11 scary horror movies that’ll give you nightmares – Mashable SE Asia

Religious iconography is nothing new for horror films directors have been playing with the spiritual world since the dawn of the medium. The sacred is where we normal people let the invisible world willingly into our lives, so its not surprising that artists would use that trust to create fear. Below, we thought wed run down eleven must-see flicks that use religion as the base for their terror.

Robin Hardys 1973 thriller is all about the essential mystery of religion and how it can seem absolutely insane from the outside. When detective Neil Howie comes to Summerisle in search of a missing child, he discovers that the residents of the isolated island have embraced their pagan heritage of free love and human sacrifice. The contrast between Howies Christianity and the locals unbridled old time religion leads to some very surprising outcomes, and the films climax is legendary. The 2006 Nicolas Cage remake has some fun overacting and memeable scenes, but the original is far superior.

Watch it on: Netflix

Helplessness is a key element of a lot of horror movies, and Roman Polanskis classic Rosemarys Baby hits that from a few different angles. When young couple Guy and Rosemary Woodhouse move into a New York apartment building, their lives rapidly begin to change in unusual ways. They decide to have a baby, and thats when things really start getting weird. Turns out the residents of the building are all members of a Satanic cult looking to bring the Antichrist into the world using Rosemarys womb as the host. This flick ratchets up the terror as it goes, and its widely considered one of the best in the genre.

Watch it on: Netflix

Italian director Lucio Fulci is known for his gory zombie movies, but when he turned his eye on religion he created this underrated flick. A detective is sent to a small village to solve a string of child murders and discovers that the populace is deeply superstitious. With multiple suspects including a deranged hill witch, the atmosphere of tension and paranoia ratchets up until the true culprit is revealed the well-loved village priest, who has been murdering the children so they will die without sin and not grow up to offend God. Pretty nasty stuff, all things considered.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

While most of the films on this list use European religion as their starting point, Wes Cravens 1988 Serpent and the Rainbow looks elsewhere to Haiti and the indigenous voudoun. Based very loosely on a nonfiction book, it follows a Harvard anthropologist who ventures to the island on a project for a pharmaceutical company looking to explore legends of reanimation after death. Hes skeptical but soon finds out that the zombies are very real. Of course, things swiftly spiral wildly out of control as the countrys political unrest crosses over with his journey into the land of the dead.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

Alfred Soles 1976 slasher flick has built a cult reputation over the last few decades for its unsparing use of Catholicism as a backdrop for heinous crimes. When 9-year-old Karen is murdered on the day of her first communion, her sister Alice becomes the prime suspect. What follows is an intricate web of fake-outs and double-crosses as the real culprit is revealed, motivated by her desire to punish sinners she sees as being unfairly coddled by the Church. With lurid visuals and intense violence, this is one movie that still holds a potent punch long after its first release.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

Any horror listing is incomplete without at least one John Carpenter movie, and his bizarre 1987 Prince of Darkness takes a characteristically cock-eyed view of the Antichrist. When a crew of physics student are asked by a priest to investigate a strange cylinder in the churchs basement, they discover that Satan isnt a red guy with horns but rather an amorphous green fluid that can possess people and is working to bring an even more powerful malevolent entity through a mirror into our dimension. This low-budget effort wasnt popular with critics but really packs a surreal, unpleasant punch.

Watch it on: Hulu

Larry Cohen is one of the most iconoclastic exploitation film directors of all time, a dude who followed his impulses to create some all-time cult classics. His 1976 masterpiece God Told Me To is a claustrophobic, panic-inducing story of a Catholic NYPD detective who discovers a murder wave where every perpetrator claims God instructed them to slaughter innocents. Things get weirder and weirder from there and once the flick starts bringing in Chariots of the Gods-style Ancient Aliens stuff its arguably a little silly, but the gritty intensity carries it through.

Watch it on: Hulu

Ti West is one of our favorite modern horror directors, and his 2013 found footage flick The Sacrament turns the lens on the cult lifestyle. Two journalists accompany a man as he travels to the community of Eden Parish to visit his sister. When they get there, they quickly discover that things are spiraling wildly out of control as the groups leader, known only as Father, has let his paranoia take over. With strong parallels to the Jonestown cult suicide, this one moves a little slowly but really cuts into what makes people put their trust in cults, and Gene Jones gives a great, conflicted performance as Father.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

Based on a Stephen King short story, this 1984 flick does a lot with a little. The town of Gatlin, Nebraska is in the thrall of He Who Walks Behind The Rows, a discorporate creature who compels the kids to slaughter everybody over 18. The creepy cult of the cornfields is obviously influenced by the Amish and other societies that stand apart from the modern world, and the child actors deliver great performances. Many religions can seem totally insane to outsiders, and Children Of The Corn leverages that essential discomfort to create something pretty scary.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

Pascal Laugiers 2008 horror film uses the many abuse scandals of the church as a springboard for a deeply unsettling story of revenge. Lucie Jurin is a young girl who was horrifically and systematically tortured by a group of people looking to discover what happens after death by pushing martyrs past the limits of their endurance. When she escapes, it kicks off one of the most intense New Wave horror flicks of recent years. This ones not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, as its got some vicious gore sequences leading up to the unsettling climax. Dont bother with the 2015 American remake.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

An all-time classic of the genre, William Friedkins The Exorcist was a revelation when it hit theaters in 1973. The demon that takes over young Regan MacNeil comes from out of nowhere, operating on its own malevolent logic to torment her family and the priests who try to eject it. This film really set the bar for how to incorporate religious themes in horror, as the battle takes place in the souls of the characters even as the puke flies in the real world. The way Pazuzu is eventually defeated sorry for the spoiler on the 45-year-old movie here is all about the essential Christian virtue of self-sacrifice.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

This article originally appeared on Geek

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11 scary horror movies that'll give you nightmares - Mashable SE Asia

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero