Introduction

The horror genre is momentarily experiencing a renaissance. With movies like Get Out, It and Annabelle not only topping box offi ces worldwide, but also making serious claims at award shows, Laporte knows that “Prestige horror is back” (2018). Although the horror genre has always been a “Hollywood staple” (Laporte, 2018), horror has always been kind of looked down upon by the Hollywood elite. However, it seems as if over the last several years, the genre has been evolving, returning to producing horror movies and series that are not only profi table, but critically acclaimed as well. Therefore, it is not very surprising that the genre is greatly expanding at the moment, not only for the big screen, but for the small screen also. Since horror movies are mostly shot in one location, due to budget issues (Laporte 2018), their set design has mostly not been as elaborate, compared to the typical prestige Hollywood movies. Nevertheless, the horror genre has always managed to create a fi tting atmosphere by conditioning their viewers to recognise certain tropes typical for the genre and therefore creating the wanted tension and distress with little set design required. The trope of the Victorian mansion as the default haunted house is probably one of the most used and most eff ective of these clichés. With its roots in horror classics such as Psycho and the Addams Family, as well as its rather dark and unpleasant history of disillusionment and decay after the fi rst World War, the Victorian mansion as the house of horrors has been established several decades ago, but is still used to this day, which can be seen in various modern horror adaptations, such as Netfl ix’s hit horror shows the Haunting of Hill House and the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (CAOS). The Victorian mansion as the default haunted house has been established a long time ago, but still proves to be the most powerful tool to create the scary atmosphere required for the horror genre. Although CAOS and the Haunting of Hill House are series and therefore would have more time to establish an according eerie atmosphere with their set design, they still fall back on the old trope of the Victorian mansion as haunted and just downright spooky. This just proves, how powerful Victorian homes are to create the wanted atmosphere without much further ado. However, it is interesting to explore as to why the trope of the Victorian mansion is such successful in creating an atmosphere fi tting for the horror genre up to this day. In the following, Set Design and its relation to performing arts, as well as its process will be explained, before further exploring the history and usage of the Victorian mansion as a tension-generating tool in the horror genre, taking into account the role of the subconscious and how viewers were conditioned into recognising this trope over time. Finally, CAOS will be looked into as an example to demonstrate how the cliché of the Victorian mansion is still used in modern performing arts.