I love horror but apparently I don’t vibe with a lot of recommendations I find online.
I’d seen so much hype about Event Horizon and I absolutely hated it and didn’t find it scary. I just watched Late Night With the Devil and whole it was definitely enjoyable, it wasn’t the least but frightening. I also just watched Let the Right One In and really didn’t like it. It also was not a horror movie in my opinion.
I will say one of my favorites is Sinister or the first Conjuring. Sinister for the stomach twisting dread and suspence throughout and Conjuring for the same.
So, what movies do you find to be the scariest?
Drag Me To Hell was surprisingly scary and also just a good movie.
Adding to my list, thanks :)
I don’t consider many horror movies genuinely scary. The ones I have, at various times in my life, been actually in some way frightened (or at least shook) by, in no particular order:
- The Exorcist (The Version You’ve Never Seen)
- Hereditary (a masterpiece in my opinion. Free upvote literally every time I see someone recommend it)
- Blair Witch Project
- Paranormal Activity
- Ouija: Origin of Evil
- It (miniseries got me as a kid but Chapter 1 is good too)
- Lights Out (not the entire movie but it has its moments and overall a good style)
- Candyman (original)
- Poltergeist (original)
- Autopsy of Jane Doe (another poster reminded me of this one!)
- The Taking of Deborah Logan (for like one scene but IYKYK)
- The Dark and the Wicked
- The Orphanage
- Terrified and When Evil Lurks were both solidly unsettling at least
- Event Horizon (though I know you didn’t like this one)
- Conjuring 1-2 and Sinister too, all at least solid spookies.
Note that this does not mean these are the only GOOD horror movies. There are LOTS that I consider masterpieces that just aren’t strictly all that scary.
Blair Witch
spoilers
I’m glad I knew the ending was disappointing before going in.
It hit on a very specific fear of mine that I have difficulty putting into words. The fear of developing a fear or maybe the fear of becoming superstitious?
It’s an interesting movie. In a lot of ways it’s annoying or underwhelming and not much actually happens, but I actually loved the ending.
Tap for spoiler
The way the entire film, from the lore that was set up in the early interviews, was all brought together instantly in a single iconic five-second shot blew me away. It stuck with me for a long time.
Can I ask what scared you about The Exorcist? Assuming you watched it as an adult and are not highly religious; otherwise I get it. I watched it for the first time a few years ago after seeing it regularly called one of the scariest movies of all time – maybe my expectations were too high but I found it almost comical.
I saw it when I was in my early twenties and I’d never seen it before. But tons of pop culture had made jokes of everything in the movie and I expected it to just be a laugh.
The film did such a good job developing dread and helplessness that I forgot all about the jokes.
Tap for spoiler
Plus the spider walk scene hits you in the face like a hatchet.
Oh I agree that they’re not the only good horror movies, there are so many out there that are good in other ways and many of which I absolutely love. But I’m really just looking for that something to keep the lights on at night, lol.
Thanks for the list! There are a few I haven’t seen in there, I’ll give them a try :)
I’d love to hear your thoughts on anything new you try! Or if you have opinions on items in my list, even.
I am too lazy to change the formatting, but those are my notes on the movies I’ve seen this summer… some of them I remember better than others, and I’ve definitely forgotten to include quite a few on here.
[V] Late night with the devil - 7/10 Fun, unique
[V] Barbarian 5/10 - Ew, asshole characters
[V] Talk to me 7/10 - unique, uncomfortable
[V] Hell House LLC 7/10 - fun, scary
[V] Smile 7/10 - didn’t need the ending, excited for the sequel
[V] The menu 9/10 - dread, uncomfortable
[V] Anna and the apocalypse 7/10 - fun! Sad!
[V] The descent 6/10 - strong people, ew
[V] Event horizon 0/10 - ew, ew
[V] Train to busan 10/10 - terrifying, great characters
[V] Underwater 7.5/10 - claustrophobic, unique
[V] The cleansing hour 7/10 - unique, funny
[V] Sputnik 5/10 - ((can’t remember))
[V] Freaky 6.5/10 - funny
[V] Longlegs - undecided. But maybe 8/10? Dreadful
I think you and I share a fondness for the lightweight spook-house style like Conjuring, Smile, etc. Just in it for the freaky.
- The Exorcist (The Version You’ve Never Seen)
I’ve never seen this version? But I have read the book and eugh. It’s horrible in a sort of losing bodily autonomy way.
- Hereditary (a masterpiece in my opinion. Free upvote literally every time I see someone recommend it)
This one sat with me for a long time and I swore immediately after watching it that I would never watch it again. And now I absolutely love it. There are a few bright moments that really freak me out, but the tension and build up is so good. Chef’s kiss to this one.
- Blair Witch Project
Haven’t seen!
- Paranormal Activity
One of my favorites! I know this one gets dragged for being campy(??), but I think the original did an excellent job of building suspense and dread.
- Ouija: Origin of Evil
Mike Flanagan is one of my favorites and this one is a lot of fun. Not as high in my list as others, but still a good time.
- It (miniseries got me as a kid but Chapter 1 is good too)
I need to rewatch the miniseries, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the more recent movies. I think the actors were all great (especially for Pennywise), but it felt like it was trying too hard? Pt 2 seemed to realize they’d never match the book and it ended up being more funny than anything.
