The Internet Thinks These Movies Are More Terrifying Than Any Horror Film, Here Are The 30 Best Examples
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.
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Coraline - it's technically a kids movie but it's freaky as hell
Presumably the movie that scared me the most, from anything I've ever seen. And I wasn't even a small kid anymore when I saw it
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.
Being scared and heartbroken all at once is not good at any age, as a kid it ruined me.
HBO’s Chernobyl was hands down the scariest tv series I’ve ever watched. Radiation is terrifying
Yes, and now imagine living the scare. On May 1st, five days after meltdown all children in Poland were given Lugol's iodine as protection from radioactive fallout. At that time nobody outside of USSR really knew what happened because of total information blockade. So our government assumed the worst case scenario (that never really came true - as we know now) and acted accordingly. I was 11 at the time and only remeber some of what adults were saying, of course it was only wild speculations, but the fear was in the air...
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 19th-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.
Schindler's List. Can't believe such horror actually took place.
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.
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.
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
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.
Not a movie but the handmaid's tale f*****g scares me to death.
Excellent series, very similar to what women in Afghanistan are going through now.
And in America: Book banning, abortion banning, voting suppression, etc.
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so true, especially given what's happened in america recently- abortion bans... it scares me to death too but it's one of my favourite books
The worst part is that it can easily happen. Unlike any undead ghouls.
It is happening, and Atwood has said that everything she put in the novel has really happened in history.
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As a woman yes it's absolutely terrifying. I'd end up a handmaid for sure
Very familiar with that one. We're close to living it in the USA.
There was a Handmaid's Tale movie, starring Robert Duvall and Natasha Richardson, if memory serves.
I watched the season series during the first lockdown, when the Trumpster was still in power. I actually had to stop tuning in, and that usually never happens to me. I returned to watch it not until two years later.
I can’t watch it unless I’m in a good place, mentally speaking. If I start feeling weird, I have to turn it off
The book was horrifying, I almost didn't watch the series because of how hopeless the book was.
The fact that many men believe this should happen ought to scare you, too.
at first i was like "naw that couldn't happen today" before i remembered Iran and Afghanistan
I remember reading the book when it first came out. My very first dystopian novel. I don't think I slept for a week after finishing it.
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.
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.
In a weird way I find The Truman Show scary
That's because it is. If you watch the current content you realise, people would gobble this up and no one would care about Trueman's situation. Everyone would just want it. He'd have no way to get out and most likely judges would block attempts to get him in the know or out because no one else is concerned. USA already has laws that allows you to film people without their knowledge and truly weak privacy protection laws. So I think if a company really wanted, they could find loopholes to make this happen. And that's what's making it scary
Trainspotting. The baby scene, but also Robert Carlyle's violently deranged character.
My mum made me watch this when I was around 13 or 14 and told me "this will put you off drugs for life" Thanks mum it totally worked
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.
As a child, I was terrified of the Pinocchio donkey scene.
7 year old me would say *Mars Attacks!*
Hell, I'll still stand by it.
Children of Men. And it's only gotten more frightening in light of recent events.
A scientist wrote an article that this will essentially come true in a decade or so since there are so many plastics in our foods etc. it’s destroying fertility. Being able to have kids could eventually just not even be possible in the near future. It’s crazy.
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.
The Dark Crystal. no questions.
I had nightmares about the creatures in that film..the skeksis and garthim especially
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.
I saw this for the first time when I was perhaps 11, 12. David Bowie would forever define the term "sexy villain" for me.
AI: Artificial Intelligence. I watched that pretty young and the whole thing was fairly traumatizing.
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.
“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.
Excellent film though. Brilliant dialogues and overall satire.
Parasite. It was not marketed as a horror movie but...you know what I'm talking about
W***y Wonka and the chocolate factory.
ah, the 1970's version with the boat ride from hell? WHY THE HELL WAS THAT EVEN NECCESSARY?!
The cable guy. If it wasn't a comedy it would be one of the scariest stalker movies is ever seen.
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.
Titanic. It's super scary to die in the middle of the ocean.
I watched it when it was in the theatres. Never have I been interested in those cruise ship vacations.
Nightcrawler isn't scary in the traditional sense, but it's extremely unsettling
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.
