The Ritual House Set Wasn't Just Scary — It Was Haunted
The Ritual House didn’t just stage its scares—it shot inside a real haunted home. Director Crystal J. Huang and writer Donna Spangler deliver ITN’s latest chiller, led by social media star Lauren Francesca as Courtney Cable, with Spangler and Huang also in the cast.
Well, here we go: a haunted house movie that was actually shot in a haunted house. Because of course it was. The Ritual House leans straight into that energy, and the behind-the-scenes stories are wild enough that the marketing basically writes itself.
What The Ritual House is
The film is directed by Crystal J. Huang, written by Donna Spangler, and distributed by ITN Distribution. Internet favorite Lauren Francesca leads the cast as a character named Courtney Cable.
- Lauren Francesca
- Donna Spangler
- Crystal J. Huang
- Keiara Scranton
- Neil Bentley Fierro
- Bron Theron
- Anna Yosin
- Brandon Lill
- Arthur Peng
- Curt Clendenin
- David L. Klein
The inside-baseball twist: they filmed in the actors real house
Production took place almost entirely inside the actual home of two of the film’s leads. To blur the line even more, the characters were written using the actors real names. And if you are wondering whether anything creepy happened while they were shooting: according to the team, yes, repeatedly.
'Chilling events no script could have staged.'
Francesca says she got shoved by something she could not see while in the backyard and went straight into the pool. Lights reportedly flickered and flashed randomly throughout the shoot. One late night, the homeowner found the basement light blazing even though nobody had gone down there, and there were weird noises echoing out of the dark. It was not just the cast getting rattled either: the longtime housekeeper refused to stay overnight to watch pets, saying she saw shifting shadows and felt a 'presence' in the halls.
There is more: a close friend of director Crystal J. Huang developed sudden welts and scratches on his legs after stopping by, and certain props would shatter on their own or switch on and off without anyone touching them. If this were part of the script, you would roll your eyes; since it is from the set, it is the exact kind of story people will tell forever.
The plot (on purpose)
On screen, the movie follows two friends who inherit a house, flip it into a short-term rental, and accidentally wake up something ancient. So yes, the premise and the location are a little too perfect together.
When and where to see it
The Ritual House has its world premiere on October 24, 2025 at The Chabot Theatre in Castro Valley, California. It hits Tubi the same day, then rolls out to other digital platforms later in October, including Roku and Fandango at Home.
If you are into real haunted-house vibes baked into the production, this one is basically a field study.