom’s sister-in-law is played as a bit of a flake, who believes in hypnotism and the supernatural. When Tom ridicules her story of hypnotism she dares him to allow himself to be hypnotozed. Tom is hypnotized and the sister-in-law suggests that he open his mind. Well, his mind is opened for the rest of the movie.
Tom encounters a ghost and, believing her body is buried on the property, begins to dig-up the backyard and the basement, much to the dismay of his landlord.
Here we have, yet again, another mystery to solve. This is a good movie. It’s not a horror film and its not perfect, but it is a very good effort with some effective scenes and a dose of humor here and there. The ghost moves with a hitched movement made famous three years later in The Ring. I’m a sucker for that type of thing. There is something eerie about the human body moving in unnatural ways.
Kevin Bacon is great as the working class Witzky, who slowly becomes, to all appearances, unstable. Kathryn Erbe, as Maggie, is terrific and believable as a working woman trying to keep things together. Kevin Dunn, one of the great, unsung character actors, is perfect as the landlord.
Stir of Echoes is based on Richard Matheson’s novel of the same name. Matheson stated that he wanted to write a ghost story set in middle class, modern America. In the book, the protagonist is an aeronautical engineer in post-WWII southern California (if I recall correctly, its been awhile). The core of the story, however, remains in the film.
That’s it. Three films. There’s simply too many in this genre to do more than scrape the tip of what is a gigantic ice berg. For atmosphere, there is The Others (2001). For a more psychological angle, there is 1961’s The Innocents. Another Matheson story, The Legend of Hell House (1973) is a fun watch. If you want an old fashioned English ghost tale check out 2012’s The Woman in Black, based on Susan Hill’s novel of the same name. The Devil’s Backbone (2001), a high recommend, is set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, a unique setting.
Two other interesting films you may want to check out: Wind Chill is a 2007 film starring Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes. It is an independent film (distributed by TriStar) that follows two students stranded on a back road in a snow storm. Critics shrugged. It’s pretty good and much better than films that have 10 times the budget. Then there is Lake Mungo, a 2008 Australian film done in a documentary style. Its another interesting film made on a small budget, that follows a family trying to grapple with their son’s drowning death.
Below is a sampling of some films throughout the years. Share your favorites.