What is it about horror movies that makes them such a popular genre? Why do people keep watching movies that exist solely to frighten them? Are stunning deaths, like Charlie’s in Hereditary, or films based on real-life incidents, like The Strangers, what drives people to become nearly dependent on the thrill of viewing a terrifying movie?
Some people find gory scenes and the use of special effects to make a scary movie excessively frightening, while others find that low-budget horror movies like Terrifier and Lights Out can frighten them enough. Others value a powerful climax, like in The Blair Witch Project. Here are 10 of the most terrifying movies that people have deemed too frightening to see more than once, whether you prefer seeing your anxieties played out on screen or you just appreciate a good scare.
Hereditary
The supernatural serves as the basis for Hereditary, another spooky movie that is difficult to watch more than once. The movie centers on a family with ties to a nefarious force that poses a threat to split the family apart after the death of a grandma. The Graham family is struggling to maintain their sanity as they learn more about the grandmother’s beliefs and in the wake of their daughter Charlie’s unintentional death.
Insidious
Insidious features one of the greatest jump scares in horror movie history, as seen in the image above. When you believe the movie is about to come to a close, it takes a step further and gives the audience a close-up glimpse of the creature that is afflicting Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson), while also hinting at the story of the following movie. Despite the fact that the original film is frequently regarded as the greatest and scariest of the series, it has subsequently gone on to produce a successful franchise.
Lights Out
Lights Out, did not anticipate amassing such a sizable fan base. Teresa Palmer plays Rebecca in the 2016 movie, who has been given the responsibility of caring for her brother after he is frightened by the same spirit that used to frighten Rebecca and is connected to their mother. The fear of the dark is exploited in this movie to heighten the suspense. Diana, the spirit, haunts its victims in the dark because it can’t be seen in daylight.
Sinister
Sinister was regarded by some as Ethan Hawke’s first significant role in the horror genre. Hawke played a true crime author who relocates his family into a new house where the previous owners were murdered in the 2012 horror movie. In the attic, he discovers a package of Super 8 recordings that feature killings from the 1960s. As a result of his obsession with the videos and the murders, he unwittingly gets into contact with a nefarious group that employs youngsters to murder their families. This movie is frequently regarded as being too frightful to watch more than once due to the nature of youngsters killing others.
Smile
One of the most recent horror movies on this list is Smile. Despite the film’s mixed reception, all critics agreed that the dark usage of a supernatural being and the unnerving grins on the faces of people who are made to end their lives are truly unsettling. Another uncomfortable sensation that most people may identify with is when this entity strikes those who have experienced trauma.
Terrifier
A violent clown is used to make a horrific movie in the Terrifier franchise, which recently saw its success increase following an even more terrifying second installment. Clowns, a common dread of many people, have been used in movies before, but what makes the Terrifier series stand out from the competition is its blatantly sadistic and gory storyline. In addition to acting out awful deaths, Art the Clown’s general temperament makes it difficult to look at the clown in pictures, let alone be able to watch the movie more than once.
The Blair Witch Project
A case of recovered footage is The Blair Witch Project, in which it seems as though the characters make their own film. Since its debut in 1999, the movie, which is essentially a documentary, has used the local Blair Witch tale in Maryland as its setting. It may seem like a spoiler to know that the students who shot the footage had been missing for a year from the beginning, but doing so helps viewers to follow the developments as to why the students vanished and whether there is any chance they will ever be recovered alive.
The Descent
The cast of the 2005 horror movie The Descent is almost exclusively made up of women. One year after Sarah, played by Shauna Macdonald, loses her husband and children in a sad tragedy, the group of women embarks on a caving excursion. Although the semi-professional crew is accustomed to caving, they discover that they are not the only ones down there when they become lost in a new cave without a map. The Descent is frequently cited as one of the scariest movies of the 2000s because of the creatures that are hunting them and the secrets that pals divulge.
The Ring
The Ring exploits the well-liked toy as a doorway for a terrible monster to track its victims for a week before killing them in the heyday of VHS tapes. An investigative journalist who receives the tape has one week to find the source of the urban legend if she wants to save her son, who also watched the tape. The 2002 movie is a remake of the 1998 Japanese horror movie, although it places more of an emphasis on the horror than the mystery that is there in the original.
The Strangers
The fact that The Strangers is based on real occurrences adds to the film’s overall fright level. In the 2008 movie, a young couple is chased by three masked assailants “because they were home” in a remote summer vacation home. The masked assailants become deadlier as the movie goes on, and knocks on the front door turn lethal. The Strangers is among the most frightful movies ever made thanks to its thrilling pace and the stalkers’ sparse language.
