The Best Ghost and Haunted House Films

M. Night Shyamalan's biggest success, The Sixth Sense almost instantly became a modern classic and received praise from both critics and audiences. That's why we close the best ghost and haunted house films list with this title. It also resulted with one of the famous quotes coming from young Haley Joel Osment, "I see dead people." Starring Bruce Willis in his possibly strongest performance, this supernatural film centres around Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist who tries to help a young boy who can see and talk to the dead. With the ending so chilling you cannot forget it, The Sixth Sense is a marvellous piece of cinema keeping you alert while enjoying the story. Be sure to check it out on DVD or Blu-ray to get access to extra content such as featurette Between two worlds.

We're continuing the best ghost and haunted house films list with a classic - Poltergeist. If you ever thought that an object in your house could come to life, then this might be why. Poltergeist is a supernatural horror film, but also a spirit that could be responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. The film gained a cult following and was a big success with critics and audience alike. While Steven Spielberg wrote, and produced the film, he couldn’t direct it (because of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) so Tobe Hopper took over the director's seat. Rent it on Blu-ray to get more including documentary They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists Revealed.

Twists and turns are what make The Others a great piece of cinema and one of the best performances for Nicole Kidman. There are plenty of ghostly elements in this horror story, starting with a large old house and eerie servants. Kidman plays Grace, a mother of two small children waiting for her husband to come home from the war. All this time they're living isolated, behind closed curtains because of the children's sensitivity to daylight, with only a few servants in the house. The Others is adapted from The Turn of the Screw, a novella by Henry James. Special features on DVD and Blu-ray give you additional content bringing more chills to the already psychologically scary film - find out more about Zeroderma Pigmenosum - What Is It? An inside look at the disease.

Deborah Kerr plays the emotionally repressed vicar's daughter who takes up a job as a governess to two seemingly angelic orphans. Gradually coming to believe that the children are possessed by the perverse spirits of their former governess and her sadistic lover, she begins to see manifestations of the ghosts prowling the huge gothic mansion of Bly House. Director Jack Clayton sustains a superbly haunting atmosphere throughout the film, and like James' original work, cleverly retains the ambiguity of whether the ghosts are real or the products of the governess's fevered imagination.

Horror and comedy? Yes, House is both. Upset by her widowed father's plans to remarry, Angel (Kumiko Ohba) sets off with six of her schoolgirl friends in tow for a summer getaway at her aunt's isolated mansion. In this house of dormant secrets, long-held emotional traumas have terrifyingly physical embodiments and the girls must use their individual talents if any are to survive. A lot of this film's appeal over the years lies in its bizarre portrayal and storytelling which has gained House somewhat of a cult following. If you want to look into it further, rent it on Blu-ray and check out an exclusive video essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns.

Next up is The Orphanage (El orfanato) and if you liked Pan's Labyrinth or The Devil's Backbone, you're going to love this one. Psychological horror The Orphanage boasts sombre atmosphere and suspense that won't leave you indifferent, and it'll keep you guessing until the very end. The story centres around Laura who decided to visit an orphanage where she spent her childhood. With a dream to restore it and make it a home for disabled children, she opens the door to the long-ago abandoned place. Her son in tow, strange occurrences start to happen as Simon spins a web of fantastic tales. We'll stop there because we don't want to spoil the twists and turns for your thrill-packed pleasure. Get it on DVD or Blu-ray to fully experience the terror all horror fans will appreciate.

We continue the best ghost and haunted house films list with The Haunting. The story starts with four people coming to a haunted house, mansion called Hill House, trying to solve its mystery. Do you believe a house can be evil? If not, well, you just might change your mind after watching this psychological horror. Suspense and terror are masterfully achieved and that what you don't see is what's going to scare you. Fun and less scary fact: The Haunting is Robert Wise's film made between the two musicals - West Side Story and The Sound of Music. The Haunting is based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, and stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn.

From the director that brought to Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy comes The Devil's Backbone, dark horror featuring some of the greatest Latin legends. Guillermo Del Toro successfully builds up the sombre atmosphere with chills and thrills coming down your spine. The film is set in the 1930s against the background of the Spanish Civil War, in an orphanage whose young inhabitants are terrorised by Santi, a decomposing spirit who stalks the building's dark decaying hallways. Worth mentioning, you won't be disappointed with film's visual effects as its photography is one of the best things in The Devil's Backbone. Rent it on DVD and Blu-ray and you'll get more insight into the making of and see why's this dark, but amazing title on the best ghost and haunted house films list.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...", one of two most prominent lines of The Shining, our choice for the start of the best ghost and haunted house films list. Trifecta for the success of the film is a novel written by Stephen King, master of horror and supernatural, equally great director Stanley Kubrick and one of the most iconic actors of today, Jack Nicholson. The Shining is represented by vivid performances, menacing settings, dreamlike tracking shots and shock after shock into a milestone of the macabre. You can find the film on DVD and Blu-ray accompanied with plenty of special features such as three mesmerizing new featurettes: View from The Overlook: Crafting the Shining, The Visions of Stanley Kubrick And Wendy Carlos, Composer.

John Hough's British horror is based on the novel 'Hell House' by Richard Matheson, who also penned the screenplay. The story revolves around a group of researchers who spend a week in a purportedly haunted English manor in which previous investigators were killed. Quite a standard premise for a haunted house film, however, it is worth a watch as the group suffers through madness, murder and everything else the spirits have in store for them.