Horror isn't the most rewatchable genre, but rom The Shining to Us, these scary movies are so full of detail and nuance they demand a second viewing.
Horror is not typically a genre whose films get rewatched, and for two reasons because most movies tend to follow a formulaic plot that rarely deviates from the norm, and because the thrill of the genre is inextricably linked to the narrative twists and surprise endings (which aren't be as exciting the second time around.)
RELATED: 10 Horror Movies That Will Make You Terrified Of Hospitals
That being said, there are horror films that most certainly deserve, or even demand, a rewatch, as the stories they tell are so complex and layered that a single viewing is barely enough to skim the surface. These films don't rely on jump scares, but tap into the most secret nightmares that people experience.
Stanley Kubrick's very successful adaptation of a Stephen King novel is widely considered to be one of his best works, and one of the most impressive achievements in cinema period. The Shining takes place in a distant hotel, surrounded by miles of snow, with no escape possible for anyone staying in it during the winter.
Jack Torrance's slow devolution from man to monster is equal parts fascinating and horrifying, but it is the character of Wendy that requires a closer lookas sheserves as the audience for Jack's state of mind.
Psychological horror is truly one of themost agonizing genres to experience, because it exposes humanity for all its evil, dissecting its trauma until there's nothing left. The Babadook is adefinitive example. It shows how a single mother with a severely troubled son deals with a nightmare come to life, except that the creature in question might not have supernatural roots at all.
Watching this movie with this realization in mind results in a completely different reading of the narrative as it goes from a standard jump-scare flick toone about the demons that thrive within the soul.
"In space, no one can hear you scream", reads the tagline for Alien, Ridley Scott's classic about a parasitic extraterrestrial life form, whose apparent aim is to gruesomely massacre everyone onboard a commercial freight vessel in the year 2122.
RELATED:The 10 Most Influential Slasher Movies In Horror History
Or so it feels on the surface.The depth of Alien can only be plumbed from multiple viewings because only then will the actual villain of the story become obvious. It may not be overly complicated, but its simplicity should not be mistaken for a lack of insight.
Comedian Jordan Peele proved that he can handle horror with considerable finesse, starting with his directorial debutGet Out, a brilliant take on the "realities of racism." Us, however, is on another level of genius. Two families, each of themidentical mirrors of the other, save for the fact that one of them is filled with murderous intent and the other is desperately trying to save their lives.
The climax is a plot twist of legendaryproportions, adding an element of surprise that practically inverts the crux of the film and instantly demands a second watch. Who is Adelaide Thomas, really?
The Thing is a practical effects extravaganza, from flying gore to flaming monsters tothe most frightening trutha humanwould ever have to face who can and who cannot be trusted, and how caneach category be identified?
Thebeing from outer space is not meant to beperceived in its actual form, because doing so would have destroyed the metaphor forfaith that director John Carpenter worked so hard to develop. As such, The Thing does not reveal its secrets upon cursory examination, such is the amount of detail incorporated into the movie.
Ari Aster's Midsommar is difficult to digest, which is exactly why it needs to be consumed over and over again. What appears as slasher entertainment turns out to be a hallucinatory fever dream set underthe eternalsun of the Arctic Circle.
RELATED: 10 Great Horror Movies (That Were Made For Less Than $5 Million)
Elderlypeople euthanizing themselves, cultists performing the Viking blood eagle on innocent victims, a protagonist awash in vibrant flowersMidsommar is a visual delight, starkly contrasting withitseerie content anddisturbingtone.
Dark Water (the original J-Horror version, not the watered down English remake) follows a divorced woman, Yoshimi Matsubara, and Ikuko, her little daughter, as they attempt to rebuild their lives. Without two incomes to pay for rent,Yoshimiis forced tomove into a rather decrepit apartment building, where she comes across the specter of a dead child.
The film integrates Yoshimi's parentless childhood into itself, spacing out specific scenes that sync in with the present timeline. The conclusion, unlike most instances in the horror genre, is shockingly warm and infinitely compassionate. Best of all: there is quite a lot of discover and rediscover.
