Dark Castle Entertainment

Main Logo Variations

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.

Variant: On the direct-to-DVD films Return to House on Haunted Hill and The Hills Run Red, the text below the name says "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" instead of "ENTERTAINMENT".

FX/SFX: The gradual zooming out and the gargoyle moving. Excellent CGI that still holds up well twenty years later.

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 House on Haunted Hill (the first film produced by the company and also to use this logo) Gothika, House of Wax, Thir13en Ghosts, The Hills Run Red, Getaway, Ghost Ship, and the end of Suburbicon. It has recently appeared on Seance.

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