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.
Note: this post originally had 57 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Dumbo. When they put his mom in a cage and she rocks him with her trunk. I wondered if horrible people were going to lock up my mom and I’d have to perform to win my freedom.
Still can't watch this as an adult heartbreaking
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I was surprised it wasn't mentioned so I came to the comments to add it to the list. That movie messed me up as a kid.
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First Jurassic Park for me- I was maybe 13-ish and afraid to go alone to the basement for quite some time after that
I was 7 and watched it in the cinema, it was very scary, expecially the scene in the kitchen.
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I saw a mother bring her young child--like eight--into Pan's Labyrinth--I was like, oh lady, that kids is not going to sleep for a LONG time.
I was an adult when I saw it and I will never watch it again.
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Edward Scissorhands TERRIFIED me. They would send it every new years eve and I'd have to avoid anywhere with a TV until it was done. I still don't understand what about it makes me so uncomfortable.
I actually really loved the movie, but yeah, I think there were some unsettling parts
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Saving Private Ryan. The entire movie is heart-wrenching, but the first scene in Normandy almost made me cry in fear.
Seriously? The Wizard Of Oz didn't make it into that collection? I can't quite describe how I would feel every time I watched it as a kid, but I'd be at least stressed, and had the same feelings each time.
Return to Oz is on the list. And it is considered by most people as a lot scarier than the first one.
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The depiction of Hades in What Dreams May Come...when Robin Williams finally locates his wife. She didn't understand why nothing worked. Then Robin starts to join her. That scene affected me so much. I felt like I lived in a colorless place for a couple weeks afterward.
Topics like this always fascinate me. and show me that we are all so very different. Something that scares the h*** out of one person has no effect on another and they actually enjoy it age. It's not even age. it's just something in us that This makes us different.
Dark Crystal and Labyrinth were staples of my childhood that I still love. How is Neverending Story not on here? Weren't we all traumatized by poor Artax in the swamp of sadness? Also The Peanut Butter Solution gave me nightmares like crazy. It's like a fever dream and I wasn't even sure it was real until I finally found it as an adult.
Watched it recently and yes, I agree. BUT it is overtly 1970s, the tech and the clothing and the wood panelling everywhere - it just is obviously 1970s.
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Terminator 2. The nuclear attack scene in which the children in the playground are turned to dust. My girlfriend at the time was scared by the machines taking over stuff, I was bothered by the nuclear war is going to destroy mankind stuff.
the hand shrimp in beetlejuice could not Eat shrimp For a while
That darn jump scare scene from the movie "Indian in the Cupboard". I hated that movie as a kid.
SNOWPIERCER. Movie makes me sick. Saw it once never again! The part where they freeze and shatter the dads arm at the beginning because he wouldn't let them take his 5 year old away to become a mechanical part of the train. And when the poor people find out that their food bars are mushed up cockroaches. So disturbing. So much of it. The woman who heads the train is terrifying. This movie ruined me
DeSica'sThe Bicycle Theives. Nightmares. Nothing based on Steinbeck novels is good for sleep either.
I can't watch the Indiana Jones Temple of Doom, the making of it freaked me out as a kid, major gross factor.
A few of these are already classified as thrillers though, so they really shouldn't be on this list. Thriller and horror tend to be two sides of a coin, and it's usually an either/or genre choice.
I agree, a thriller usually have enough horror elements where it's supposed to scare/ unnerve you
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I must have been around 6 years old, when my father took me to see Sleeping Beauty. I was terrified of Maleficent when she turned into a dragon and cried so loudly that my father had to carry me out of the movie theater. He was really annoyed, because he wanted to see the rest of the movie. I did many years later and was stille frightened, but I did see the end.
When I was a kid, I saw a movie on TV about giant robots attacking Chicago. It stayed with me for days.
Tales of the Unexpected music always got me as a kid. Mind you, I still remember walking into a group of kids watching a bootleg copy of 'Zombie Flesh Eaters' (the liver scene) and that was pretty screwed up... Not as much as 99% of your lots nightmares, but still... Each to their own I guess...
