Movie Houses You Don’t Want to Be Trapped In

These Movie Houses Would Make Terrible Movie Homes.

They say, “home is where the heart is.” In principle, I’m not opposed to this saying, but when it comes to these ten movie houses you might want to be a little more careful with your words because I’m willing to bet they all have several hearts buried in each of their basements.

With the housing market improving, it seemed like as good a time as any to take a moment and appreciate all of the horrifying movie houses cinema has given us over the years with a “Movie Houses You Don’t Want to Be Trapped In” list. The only rule for this list was that it had to be a house, not a car in a driveway (sorry Cujo), not a spaceship (sorry Event Horizon) and not an apartment complex or compound. What we’re left with are some beautiful pieces of prime real estate that are great for new families looking for their first home and ready to be pushed to the brink of insanity.

The Saeki House- The Grudge

For those of you that have seen The Grudge, you probably know exactly why you don’t want to get stuck inside this house… Or ever set foot in it. The whole concept of The Grudge is that when someone dies in the throws of anger a curse is born. Not just a little bit of bad luck curse either, I’m talking the stuff of nightmares come to life. The Saeki house is home to such a curse, embodied by the spirits of Kayako and Toshio who have a nasty habit of tormenting anyone who crosses the threshold. As horror fans know, Japanese ghosts are by far the creepiest and these two are right at the top. Oh, and don’t even think about just running away. Once you go inside, the curse will pursue you right up until it kills you.

The Blind Man’s House– Don’t Breathe

There’s been a huge revival when it comes to horror movies over the past few years and one of the movie houses that emotionally scarred me the most in recent history belonged to a handi-capable veteran who also happens to be a complete psychopath. While there might not seem to be anything special about this house at first. In fact, it’s kind of a total trash heap of a home. However, if you ever make it down to the basement you’ll discover a maze of terror with a deep dark secret at the center. I’m not going to spoil it for you, but let’s just say it’s not exactly a feel-good movie and it’s not because of the rustic decor. No, this house is so insanely scary because it looks like it could have been on any block in America.

The Chase House– The Collector

For the sake of this list, I’m going to go with the Chase family home, but really any house the collector has his eye on will quickly become a place I certainly don’t want to be trapped in. I have to admit, I’m impressed with the Collector’s work ethic. The guy manages to turn regular homes into death traps in only a few hours and not many people live long enough to tell the tale. The Chases’ had bear traps, razor blades and plenty of other gruesome methods of torture. However, the real kicker is that the Collector actually comes in to do his dirty work up close and personal. That being said, this is definitely one of the scariest movie houses of all time, but The Collector could have turned Hogwart’s into a nightmare.

The Graham House- Hereditary

One of the newest movie houses to grace this list, Hereditary was the emotional scarring tour de force of 2018. The house itself is actually a lovely two-story set on an absolutely huge lot off the beaten trail. The only issue is that the roads around the house aren’t exactly well let, there might have been one or two murders on the property, and the tree house in the backyard is, well, let’s not talk about what went on up there. Still, if you’re looking to start a family and eventually watch them all tormented to the edge of insanity by a malevolent presence, then this is a fantastic starter home. If you do pull the trigger on purchasing this lovely house, you’ll probably want to install a fence… and a security system… and some Navy SEALs.

Hill House –The Haunting

Hill house was a terrifying, twisted old home that once belonged to an equally terrifying, twisted old man. The home is cursed with tragedy, and death seems to befall anyone who lives there. On the plus side, it’s got tremendous square footage and a beautiful gate that is locked every night to make sure nothing gets in to bother the owner. Of course, this also means that no one is going to be coming anytime soon to save those inside from what goes bump in the night. Then again, it could just be there to stop anyone who comes to visit from ever escaping one of the most terrifying haunted movie houses to ever appear on the big screen. This is one house that just has a bad attitude.