Under the Shadow is nothing short of fantastic. A woman and her daughter undergo a series of unpleasant encounters with a Djinn haunting the floor above their apartment in Tehran, Iran. The plot alone is enough tomake even the stoniest of viewers uneasy, but with its setting (the War of the Cities during the 1980s), numerous other dimensions come into play.
Thestatus of women in Iran, the indiscriminate bombing of city blocks, the disappearance of the father each of these componentsare woven together to produce a masterpiece of cinema. Every viewingbecomes a new experience.
The Witch is an unnerving story set in the 1600s about a family of six as they are exiled into the forest for refusing to recant their "blasphemy". Everything takes a turn for the worse when their baby disappears, at which point the twins begin singing eerie songs about their goat, Black Phillip.
RELATED: 10 Horror Films That Didn't Need Gore To Scare The Audience To Death
The protagonist is Thomasin, the eldest daughter, who has to prove that she's not behind the macabre events that follow and, by extension, that she's not the witch. The fact that the ending makes The Witch even more mysterious provides the film with excellent rewatch value.
Alejandro Amenbar's The Othersprovides one heck of a predicament forGrace Stewart and her two kids, all of whom live in an old mansion on the British coastline with the creepiest overtones imaginable. As they wait for their patriarch to return from World War II, Anne Stewart begins talking about ghostsroaming the place, which their mother disregards as some sort of unsavory prank enacted by the domestic help.
That is, until she begins to experience the supernatural herself. The resolution to the family's problems is quite different from whatan audience would expect from a horror movieof the haunting kind no matter how many timesthey experience it.
NEXT: 7 Thanksgiving Horror Movies To Watch, Ranked According To IMDb
Next Pirates Of The Caribbean: 10 Most Glaring Continuity Errors In The Film Series
In real life, Ajay disguises himself as an academic, mainly writing textbooks for children who all hate him for making their lives more miserable. He also writes about TV and film, strewing his opinions across the internet to see if people care (they don't).
Continued here:
10 Horror Movies That Are Better The Second Time You Watch Them - Screen Rant
- 'Immaculate' ending explained: Was the baby a demon? - Business Insider - April 2nd, 2024
- 10 Horror Movies That Would Have Ended Earlier If Their Heroes Were Smarter - CBR - Comic Book Resources - April 2nd, 2024
- Terrifier 3 director reveals they filmed 'most insanely horrific scenes' that nearly made lead actor vomit on set - UNILAD - April 2nd, 2024
- The Latest Stephen King Horror Movie Has A Killer Cast And Director - SlashFilm - April 2nd, 2024
- THE FIRST OMEN 2024: Release Date, Cast, Plot, And Everything You Need to Know - FANGORIA - April 2nd, 2024
- Sting Review | Excellent Creature Feature with an Emotional Backdrop - MovieWeb - April 2nd, 2024
- IMMACULATE Interview with Director Michael Mohan, Discussing the Making of the Film, Reactions to the Ending, and ... - Daily Dead - April 2nd, 2024
- Mood 'Windigo' - Book and Film Globe - April 2nd, 2024
- A 2016 Thriller Is The Top Movie On Netflix Right Now - HuffPost - April 2nd, 2024
- 10 Harsh Realities Of Rewatching Beetlejuice, 36 Years Later - Screen Rant - April 2nd, 2024
- All the Horror Movies We Can't Wait To See in 2024 - The Mary Sue - April 2nd, 2024
- A Buzzy Korean Horror Movie Is Sneakily One Of The Biggest Box Office Hits Of 2024 - SlashFilm - April 2nd, 2024
- Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 horror movie confirmed, after second film debuted to a surprise perfect Rotten ... - Gamesradar - April 2nd, 2024