Time bandits, I was like 3 and probably shouldn't have been allowed to see it, I was like close to 30 before I found out what it was called when a bunch of my friends and I were discussing old warped movies and I described how the end of the movie was a families house burned down because there was a piece of hell in the toaster oven. It just occurred how bizarre it is that I knew what hell represented when I was only 3. Anyway I was scarred for life
Edward scissor hands. Wtf, had so many friends love Edward himself and I almost started crying just at the thought of this creepy character. Not lovable at all for me.
So no one is mentioning The Island yet? The part where they want to use a circular saw to cut up Michael Clarke Duncan, and the gross agnate things?
Not scary but really really disturbing to me. The scene in Under The Skin (Scarlett Johanssen movie) and the baby abandoned on the beach. And Apocalypto (Mel Gibson directed) when the adults are kidnapped by the other tribe and their children are left behind. I cannot watch children being literally abandoned to die and I will never watch these movies again, my heart cannot take it, even though they are both great movies.
Funny Games. An Austrian film that really broke me. It's about a family that just wants to vacation in a cottage. But there are these 2 boys next door. They start terrorizing the family. They always remain matter-of-fact, nice and polite, chatting about little things and never getting loud or rude when the family is struggling to survive. And that's what makes this film so terrifying.
3 women (1977) It was pretty scary how amnesiac woman took over roommate's identity.
Apart from ‘Requiem for a dream’ (listed here), ‘Never let me go’ (2010), ‘Happiness’ (1998) and ‘Animal kingdom’ (2010) are the most disturbing movies I’ve ever seen and would fit well in this list
Not a movie, but the Hattifatteners from Moomins. I'm still scared of them!
I love Young Sherlock Holmes, but it still gave me plenty of nightmare fuel when I was young.
I would like to add Spun. No one has ever seen it, super hard to find, but it has so many people in it and Billy Corgan did the soundtrack! It’s right up there with other “don’t do drugs” films.
I saw that on one of my streaming apps. Either Netflix, peacock, HBO max or tubi
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So many comments about how these movies scared them as kids. Maybe the age ratings on the front covers aren't just for show sometimes? Ever considered it?
Dumbo. When they put his mom in a cage and she rocks him with her trunk. I wondered if horrible people were going to lock up my mom and I’d have to perform to win my freedom.
Still can't watch this as an adult heartbreaking
Load More Replies... I was surprised it wasn't mentioned so I came to the comments to add it to the list. That movie messed me up as a kid.
Load More Replies... First Jurassic Park for me- I was maybe 13-ish and afraid to go alone to the basement for quite some time after that
I was 7 and watched it in the cinema, it was very scary, expecially the scene in the kitchen.
Load More Replies... I saw a mother bring her young child--like eight--into Pan's Labyrinth--I was like, oh lady, that kids is not going to sleep for a LONG time.
I was an adult when I saw it and I will never watch it again.
Load More Replies... Edward Scissorhands TERRIFIED me. They would send it every new years eve and I'd have to avoid anywhere with a TV until it was done. I still don't understand what about it makes me so uncomfortable.
I actually really loved the movie, but yeah, I think there were some unsettling parts
Load More Replies... Saving Private Ryan. The entire movie is heart-wrenching, but the first scene in Normandy almost made me cry in fear.
Seriously? The Wizard Of Oz didn't make it into that collection? I can't quite describe how I would feel every time I watched it as a kid, but I'd be at least stressed, and had the same feelings each time.
Return to Oz is on the list. And it is considered by most people as a lot scarier than the first one.
Load More Replies... The depiction of Hades in What Dreams May Come...when Robin Williams finally locates his wife. She didn't understand why nothing worked. Then Robin starts to join her. That scene affected me so much. I felt like I lived in a colorless place for a couple weeks afterward.
Topics like this always fascinate me. and show me that we are all so very different. Something that scares the h*** out of one person has no effect on another and they actually enjoy it age. It's not even age. it's just something in us that This makes us different.
Dark Crystal and Labyrinth were staples of my childhood that I still love. How is Neverending Story not on here? Weren't we all traumatized by poor Artax in the swamp of sadness? Also The Peanut Butter Solution gave me nightmares like crazy. It's like a fever dream and I wasn't even sure it was real until I finally found it as an adult.
