10 Scariest Haunted House Movies Ever Made

Guillermo del Toro pops up on this list for the second time with The Devil's Backbone. For many, it's the pinnacle of the director's Spanish language oeuvre. As much a humanist parable as it is a haunted house story, the movie is a thoughtful and contemplative masterpiece that, as with much of Del Toro's work, deepens its monsters arguably more than its human beings.

The film is based around the haunting of an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War. The oprhanage has been a target for Franco's fascist regime as those running the place are aligned with the Republicans. A new child begins to see what appears to be the ghost of a child roaming the hallways, which leads to him learning the story of a young boy who died the day an unexploded bomb became wedged in the grounds of the building.

Fans of jump scares and loud noises may not find much to enjoy in The Devil's Backbone, but the movie is a skin-crawling tale of terror that has an interesting moral message behind it. As a reflection, along with Pan's Labyrinth, of Del Toro's humanist beliefs, it's as compelling as it is scary.