Editorials
I Stayed in the House from ‘Poltergeist’ and Here’s What Happened
Los Angeles is a mecca for horror fans for a variety of reasons, one of which is to see the real-life filming locations of iconic movies. Whether you want to see the Myers house from Halloween in South Pasadena, the Thompson house from A Nightmare on Elm Street in West Hollywood, or the titular House on Haunted Hill in Los Feliz, there are a number of iconic photo opps that horror fans can collect. In Simi Valley, though, horror fans can immerse themselves in a seminal location in an entirely new way: you can rent the house from Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist on Airbnb.
It’s difficult to understate the significance of the home and its role in the 1982 film, as while many of the aforementioned locales merely served as establishing shots, nearly the entirety of Poltergeist unfolds in the house. Given that some of these locations are actual homes or businesses, owners don’t always take kindly to tourists, but that’s far from the case with homeowner Rachel Powers. As a fan of the film herself, she knows the importance of the home, and rather than discouraging fans from making the pilgrimage, she’s known to come outside and chat. If you trick-or-treat on Halloween night, you’ll also notice Poltergeist playing on the TV.
“For the most part, people just pull up in front – they either pull up over here on the other side of the driveway or they’ll pull up in front of the neighbor across the street. They usually just take pictures and videos from their window. Sometimes they’ll get out and they’ll walk around,” Powers told Bloody Disgusting. “I had a German tourist here a few days ago. This was a number-one stop on his list, to come see this house … I’ll go out there, I’ll talk to people and answer questions.”
The house today isn’t exactly what it was in the early ’80s – the 1994 Northridge earthquake resulted in some changes, such as the exterior retaining wall. Similarly, renovations over the years mean the living room’s spiral staircase was removed and exposed beams have been covered up, but outside of these changes, as soon as you see the same TV model sitting inside playing static, you’ll be immediately transported to the very first time you saw Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) speaking to the TV people.
Transforming the home has been an ongoing process for Powers, as some items are easier to track down than others. Shipping the era-appropriate TV set, for example, costs more to ship across the country than it even costs to buy, and a few key items have still escaped her. Her passion for the movie has connected her with the sprawling community of Poltergeist fans, with this communal love allowing her to unexpectedly acquire integral pieces.
“The community has been super duper helpful in helping me find things. For example, that picture above the TV, a fan on TikTok saw a video I had posted. He’s like, ‘You’re missing the picture,’ and he sends me a link to where it was. I was able to negotiate back and forth, put an offer on it, and then, a few weeks later, it arrived. It’s the same print by the same artist, it’s part of the same run.”
Much of the home has earned the upgrades to bring it into the 21st century, which makes staying there much more comfortable, but don’t worry – turning the TV on immediately brings up static, and a VCR lets you watch the original trilogy without having to worry whether or not it’s streaming.
A number of key sequences from the movie unfold in the living room, though many of these scenes take place in the darkness. The true show-stopper in the home is the kitchen, thanks to how similar it looks to the movie, right down to the cookbooks on the shelves and the glassware, and thanks to how memorable those kitchen-set scenes are in the original movie. Powers marked the floor with circles and arrows to match what was done in the movie, and placing a chair in the requisite circle on the floor will almost make you think it will slide across the room if you leave it there long enough. After identifying the key elements from the movie, the house is packed with Easter egg tributes to Poltergeist, almost making the experience of staying here feel like a scavenger hunt.
Entirely unlike the movie, though, there’s no nefarious presence to be felt when you’re inside. Otherworldly events may have been filmed here, and the stars may have suffered tragedies later in life, but the love put into the house and the fans who regularly drop by have helped create a much more positive energy than seen in Poltergeist.
Upstairs, you can see the primary bedroom looking quite similar to what we saw in the movie, and Robbie (Oliver Robins) and Carol Anne’s room has been decorated with the necessary accoutrements to resemble the film. Robbie’s Star Wars bedding wasn’t all too difficult to acquire, while Carol Anne’s bed was one of the biggest challenges of the whole project for Powers.
“The hardest thing to track down was the bedding and the fabric for the kids’ bedroom. It was the green fabric with the pink and yellow prints. It’s got a country-esque feel to it. No one makes that anymore; I couldn’t find it anywhere. I looked for months and months and months trying to find that particular fabric to make the bedding,“ Powers confirmed. “It was just crazy, I’d been looking online, I’d done Google image searches, I was looking everywhere.“
She added, “And then, all of a sudden, last minute, one of my kids comes home and she’s like, ‘I have a science project due tomorrow. We have to go get X, Y, and Z.‘ We run out to Joann Fabrics like 15 minutes before closing. I get in there, and the first thing I see, to my left as I walk in the door, is a bolt of this green fabric with the pink and yellow flowers just sitting there.”
Another key element of the kids’ room is the horrifying clown doll, which Powers has a replica of, though she is still hoping to track down one of the screen-used clowns to make the room even more authentic.