Watched it recently and yes, I agree. BUT it is overtly 1970s, the tech and the clothing and the wood panelling everywhere - it just is obviously 1970s.
Load More Replies... Terminator 2. The nuclear attack scene in which the children in the playground are turned to dust. My girlfriend at the time was scared by the machines taking over stuff, I was bothered by the nuclear war is going to destroy mankind stuff.
the hand shrimp in beetlejuice could not Eat shrimp For a while
That darn jump scare scene from the movie "Indian in the Cupboard". I hated that movie as a kid.
SNOWPIERCER. Movie makes me sick. Saw it once never again! The part where they freeze and shatter the dads arm at the beginning because he wouldn't let them take his 5 year old away to become a mechanical part of the train. And when the poor people find out that their food bars are mushed up cockroaches. So disturbing. So much of it. The woman who heads the train is terrifying. This movie ruined me
DeSica'sThe Bicycle Theives. Nightmares. Nothing based on Steinbeck novels is good for sleep either.
I can't watch the Indiana Jones Temple of Doom, the making of it freaked me out as a kid, major gross factor.
A few of these are already classified as thrillers though, so they really shouldn't be on this list. Thriller and horror tend to be two sides of a coin, and it's usually an either/or genre choice.
I agree, a thriller usually have enough horror elements where it's supposed to scare/ unnerve you
Load More Replies... I must have been around 6 years old, when my father took me to see Sleeping Beauty. I was terrified of Maleficent when she turned into a dragon and cried so loudly that my father had to carry me out of the movie theater. He was really annoyed, because he wanted to see the rest of the movie. I did many years later and was stille frightened, but I did see the end.
When I was a kid, I saw a movie on TV about giant robots attacking Chicago. It stayed with me for days.
Tales of the Unexpected music always got me as a kid. Mind you, I still remember walking into a group of kids watching a bootleg copy of 'Zombie Flesh Eaters' (the liver scene) and that was pretty screwed up... Not as much as 99% of your lots nightmares, but still... Each to their own I guess...
Time bandits, I was like 3 and probably shouldn't have been allowed to see it, I was like close to 30 before I found out what it was called when a bunch of my friends and I were discussing old warped movies and I described how the end of the movie was a families house burned down because there was a piece of hell in the toaster oven. It just occurred how bizarre it is that I knew what hell represented when I was only 3. Anyway I was scarred for life
Edward scissor hands. Wtf, had so many friends love Edward himself and I almost started crying just at the thought of this creepy character. Not lovable at all for me.
So no one is mentioning The Island yet? The part where they want to use a circular saw to cut up Michael Clarke Duncan, and the gross agnate things?
Not scary but really really disturbing to me. The scene in Under The Skin (Scarlett Johanssen movie) and the baby abandoned on the beach. And Apocalypto (Mel Gibson directed) when the adults are kidnapped by the other tribe and their children are left behind. I cannot watch children being literally abandoned to die and I will never watch these movies again, my heart cannot take it, even though they are both great movies.
Funny Games. An Austrian film that really broke me. It's about a family that just wants to vacation in a cottage. But there are these 2 boys next door. They start terrorizing the family. They always remain matter-of-fact, nice and polite, chatting about little things and never getting loud or rude when the family is struggling to survive. And that's what makes this film so terrifying.
3 women (1977) It was pretty scary how amnesiac woman took over roommate's identity.
Apart from ‘Requiem for a dream’ (listed here), ‘Never let me go’ (2010), ‘Happiness’ (1998) and ‘Animal kingdom’ (2010) are the most disturbing movies I’ve ever seen and would fit well in this list
Not a movie, but the Hattifatteners from Moomins. I'm still scared of them!
I love Young Sherlock Holmes, but it still gave me plenty of nightmare fuel when I was young.
I would like to add Spun. No one has ever seen it, super hard to find, but it has so many people in it and Billy Corgan did the soundtrack! It’s right up there with other “don’t do drugs” films.
I saw that on one of my streaming apps. Either Netflix, peacock, HBO max or tubi
Load More Replies... So many comments about how these movies scared them as kids. Maybe the age ratings on the front covers aren't just for show sometimes? Ever considered it?