- Fear Street 4 Is Reviving An Old Horror Trend That Was Perfected 48 Years Ago - Screen Rant - April 2nd, 2024
- Lisa Frankenstein Hides The Fact That It Cast The Real Star Of 2023's Viral $181 Million Horror Movie - Screen Rant - April 2nd, 2024
- Finally, Someone Confirms That A Sequel To HELLRAISER Is In The Works - FANGORIA - April 2nd, 2024
- We're definitely hard at work on: Hellraiser Sequel Promises to Be Even More Terrifying as Producer Vows to Take ... - FandomWire - April 2nd, 2024
- Future Chucky Movie Will Connect To The Series, Says Don Mancini - Screen Rant - April 2nd, 2024
- After Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, Freddy and Jason Need to Cameo in the Poohniverse - MovieWeb - April 2nd, 2024
- Chucky Creator Reveals He is Working on a New Child's Play Movie: 'Whatever Keeps Me Working' - MovieWeb - April 2nd, 2024
- AI In Late Night With The Devil Sparks Controversy - Forbes - March 24th, 2024
- A horror movie based on a Stephen King novel with a disappointing Rotten Tomatoes score is climbing Netflix's top 10 - Gamesradar - March 24th, 2024
- This is why we're so obsessed with nuns in horror movies - according to the official source, a nun - Gamesradar - March 24th, 2024
- Stephen King reveals the one horror movie he couldn't sit through as he was too scared - UNILAD - March 24th, 2024
- Late Night With the Devil directors address the use of AI art in the film - JoBlo.com - March 24th, 2024
- David Dastmalchian on Late Night with the Devil, The Life of Chuck and Good Fiend Films - Kansas City Pitch - March 24th, 2024
- Welcome to the Poohniverse: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey Team to Unite Pooh, Bambi, Tinkerbell and More in Low-Budget Horror Crossover (EXCLUSIVE)... - March 24th, 2024
- Late Night with the Devil is the best horror movie of the year so far - Yahoo Movies Canada - March 24th, 2024
- Sydney Sweeney 'wanted to be drenched in blood' in 'Immaculate' - Entertainment Weekly News - March 24th, 2024
- Film of the Week: 'Stopmotion' - The best horror film of 2024 so far - Euronews - March 24th, 2024
- How to Watch Immaculate: Is the Sydney Sweeney Movie Streaming? - TheWrap - March 24th, 2024
- THE FIRST OMEN: A Battle With The Devil And An NC-17 Rating FANGORIA - FANGORIA - March 24th, 2024
- Elevated Horror: The New Wave of Artful Scares Taking Over Hollywood - LRM Online - March 24th, 2024
- Late Night With the Devil Plot Explained: The True Meaning of the Movie - The Direct - March 24th, 2024
- David Chase is directing his first film in 12 years. Its a horror movie. - NJ.com - March 24th, 2024
- Us Was The Box Office Hit That Gave Jordan Peele True Power In Hollywood - SlashFilm - March 24th, 2024
- Cast of 'Gremlins': Catch Up With the Stars of the '80s Hit - First For Women - March 24th, 2024
- 'Immaculate' Review: Sydney Sweeney Is Wide-Eyed but Sly - The New York Times - March 24th, 2024
- Sydney Sweeney explains that bloody 'Immaculate' ending - Entertainment Weekly News - March 24th, 2024
- When Will Sydney Sweeney's Horror Film, 'Immaculate,' Be Available to Stream? - AOL - March 24th, 2024
- Blumhouse to Return Insidious and Other Titles to Theaters for Halfway to Halloween Fest - Hollywood Reporter - March 16th, 2024
- Every Movie In The Wrong Turn Franchise Ranked - SlashFilm - March 16th, 2024
- Blumhouse Celebrating 'Halfway to Halloween' With Five Horror Movies Returning to 100 AMC Movie Theaters - Bloody Disgusting - March 16th, 2024
- DeWanda Wise Sings Creepy Theme Of New Horror Film: 'Imaginary' - The Root - March 16th, 2024
- Hostel: Part II (2007) WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? - JoBlo.com - March 16th, 2024
- New LEPRECHAUN Movie Will Be Funny, Scary And Full Of Practical Effects - FANGORIA - March 16th, 2024
