20 Things We'd Never Do Thanks To Horror Movies

2. Stay In A Gothic Castle

Probably the oldest (and also the most iconic) horror setting, the gothic castle was established in Nosferatu, Vampyr and Dracula as the legendary home of the vampire, but was quickly appropriated throughout the 1930s and -40s to also house witches (Black Sunday), Satanists (The Masque Of The Red Death), maniacs (The Old Dark House, The Pit & The Pendulum) and mad scientists (Frankenstein). It's no coincidence that most of these films were adaptations of literary classics: early horror retained a veneer of respectability by restricting itself largely to established literary narratives and historical settings, and the theme of the gothic castle largely died out as contemporary horror shifted its stories into the present day. It now exists almost exclusively in haunted house horror stories, which is a shame as the classic gothics proved that there can be far more interested things lurking in the corners of an old dark mansion than ghosts.
Contributor
Contributor

I'm a completist. I love platformers, indie games, bad horror movies and Joss Whedon. You can find me over on Twitter at @ejosully, where I talk about largely unrelated things.