Strap into your favorite panic chair, and try not to get tears on the popcorn. These are the most horrifying films ever made...
A Quiet Place
John Krasinski of The Office stars in and directed this creative thriller masterpiece back in 2018. The story follows a family trying to survive through an apocalyptic event where monsters who are triggered by sound slaughter human beings. They need to stay quiet, even when giving birth or getting injured.
Paranormal Activity
Few movies hit a generation as hard as Paranormal Activity. You may have watched this movie 100 times, but we promise, every time you flick it on, you will discover something new and unnerving about it. Paranormal Activity was one of the defining films of the cult found footage genre, and it kicked off an entire slew of great movies to come.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
We love the sequels to A Nightmare on Elm Street just as much as the next guy, but the 1980 version has all the rest beat. Wes Craven unleashed Freddy Krueger onto a generation that was, frankly, not prepared to be afraid of going to sleep. All other Freddy Krueger movies are great, don't get us wrong, but this one takes the cake.
The Changeling
This movie came out in 1980. It didn't have an all-star cast, nor did it have a particularly earth-shattering advertising budget. What it did have, was genuine production and a terrifying plot. The Changeling is about a composer who moves into a haunted mansion in Seattle, but in this case, "haunted" means something that you may have never seen before.
The Innocents
Deborah Kerr stars in this 1961 cult classic. Kerr is tasked with caring for two children in a haunted mansion. This movie has serious The Shining vibes from even before that movie was conceived. If you want to watch a more modernized version of this classic, check out The Others, it's a film from 2001 that serves as a remake with a bit of a twist.
A Tale of Two Sisters
This 2003 fright-fest is about a sibling duo who are growing up together in South Korea. They live normal lives outside of the fact that they've been getting haunted by a terrible poltergeist that's controlling everything they do. Or, are they making all of it up? You'll have to give it a watch to figure that out.
The Ring
In 2002, a man named Gore Verbinski released a movie that shook up Hollywood. That movie was The Ring. This film is about a haunted videotape that kills its viewers after they watch it. There is no way around it, and people have tried.
The Eyes of My Mother
This movie slipped below the radar of all the hot releases in 2016. It's about a socially awkward teenaged girl who begins to exhibit violent tendencies. She begins to torture, maim, and murder animals in an extremely morbid fashion. The movie is entirely in black and white, making it give off some atmospheric vintage horror vibes.
Under the Shadow
Under the Shadow is one of the few horror movies based on true events that are both accurate and equally terrifying. The story is centered around a mother and daughter who are fighting to stay alive in Tehran in 1988. This was when the War of the Cities portion of the Iran-Iraq war had divulged into raid bombings exclusively.
Poltergiest
If you weren't haunted by the menacing clown mask and Carol Anne's floating toys as a kid, then you were probably born before we were. This supernatural classic is as good as it was the day it came out, and it deserves all the critical acclaim that it's received over the years.
The Hitcher
This was the movie that made hitchhiking scare an entire generation of growing youngsters. Rutger Hauer and D.B. Sweeney concocted this terrifying story of a nice man who picks up a serial killer hitchhiker, but he can't seem to shake him off of his tail after he dropped him off.
Tigers Are Not Afraid
This movie got swept up in the coronavirus panic and was left out in the rain when the theaters closed. Tigers Are Not Afraid is about a handful of orphaned children who were abducted and abandoned by the Mexican drug cartels. Here's the thing, they have superpowers and can all channel supernatural entities.
Suspiria
Suspiria was originally released in 1977. Last year, it saw a complete body horror transformation starring Tilda Swinton. The story is about a young ballet dancer from Ohio who wants more than anything to be accepted into an elite dance school in Berlin. She gets in but then discovers that it's a front for a coven of witches that manipulate the dancers for their own amusement.
The Devil's Backbone
Before The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro released The Devil's Backbone. This film is set during the Spanish Civil War. It's a psychodrama that does not leave anything to the imagination besides the origin of the specter that resembles the orphaned protagonist of the film. Also, del Toro claims that he loosely based the plot of this movie off of the specter that he was visited by as a child. Creepy.