The backyard of the home isn’t nearly as frightening as what is seen in the movie, as there is no foreboding tree, and the pool is actually quite nice, as opposed to being just a hole in the ground full of dead bodies. This might (strangely) come as a disappointment to some fans, but anyone who has been subjected to the heat of Southern California will prefer a finished pool as opposed to a hole in the ground full of corpses.
The experience of watching Poltergeist in the living room of the house is surreal, to say the least, as you get distracted at various points looking around you to compare what you see on-screen to your actual surroundings. What’s most surprising, though, is that the further you get into the movie, the less you pay attention to those things, as you get sucked into the events of the film, no matter how many times you’ve seen it. It’s a testament to Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg‘s filmmaking that, even in the home of the movie you’re watching, even more than 40 years later, you still get sucked into the TV (but in a way much safer than what happened to Carol Anne).
“The reason why I do it is really just to share it with people,“ Powers shared. “I came in, lived in it, really wanted to get a feel for it, get the vibe of the house. It was when I would have people come over, and the first thing they would do is go up to the TV with their hands on, and [there was] just this joy. ‘Oh, my God, I’m here. I’m in the movie.’”
She continued, “So far, the response has been pretty overwhelming. I get emails daily from around the globe from people basically thanking me. There’s a lot of gratitude for doing this because I could have come in, just updated it all, closed it off, put ‘Do Not Disturb‘ signs everywhere, and called it a day. But the thing is, there’s a generation of people that this movie just touched – so many people. Every time somebody requests to book the place, they tell me their story. I don’t ask for it. Everybody tells their story about when and where they saw the movie, how old they were, what kind of impression it made on them.”
You can head to Airbnb to book the Poltergeist house for yourself.
Video credit: Patrick Cavanaugh. Follow on Instagram and YouTube.
We’re now officially in the back half of 2026 now that July is here, but what a year it’s been for horror so far. The sequels and reboots are still holding strong at the box office with films like Scream 7 and Scary Movie, but it’s also been a year where new voices are shattering records in unexpected ways.
Markiplier eschewed conventional production and distribution channels with his feature adaptation of Iron Lung, for example. We’re also still in the midst of Backrooms and Obsession-mania, with the former back in theaters with bonus footage and the latter extending its box office reign. Liminal horror has exploded, and low-budget indie horror is seeing just as much, and sometimes even more, success as big studio-backed fare.
All of which to say that 2026 has been a hell of a year so far for the genre, and it’s only getting warmed up. Still on the way are Evil Dead Burn, Insidious: Out of the Further, Resident Evil, Clayface, Whalefall, and Werwulf, just to name a few.
Also catch up with the Best Horror Books and Best Horror Games of the year so far.
Here are the ten best horror movies of the year (so far).
10) Chime
Horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with one of his most haunting yet, though one that’d likely be higher on this list if it were more accessible. The 45-minute feature was initially produced and distributed as an NFT before receiving a theatrical run earlier this year, with no plans to distribute digitally or on home media. It spins a somewhat cryptic tale, introducing a culinary teacher, Takuji Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka, Never After Dark), whose classroom becomes disrupted by a strange sound that leads to violence. It’s a quiet but haunting unraveling, one that leaves no aspect of Matsuoka’s life untouched, in true Kiyoshi Kurosawa style. That it defies any easy explanation also ensures Chime embeds itself under your skin.
9) Send Help
Sam Raimi’s splatstick return to form is a delightfully deranged two-hander that doubles as infectious catharsis for anyone who’s ever had a bad boss. Rachel McAdams (Doctor Strange) and Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) face off when their characters are shipwrecked on an island, prompting a bid for survival in more ways than one. While O’Brien often matches her, It’s McAdams who shines as she deftly handles everything that Raimi, working from a script by Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason), throws at her. Send Help is full of vibrant personality, packed with all of Raimi’s signatures, making for one of the most entertaining films of the year.
8) Mārama
New Zealand filmmaker Taratoa Stappard’s gothic tale begins in familiar fashion, with Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne) arriving in Yorkshire upon invitation to learn more about her parents, only to find the remote manor haunted. Just when Stappard’s period horror story feels doomed to succumb to familiar gothic trappings and jump scares, though, its true horror emerges. The more Mary uncovers about her heritage and her Māori culture, the clearer it becomes that this grim home is built on violence and exploitation. Stappard’s vision comes into its own when it leaves behind its gothic influences and embraces its Māori identity; few scenes are as powerful as when Osborne’s Mary performs a haka in response to her vile oppressors, heralding in a righteous bloodbath.
7) Touch Me
Writer/Director Addison Heimann draws from retro Japanese horror, exploitation cinema, and perhaps even hentai for his campy, psychosexual sophomore feature. A toxic friendship plagued by trauma, codependency, and addiction gets tested to the extreme when Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci), a hip-hop-loving, tracksuit-sporting alien, gets between them. Olivia Taylor Dudley and Jordan Gavaris have an easy rapport and play off each other well as directionless, depressed Millennial besties prone to ignoring their problems until they become insurmountable. But it’s Pucci’s inspired, childlike take on the chicken nugget-loving extraterrestrial with tentacled secrets of his own that steals the show. Heimann has a lot on his mind with his sophomore feature and neatly condenses it all into a quirky, eccentric psychosexual camp odyssey that leans heavily into humor.
