Television series

A Very Haunted Renovation

HGTV bolts a horror movie onto a renovation show: six designers and contractors move into one of America's most notoriously haunted houses and have 31 days to fix it up while allegedly being haunted the whole time. Anna Camp hosts, Michel Smith Boyd judges the design, and the pitch is equal parts cosy home-improvement and campfire dare. It's silly, it's cozy, and it knows exactly what it is.

If you liked this

Fixer Upper2014

The gold standard of comfort renovation TV — Chip and Joanna Gaines turning wrecks into dream homes with genuine warmth and zero gimmicks. Perfect if you want the reno without the spook.

But No haunting, no stakes beyond budget and timeline. If you came for the scares, this is decaf.

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Rock the Block2019no page yet

HGTV's actual competition format at its best — teams racing to out-renovate each other for a cash prize, with the same judged-design tension this show borrows.

But It's straightforward home-reno competition drama, nothing supernatural about it, so the appeal is purely craft and rivalry.

Ghost Adventures2008no page yet

Zak Bagans and crew locking themselves in notoriously haunted locations overnight is the direct ancestor of this show's whole premise, minus the power tools.

But It's earnest paranormal investigation, not renovation — long stretches of night-vision static and dramatic whispering rather than demo day.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

House on Haunted Hill1959no page yet

Both put regular people inside a supposedly haunted house with a task and a reward attached, then dare you to decide whether the ghosts are real or the whole thing is a very elaborate stunt.

Vincent Price invites five strangers to survive one night in a haunted mansion for $10,000 apiece — the same 'ordinary people, extraordinary house, prize on the line' engine, just gleefully theatrical and seventy years earlier.

But Black and white, creaky by modern effects standards, and camp rather than scary — it's more haunted-house ride than horror film.

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Cast