The Descent
In 2006, action movies were all the rage. The Descent didn't get its proper attention until cult film fans picked up on this masochistic, hyper-stylized thriller. Imagine spelunking so deep into a cave system that you and your friends reach hell. That's what happens in this flick.
El Orfanato
There is no gore in this film. There are no jump scares, no emotionally distressed family members, and definitely no severed heads. This movie is about a woman who is on the hunt for her long-lost child, and a group of orphans who wear painted sacks over their heads. By the way, this movie might be the freakiest one in this list.
Inside
Do not watch this movie if the concept of birth is either triggering or nauseating for you. A lonely pregnant woman discovers that she has been stalked by a different lonely woman. The non-pregnant woman locks herself in the pregnant woman's house and decides that she's going to cut the baby out of the pregnant woman's stomach with a pair of scissors. This all happens on Christmas Eve too.
Lovely Molly
Lovely Molly was made by Eduardo Sanchez, who you might recognize from his hit film The Blair Witch Project. This movie came long after Blair Witch, and it flew pretty far under the radar. Sanchez continues to experiment with horror and perspectives, as this is a strictly POV movie about a relationship that has gone very, very wrong.
Starry Eyes
Starry Eyes came out in 2014. It's very similar to movies like The Fly and Martyrs in the sense that it is a body horror freak-fest that is both nauseating and interesting at the same time. This movie is about a person who is completely obsessed with becoming famous, and she would do absolutely anything to receive the title of "celebrity."
The Taking of Deborah Logan
There are hundreds of movies about demonic possession that you would never flinch at if you're a horror fanatic. This one, on the other hand, is borderline deathly terrifying. The Taking of Deborah Logan is a mockumentary about a woman who is struggling with Alzheimer's, but it turns out she's just possessed instead.
The Witches
Some horror movies are specifically designed to scare kids, and this is one of them. Witches around the globe change their faces to appear as normal-looking, professional women. However, they use these disguises to trap children in places where they can conduct rituals. Using witch magic, they turn the kids into mice and stomp on them!
The Exorcist
The Exorcist was one of the first true horror movies that had ever been made. The craziest thing about this movie is that it is actually based on a true story, although it was dramatized a little bit for the sake of the plot. The Exorcist is about the last official catholic exorcism that had been conducted on a young man who was referred to as "Roland Doe" because nobody knew who he was.
The Babadook
Everybody takes something different away from this movie. What is seemingly just a demonic legend told in the brooding home of a mourning mother and son, they soon find out that the Babadook isn't just a story. This movie is both horrific and a celebration of the spirit of the single parent, you'll be on the edge of your seat with this one.
Under the Skin
In 2010, Johnathan Glazer hired Scarlett Johansson to work with a strange idea. An alien gets trapped on our planet to lure men into a dark and black void. What happens to the men once they're in her trap? We're not going to ruin that for you.
The Thing
Directed by John Carpenter, this science fiction flick is sure to scare you away from any artic encounters. When a team of scientists finds a “thing” that can shape-shift into the victim's bodies, anyone could be the monster at any time. Believe it or not, for a movie that was made in 1984, this one hits just as hard as the topical modern films that are coming out now.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Fire Walk With Me is the prequel to the events that led up to the first season of Twin Peaks. It follows Laura Palmer (played by Sheryl Lee) as she spends her last week on earth. More sad than scary, this eerie thriller deals with trauma, family, loss, and all things just below the surface...
Deliverance
Not all scary movies are run by guts and gore. In this flick, a boy born from the deep depths of the forest freaks viewers out just fine. This 1972 film stars Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox. It calls itself an adventure drama, but if you know anything about the banjo-strumming, moonshine drinking, backwoods type folks in this movie, you know it's going to get terrifying.
