18 of the Best Classic Ghost Movies

Boo!! We all love a good spine tingler and ghost movies tend to generate more tingle than most. Here is our pick for 18 of the best movies where ghosts take centre stage. The Amazing Mr Blunden

The Amazing Mr Blunden 1972
Classic kids’ chiller from Lionel Jeffries, director of The Railway Children. Features a malevolent Diana Dors.

Beetlejuice 1988
Newly-dead couple Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis hire Michael Keaton’s insane “bio-exorcist” to rid their house of the living. Tim Burton masterfully inverts the haunted house story. Blithe Spirit

Blithe Spirit 1945
David Lean directs Noël Coward’s supernatural comedy about a husband tormented by the ghost of his first wife.

The Changeling 1979
Widower George C Scott moves into a house that has been unoccupied for 12 years. But if it’s unoccupied, what is all that noise upstairs, and whose is that ball that bouncing down the stairs?

Ghost 1990
Ethereal Patrick Swayze helps his grieving widow, Demi Moore, with a spot of therapeutic potting, providing erotic experiences from beyond the grave into the bargain. Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters 1984
“Who you gonna call?” A bunch of ‘Saturday Night Live’ alumni in their prime, of course.

The Ghost And Mrs Muir 1947
A lonely widow strikes up a relationship with the ghost of a sea captain. Another tale of romance from beyond the grave.

The Haunting 1963
“Can’t you feel it? It’s alive… watching.” The house that is. Not a place you’d like to spend an evening in.

The Haunting 1999
Can’t you feel it? It’s dead… at the box office. Dubious remake of the above.

House On Haunted Hill 1999
Another ridiculous remake. But with added Geoffrey Rush, camping it up exquisitely. The Innocents

The Innocents 1961
Highly influential adaptation of Henry James’ seminal story ‘The Turn Of The Screw’. Are they ghosts or is naive young governess Deborah Kerr simply going doolally?

The Others 2001
More than a fleeting nod to The Innocents in this eerie, stylish film starring Nicole Kidman.

Poltergeist 1982
“They’re heee-er!” Spooks in the telly. The Shining

The Shining 1980
“Here’s Johnny!” Writer’s block turns into something far worse as Jack Nicholson loses it at the isolated, midwinter Overlook Hotel.

The Sixth Sense 1999
Haley Joel Osment sees dead people. Bruce Willis whispers reassurance.

Truly Madly Deeply 1991
Dead husband and his ghostly buddies start to become unwelcome as living wife falls for living boyfriend in this popular British film from Anthony Minghella. The Uninvited

The Uninvited (1944)
Spookiness by the sea in this vintage chiller.

What Lies Beneath (2000)
There’s a ghost in the bath! No there isn’t! Am I losing it? Michelle Pfeiffer, ignored wife of high-flying doctor Harrison Ford, starts freaking out in Zemeckis’ supernatural mystery.