In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin’s breast;
In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;
In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish’d dove;
In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.[1]
It could also be said that in the Spring, a young homeowner’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of an upgraded kitchen, an en suite bathroom, or a garage conversion—to put it bluntly, a home remodel.[2]
Whenever someone I know starts considering a home remodel, I always recommend that before comparing swatches, signing any contracts, or putting holes in any walls they first watch Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) and The Money Pit (1986). These two films clearly show how the most optimistic and well-intended homeowner can be brought to financial, physical, and emotional ruin by a home remodel gone wrong.[3] Now, it must be said that these are comedies featuring Cary Grant and Tom Hanks, respectively,[4] so they each have a happy ending.[5] But if you turn the genre dial from comedy over to horror, you encounter an entirely different kind of movie – one in which it’s not the home remodel project that will be the death of you, but the home itself that wants you dead.
Ty Burr, writing for The Washington Post, coined the term “home-icide” to describe this horror sub-genre in his article “The distinguished legacy of movies about houses that want to kill you.” However, Mr. Burr’s definition goes beyond movies featuring murderous mansions and homicidal homes, which would naturally apply to movies from The Amityville Horror (1979) to Poltergeist (1982), and also encompass sociopathic household objects, including:
- Amityville Horror: The Evil Escapes (1989) – a lamp
- Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977) – a bed
- Killer Sofa (2019) a sofa[6]
- Ringu (1998) / The Ring (2002) – a VHS cassette
- Stay Alive (2006) – a video game
I’m a traditionalist, so my home-icide movies are limited to those where the entire house is out to get you, not just the odd blender or piece of furniture. I’ll go as far as including the killer house sub-genres of killer hotel (e.g., The Shining (1980) and The Off Season(2004)) and killer hospital (e.g., Riget (1994) and Session 9 (2001)). I’m not sure exactly where Cube (1998) fits,[7] but I’ll allow it as well. However, even though it’s a personal favorite, I’ll exclude The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1965) – not because it’s a comedy, but because the house never actually tries to kill anyone;[8] and movies like Poltergeist II(1986) and Poltergeist III (1988) – because the vengeful spirit from the first movie keeps trying to re-possess Carol Anne Freeling,[9] independent of her current dwelling.
You’ll note from the films referenced above and the list below that most of these shows involve the paranormal or supernatural[10] (Amityville Horror, etc.) but an increasing number depict technology gone wrong, from The Twilight Zone (1959–1964) episode A Thing About Machines (1960) to the recent movie Afraid (2024).[11] There are even a few where the house itself isn’t evil, but it’s under external malevolent control, not that this distinction matters much to those trapped inside. This includes The Cabin in the Woods(2012), where people (well, attractive teenagers) are being killed by a house that’s under the control of a secret cabal, and Saw II (2005), where our hero must free eight people (including his own son) from a boobytrapped building.
One of my favorite examples of the killer house genre is the “Bad Dream House” segment of The Simpsons’ (1989–) episode Treehouse of Horror (1990) – essentially a parody of The Amityville Horror and Poltergeist. In it the Simpsons get a great deal on an old house that turns out to be inhabited by an evil spirt with a vortex to another dimension in the kitchen and an ancient Indian burial ground in the basement. The house tries everything to kill and otherwise get rid of the Simpsons, but they refuse to leave. Faced with the prospect of life with the Simpsons, the house chooses self-destruction and implodes in upon itself. Lisa observes that “One can’t help but feel a little rejected.”
All of these cautionary tales and more are catalogued in the EIDR Content ID registry. Each has a globally-unique, curated identifier suitable for everything from digital supply chain automation to academic citation along with descriptive metadata and links to other resources where you can find full cast and crew listings, genres, synopses, box office results, etc.
[1] From “Locksley Hall” (1842) by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
[2] Imagine, as you read those words, a chill runs down your spine and you hear the musical sting “dun dun duuun!” echo through the room or you hear a sudden clap of thunder with maniacal laughter off in the distance. If you’ve ever experienced a home remodel, you will not have to imagine. [If footnotes could have footnotes, I’d note that “dun dun duuun!” was first used for this effect in the 1949 CBS Radio drama Suspense, though an earlier version appears at the end of the dinosaur battle in “The Rite of Spring” segment of Fantasia (1940).]
[3] Or, to put that another way, “…by a home remodel.”
[4] With Myrna Loy and Shelley Long, even more respectively.
[5] I warned you there’d be spoilers.
[6] Which Mr. Burr describes as “possibly JD Vance’s personal nightmare.”
[7] Killer house in outer space?
[8] It’s all scheme by Mr. Kelsey, the former gardener at the Simmons Mansion, to reveal the truth behind the murder-suicide of Ephraigm Simmons and his wife before the house is demolished by their son Nicholas, who murdered both his parents years before.
[9] She of, “They’re here!”
[10] Yes, they’re different. Paranormal implies something that is currently unexplained but could someday be explained by science, while supernatural is always something beyond scientific understanding and the laws of nature.
[11] I’m convinced that we will eventually learn that generative AI is the result of an ill-considered HDR digital transfer of the video from Ringu / The Ring.