Horror films: 18 horror movies that genuinely scared us

18 horror films that genuinely scared us from The Exorcist and Paranormal Activity to The Witch

Masked murderers, chainsaw-wielding cannibals and demonic mirrors

Jacob Stolworthy, Staff

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Oh, Halloween: the perfect time of year to hunker down cosily with your nearest and dearest to watch a film that'll hopefully scare the living hell out of you.

Note the word 'hopefully.' While feeling unnerved by an approaching jump or lingering spook is a thrill most people don't care to admit they enjoy, the act of 'being scared' is something cinemagoers have been relishing for over 80 years in films as early as 1920's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu (1922).

Somewhat frustratingly,  only a marginal number of horrors are actually capable of achieving their purpose. Those that do, however, linger in your memory forevermore.

From Corman and Kubrick through to, er, Disney, the below films are the ones that gave us sleepless nights. Advance at your peril.

House of Usher (1960)

I'm a huge fan of Roger Corman's House of Usher (1960), the first in a series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations the schlock producer made with the gloriously hammy Vincent Price. The latter stars as Roderick Usher, a sickly aristocrat living in queasy isolation with his sister in the crumbling mansion of the title. Corman's Poe films became increasingly formulaic and campy but this one really delivers. - Joe Sommerlad

The Exorcist (1973)

There have been countless movies about demonic possession but none of them have managed to be quite as memorable as William Friedkin's The Exorcist. This film has received as much critical acclaim as it has attention from terrified audiences decade after decade. Every sequence will offset your internal rhythm while scenes of a disfigured little girl (Linda Blair's Regan) crawling on the ceiling will haunt you for many nights to come. - Zlata Rodionova

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

I am living proof that Tobe Hooper's seminal horror should not be watched at the age of 11; between the horrifying dinner table scene - where the cries of Marilyn Burns' Sally are laughed at by her cannibalistic captors - and that final shot of Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) flailing his chainsaw about aimlessly in the air, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the horror film I would least like to watch again. - Jacob Stolworthy

The Shining (1980)

This Stanley Kubrick classic doesn't necessarily fit into the horror box but for audiences chasing a real sense of unease, The Shining fits the bill. Based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, the film tells the story of the Torrance family who hole up in an isolated hotel for the closed winter season. Things take a macabre turn as an evil presence begins to influence father Jack (Jack Nicholson) to undertake a murderous rampage. In typical Kubrick style, nothing is as it seems. - Megan Townsend

The Watcher in the Woods (1980)


I really enjoy watching horror films even though they never scare me; that's not including The Watcher in the Woods, of course. Yes - Disney film The Watcher in the Woods. There's just something inherently unsettling about the film's frequent use of mirrors that freaked me out and the way writing and apparitions suddenly appear in them. Who knew a Disney film could give you nightmares for weeks? - Richard Williams

Brazil (1985)

Every Halloween I consider wearing one of the hideous baby face masks from Brazil and every year I chicken out for fear of my reflection. A sinister Michael Palin is also extremely disorientating. But nothing beats the sinking dread of a tyrannical, behemoth bureaucracy swallowing you whole and turning your dreams into nightmares. Having said that, Brazil is also my favourite film. - Joe Vesey-Byrne

Scream (1996)



Okay hear me out. Scream might not be a high-quality film or achieve anywhere near the art of modern indie horrors being made on a fraction of the budget, but its antagonist still haunts me and I'll tell you why: zombies don't scare me, demons don't scare me, ghosts don't scare me, but humans do. None of horror's clichéd evil beings are as terrifying as a human on a murderous rampage with no apparent motive. Ghostface is gangly, awkward, fallible and all the more scary for it. The way he runs around like a toddler, blindingly slashing at the air, is chilling and an unwelcome reminder that, if you did die at the hands of a psychopath, it wouldn't involve a cinematic, well-placed spike but a floundering struggle. - Christopher Hooton

Funny Games (1997)

Whilst not the first film that comes to mind when considering the horror genre, this film for me is as scary as it gets. At first, the violence seems irrational and nihilistic, but the most terrifying thing about Michael Haneke’s Austrian psychological thriller about two men who randomly torture a middle-class family in their idyllic vacation home is the fact that we become the driving force behind the horror. Breaking down the fourth wall (spoilers ahead), one of the oh-so-polite psychopaths rewinds a scene that doesn’t go his way, and gives us a much more gruesome ending to the film, otherwise, as he says straight to camera: “we’d all be deprived of our pleasure.” - Kirsty Major

Ring (1998)

