A very common horror setup, this type of story sees a new family move into a new home, whereupon strange happenings will begin to reveal themselves. It typically preys on the real-life anxieties and stress of moving.

A common feature of these stories is that the family got an unusually good deal on the house due to its bad reputation, the SupernaturalProofFather reasoning that [[ThisIsReality curses aren't real]] and a good deal is a good deal. Ultimately, of course, the deal will turn out to be TooGoodToBeTrue.

Common things to find include a HauntedHouse, a TownWithADarkSecret, and maybe a SecretSquatter.
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!!Examples:

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[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/CrimsonPeak'', the American heroine has a whirlwind romance with a mysterious English baronet. After their marriage, she moves into his ancestral home in Britain, and quickly realizes that it's full of ghosts and secrets.
* We in fact see this happen ''twice'' in ''Film/{{Insidious}}'' [[spoiler: before we find out that it isn't because of the house...]]
%%* ''Film/TheMoneyPit'' plays the trope [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]].%%How?
%%* ''[[MissMarple The Mirror Crack'd]]''.
* ''Film/TheConjuring'' has the family start being haunted by a demonic witch after moving into their new house.
* Recurring trope in the ''Franchise/{{Amityville}}'' series, either by a family moving into a HauntedHouse, or by receiving a cursed item that brings problems to their new home.
* ''Film/HomeSweetHome2005'' is a horror film where a new couple moved into a high-rise apartment in uptown Hong Kong, only to discover an urban legend about a mysterious "monster" lurking in its basements. Said monster then abducts the couple's only son, and all hell breaks loose.
%%* ''Film/{{Juon}}'' and its American remake ''Film/TheGrudge'': woe betide anyone who moves into the cursed house shown in this film series.%%Why?
* The Walsh family in ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' have just moved into the house on 1428 Elm Street when Freddy starts making his comeback.
* ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'' is essentially this from the perspective of the ghosts, trying to drive out the family who have moved into their HauntedHouse, and eventually calling in the title character - a "bio-exorcist" - when their own lackluster attempts fail.
* A non-supernatural example in ''Film/PanicRoom''. Meg and Sarah move into a big house in New York, and get trapped in the titular panic room by thieves the first night. [[spoiler:The ending shows them looking for another house.]]
* In ''Film/{{Sinister}}'', a crime writer moves into the house where a grisly murder took place. Then he finds some Super 8 reels in the attic. Nothing good follows.
* In ''Film/FullCircle'', Julia just wants to escape her overbearing husband and the memories of her daughter's death by moving into a new house alone. Naturally, the house has a deep dark past and is apparently haunted.
* Amanda moves in a house together with her mother and stepfather in ''Film/HouseOfOrphans'', only to discover later that the house was once an orphanage where children were tortured to death in the TortureCellar. Already on the first day she gets attacked by a CreepyChild, later joined by a witch.
* ''Film/TheStepfordWives'' has a family moving out of Manhattan into the picturesque Connecticut town of Stepford. This one is less about the house itself and more about the [[TownWithADarkSecret town of Stepford]] and the weirdness of suburban culture and gender roles.
* A variation in ''Film/Troll2'', where the Waits family engage in a home exchange vacation with the Presents family, who live in the remote [[TownWithADarkSecret town]] of Nilbog.
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[[folder:Literature]]
%%* Tends to happen in practically every other ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book.%%Give examples
%%* The entire ([[{{Metafiction}} innermost]]) plot of ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' is built around this.%%How?
* ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'' begins when Coraline and her parents move to a new house, which contains a door into a spooky MirrorUniverse...
* A variation in ''Literature/TheShining'', where the Torrance family spending a winter in an otherwise-empty hotel for the dad's new job as a caretaker during the off-season.
* In Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Literature/TheRatsInTheWalls'', the main character - the last scion of an old aristocratic family dating back to the Norman Conquest - inherits a castle in rural England. The more he explores the place, the more of his family's extremely upsetting history he learns.
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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* The setting of ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryMurderHouse''.
** A different Murder House is the setting to ''[[Series/AmericanHorrorStoryRoanoke Roanoke]]''.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/HelloNeighbor'', the protagonist moves to a new house and gets suspicious of his neighbor's locked-up CreepyBasement. The plot of the game is them attempting to open the basement door and find out what's down there.
* The Sardinis in ''VideoGame/HauntingStarringPolterguy'' go through no less than four houses. All of them are haunted.
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[[folder:Web Original]]
* Parodied in ''Website/SomethingAwful's'' ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeBjr8Bm_wA Doom House]]''. Or possibly played straight, if it's possible to think of anything used there without being parodied. It's just a one-person "family", though. The house turns out to be [[spoiler: haunted by a strange doll and built over a terrorist burial camp]].
--> "My name is Reginald P. Linux, and ever since my wife died, I've been very depressed. This is why I've been searching for the house of my dreams. But as a philosopher once said, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor be careful what you dream for]], because you just. Might. Get it."
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