The Vannacutt Asylum- House on Haunted Hill

This one was a little bit iffy since it’s technically an asylum and not an actual house. But the title is House on Haunted Hill, so I’ll allow it. The film features an eccentric millionaire trying to get even with his wife by throwing her a terrifying party in a supposedly haunted house offering the guests one million dollars if they can make it through the night. It quickly becomes apparent that there is no “supposed” about it as the party guest find themselves being tormented by not just ghosts, but insane ghosts (that makes them extra spooky) and money soon becomes the least of their problems. This is one house that you’ll hopefully never have to make a home in. If you do though, maybe sure you have plenty of holy water.

Cyrus’ mansion- Thir13en Ghosts

What could be better than a free mansion? Well, how about a mansion that doesn’t come with a baker’s dozen worth of ghosts. All of which seem pretty pissed off that they’re trapped in a giant glass house without any stones to throw. That being said, at least these ghosts are anything but boring. In fact, Cyrus’ mansion is a pretty impressive ghost zoo, though I’m not sure how humane something like that would be… Would, PETA be involved with something like that? Still, it’s one of the more impressive movie houses if you don’t mind it being a machine designed by the devil. Then again in this housing market can you really not afford to take free house even if it is haunted by ghosts in the double digits?

The Landlord’s House- The People Under the Stairs

This film seems oddly relevant even today. Then again, leave it to Wes Craven to come up with a universal theme that can survive the ages. That theme? White people are into some weird stuff… And also do horrifying things to people of color (yes still). This house came with a ton of modifications by the original couple that owned it and not all of them were in “good taste.” I mean, besides the titular people under the stairs, the whole house is one gigantic maze. Why? I guess it’s meant to deter would-be thieves. Then again, I don’t remember seeing a sign out front for “Daedalus Security.” Either way, this is just another one of those movie houses I would try to avoid at all costs.

The Freeling House- Poltergeist

It’s true that most of the Freeling family was able to come and go when they wanted, but little Carol Anne was not that fortunate. Sure it was spacious and located in a lovely neighborhood, but it also had a portal to the ghost dimension in an upstairs closet and corpses in the backyard. Those last two aren’t really included in the rental brochure, though. As if that wasn’t enough to drive you away from the property, there is the matter of the possessed clown doll. Yes, it does come with the house and no, you can’t get rid of it… Ever. Basically, this whole house is three bedrooms, two bathrooms of NOPE! However, it’s one of those horrifying movie houses that still holds a dear place in my heart.

The Aunt’s House- House

Now, this is probably the craziest entry on this list of terrifying movie houses. Mostly because it tries to eat six school girls. I mean that: quite literally, things inside the house come alive and attack the people visiting. It’s like a creepy version of Beauty and the Beast, except instead of singing “Be our guest,” the furniture is trying to eat you. Seriously, mattresses and light fixtures are among some of the villainous items pursuing the girls in this twisted film. In all honesty, it seems like an interesting place to visit, but not exactly one of the movie houses I would want to call my own. Then again, this is a Japanese film so maybe there’s a subtle cultural difference I’m not grasping? Maybe it’s honorable to be eaten by a house like this?

The Amityville House- Amityville Horror

What I don’t understand is why people keep moving into that old Amityville house and how the realtor can keep getting away with not mentioning it’s dark history. With all the strange happenings and what have you, you’d think most folks would stay away. Well, it might also help if the realtor’s disclosed the whole murder-suicide thing when people were looking at the house. The Amityville house earns a spot on this list of upsetting movie houses because it messes with its inhabitants in subtle ways, slowly escalating until it drives them to madness. The big lesson to take away is if you have a priest bless your house and he suddenly gets sick doing it and runs away, then it’s time to move.

So, there you have it. Ten movie houses—eleven if you count the honorable mention– that really aren’t worth it no matter how great the mortgage is. Of course, there are plenty of other creepy houses from movie history. Let me know which one is your favorite in the comments!