It's not often a movie reminds me of how I used to feel about ghosts as a kid. While far from perfect, The Woman in Black (2012) definitely brings me back to that. It's a gothic ghost film in the truest sense; it's incredibly bleak and eerie. You feel the isolation and paranoia of our main character just by seeing the house he must stay in. It's decay and seclusion instantly surround you in the uneasy atmosphere. The atmosphere is so strong it props the film up against its weaker points. One of the weakest for me is Daniel Radcliffe and his character. He does a decent job with the performance, but his character still feels flat and generic. My other gripe is some of the cliche methods used to scare us. There were a few jump scares that felt cheap as they went for a typical fake-out and an over-the-top musical cue. However, the atmosphere is strong enough to cover those few blemishes. Despite those qualms, this bitter tale still has its power, and effectively...

One can't expect a film adaptation of a novel to be an exact copy of the book. It just doesn't happen. What can be sold on the page can't always be effectively translated to the big screen. It'd be nice, but it's just not always possible. That being said, one can still appreciate the film adaptation for what it is, and enjoy it as such. Then there's movies like Ghost Story... John Irvin's spin on Peter Straub's 1979 novel of the same name retains nothing but the bare bones of a complex and compelling story that's a slow-burn exercise in effective horror. As a result, the movie is a great big snooze fest. Yes, a snooze fest! The scares are few and far between, and most of Straub's narrative jettisoned to accommodate what becomes a rather standard haunting story. You see, Straub's novel isn't really about ghosts. The ghosts in his book are metaphorical, and the actual villains something else entirely, which made it frightening. Ir...

The mashup I never expected to see, it sounds like the latest from Wild Eye Releasing promises to mix the haunted house and historical genres with (hopefully) frightening results. Truth be told, historical -- or gothic -- ghost stories are a staple of the horror genre. I'm pretty sure the marketing people are just being clever, targeting well-known franchises and all. After the death of her sister, Patricia inherits her family's estate and soon discovers that something, or someone, has been haunting the home for decades. Cue creepy music! Kelly Goudie, Sarah Wynne Kordas and Lindsay Foster star. I admit, I'm a sucker for movies like this, especially with Halloween just around the corner. Good thing The Baylock Residence hits DVD and Digital Sept. 17! Source: Wild Eye Releasing

You gotta love a good ghost story. There's no question about it. And we have a particularly spooky one for Basement Dwellers on this cool Wednesday morn. By way of writter/director/editor Jeff Payne, who created the Internet sensation Michael vs Jason a few years back, this is a nightmarish ghost story based on a dream Payne had. The plot is simple: a ghostly woman shows up and, the more the narrator tries to ignore her, the closer -- and more menacing -- the spirit gets.

A couple of weeks back I wrote the praises of The Changeling , saying it takes all the tropes and stereotypes of the haunted house movie, but does them right, thus creating an effective story. However, for every Changeling, there are a dozen other films that do the same thing, only not as well. Malicious is one such flick.

While It Follows received all the indie horror buzz earlier this year, a little film called We Are Still Here quietly built up a cult following under David Robert Mitchell's radar. Who's he? The guy who directed It Follows. Although I enjoyed It Follows quite a bit, We Are Still Here is the flick I was most dying to see. And see it I finally did. Does director Ted Geoghegan's tip of the hat to classic haunted house thrillers deserve the attention it so . . . um . . . deserves? Or not? Stick with me!

The Basement hasn't delivered any info on the upcoming period ghost story The Awakening for almost a year, but we're breaking the silence with the creepy little clip below. Sure, there's a moment right out of the great 80s Canadian horror flick The Changeling, but rehashed here it's still surprisingly effective. In fact, this whole clip is effective, from the beauty of star Rebecca Hall to that crazy ghost with the shotgun. I'm up for seeing this. For shizzle. Hall stars as a ghost hunter who travels to a countryside boarding school to investigate rumors of an apparent haunting. Just when she thinks she has debunked the ghost theory, she has a chilling spectral encounter that defies all her rational beliefs. The Awakening was released in the U.K. last November and is scheduled for a limited release here in North America Aug. 17. Look for our thoughts some time in Season Four.

How about that? I didn't even know it was up for sale. Newsday reported on the weekend that the five bedroom house with one of the most notorious house in North American history was on the market for a  $1.15 million. The Dutch Colonial at 108 Ocean Avenue is where Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his parents and his four siblings in 1974. The shootings became the inspiration for Jay Anson's book The Amityville Horror: A True Story and, of course, the 1979 film "The Amityville Horror, its 2005 remake, and many crappy films/sequels inbetween. The home was only on the market for 70 days.