Ravenloft inspiring movies

[Jack the Reaper]

Many horror movies can be adapted to Ravenloft, but there are some movies that fit there like a glove. Here are couple of them you might have missed:

Abattoir (2016) - it might not be the best horror movie out there, but the house it presents is just the perfect illustration of the House on Gryphon Hill! It's not just a haunted house, it's a ghostly nightmare of madness, where every room, corridor and staircase is crawling with ghosts. The master of the House can give quite an inspiration for lord Wilfred Godefroy and his plots.

Whisper (2007) - the boy in this movie is a perfect copy of Malocchio Aderre as a child. I don't want to spoil the plot, but you won't be able to miss the resemblance.

6 Souls (2010) (aka Shelter) - includes an original and fascinating Vistani curse, with a fitting Vistani raunie. The same goes for Drag me to Hell., though its atmosphere is somewhat less RL'ish.

The Skeleton Key (2005) - a perfect tale\adventure idea for Souragne.

Know about other horror films that fit neatly into Ravenloft?

[Jimsolo]

Heck yes! (Don't laugh.) Disney movies.

Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Frozen, Pocahontas, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Beauty and the Beast are all ripe for the picking to port into Ravenloft. Using the movies as a good jumping off point, you can add some of the creepier elements of the stories that inspired them to up the horror factor. (The original Peter Pan novel is essentially about a horrible little vampire child with his own domain anyway--Barrie's work could easily be a Ravenloft supplement with virtually no changes required.)

I've run an adventure based on the Little Mermaid, and the soul-sharing aspect, as well as the potential cruel rejection of the prince, gets very dark very quickly. I've also run a Hunchback of Notre Dame-based adventure in Dementlieu, using Ste Mer de Larmes as the location. With a proper set up you can get horrendously tragic with your players.


On a non-Disney bent: Phantom of the Opera. Seriously, this movie just cries out to be a Ravenloft story. You scarcely need to change anything. Just plop the PCs into the place of Raoul, and off you go!

[IrvyneWolfe]

My Favorite "Ravenloft" films are ...

Sleepy Hollow:

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Thematically it's a great adventure set in rural Mordent. The Supernatural terror is impossible to defeat in proper combat, and the only way the heroes triumph is through investigation and finding who's really pulling the strings (and happily they are far more mortal).

Brotherhood of the Wolf:

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A french action movie about the legendary beast of Gevudan. Putting aside some of the martial arts silliness, it's a great movie that oozes style and in the end is all about dressing up an otherwise mundane foe as something supernatural.

The VVitch:

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A more recent movie about puritans living outside of civilization due to their father being a bit of a dick, even for other puritans. The family's already crappy life goes even further to hell when there seems to be evidence of a witch living in the woods nearby. Then people start pointing fingers at each other.

[IrvyneWolfe]

I remember watching the Peter Pan arc from Once Upon a Time with my wife. She declared Peter's shadow the scariest thing ever and pointed out that he was pretty much the Dark Lord of Neverland.

[Five]

Suspiria (1977) - An American ballet student transfers to a prestigious German dance academy and is drawn into its murderous and supernatural secrets. Great material for an adventure in Dementlieu, or any of the artsy CL 9 domains for that matter.

Apparently there's going to be a remake of this one too.

The Hills Have Eyes (1977/2006 remake) - Family on vacation breaks down and is stranded in an area in the desert that is inhabited by a group of...backwards folk. Great flick for mongrelmen or the Quevari, or something in between.

Pumpkinhead (1988) - Small store owner/farmer's son is killed by reckless teenaged campers and so great is the man's need for revenge that he seeks out the services of a supposed witch and pays her price...

Any rural domain here. Sub witch with Vistani or keep the witch a witch, or hag.

That's three movies of the top of my head anyway.

[Mistmaster]

Crimson Peak (2015), Pinocchio (1942), Black Sabbath (1963) just to quote a few.

[Brandi]

Back in the days of the Kargatane I noted that the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie showed how a Ravenloftian curse should play out...

[brilliantlight]

Back in the days of the Kargatane I noted that the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie showed how a Ravenloftian curse should play out...

Very true, although the fact Jack is undead comes as a surprise there are all sorts of clues that he should be undead.

[Brandi]

Yes, true, but I was thinking particularly of Barbossa's speech:

"My crew and I, we found the gold, and we did more than take one piece, we took it all. Rich men we were and we spent it and traded it and gave it away in exchange for drink and food and pleasant company. But we found out: the drink could not state us, and the food turned to ashes in our mouths, and no amount of pleasant company could ease our torment. We are cursed men, Miss Turner, condemned, to be forever consumed by our own greed. Gold calls to us, always, and we are driven, always to find more, and add it to the treasure.
"There is but one way to remove the curse. All of the scattered pieces of the treasure must be restored in full, and the blood repaid. We've recovered every piece, save for this. And as for the blood... that's what we have you for. And that's why there's no sense in killing you. Yet. Apple?
"... Look! Look! The moonlight shows us for what we really are! We are not among the living and so we cannot die... but neither are we dead! We have all the desires of the living, but cannot satisfy them! Ten years I have been parched of thirst, and unable to quench it! Ten years, I have been starving to death... and haven't died! And I have not felt anything for ten years... Not the wind on my face, nor the spray of the sea... nor the flesh of a woman... "

as well as how in the end what he misses most... is the taste of a humble apple.

[Mistmaster]

Jack Sparrow was not undead until he takes a piece of the treasure, in the final battle, however. Sorry for the offtopic.

[Skyrock]

Among the Hammer classics, both Captain Kronos (1974) and Countess Dracula (1971) a.) fit the era and b.) provide great examples of dark lord curses. I consider Kronos as the better film as a film overall, but Countess offers a built-in terror track from normal to darklord.

[Brandi]

Kronos also shows the need for research in monster-hunting, albeit in a very blackly comic way.

[Hazgarn]

The Wicker Man (1973) has a great "something in this village is not right" storyline, and feels very atmospherically evocative of Mordent in particular.

The Silent Hill film and the movie Deathwatch (2002) both have a very strong domain-esque feel, complete with potential darklords, curses, a misty/smokey atmosphere, and in the case of Deathwatch a scene which basically feels like a border closure in action. The haunting in Below (2002) could work well as an adventure if ported to a ship rather than a submarine.

A lot more were mentioned in an earlier thread (here).

[Deewun]

Two favorites -

Oculus blows my brains out, and is the epitome for me of both an evil object film and how to use illusion in a gothic way.

Candyman is straight up a Darklord or an urban setting. He is so terrifying, and watching the whole film gives me chills every time.

[The Lesser Evil]

I've been watching a few international films on Netflix. The Babadook (2014) is very Ravenloftian in that it's horror is very psychological and metaphorical. The main antagonist is very Bogeyman like with a twist that the more you deny him, the more powerful he becomes. It also focuses a lot on how the haunting causes relationships within and without the family the creature haunts to deteriorate. The sanity slippage is quite dramatic as well.

I also quite like Housebound although for different reasons. It is perhaps the only movie to combine horror and humor so close together in such a way to make them complement each other. It's also a good example of

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how "mundane" (if a little contrive) circumstances can appear to be supernatural.

It also provides a good excuse to circumvent the whole "let's just burn down the haunted house) scenario- make it your mother's and you're put into house arrest.