Cabin Fever
The first film Eli Roth ever directed might be his worst, the 2002 film Cabin Fever. Well, at least some people think that the movie is "good because it's bad." Cabin Fever is about a group of youngsters who are out on a vacation with one another, all while the group begins to contract a highly contagious and strange flesh-eating disease.
The Vanishing
Taken scared everyone about the dangers of abduction, but Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer’s The Vanishing will put all other Taken movies to shame. Similar to the plot of the famous Liam Neeson series, The Vanishing follows a man who discovered that his girlfriend went missing from a bus stop. He would do anything to get her back, and we mean anything.
Pulse
The internet can be a scary place, but this film takes that concept to a whole new level. In this movie, computers take the place of poltergeists. They can project their own (and the computer owner's) consciousness into the real world. This movie will make you want to hop online after you watch it just to clear your search history.
Lake Mungo
Joel Anderson directed this 2008 hyper-realistic cinematographic feature. The cast relied heavily on improvisation for this mockumentary-style haunting. When a family begins to experience some paranormal events following the death of their daughter, they begin to learn some secrets about her life and the lives of the people around them.
Blood and Black Lace
Who said horror couldn't be fashionable? Mario Brava directed Blood and Black Lace in 1964. When a murderer starts going after the beautiful models of a high-fashion commune, the killer (and the director) relishes the time he spends tearing beautiful things to shreds. This example of Giallo filmmaking will leave you speechless.
Deep Red
In 1975, Dario Argento directed this famous film. This classic case of whodunit comes with a lot of romantic tension between a local Roman musician (David Hemmings) and an investigative journalist (Dario Nicoldi). This movie is scary in a way that it will make you reconsider how you've thought about the minds of artists. True sickness remains hidden.
M
That's right, this one is just called M. When a serial killer sets his sights exclusively on hunting children, an unnamed city begins to implode. It takes a village, or in this case, an entire secret gang of criminals, to take this villain to justice. Though you might have never seen it, this film set the precedent for all serial killer movies. That, and this movie still holds up nearly 100 years after its conception
Don't Look Now
Grief takes over the lives of Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, who play a couple living in the wake of their young daughter's accidental death in Venice. The worst part is that they see her almost every step of their journey through the city. She follows them while still wearing the red coat that she died in. Don't Look Now is one of those movies that laid out the red carpet for the future of psychological thrillers.
When A Stranger Calls
Ring ring, fear is on the phone! When a creepy man spends his night tormenting a babysitter (played by Carol Kane) while she's at work, he ends up getting thrown into an asylum for the criminally insane. Years later, the man escaped the prison leaving that now-adult babysitter scared for her life. Don't watch this one if you're home alone. Or, maybe do that if you're really into getting scared.
Hereditary
Ari Aster came in hot with his directorial debut: Hereditary. This story follows a grieving family that begins to fracture from the inside out. The further you dig into Hereditary, the better it gets. All you have to do is keep moving forward, and stick to the plan.
Candyman
Candyman is a movie that fits a lot of themes into one concise package. A serial killer is terrorizing a low-income area of Chicago, but as it turns out, that serial killer isn't human, or even really interested in killing people. This movie digs more into the idea of systemic poverty as the ultimate crime, so much so that the socio-economic implications feel stronger than the murder itself.
The Lords of Salem
The Salem Witch Trials might have been unfounded, but the revenge is very real in this 2012 film. A drug addict in recovery gets saved by a group of individuals who died in the witch trials themselves. It is unclear whether the protagonist is alive or dead throughout the course of the movie, but the heartfelt moments and genuinely beautiful cinematography help hold the whole thing together.
The Others
Directed by Alejandro Amenábar, Nicole Kidman turns heads in this bizarre poltergeist film. Her two beloved kids have always claimed to see ghosts at their sunless countryside cabin. Suddenly, the skeptical mother starts to experience the visions as well. The Sixth Sense has nothing on this...
