Dark Castle Entertainment

Background

Dark Castle Entertainment is the horror/thriller genre division of Silver Pictures, a production house affiliated with Warner Bros. It was formed in 1999 by Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler. Its first film was House on Haunted Hill.

(October 29, 1999-)

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Nicknames: "Scary Statue", "The House on Haunted Hill", "The Gargoyle"

Logo: On a black background, we see thunder panning around what appears to be a gargoyle head. As we zoom out, the statue opens its eyes and mouth and roars. Then we continue zooming out what is revealed to be a castle in front of the full moon tinted in yellow, which turns cartoonish. A box goes around the picture and crops it. The text "DARK CASTLE" in a grungy font appears, and "ENTERTAINMENT" fades in under it.

Variants:

• On The Echelon Conspiracy, the logo flickers black/dark red/yellow like a damaged TV would do. On some other films, it uses different tints.
• On Gothika, the logo is tinted in blue, and after the logo is done, it dissolves in a blurry effect to the opening credits of the film.
• On Ghost Ship, the logo is tinted in sepia.
• On the direct-to-DVD films Return to House on Haunted Hill and The Hills Run Red, the text below "DARK CASTLE" says "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" instead of "ENTERTAINMENT".
• Many other variants also exist on some films, including Orphan, Whiteout, The Losers, The Reaping, Ninja Assasin, Unknown, RocknRolla, Splice, and some others.

FX/SFX: The gradual zooming out, the gargoyle moving. Excellent CGI.

Music/Sounds: Thunder sounds, a dark, ominous music composition, and the terrifying gargoyle's roar.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• Sometimes, there is no music and only the sound effects are heard.
• On The Echelon Conspiracy, only the roar, the static and thunder sounds are heard.
• Sometimes, it's the opening theme of the film.
• On House on Haunted Hill, after the last note of the music composition, it morphs into the opening theme.

Availability: Common. Can be seen on horror and thriller movies like Gothika, House of Wax, Thir13en Ghosts, The Hills Run Red, Getaway, Ghost Ship, and the end of Suburbicon.

Editor's Note: Even though it's clearly intentional, the dark atmosphere and especially the gargoyle's design can still startle first-time viewers.