There’s something inherently spooky about the establishing shot: we’re approaching someplace we’ve never been before—whether through killer-cam, point-of-view or objective perspective, and whether glimpsed from a distance or walked through for the first time, it’s that sense of uncertainty that unites these views of some of the most iconic locations of cinematic trauma, whether that location is an old dark house, a motel, a mansion on a hill, a church, a split-level, a torture chamber or a spaceship. See how many you recognize in our video essay, then tell us what we missed in the comments. Happy Halloween, everyone.
bee-utiful real estate. Our homes are our greatest fear, our closest companion, the dead thing we imbue with life. Fear for the homeowner
The original (1959) House on Haunted Hill. I was young enough to be scared by the cheesy special effects the first time I saw it.
As far as Roger Corman-Vincent Price films go, The Masque of the Red Death scared me more than Pit and the Pendulum.