From the "What was that?" noise in the attic to walls that bleed, here are the guaranteed-to-spook-you-out haunted house movies you have to see at least once...

 

5.) "Paranormal Activity" (2007) - Best twist ever on one of the oldest themes in suspense film history. You already know the deal: nice family moves into their new home and discover something's very wrong and very strange. What to do about it? Set up video cameras to try and record just what the hell is going on while they're sleeping. Expect your nerves to get a tad frazzled with this one.

4.) "The Haunting" (1963) - Really, really sharp stuff for an old black-and-whitey. Instead of a family, you have a band of psychics and strangers investigating the weird goings-on in a mansion (of course!) where alotta folk died rather inexplicably. Brilliantly directed by Robert Wise, who also did "The Day The Earth Stood Still", another one of our all-time faves.

3.) "The Amityville Horror" (1979) - Great music from the legendary Lalo Schifrin  helps elevate this pick to another level. Oh, and anytime the reliable priest character ends up screaming and running away, well, that is what is known as a "clue".

2.) "The Shining" (1980) - Okay, technically a hotel for you nit-pickers, but nonetheless, one of the great classics of the genre for sure. Mainers can relate to the stranded-by-the-snowstorm theme, but let's face it: those two little girls are as creepy as creepy gets, and when Jack Nicolson asks wife Shelly Duvall how she likes his writing...yeesh indeed.

1.) "Poltergeist" (1982) - This has it all: you got your voices coming from seemingly nowhere, you got your dinner meat turning into maggots before your eyes, angry trees that want to kill and clown dolls! Not just another take on the innocent family realizing they're way out of their league here. There's also good old fashioned greed and lies at work which (as we should know by now) the undead world loves to feast on. And lots of flies.

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