Horror movies are notorious for the tension and fear they bring us, as watching a horror movie increases heart rate and blood pressure. For faint-hearted people watching a horror movie at night might not be a good idea. Horror movies elicit certain emotions such as fear, tension, stress, and shock. Watching such movies can cause the release of hormones in the body like norepinephrine, cortisol, and adrenaline from the autonomic nervous system.
Such movies make us sweat a lot and tense our muscles, but if you do not mind that and are not a weak-hearted person, giving yourself a good spook every once in a while is okay. If you are more into love and mushy stuff, you can check out our list of the best K-drama on Netflix. It’s all about love there. But here, let’s get spooky!
Best Horror Movies
There are some myths about horror movies being bad for health, but it is well-known that watching them improves our brain activity. According to several scientific studies, it has been found that watching horror movies helps in increasing the adrenaline level and releasing neurotransmitters in the brain.
So, let’s hop into the top _ scariest movies of all time in Hollywood. It would be better for the weak-hearted people to stay away from these.
1) Hereditary
Hereditary is an American supernatural horror drama film released in 2018. It was written and directed by Ari Aster in his feature film directorial debut. Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, and Gabriel Bryne can be seen in the movie as a family. A mysterious presence haunts them after the death of their secretive mother. They keep unravelling more terrifying secrets of their ancestors. It was made on a budget of USD 10 million and collected USD 80.2 million at the box office.
2) IT Chapter One
It is a 2017 American supernatural horror film. It was based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel of the same name. Andy Muschietti directed this film, and it stars JaedanLieberher and Bill Skarsgard. The movie is about the story of seven kids from Derry, Maine, terrorized by the eponymous being, only to face their demons in the process. The film was made on a budget of USD 35 million and made USD 701.8 million at the box office. The massive success of the movie IT: Chapter 1 brought IT: chapter II in 2019, which also was successful in making the audience sweat and tremble. It made about USD 473.1 million at the box office.
3) The Conjuring
The Conjuring is an American supernatural horror film released in 2013. The movie was directed by James Wan and written by Carey W. Hayes and Chad Hayes. This was the inaugural film in the Conjuring Universe franchise. The movie stars Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, and Lili Taylor. Ed(Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren(Vera Farmiga) are paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent haunting cases.
They came to assist a family who increasingly experienced disturbing events in their farmhouse in Rhode Island in 1971. The movie revolves around them trying to solve the case, and all the actors involved make your heart beat faster. The film was made on a budget of USD 20 million, and it made USD 319.5 million at the box office. The movie was successful and needed another successor, so Annabelle was released a year later as the second part of The Conjuring. This one is a cult classic among the possession movies.
4) Annabelle
Annabelle came out in 2014 as an American supernatural horror film. John R. Leonetti directed the movie. This is the second instalment in the Conjuring Universe. This movie stars Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, and Alfre Woodard. This movie is inspired by the story of a doll named Anabelle, which is told by Ed and Lorraine Warren. The film was made on a low budget of only USD 6.5 million, but it made a whopping USD 257.6 million at the box office. Many people felt that the film was inferior to its predecessor, but still, it was a box office success. There have been two other sequels to this franchise, Annabelle: Creation on August 11, 2017, and Annabelle Comes Home on June 26, 2019.
5) Sinister
Sinister is a 2012 supernatural horror film that Scott Derrickson directs. C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson wrote the movie. The movie stars Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Fred Dalton Thompson, James Ransone, Clare Foley, and Michael Hall D’Addario. Sinister was shot on actual Super 8 cameras and film stock to add the authenticity of old home movies and snuff films. It premiered at the SXSW festival. The film’s plot revolves around true-crime writer Hawke as Ellison Oswalt, whose discovery of Super 8 home movies depicting gruesome murders in the attic of his new house puts his family in danger. The movie was made on a low budget of USD 3 million, and it made about 87.7 million US dollars.
6) The Blair Witch Project
Some horror movies tug on our fear of the unknown and spook without ghosts or monsters – The Blair Witch Project is one of those movies. They are known as the movie that revived the found footage technique. This form of cinematography is effective in a horror movie, as we can see this in this movie. This movie follows the bits and pieces of footage found in the discarded cameras of three missing young filmmakers.
It follows their journey as they interview the locals of Burkittsville, Maryland, about a local legend. Their journey soon becomes a tragedy as they encounter creepy locations and disturbing scenarios and get affected by what seems to be curses- without knowing who is behind the veil – only to supposedly die. The fact that the movie is “found” and there is no visible monster taps into our fear of the unknown and spooks us by thinking – what if it could happen?
7) Nightmare on Elm Street
What would you do if you saw a burnt monster that could kill you every time you slept? Well, this is the plot of this supernatural slasher scary movie from 1984. Despite being almost three decades old, Nightmare on elm street and Freddy Krueger is still popular. That goes to show the popularity of this scary movie. The plot is rather simple- someone summoned a sleep demon (if Freddy could be called that), and this burnt-faced monster with knives for nails will find you and kill you. As sleep is something you cannot live without – and something we have no control over, this movie is scary for a reason. What if you encounter Freddy when you sleep tonight? The Nightmare on Elm Street, along with Halloween and Friday the 13th are among the cult classic when it comes to slasher movies.
8) The Shining
What does it take to be one of the scariest movies of all time in a specific genre? When it comes to horror, it needs to scare and keep people intrigued simultaneously. Shining is a prime example of psychological horror movie done right. Similar to The Blair Witch Project, this movie of 1980 does not have any monsters. Rather, it is the unnerving atmosphere that spooks you out. Jack Nicholson is undoubtedly one of the best actors of all time as he perfectly portrayed Jack’s slowly declining and psychotic trait, which is the primary reason behind the spooky atmosphere. And who can forget the “Here’s Johnny!” that remains popular today? This one is for sure a cult classic.
Honourable Mentions
With the entire sleuth of horror and slasher movies, we don’t need to say that the ones here are not on the list of all the best horror movies of all time. As such, let’s talk about some honourable mentions.
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A 1974 American movie that surrounds the killings done by a chainsaw-wielding man with a mask made from human skin.
- Halloween: A 1978 film following the murder spree of a near-supernatural entity known as Michael Myers.
- The Ring: You watch the video – you die after seven days. This is the dump plot summary of this movie from 2002 based on a Japanese myth of Okiku.
- The Exorcist: A 1973 horror movie that is all about spooks, demons, possessions, spooky noises, weird contortions, and exorcisms.
- Friday the 13th: This movie introduced us to Jason Voorhees- a being similar to Michael Myers and an enemy of Freddy Krugar. This 1980 slasher horror movie follows Jason and his slashing rampage starting from Camp Crystal Lake.
- Evil Dead: Evil Dead is not a typical horror movie as it can be quite funny at times. This 1987 movie following the events after an old book that awakens the dead is definitely a cult classic.
In the end,
Horror is a weird genre of movie that taps into our fear of the unknown and triggers our Flight-fight-freeze response. At the same time, they also let us accept our morbid curiosity- our urge to know the dark side of life.
As such, it is a popular genre, although feared by many. The lines mentioned here are just some of the best of the bunch.
I hope you found it interesting. And as always, thank you for reading till the end.