6) Backrooms
Director Kane Parsons translates the vast liminal labyrinth of his web series to the big screen in his feature debut, one that instills existential dread with its atmospheric horror and narrative. The ‘ 90s-set horror movie introduces a protagonist with a serious chip on his shoulder over life’s many disappointments, who then discovers his furniture store harbors a hidden door that leads to an endless labyrinth. It’s not just the incredible production design that instills a disorienting sense of doom and terror, but the lead characters’ palpable and profound sense of loneliness and isolation. Parsons exudes impressive confidence and control as he methodically entrusts his quiet worldbuilding and talented leads to carry the dramatic weight. While Backrooms does deflate by the film’s cryptic, cliffhanger-y end, it’s arguably the most effective and scariest yet at capturing the uncanny valley of generative AI.
5) Leviticus
Writer/Director Adrian Chiarella uses an It Follows-like supernatural entity that relentlessly stalks its prey as a launchpad to immerse audiences in the horror of constantly living in fear for simply existing. A conversion therapy ritual among a deeply conservative community plunges a pair of erstwhile lovers into a nightmarish bid for survival when it summons a force that takes the shape of those whom the afflicted desires most. Chiarella refines the horror mechanics and metaphor with much sharper precision, ensuring that the scares and emotional gravity of the young couple’s terrifying predicament reach their intended impact. It’s the central layered performances by Joe Bird (Talk to Me) and Stacy Clausen (Thrash) that clinch emotional investment in their heartbreaking plight, ensuring that the social horror cuts deep.
4) Redux Redux
The McManus Brothers, writer/director duo Matthew and Kevin McManus (The Block Island Sound), dials up the intensity of a classic revenge story by setting it within a multiverse, where Irene Kelly (Michaela McManus) seeks to snuff out every single iteration of her daughter’s murderer, Neville (Jeremy Holm). The more she stalks and slays every world’s Neville, the more she risks losing her humanity entirely. Through a narrative foil in Mia (Stella Marcus), Redux Redux smartly bypasses repetition as it explores the moral complexities and vulnerabilities of Irene’s extremely violent quest. Holm becomes utterly terrifying in the climax, ensuring that no matter whether Irene loses herself to vengeance for good or not, it’s justified if it means ridding the world of this sick maniac.
3) 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Director Nia DaCosta takes the reins in the second entry in writer Alex Garland and original director Danny Boyle’s trilogy, picking up from the previous conclusion that saw Spike (Alfie Williams) fleeing from the infected straight into the welcoming arms of Sir Jimmy Crystal (Sinners’ Jack O’Connell). From here, DaCosta presents a stark contrast between humanity’s best and worst. The former sees the tender studies of Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) make poignant strides toward humankind’s future, while the latter unleashes more pain and bloodshed courtesy of the Jimmies. The dual paths of light and dark collide in one epic conclusion, an inspired confrontation between good and evil on a stunning set piece of heavy metal insanity. Yet it’s DaCosta’s handling of both extremes that impresses most, teeing up one epic conclusion to this trilogy.
2) Obsession
Sketch comedian turned horror filmmaker Curry Barker (Milk & Serial) wrings blood-curdling terror from a classic Monkey’s Paw wish fulfillment scenario in a way that no one could have ever anticipated. To say that it’s taken the box office by storm would be a massive understatement; Obsession is the top horror movie of the year in terms of gross. It’s not hard to see why, either. While Monkey’s Paw scenarios often yield predictable outcomes, and this outcome is practically telegraphed from the start, Barker manages to surprise with the journey itself. And it’s one insane journey paved with blood-soaked violence and no shortage of nightmare fuel. What truly sets it apart, though, is leads Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette as the central pair undone by one vicious wish. Expect to see a lot more from breakout Navarette.
1) Hokum
A surly, traumatized writer must break free from his self-imposed shackles of guilt when confronted by a wicked witch haunting a quaint Irish inn in the latest by writer/director Damian McCarthy (Oddity). Adam Scott’s Ohm makes for an atypical but rewarding protagonist, and his complicated emotional journey gives way to a deeply moving story of a man so thoroughly broken by personal trauma that he constantly dwells in darkness. In true McCarthy style, expect the creepy as hell witch to dole out some supernatural retribution for crimes committed, but never in the way you’d expect. The filmmaker has a way of making whimsy pure nightmare fuel; Hokum distorts a kids’ show into eerie, uncanny valley-induced terror in its torment of Ohm. Channeling Stephen King, this creeper plays like a traditional campfire tale in mood and style, infusing genuine scares with a sense of magic and heart.
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