The horror genre brings a variety of markers to subtly (or not so subtly) tell our brains that we are about to be spooked, creeped out, and jump-scared. But it’s all that more terrifying when a film shocks us without warning that it’s about to happen.
An internet user wanted to know what films people thought ended up being more frightening than most horror movies out there. People’s answers ranged from being freaked out as a child to films that cover psychologically disturbing topics. So take notes for your next movie night and be sure to upvote your favorites as you scroll through and comment your thoughts below.
#1
Titanic. It's super scary to die in the middle of the ocean.
Image credits: anon
#2
In a weird way I find The Truman Show scary
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#3
Black Swan. That movie should be marked as horror.
Image credits: Lachimanus
The first unintentionally scary film may have been created near the beginning of cinema itself. Some readers might already be familiar with the stories of “L’Arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat”, or “The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat,” causing 18th-century moviegoers to run out of the cinema in a panic. The film showed a train, arriving at a station, with the camera positioned in such a way that makes it look like it will hit it.
Despite being a great story, this is likely a myth. Firstly, this was a silent film, so it’s hard to believe that moviegoers would think a magically quiet train was fully real as it drove toward them. Similarly, why would an audience of real people suddenly forget that the world was not in black and white? Regardless, it does make for a compelling story about a film that managed to be unintentionally terrifying and only 50 seconds long at the same time.
#4
7 year old me would say *Mars Attacks!*Hell, I'll still stand by it.
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#5
AI: Artificial Intelligence. I watched that pretty young and the whole thing was fairly traumatizing.
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#6
Gravity. Scared the bajeesuz outta me. The idea of being untethered in space and just floating away with no way to do anything? F**k that
Image credits: anon
Modern horror directors use a variety of “tricks” to make our brains believe we are in just as much distress as the characters on screen. The cheapest example is the use of high-frequency sounds played during the film. We don’t actually hear these, but prolonged exposure ends up putting us on edge and can even cause sleepless nights in the long run. So if you want to create a subtly hostile environment for your dinner guests, play something at 20–30 Hz.
#7
Children of Men. And it's only gotten more frightening in light of recent events.
Image credits: Cream_Gingerly
#8
The Killing of a Sacred Deer, on Netflix. Holy c**p, this movie is disturbing. Honestly? I thought after it was over ‘I didn’t like that.’ But it stuck with me, and I thought about it for days afterward. That’s when you know it was a good movie. That kid... holy s**t... Barry Keoghan... his acting was incredible.
Image credits: librarianjenn
#9
the joker movie starring joaquin phoenix... it's not scary-scary, like an actual horror movie, but it just feels so accurate to the real world; i just feel like something like that actually could happen in the real world (maybe not the ending but the rest of it)
Image credits: itsyourwoman
Noise has other uses, including loud, contrasting, and clashing sounds that make our brains strive for consonance. Like an interrupted melody, we feel discomfort until the noise or melody is resolved. Directors will then just keep us on edge until the end of a sequence or scene. While this might seem like literally cheap thrills, it’s quite common in the industry nowadays.
#10
Parasite. It was not marketed as a horror movie but...you know what I'm talking about
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#11
Whiplash. Ever see JK Simmons and think "Boy, he's pretty intense. He might be really scary if he weren't so funny?"Yeah. No one laughs during Whiplash.
Image credits: Stovepipe032
#12
Mommy dearest. It's about a narcissistic actress who adopts a child, shows love initially, then turns into a horrible, abusive monster when the child starts thinking for herself. If you've been in an abusive relationship, this movie hits harder than any horror flick
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Some unsettling techniques are not just used in horror. Psychological discomfort is as present in the crime or drama genres as in any slasher film. Lighting and shadows play tricks on our brains, putting us on edge. Normally, we as the viewer have a better understanding of what is visible than the characters in the scene. But some directors obscure things for the audience as well, making us tense as we try to understand what is happening on screen while the characters do the same.
#13
The cable guy. If it wasn't a comedy it would be one of the scariest stalker movies is ever seen.
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#14
Trainspotting. The baby scene, but also Robert Carlyle's violently deranged character.
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#15
Requiem For A Dream is scary as hell! If you really want your kids to understand why drugs are bad, just show them this movie (well, don’t show this movie to kids, maybe on their teen years)A lot of frightening scenes, graphic moments and a sad ending.
Image credits: marmogawd
Despite most people not actually enjoying the adrenaline rush caused by horror films or scary scenes in general, people do have a fascination with unusual circumstances and darker themes. It’s important to note that fascination isn’t the same as enjoying something, as it’s more just our brain thinking that a situation contains valuable information that we need to acquire, even at the cost of sleepless nights, cold sweats, and a rapid heartbeat.
#16
The Labyrinth. Gave me nightmares when I first saw it as a teen. Fucking Hoggle makes me shudder. Jim Henson for the creep factor. I saw one of the puppets in real life at a museum. I'll never be the same.
