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Dark Places: The Haunted House in Film
Horror films revel in taking viewers into shadowy places where the evil resides, whether it is a house, a graveyard or a dark forest. These mysterious spaces foment the terror at the heart of horror movies, empowering the ghastly creatures that emerge to kill and torment. With Dark Places , Barry Curtis leads us deep inside these haunted spaces to explore them – and the monstrous antagonists who dwell there.
In this wide-ranging and compelling study, Curtis demonstrates how the claustrophobic interiors of haunted spaces in films connect to the ‘dark places’ of the human psyche. He examines diverse topics such as the special effects – ranging from crude to state-of-the-art – used in movies to evoke supernatural creatures; the structures, projections and architecture of horror movie sets; and ghosts as symbols of loss, amnesia, injustice and vengeance. Dark Places also examines the reconfiguration of the haunted house in film as a motel, an apartment, a road or a spaceship, and how these re-imagined spaces thematically connect to Gothic fictions.
Curtis draws his examples from numerous iconic films – including Nosferatu , Psycho , The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Shining – as well as lesser-known international works, which allow him to consider different cultural ideas of ‘haunting’. Japanese horror films and their Hollywood remakes – such as Ringu and The Ring , or Juon and The Grudge – come under particular scrutiny, as he explores Japanese cinema’s preoccupation with malevolent forces from the past.
Whether you love the splatter of blood or prefer to hide under the couch, Dark Places cuts to the heart of why we are drawn to carnage.
In this wide-ranging and compelling study, Curtis demonstrates how the claustrophobic interiors of haunted spaces in films connect to the ‘dark places’ of the human psyche. He examines diverse topics such as the special effects – ranging from crude to state-of-the-art – used in movies to evoke supernatural creatures; the structures, projections and architecture of horror movie sets; and ghosts as symbols of loss, amnesia, injustice and vengeance. Dark Places also examines the reconfiguration of the haunted house in film as a motel, an apartment, a road or a spaceship, and how these re-imagined spaces thematically connect to Gothic fictions.
Curtis draws his examples from numerous iconic films – including Nosferatu , Psycho , The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Shining – as well as lesser-known international works, which allow him to consider different cultural ideas of ‘haunting’. Japanese horror films and their Hollywood remakes – such as Ringu and The Ring , or Juon and The Grudge – come under particular scrutiny, as he explores Japanese cinema’s preoccupation with malevolent forces from the past.
Whether you love the splatter of blood or prefer to hide under the couch, Dark Places cuts to the heart of why we are drawn to carnage.
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 25, 2022
Ya valdría la pena sólo por la excelente lista de películas de casas encantadas que va describiendo y analizando (desde cine mudo hasta cine asiático), pero además la información es excelente y está muy bien escrita y explicada. Desde cómo nace el cine desde un comienzo con las fantasmagorías y adelantos tecnológicos para mostrar "fantasmas" en la pantalla, hasta la representación de los fantasmas como la justicia que no se pudo obtener en su momento y que se enlaza con la arquitectura de una casa que puede ser un sueño burgués, la oscuridad interior de sus habitantes, una transición que queda trunca debido al tiempo que queda congelado y que debe ser exorcizado mediante la revisión de recuerdos. Muy buen libro.
October 7, 2014
This book was very interesting. It is really more like a doctoral dissertation in the way it is written. One thing that bothered me is that I had to have a dictionary close by because the author used a lot of obscure words when he could have said things more simply to get the point across. I did like that there were a lot of examples to illustrate the points being made. I now have a long list of films that I would like to see, many of which I had not heard of before reading this book.
September 10, 2016
The author is film professor who has penned a comprehensive analysis of haunted locals (buildings, rooms, land, et al. He begins by stating that a place has history and a witness to human actions while people come to the place with their own history and hopes & aspirations for change. That is the conflict that the author focuses on for the vast part of his scholarly but enthralling book. The subject of haunted houses is presented as the batleground between current ocupants and previous occupants. The haunted house is also the stage where spiritual, cultural, perception, and functional conflicts occur. Even the structure and original purpose of an older house and how modern people and society form a conflict are considered. Taken to the spiritual and supernatural level, the haunted house is timeless and beyond the laws of nature. The author also focuses on how the aging structure may also have a demonic versus the angelic battle. The author's expertise in the supernatural and the horror film genre has resulted in a book for horror and thriller film fans. This is a spirited read.
July 27, 2011
Never thought I'd read a book about architecture, but there you go. Awesome academic book about the haunted house on screen. Used film theory brain muscles I'd forgotten I had. Really interesting stuff about the beginnings of modern cinema, the meaning of the photograph and the reversal of the 'real' audience and 'virtual' actors that we undergo in the shared cinmea experience. Wow, sounds like I've got a thesis in there somewhere after all.