Scream
This 1996 thriller might be a little far fetched, but it certainly is unsettling. Stars like Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, Courtney Cox, Rose McGowan all show up in this film that pushes the boundaries of modern moviemaking and coming of age films all at once.
Let the Right One In
Vampire movies have become a cultural scapegoat in recent years, but this one is a true horror film. When one little boy builds a crush on an undead individual, things got turned upside down quite fast. What ensues is a tale of love, loss, demons, undead terrors, and so much more. Just be sure to let the right one into your home and your heart!
Jaws
Jaws was one of those films that completely changed an entire generation of moviegoers. The sheer terror that older folks express about the mysteries of the ocean and the dangers of sharks are both unwarranted and surprisingly demonstrative of a positive movie premise done well. Just remember, it's "You're gonna need a bigger boat," not "We're gonna need a bigger boat."
God Told Me To
Larry Cohen was the director of this 1976 mythological whirlwind. It involves an ordinary NYPD officer who begins investigating a series of murders that seem to all have one link: a calling from God to kill. The craziest thing about all of this is that there was a serial killer on the loose at the same time who had a similar story. We're talking about David Berkowitz (the Son of Sam), for your information.
Frankenstein
Frankenstein is one of the most classic classics out there. It's about a scientist that uses pieces of dead people to make one big living dead person. Based on the novel by Mary Shelley, this classic is sure to make your Halloween party a hit with everyone but the undead!
28 Days Later
Cillian Murphy is certainly shocked when he wakes up from a hospital visit in the middle of the apocalypse. Much like the beginning of the Walking Dead, Murphy has no idea how to respond to it. But, unlike the Walking Dead, 20 Days Later keeps its humor front and center. Zombies take over a Megadeth concert and everything is a mess. The survivors barely survive long enough to find a safe shelter, but how long do they have until the inevitable...
Dumplings
Bai Ling plays a totally ageless character, but how does she stay so young? Well, it takes a pretty ginormous secret. Here's a hint, our main character loves eating dumplings that she makes herself, and the audience isn't really sure what's inside of them. Maybe that's the secret to her youth?
Alien
Once in a while, a movie comes along that redefines a genre. Alien is that movie for sci-fi horror. Sigourney Weaver stars as Ridley, the skeptical and smart astronaut who could have prevented the entirety of the film if people actually listened to her. Alien is a cinematic masterpiece, one that will never fail its audiences.
Carnival of Souls
An abandoned carnival pavilion gets an unexpected guest when a car crash survivor wanders onto the lot. She sticks around for a bit, just taking in the sights before she decides to return to her normal life. This movie will make you uneasy, flighty, and it will make you question the reason that it was even made.
The House of the Devil
Babysitting gigs can get pretty scary at times. This movie is an example of a young student in need of a quick buck, like many others before it, when everything goes wrong in the house she's watching over. Drenched in satanic panic, this horror movie is saturated with some of the best tropes the genre has to offer. Just remember, actual Satanists don't really want to hurt anybody.
Cannibal Holocaust
This found-footage drama has been routinely banned from a long list of nations for its graphic and violent portrayals of cannibalism. TOne documentary film crew goes missing in the Amazon and runs into a tribe of cannibals. This movie was so intense that some of the actors claimed that they were in actual danger while on set.
Carrie
Carrie is a teenage girl with a whole mess of mommy issues, bullies, and oh yeah, ridiculously horrifying superpowers. The members of her high school decide to go out of their way to try and humiliate her at their high school dance, which ends with Carrie unleashing hell upon all those who wronged her.
Get Out
If you still haven't seen Get Out, there is no better year than this one. Jordan Peele housed his directorial debut in this film. It touches on some extremely important racial issues that are more prominent now than ever. When visits his girlfriend's family, he notices that things are a little off. Maybe, just maybe, a little too off...
The Strangers
A couple with interpersonal issues honeymoon up at a cozy house in the forest, but their trip gets interrupted by a group of masked strangers. The horrific acts of violence in this film feel unwarranted, abstract, and nonsensical. That's really what makes the whole thing terrifying.