- Blumhouse Celebrating Halfway to Halloween With Five Horror Movies Returning to 100 AMC Movie Theaters - IMDb - March 16th, 2024
- The Horror Nail-Biter On Max With A Controversial Ending - Giant Freakin Robot - March 16th, 2024
- "Says the person who was in Madame Web": Sydney Sweeney is Getting Skewered for Saying Modern Horror Movies ... - FandomWire - March 16th, 2024
- First trailer for horror movie reboot The Crow features an unrecognizable Bill Skarsgrd on a bloody mission of revenge - Gamesradar - March 16th, 2024
- You'll Never Find Me Is Unforgettable Horror, See The Terror In Action - Giant Freakin Robot - March 16th, 2024
- The First Omen star has seen all of your internet theories about the horror movie prequel and, well, they're all wrong - Gamesradar - March 16th, 2024
- Sltface take on horror movies with their new single, 'Final Grl' - Dork Magazine - March 16th, 2024
- From 'Five Nights at Freddy's' to 'Imaginary': Why Blumhouse loves PG-13 horror - theday.com - March 16th, 2024
- The First Omen's Big Death Reveal Really Doesn't Bode Well For The Prequel - Screen Rant - March 16th, 2024
- 20 Scariest Horror Movies to Come Out in the Last 5 Years - MovieWeb - March 16th, 2024
- 'The Animal Kingdom' Exclusive Clip Previews the Gnarly Body Horror of Magnet's New Movie - Bloody Disgusting - March 16th, 2024
- 'Oddity' Review: This Supernatural Horror Film Will Tear You To Pieces | SXSW 2024 - Collider - March 16th, 2024
- "Marketing is failing this movie tremendously": David Dastmalchian's Late Night With the Devil Dubbed as One of the ... - FandomWire - March 16th, 2024
- STOPMOTION is a handcrafted tale of beauty and horror - Moviejawn - March 16th, 2024
- Horror Lovers Will Love this Dining Spot in Texas - klaq.com - March 8th, 2024
- Is Late Night With The Devil Based On A True Story? - Screen Rant - March 8th, 2024
- Kooky King: 6 of the Weirdest Stephen King Film Adaptations - Nightmare on Film Street - March 8th, 2024
- The Unknown, the Viral Willy Wonka Experience Villain, Is Already Getting Their Own Horror Movie - IGN - March 8th, 2024
- 13 Original Horror Movies We Can't Wait to See in 2024 - Screen Rant - March 8th, 2024
- From 'Imaginary' to 'Five Nights at Freddy's.' Why Blumhouse loves PG-13 horror - Los Angeles Times - March 8th, 2024
- Imaginary Movie Review: M3gan Meets The Boogeyman - Mama's Geeky - March 8th, 2024
- Christopher Nolan Originally Conceived Inception As A Horror Movie - SlashFilm - March 8th, 2024
- 'Whalefall' Movie in the Works From 'No One Will Save You' Director Brian Duffield - The Mary Sue - March 8th, 2024
- Horror Movie Based On THE UNKNOWN From Glasgow's WILLY WONKA Experience In The Works Horror Movie ... - CBM (Comic Book Movie) - March 8th, 2024
- Horrifying 'Late Night With The Devil' Trailer Released - Outkick - March 8th, 2024
- Imaginary review: M3GAN, take the wheel - Dexerto - March 8th, 2024
- The Unknown: Horror Movie Based on Unofficial Willy Wonka Experience Is in the Works - ComingSoon.net - March 8th, 2024
- Imaginary Film Review: Light on Frights - Loud And Clear Reviews - March 8th, 2024
- Dead Mail Directors on Their '80s Horror Influences - MovieWeb - March 8th, 2024
- HORROR BEAT: Blumhouse offers a non-update on the future of THE EXORCIST - Comics Beat - March 8th, 2024
- And the Oscar for best picture doesn't go to ... horror! - NPR - March 8th, 2024
- Shaitaan OTT Release: When And Where To Watch R Madhavan And Ajay Devgn Starrer Horror Thriller Film - Indiatimes.com - March 8th, 2024
- The 'Wonka Experience' Is Being Turned Into A Horror Movie - UPROXX - March 8th, 2024
- 8 new horror movies on Netflix, Max, Shudder and more in March 2024 - TechRadar - March 8th, 2024
Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero