Dark Castle Entertainment

Background: Dark Castle Entertainment is a 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-) Dark Castle

Nicknames: "Super 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. We zoom out, and the statue opens it's eyes and mouth and roars. Then we continue zooming out of 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 Echelon Conspiracy, the logo flickers black/dark red/yellow like the TV does. 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 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 in some films, including Orphan, Whiteout, The Losers, The Reaping, Ninja Assasin, Unknown, RocknRolla, Splice, and some others. You can see the CLG info here.

FX/SFX: It's a (excellent) CGI logo.

Music/Sounds: Thunder sounds, a dark, ominous music composition, and of course, the terrifying gargoyle's roar. Sometimes, there is no music and only the sound effects are heard. For the Echelon Conspiracy version, only the roar, static and thunder sounds. Sometimes, the opening theme of the film.

Music/Sounds Variant: 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 ofSuburbicon.

Editor's Note:None.