Wolf Creek
Greg McLean directed this 2005 horror thriller following three off-roading Aussies who come across a friendly local with malicious intentions. What the characters originally thought was just an innocent hike ends up with them being stuck in a Texas Chainsaw Massacre type situation. That, and they don't know who they're out in the wilderness with.
Goodnight Mommy
This film pits children against adults in an uncharacteristic way that you might not understand at first. Twin boys and their bandaged mother grapple with reality while attempting to readjust to their lives after a tragic accident. This one has gotten lots of criticism and acclaim alike.
Black Christmas
Sorority girls have the worst luck in horror movies. In this one, a serial killer stalks, calls, and begins to murder the ladies of a local sorority house one by one. The sorority begins to band together to beat the killer, but nobody knows who the killer could possibly be. The real horror is in the finale.
Maniac
This is a little darker than that Maniac starring Emma Stone. No, this one is about a lonely man who is weirdly obsessed with mannequins, which is made worse only by his habit of repeatedly talking to himself. They say there is someone out there for everyone, but this movie doesn't make us particularly comfortable with that.
Freaks
The circus freaks are sick of their treatment, and this revenge fantasy comes to creepy creation actually ended Tod Browning's career. Despite being made nearly 100 years ago, this movie still stands up to the best of em. It has become a cult favorite due to its comical dialogue and insane plotline. The famous line of this film is actually two words: "gobble, gobble."
Audition
A man named Aoyama wants to start dating again, but it won't be easy. He eventually meets a lovely young lady who has a bizarre fascination with all things macabre. She starts out sweet and submissive, but as the movie plods on, Aoyama discovers that he may have bitten off more than he could chew.
The Fly
In 1986, David Cronenberg directed this nasty looking monster movie, perfect for Halloween. This movie is only terrifying in its imagery. Post-Jurassic Park George Clooney stars as a deranged scientist whose experiment went terribly wrong and he turns himself into a buzzing, mutant fly.
Eyes Without a Face
From the title alone, you can probably tell that this movie is pretty grotesque. A world-famous surgeon goes a little off his rocker when he steals the face of a beautiful woman and tries to trade her image with that of his daughter's. Fortunately, this movie came out before CGI technology. With the makeup art and the black and white aesthetic, the imagery in this film hits a little different
Repulsion
Carole isn't just a loner, she's androphobic, which means she's afraid of men. When she's left alone one weekend, Carole withdraws into herself and holes up in her apartment. She goes through isolation sickness, which causes her to hallucinate and generate a terrifying world inside her head that she simply cannot comprehend.
The Shining
Here's Johnny! The Shining follows a writer and his family as they manage and take care of a summer resort over the harsh winters. When the writer, played by Jack Nicholson, starts to lose his mind due to the isolation, he begins to tear apart the fabric of his familial relationship. The worst part about this is, Jack has an ax, and there's a blizzard happening outside the resort.
The Wicker Man
You might be familiar with the Nicholas Cage remake of this classic film, but the original is truly the best. A police officer from England touches down on a remote island where pagan cultists allegedly brought his kidnapped daughter. Once he arrives, things start to make sense a little too quickly, and these pagans aren't like the traditional pagans that we've read about in books.
The Last House on the Left
Written by Wes Craven, this story follows two youthful girls on vacation at the isolated Collingwood lakehouse. There, an escaped violent convict tracks them down and alerts their presence to his group of killer friends. One of the girls manages to escape but is greeted by the killers at her own home. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and there's nothing like home cooking...
The Silence of the Lambs
One of the most famous serial killer movies of all time, The Silence of the Lambs follows investigative FBI agent Jodie Foster as she tries to get some information out of Hannibal Lecter. Strangely, Lecter actually turns out to be a somewhat kind and empathetic serial killer cannibal, and he helps the FBI track down a murderer who steals the skin of young women.