- Lights Out (not the entire movie but it has its moments and overall a good style)
- Candyman (original)
- Poltergeist (original)
- Autopsy of Jane Doe (another poster reminded me of this one!)
- The Taking of Deborah Logan (for like one scene but IYKYK)
- The Dark and the Wicked
- The Orphanage
- Terrified and When Evil Lurks were both solidly unsettling at least
These are all being added to my list!
- Event Horizon (though I know you didn’t like this one)
Bleh. Lol
- Conjuring 1-2 and Sinister too, all at least solid spookies.
Love these movies. I would add the first half of Insidious as well.
As for my list - I’ll throw that in a separate comment soon enough :D
Wow you have some fun ahead of you. And from what you’ve said, despite a few (strong) disagreements, I think you have great taste.
The Exorcist Version You’ve Never Seen just adds some deleted scenes back into the mix. A common complaint is that it escalates too quickly as a result, but damn if it didn’t stick with me.
Blair Witch is a real divisive one but if it hits, it hits RIGHT.
Paranormal Activity is in my pantheon of game changers. It’s not perfect (Micah can fuck off forever please) but the way it established the day/night safe/scary cycle only to violate it at the end was a master stroke.
Ouija is just the best creepy Flanagan film for me, but I think my favorite of his is actually Oculus. I love that it’s legitimately trying to avoid the pitfall of dying from dumb decisions by starting off with “let’s study the shit out of this evil”. I also adore Doctor Sleep and Haunting of Hill House.
The It miniseries scared the hell out of me as a child so I can’t promise it’ll be as good now. I thought Chapter 1 was really solid and creepy but the second one dropped the ball really hard.
Not a horror film per se, but definitely leaning that way:
The original ‘ALIEN’.
The building of tension throughout the entire movie is brilliant.
I think Alien is a great movie (and definitely horror), but whether it scares modern audiences is pretty hit and miss. It’s very slow paced and while I love the practical effects, the alien looks downright goofy in some scenes. I certainly don’t find it scary having seen it, and new viewers I’ve shown it to usually aren’t that scared unless they’re self-identified wimps when it comes to horror. Aliens is scarier I think, even though it’s more action than pure horror.
Same goes 10x for The Exorcist. It tops a lot of “scariest movie ever” lists online, but watching it today is more comical than anything. I think you have to be scared of demonic possession actually happening IRL to get scared by that movie.
the alien looks downright goofy in some scenes
I’m pretty dead inside so not a ton can get through in the horror department, but I always thought 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later did a fantastic job making zombies a bit scary again.
I liked Noroi: The Curse.
No jumpscares, but really quite unsettling
I enjoyed High Tension.
If you want something a bit different, seek out Threads. It’s on the Internet Archive (here, in fact)
Not a traditional horror film at all, it’s set in the north of England in the early 80s (depending what n where you’re from, the accents might prove a challenge!) and shows the ordinary people of a small city gradually coming to terms with escalating tensions between East and West, which result in all out nuclear war.
And then we get to see the actual on the ground nightmare that that would be. Not in a showy Hollywood way but in a grim, horrifyingly real feeling gritty British drama way. Bleak isn’t the word.
It’s something that’s never quite left me since I saw it for the first and so far only time some years ago. Truly disturbing, and not fun at any point after things start getting serious. Brilliant though.
I’ve seen this one recommended a bunch, but I always thought it was a documentary. Interesting. I’ll give it a watch.
Some of it is presented like a documentary, but most is done as drama. Hope you enjoy it (although enjoy isn’t the word!)
A Tale of Two Sisters is one of the only movies that has genuinely scared me, some great scenes in it.
Saw that at the cinema when I came out, scared the hell out of me!
Cloverfield - not sure if thats horror
Frailty
Insidious
As a kid i loved the early Jason and Freddy movies.
so many recommendations already said and im sure many more to go.
Three that i didnt see mentioned that i enjoyed were:
Martyrs- French Version The Visit Session 9
Scenes from martyrs have been memed out of context so i think its fairly familiar. i hadnt watched it until recently and i think one time through was good enough for me. i’m not into a lot of torture style suspense.
The visit was particularly scary for me because If you’ve ever been in that scenario of being dropped off with familial strangers those initial reservations you have running through your head do make you uncomfortable and blossom into horrific thoughts. in the case of this movie a bit more so ;)
Session 9 i watched during the golden age of netflix. it isnt amazing but it was enjoyable.
“Host” fucked me up and is the reason I don’t watch horror movies anymore. I’m a huge baby though.
I absolutely love horror movies and have a long list of fantastic ones but not very many of them actually scared me. Most of them have been named already but two I didn’t see were The Babadook (2014) and surprisingly a Netflix movie called His House (2020) was actually awesome. One of my favorites in the last few years.
Yeah I actually think that my favorite horror movies are the ones that get me asking questions, rather than being scared. I like being intrigued by the evil, like in Smile (until the twist at the end, it was a perfectly good psychological horror that did not need a monster)
can recommend Coherence
The Ring remake (not the original Japanese one) takes the cake for me. I couldn’t sleep the first nor second nights I saw it.
May be Apostle? It’s one of the memorable ones among recent horror.
