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This is closely relates to Haunted home and Design - Reinventing the haunted house.

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Unlike the home invasion sub-genre, where the threat is external and the event is short lived, haunted home stories are often about imprisonment and extended siege. Often, the residents of the home are either locked in or in some other way tethered to the location.

Siege is an important concept here, because a part of this sub-genre is usually endurance. By siege, I don’t mean that the threat is external, because it is internal within this context. The haunting is a siege in that it takes place over an extended period of time and slowly wears down its victims. Occasionally the malevolent force is presented as patient and methodical, not rushing the torment but biding its time, investing in the future and watching for opportunities.

I’m not yet sure why and may need to analyze what is happening there more, but that structure is far more insidious and unsettling than a purely random haunting where horrors jump out every now and then.

Part of what is intriguing me is how the haunting can have meaning and depth. So often, horror stories feel contrived, where the thrills are inserted purely for effect and have no logical place in the narrative. But the dangers are more compelling when they are couched within clearly defined rules and mechanics, and where they are within a larger context of a war between good and evil, where each force is trying to form strategies to outwit and defeat their opponent.