December 10, 2021
This book had ample examples and ideas to keep me reading from cover to cover. It includes an investigation of plenty of ‘old’ horror themes (or ‘memorial metatexts’) including remoteness and marginality, inheritance and family discord, vulnerability and heightened perceptions, liminal zones and overstepped thresholds, the past invading the present, historical abuse and injustice, the blur between real hauntings and paranoia and so on. There was also reference to more modern ‘hauntings’ and ‘dark places’ through crime, poverty, racial discrimination, leasing irregularities, extramarital affairs, road/camping trips, and increasing references to digital and cyber events.
All of which reminds us that ‘dark places’ are potentially everywhere – physically, mentally, socially, environmentally, technologically...
Throughout the book, the films which are referred to are briefly summarised and still frames are used as reference, such that you are not required to have seen the movies in order to understand the themes. As a horror NON-aficionado these were of great assistance, and I now have a list of movies I would like to see, and another for those I will specifically avoid.
At the heart of all the movies referenced are the ‘dark places’, mostly built, some digital. Of particular interest was the manner in which films use lighting, flashbacks, and particular views (such as the house ‘looking back’ at the new family approaching) which have largely been replicated throughout the decades, but the use of specific devices such as doors, windows, mirrors and stairwells has often shifted to include items such as televisions, computer screens, CCTV cameras and lift carriages to generate the same portals and transitions.
The main criticisms I have is that some of the quotes he offers, from writers such as Lefebvre, Bachelard and Walter Benjamin, are not always referenced in the footnotes and there is an over-use of some words, such as ‘revenant’ and ‘porous’, which whilst relevant, could have been swapped out occasionally for something else. There was also a hint of repetition in some of the themes around this porosity and transgression of boundaries by revenant entities.
I can't comment on the film related quality of the book, but as an architect studying metaphor, I found it a good read.
All of which reminds us that ‘dark places’ are potentially everywhere – physically, mentally, socially, environmentally, technologically...
Throughout the book, the films which are referred to are briefly summarised and still frames are used as reference, such that you are not required to have seen the movies in order to understand the themes. As a horror NON-aficionado these were of great assistance, and I now have a list of movies I would like to see, and another for those I will specifically avoid.
At the heart of all the movies referenced are the ‘dark places’, mostly built, some digital. Of particular interest was the manner in which films use lighting, flashbacks, and particular views (such as the house ‘looking back’ at the new family approaching) which have largely been replicated throughout the decades, but the use of specific devices such as doors, windows, mirrors and stairwells has often shifted to include items such as televisions, computer screens, CCTV cameras and lift carriages to generate the same portals and transitions.
The main criticisms I have is that some of the quotes he offers, from writers such as Lefebvre, Bachelard and Walter Benjamin, are not always referenced in the footnotes and there is an over-use of some words, such as ‘revenant’ and ‘porous’, which whilst relevant, could have been swapped out occasionally for something else. There was also a hint of repetition in some of the themes around this porosity and transgression of boundaries by revenant entities.
I can't comment on the film related quality of the book, but as an architect studying metaphor, I found it a good read.
June 16, 2020
Curtis is a great academic and he really knows his stuff. It is, absolutely, an academic book, so if you aren't used to reading those, be prepared for lots of jargon and footnotes and some heavily nuanced discussion, but he handles it more readable than most. He makes interesting arguments and draws on a variety of haunted houses in film history. I think some who read it may find it dense, others may want more in terms of the films he draws on, but its a solid, well done book and Curtis is really clever.
January 14, 2019
I read this for my dissertation which I'm writing on how reality breaks down in haunted buildings. I found this book incredibly useful and easy going compared to other academic sources I've had to read. For a non film student, you may have to look up the occasional phrase, but I think it's a very accessible little book. And best of all, it's not a dry read. If you like horror films and want to learn more about them, I'd recommend this
October 9, 2020
This has connected so many ideas in my head which I’m grateful, academic at times and goes into detail about lots of films which felt a little repetitive at points but I appreciate the wide range of sources.
Has got me thinking about ghosts and their disrespect for physical boundaries and the anxiety that can be felt in the walls of buildings
Has got me thinking about ghosts and their disrespect for physical boundaries and the anxiety that can be felt in the walls of buildings
October 29, 2023
Not useful as a survey or list of haunted house films, but great as a means of contextualizing the relationship between ghosts, technology, culture and cinema. Definitely would be useful for teaching a horror class.
July 20, 2009
architectural history and its effects on the mass psyche; how different spaces induce (or dispel) anxiety in us humans.
September 3, 2010
Good overview , touching most of the bases with lots of references . I enjoyed
February 13, 2015
Informative, interesting, well researched.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews