Love tuning into a scary movie on Halloween, but bored of watching the same old ones each year?
Lawrence Jackson, Head of Film Practice at the School of Arts, has compiled a list of five of his favourite ghost story films which go beyond the ordinary.
Dead of Night (Ealing, 1945)
A supernatural anthology film from the British studio better known for its comedies. Expect haunted mirrors and creepy ventriloquists’ dummies.
The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)
Deborah Kerr as the governess in a superlative adaptation of The Turn of the Screw, written by eminences such as Truman Capote and John Mortimer.
The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963)
Not the Jan de Bont 90’s remake, and before the recent Netflix series, this is the definitive adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.
Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
Not to be confused with the recent remake by Luca Guadagnino and its score by Thom Yorke, worthy though they are. This original shocker from the late 1970s is thrillingly lurid, spectacular and sensual. There is much violence, accompanied by Goblin’s pounding electronic music, so it is as much horror as it is ghost story, but at its heart this follows the old dark house format to a splendid degree.
The Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo del Toro, 2001)
From the director of The Shape of Water, a brilliant and poignant tale set in an orphanage during the Spanish civil war.
For over 30 years Kent has been at the forefront of developing film studies as an academic subject. Our film studies degrees explore the history of cinema and the theoretical approaches to the medium. Film history covers historical events in both the film industry and society while the theory element exposes you to the intellectual traditions that inform the academic study of film.