The article titled “Haunted House Films are really about the Nightmares of Gentrification”

speaks on the gentrification that is portrayed in haunted house movies in the United States. The

article speaks on the fears that are felt deep down by the audience as a result of their actions and

the consequences that they had on underprivileged persons in the community. Based on the

evidence given, I agree with the premise of the article that these films are ideally made to show

the gentrification that takes place in communities.

The first pointer on the truth of this article is where the fictional families in the movies relocate

from their nice uptown residences to rural abandoned homes where the previous occupants were

violently displaced leaving the place in a mess. The movies subject the new family to violence

and terror which they suffer as a result of the violence that took place prior to their arrival despite

the fact that they were not responsible for it. In haunted film movies, the families that are

subjected to these forced evictions and relocations are predominantly the minorities; blacks and

people of other races. The houses that they leave behind are normally taken up by white families

which make up the majority in the United States. After being subjected to violence and terror in

the new houses, the minority are often viewed as the “enemy” which is normally the case when

gentrification happens in real life. When communities are relocated from areas they have

considered home for most of their lives in favour of more “urban” settlements to be put up, they

are bound to respond with violence. Once they do this, the majority in the community views

them as being violent and subsequently classify them as the enemy while in fact they are

protecting what they have called home for most of their lives.

The haunted house films are also seen to be about gentrification since they portray evils that took

place in the past that come back to haunt people in the present. For instance, houses that were

occupied by people that were brutally murdered in incidents such as genocides are often
considered haunted while in fact it is the fear of the actions of the past that are being exploited by

the movies. The article speaks on the haunted house story as being the guilt that is visited upon

the innocent for the atrocities carried out by their ancestors (Miller, 2007).

Reference
Miller, S. J. (2007, October 31). Haunted House Films Are Really About the Nightmares of

Gentrification. Retrieved from Alter Net:

https://www.alternet.org/2007/10/haunted_house_films_are_really_about_the_nightmare

s_of_gentrification/