The haunted house and the primal scene.

Abstract

The haunted house as a dreadful place where horrible secrets are hidden, bloody murders are committed and paranormal phenomena take place is a so widespread topic in fantasy films that has become a terror sub-genre. This issue is also related to the female otherness. The fact that the house is conceived as a symbol of a female body is collected on Freud, Gaston Bachelard and the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk’s works, as the woman’s belly is the first shelter for a baby before going out. So, the haunted house becomes the best location to develop the sexual difference drama and the primal scene, either through dangerous gateways to metaphorical intrauterine landscapes or through the symbolic representation of peculiar childbirths. The films about haunted houses are rich in anatomic descriptions of buildings. These places are real metaphysical locations where anthropomorphic and organic elements —like the blood flooding the corridors or dropping from the cracks on the walls— contribute to construct the prosopopoeia. As there is a wide existing production, the most important filmic examples have been selected. A historic and thematic examination has been set out, from the twenties to nowadays, dealing with matters such as the relationship between the house and the tomb, the dead mother and the female ghosts, the horrible mythological goddesses’ dwellings, the haunted hotel, the New Flesh’s revival and the fantastic oriental cinema.