Train to Busan
Made in 2016, this action-packed horror has every scary thing you can think of: zombies, family strife, and an ode to public transportation. A man boards a bullet train in South Korea with his daughter and hundreds of other passengers. Suddenly, a curious zombie outbreak plagues the train, causing the man and his daughter to take evasive maneuvers to stay alive.
Saw
Do you want to play a game? When two men wake up in an empty room, chained to a wall with a dead body beside them, the duo must play by the rules to save themselves and their families. They each have a saw, a tape player, and a handful of little informational tidbits about one another that drive the plot of this claustrophobic, yet classic, horror flick.
Rosemary's Baby
This slow descent into madness by Mia Farrow's character is an iconic one. As Rosemary comes closer and closer to her due date, she begins to realize that there might be something off about her baby. It doesn't help that she's got some weird neighbors next door who suggest the same. The diabolical truth of this horror movie is only revealed after the baby is born. It's both topical and surreal at the same time.
Salò
In one of the darker films on this list, Salò follows a group of cultist that capture and tortures teenagers. They display horrendous acts of sexual humiliation, torture, and degradation, some of which were so terrible that they got this movie banned in several different countries.
The Night of the Hunter
A preacher with the words "HATE" and "LOVE" tattooed on his hands might seem like a cool guy, but he's got a dark secret. He's a convicted murderer! He uses his charm and wit to woo an old woman, marry her, murder her, and take her cash. The only things standing in his way are her children, and they won't take it lying down...
Teeth
Yikes, just explaining this movie can make someone feel uncomfortable. Dawn (Jess Weixler) is seemingly a very ordinary girl. She is part of the chastity club at school and all-around fine, but when Tobey (Hale Appleman) enters her life, things take a turn. The couple learns that Dawn is unlike any other girl. The thing that separates her is the fact that she has teeth growing from her genitals. Trust us, we didn't even begin to spoil the movie here.
Psycho
This is one of the most famous movies of all time, genre aside. It stars a girl running away from her problems, and running right into the arms of a much worse one. When her weird motel manager gets a little too close for comfort, it takes her family to uncover the unheard-of truth. The worst part? His mother is in on the whole thing. If you've ever seen that meme of the guy standing outside of a shower curtain holding a knife, this is what that's from.
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project was the first movie to really nail the found-footage horror genre. A group of local college kids treks into the forest to inspect the mythical witch that lives within the trees. Without this movie, there would be no Paranormal Activity, Insidious, or Devil Inside.
Night of the Living Dead
Often referred to as one of the original scary movies, this film produced some truly gory scenes for a low budget without any CGI. It also touches on racial and social issues that remind us that there are still several horrors in our everyday life. Plus, this was one of the first mainstream "zombie" movies, despite being a bit more symbolic than your traditional brain-eating undead morons.
The Human Centipede
Directed by Tom Six, this is one of the more disturbing premises of the genre. The human centipede is exactly what it sounds like in the absolute worst way. American tourists get captured by a lunatic German scientist who is hellbent on creating his own human abomination. If you don't know about this one already, do a little research before you dive in.
Halloween
Michael Myers is a man created of nothing but evil. He killed once, and he's ready to kill again. When he escapes imprisonment, he returns to his hometown looking for revenge. It's up to Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) to stop the killer and protect herself on the scariest night of her life. This was one of the first mainstream horror movies, and it was arguably the first "slasher" film ever made.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Young hippies travel throughout the Texas countryside during the era of the Vietnam War. They run into a town that had been forgotten by time, and the deeply mentally ill individuals in it had inbred to create a perfectly dysfunctional town-sized family. Originally falsely marketed as a true story, this legend remains a fan-favorite for many lovers of the genre.
The Omen
This kid isn't just weird, he's a bad omen. A young boy with a shrouded past named Damien gets adopted by a wealthy couple without their knowledge of his mental state. Shortly after his arrival, all hell breaks loose. With a little investigation and careful research, the family learns that Damien isn't just troubled...he's a demon.