The Shining
I wonder what Stephen King’s wife, Tabitha, thinks of the character of Wendy in The Shining.
Poltergeist
The film opens as a family winds down at day’s end, their golden retriever trotting through the bedrooms to rob the kids’ snacks as they sleep. The scene establishes Spielberg's trademark setting of middle-class normality and cozy family life that will shortly be upended.
Grave’s End
Elaine Mercado is a highly educated woman, but her scientific bent and innate skepticism prevented her from knowing the methods and practices that might have allowed her to end her family's torment sooner.
The Amityville Horror
How I wish I hadn't been told The Amityville Horror was bunk. Knowing that this "based on a true story" book was really based on lies made reading it a tedious and distasteful experience.
The Others
Watching Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others for a second time is like watching a completely different film, since being let in on the secret of Grace’s family directs attention to nuances previously unseen. If only the children in this story had a therapist along to help them. Does Malcolm Crowe have any openings?
Nightmare House
Douglas Clegg’s Nightmare House sets the scene with spooky foreshadowing, from a long journey through the Hudson Valley to the observations of odd villagers with wide-set eyes, reminiscent of Nell’s lunchtime dialog with her waitress in Shirley Jackson’s Hill House.
Ghost Story
Although Ghost Story takes many pages to set up the weft of its characters and setting, Straub titrates information to provide repeated forward echoes of events to come.
Paranormal Activity
Part of the tension of Paranormal Activity comes from the clashes between Micah and Katie. Why do characters in haunted house stories turn on each other?
Hell House
The backstory of Hell House was horrifying. I assumed the debaucheries described by Matheson would weave themselves into the characters’ stories in the present time. With one exception, my expectation wasn’t realized.
The Haunting of Hill House
In Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, Eleanor Vance, the protagonist, exhibits the emotional fragility of early adolescence. When I first read the book as a thirteen-year-old, I empathized with her.
“The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle.”
― Stephen King, Night Shift
“Within, its walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
— Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House