Image credits: flammable1313
#17
HBO’s Chernobyl was hands down the scariest tv series I’ve ever watched. Radiation is terrifying
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#18
A Little Princess. That movie had me terrified I’d become some abused servant if my parents went missing.
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#19
Nightcrawler isn't scary in the traditional sense, but it's extremely unsettling
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#20
Click. I was expecting a very low, LOW-brow comedy, not a drama movie about the consequences of our actions, how time is not only finite, but the time we have with our loved ones is limited. It made me scared that one day I might look back and see that I wasted my life.
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#21
Cats. It's absolute nightmare fuel
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#22
Coraline - it's technically a kids movie but it's freaky as hell
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#23
As a child, I was terrified of the Pinocchio donkey scene.
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#24
Child Catcher. I always thought in the back of my mind if I misbehaved as a kid my parents would toss me outside for the Child Catcher to grab me and throw me in his cart.
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#25
Who Framed Roger Rabbit scared the hell out of me, especially with the Judge Doom scene at the end when it's revealed he's a toon.
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#26
I saw Return to Oz when I was a kid during a sleepover. I didnt get any sleep that night.Saw it again a few years ago as a 30yr old. Still scary.
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#27
The Spiderwick Chronicles scared the s**t out of me when I was young. It’s a PG kids movie, but I swear in some of the scenes the tension and jump scares felt like they were for a horror movie.
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#28
The movie “9”. The way that machine just sucked the soul through the dolls’ eyes and mouth were burned into me.
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#29
All dogs go to heavenSaw the first 20-30 mins in the theatre when I was about 5... 30ish years later still havent watched it, and still can picture the scene that caused me to lose it
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#30
Schindler's List. Can't believe such horror actually took place.#31
Toy Story 3. It gets so dark eventually and the bear just scares me.And Coraline, it should be labeled animation horror.
I love both, also for how dark they are being for kids.
#32
Threads - Nobody's mentioned it yet, it will give you nightmares. It is relentlessly bleak. You've seen nothing like it, I promise. It's the lead up to and long aftermath of a nuclear war presented as a factual documentary. It is not a date movie.EDIT - It's on Shudder (7 day free trial) and Amazon Prime, apparently, for anyone who wants to see for themselves.
#33
I watched Contagion the other day and that definitely kept me awake#34
The Brave Little Toaster. Terrifying clown monster traumatized me as a child.#35
A scene from The Elephant Man by David Lynch. When the disfigured man is laying in bed and the carnival guy breaks in through the window and charges people to see his face haunts me.They way they dance around him laughing when he is dealing with so much mental anguish sticks with me.
#36
Not a movie but the handmaid's tale f*****g scares me to death.#37
No Country For Old Men#38
As a 10 year old, I watched „Spirited Away” and even I really love horror this movie gives me a strange feeling... but still an absolute masterpiece#39
Does Watership Down count? The 1978 version. It's not categorized as a horror but as a KIDS animation/adventure yet it has blood and gore in it. Scared the s**t out of me as a kid, couldn't sleep for days. I still can't watch it.#40
I found ET extra terrifying#41
James and the giant peach
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#42
Francis Coppola's *The Conversation* (1974) with Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Frederic Forrest, Cindy Williams, Terri Garr, and Harrison Ford.All of the paranoia we have about the devices we carry in our pockets began to take root in the technology featured in this tense thriller. There's a lot of cool filmmaking going on here, and one of the most upsetting seconds-long toilet scenes ever filmed. The monsters in this movie are us, and the tools we have created.
#43
Melancholia#44
The Polar Express. Those creepy f*****g elves that looked like they just escaped prison#45
Not a movie, but Courage the Cowardly Dog was terrifying#46
Well that part in Inception where Ellen Page is watching Leonardo and his wife from like an elevator or something and the wife suddenly turns and looks right at her was pretty terrifying.#47
Dr who, the double episode with the angels#48
Dear Zachary#49
The Dark Crystal. no questions.#50
Not really a movie, but I have a pathological fear of the Teletubbies#51
The Garbage Pail Kids MovieFor reference: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uigHV-gOHxs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uigHV-gOHxs)
#52
Watership Down#53
“Heathers” bothers me because when it came out, it was really far-fetched parody. Now, it’s f*****g uncomfortable because of how realistic it seems. I went to school in a high-achieving town, with a serious teen suicide problem, and a couple of credible bomb threats to the schools. It upset me that everything portrayed in the film was plausible in regards to the experience I had there.#54
The Witches#55
The scene in Peter Jackson's King Kong when they encounter the villagers gave me nightmares as a kid.#56
Jumanji.Watched it for the first time as an adult and I was seriously uncomfortable for long parts of it.
#57
W***y Wonka and the chocolate factory.from Bored Panda https://ift.tt/czVOibh
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