The Best Ghost Movies of All Time, We Need Child Haunting Laws

5.) Poltergeist (1982)
4.). Ghostbusters (1984)
3.) The Frighteners (1996)
2.) The Innocents (1961)
This much lauded and revered ghost film quite honestly does a lot with very little outright horror occurring. An adaptation of Henry James’s play “The Turn Of The Screw,” this film is all about atmosphere, as a recently hired governess (Deborah Kerr, of Black Narcissus fame) senses something deeply awry in the sprawling gothic mansion (is there ever not in such structures?) that is her new home. And how awry indeed, the child siblings in her care are possessed by the spirits of the former groundskeeper and his lover, (James, you sick bastard) who happened to be the previous governess. Much of the credit here goes not only to the black and white cinematography, lighting, and eerie sound effects, but also to child actor Martin Stephens, who sells the idea that he is inhabited by a grown man so fully, its hard to believe the reports that this aspect of his character was hidden from him during filming.
1.) The Shining (1980)
You can find gorier, you can find gruesomer, but you cannot find a better crafted, better acted, more uniquely disturbing film concerning those who have passed, but not passed on, than Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Shining. The spirits and phenomena that plague the Overlook Hotel and guide poor Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) on his journey to homicidal insanity have a serene and natural quality to them, (except for the man in the bunny suit thing) they assume forms such as friendly bartenders and butlers, and rely on the cavernous, ominous setting, the coldness of Kubrick’s direction and Nicholson’s ensuing madness to complete a truly frightening picture. Nothing is as memorable as the tricycle piloted by Danny Torrance, (whose psychic abilities allow him to tap into the hotel’s ethereal side) being stopped dead in its tracks as it turns a corner to encounter those famous twin girls at the end of one of the hotel’s yawning hallways. Chilling from the first frame to the last.
Honorable Mention
The Devil’s Backbone (2001) –
A great and beautiful film from Guillermo Del Toro that concerns a haunted orphanage amid the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. The movie itself is more sad than truly frightening, though the appearance of its ghost kid is among the most shiver-inducing in film.
The Sixth Sense (1999) –
M.Night Shyamalan’s first major success (and last truly coherent film) became a Best Picture nominee on the strength of its solid narrative and gripping atmosphere. It managed to be not just eerie, but quite emotional at the same time.
The Ring (2002) / Ringu (1998) –
The seminal J-horror classic, and its surprisingly adept American remake would be impossible to ignore on any ghost flick list, if only for their originality (well, in the case of the original) and far-reaching and undeniable influence over the genre.
The Haunting (1963) –
Director Robert Wise’s haunted house classic should simply have been re-released for a new generation to enjoy, in place of the hapless remake foisted on the public in 1999.
That’s the Top 5 take on the ghost film situation. If you must vainly insist that Insidious does not live up to its title, or that Paranormal Activity, was in fact, remarkable in any regard, let it be known.