Top 10 Horror Movies That Invented New Ways to Scare Everyone

The analogy of sexually transmitted diseases is part of the reason “It Follows” felt so fresh back when it was released in 2014. Writer/director David Robert Mitchell may not have completely explained the rules for why the entity follows the way it does, or how it can be destroyed. Yet, it’s more about the journey than the destination here. “It Follows” plays with our paranoia as we constantly scan the background for who’s on the horizon. The performances and the characters’ general likability get us invested in the story, while the soundtrack keeps us on edge. This one is destined to become a modern horror classic.

The trope of the body snatcher was nothing new in the horror genre by the time Jordan Peele created “Get Out.” Yet his film managed to inject new life into this narrative through the exploration of class and race. “Get Out” also subtly incorporates humor throughout the story, but make no mistake: the film is full of uneasy frights. The existential horror of the sunken place in particular gives us nightmares. Peele’s script is smart, taut, and tense, and the subtle Easter eggs hidden throughout the film make it eminently rewatchable.

There’s just something primal about horror films that are set in those situations where we’re most vulnerable. It could be “Psycho” and the shower, or “Jaws” in the open water, but they make our skin crawl. “The Strangers” strikes a similar nerve, that fear of our homes being invaded when we’re all alone. Of course, it helps that the cinematography here underlines just how frightening that situation can be, as the titular “strangers” lurk in the shadows. This film is violent, sure, but it’s also scary as hell, and isn’t afraid to let moments linger, for the sole purpose of making us look twice into the darkness.

This movie is one of only a handful of horror films to ever make a serious impact at the Academy Awards. Its handling of themes such as gender identity have made it the subject of much retrospective criticism. But it’s not Buffalo Bill’s motivations that make this film so terrifying. At its heart, “The Silence of the Lambs” is a story about the abduction and murder of female victims - crimes that feel all too real and terrifying. Jodie Foster’s performance as FBI trainee Clarice Starling was career-defining. And who can ever forget the way Anthony Hopkins inhabited the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter? He manages to make the former psychologist and cannibal charming, magnetic, manipulative, and ultimately one of the scariest characters in cinema.

In 2018, cinemagoers were introduced to a new master of horror: filmmaker Ari Aster. An unrelentingly bleak and deeply disturbing film, “Hereditary” pushes the boundaries of the genre in ways that, quite frankly, we didn’t know were possible. It immediately drew comparisons to such highly influential pictures as “Rosemarys’ Baby” and “The Exorcist”. The film doesn’t bother with jump scares. It instead shocks with genuinely unexpected and deeply disturbing imagery, from which it refuses to turn away. The tension and overwhelming sense of dread are so pervasive that some viewers may not last long enough to see the mystery unraveled. Further bolstered by stellar performances all around, “Hereditary” isn’t just a scary movie, it will shake you to your core.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick, “The Shining” is undeniably unconventional. It’s a lonely, ambiguous and thoroughly unsettling experience that, while arguably a tale of the supernatural, is fundamentally about one man’s descent into madness. It’s a significant departure from the source material (written by Stephen King) but a study published in 2004, conducted by King's College London, actually labelled it the "perfect scary movie".”The Shining” never fails to terrify, but the answer as to what exactly makes it so scary... remains elusive. From set design to the imagery used, “The Shining” is artful in its approach to inducing fear.

Despite the science fiction elements of the story, there can be little debate that “Alien” is in fact also a horror film. Being stuck inside a claustrophobic environment you can’t escape with a mindless creature that only wants to kill you is a creepy idea, to be sure. Heck, even just sitting down to enjoy a meal together in this movie becomes a complete nightmare - that chestburster scene is forever burned into all our memories. Ridley Scott’s space adventure doesn’t only grab you by the neck, but also never lets you go again. It inspired a worthy follow-up with “Aliens”, as well as a slew of lesser sequels and prequels. But the original remains the creepiest and most shocking!

We know what you’re thinking. How does this film crack the top 3 when, relative to the horror movies released in years since, it’s so tame? The thing is, while “Psycho” may start slowly enough, the conclusion that it builds to is incredibly effective. Its ability to scare has been undermined by its own success; most people already know the story. But show it to someone with no knowledge of the plot and their reaction will be genuine terror. And the initial lack of horror makes the sudden violence and twisted reveals all the more powerful. No one will argue against the fact that “Psycho” is one of the greatest horror films ever made, but it also remains one of the scariest.

Demonic children get us every time. “The Exorcist” introduces us to Regan, a friendly twelve-year-old girl who becomes possessed by a demon after playing with a Ouija board. A terrific and refreshing concept for a horror film was taken to the next level by William Peter Blatty’s exceptional screenplay and the amazing direction of William Friedkin. Unflinching and truly scary, this is what we’ll always imagine an actual possession would actually look like. It forces us to imagine how helpless we’d feel if this ever happened to a loved one. Add to that horrifying moments like when Pazuzu tells Father Damien Karras about his mother’s fate in Hell. This is as scary as scary gets, and undoubtedly a horror classic.

One of most successful indie flicks ever, “The Blair Witch Project”‘s marketing campaign made it the most talked about movie in the US. The fact that the teasers and trailer whet audience appetites while giving away virtually nothing about the plot made the found footage flick’s twists and turns all the more shocking. Its unknown stars allowed us to empathize completely, which made those surprises even more terrifying. To cap it all off, the simple yet horrifying closing seconds ensured that this film was one of the scariest of all time.

Which horror movie do you find the most inventive? Let us know in the comments below!