Make no mistake: if the Hollywood version of Ring is a decent remake, the Japanese original is far more petrifying. There is just something inexplicable about Asian horror films rooted in Japanese folklore and ghost stories that makes them far creepier. Watching it for the very first time is like living a nightmare; as Sadako crawls out of the well, you’ll find yourself automatically pushing against the back of the sofa in the hope she will not eventually end up in your living room. The movie put me off watching TV and picking up the phone for a couple of weeks, at least. - Zlata Rodionova

Signs (2002)



Seeing that alien for the first time as he gets unceremoniously booted from a Brazilian kids birthday party still gets me, just as it did when I ran from the room the first time I saw it. I still resent that broadcaster's blatant flouting of TV dogma by playing so much tension-inducing build up before the action itself. - Charlie Atkin

The Orphanage (2007)

Both my selections on this list mark the two instances in which I've actively cried in a cinema out of fear, if you can believe that's possible. Though J.A. Bayona's ghostly tale is a beautiful throwback to Gothic conventions, which lace its hauntings with powerful emotions and warnings, that kid with the sack on its head traumatised me for life. Worse, I came back home and remembered the flat I'd newly moved in to had a cupboard with no key, and no clue as to what may be contained inside; considering what's eventually found to be hiding in the basement of The Orphanage - yeah, I didn't sleep that night. - Clarisse Loughrey

Paranormal Activity (2009)

The only film I’ve ever watched where I considered switching off halfway through out of sheer terror. The tension ratchets up endlessly as the ‘found footage’ style adds to the claustrophobia. A decision was made long ago never to watch it again. - Tom Embury-Dennis

Or: a cautionary tale for leaving your leg dangling out of your bed. Injecting fresh life into the found-footage formula, the first Paranormal Activity managed to induce chills the world over by the simple - and rather frugal - use of a static camera set up by couple Katie and Micah, all in the hope they can learn what's going 'bump' in the night. With every new nighttime scene - each displaying more demonic hauntings than the last - your sounds of terror will become more audible. - Jacob Stolworthy

Black Swan (2010)

Guaranteed to make your skin crawl, Darren Aronofsky's 2010 take on classic ballet Swan Lake is a textbook example of psychological horror. Ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman) lands the coveted role of the Swan Princess, only to find she cannot engage with her evil alter-ego - the Black Swan. When Nina attempts to engage with her dark-side, she loses herself altogether. - Megan Townsend





The rising crop of horror filmmakers (Adam Wingard and Ti West included) teamed up to make V/H/S, an anthology film comprised of six disturbing vignettes; if one doesn't scare you senseless, it's a sure bet the next will. The opening two linger in my memory, each taking familiar concepts - a night out with your pals and a honeymoon - and adding a slant of depravity that'll chill you to the core. Next time someone tells you they "like you," run a mile. - Jacob Stolworthy

Oculus (2013)

Psychological thrillers can be terrifying enough as they are, but throw in a spooky supernatural storyline and you'll have nightmares for days (or at least, I did). Oculus tells the story of a woman determined to clear her brother's name in the brutal murder of their parents. The siblings suspect supernatural forces are at play, with an antique mirror being at the root of all the evil. Suffice to say, the first thing I did as soon as I got home from the cinema was to throw a blanket over the giant mirror sitting in my room  - you know, just in case. - Chantal DaSilva

It Follows (2014)

David Robert Mitchell's synth-encrusted nightmare shows sound's essential role in the genre. It Follows premises itself on the very simple idea that something is out there, something indistinguishable from your fellow man, except that they're always headed straight for you. No matter where you may be, and no matter where you may run to. A figure walking down the street may seem ordinary at first, but Disasterpeace's score here turns that image into paralysing fright. Seeing this in the cinema, tucked up right next to the loudspeaker as the synths reached their climax and blood pooled the screen, unashamedly made me cry like a kid left behind in a shopping mall. - Clarisse Loughrey

Under the Shadow (2016)

For anyone who has seen Under the Shadow, it should come as no surprise that Iranian-born Babak Anvari’s film is Britain’s Oscar entry for best Best Foreign Language Film. Though short in length (a brief 74 mins), every scene drips with intensity. The 80s set film follows a mother and her young daughter as they struggle with a demon haunting their apartment’s building in war-torn Iran. Alongside the nightmarish torment of the Djinn, the building is being bombed by militant forces, meaning the threat comes from both inside and out, culminating in one of the year’s best horror films. - Jack Shepherd

The Witch (2016)



The Witch is set in 17th contrary New England and follows a family banished from their Puritan plantation. When the youngest suddenly disappears, the blame falls upon Anya Taylor-Joy’s young character, though she knows something more is at play. As the film progresses, stranger and stranger things start to happen, all with a heavy twang of religious imagery. The jump scares may not be frequent but the atmosphere is utterly terrifying. - Jack Shepherd