The 50 Scariest Horror Movies You Need to Watch Right Now – News Lagoon

Lets play a game! Pop into your favorite group chat right now and ask five friends what the scariest movie theyve ever seen is. How many different answers did you get? About a million? Yeah. Also, big shout-out to that one friend who just says same because theyre actually too scared to watch horror movies at all. Much love to this person. I feel you.

But truly, there are so many ways for a horror movie to spook you out of your senses. Whether its a throw-the-popcorn-everywhere jump-scare, an infuriatingly oblivious female character wandering into that dark room (dont do it!), a demon child (looking at you, Insidious!), or a maniacal villain, theres something weirdly satisfying about getting your heart racing. And not being able to sleep. In that spirit, here are the 50 scariest movies of all time. And yes, a lot of them are available on Netflix. Now sit backits time to give those nightmares some serious inspiration.

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First things first, Midsommar is proof that Florence Pughs acting chops are top notch. Second, no one will ever want to take part in a midsummer ritual. Ever. Directed by Hereditarys Ari Aster, the movie follows Dani, who goes on a trip with her uncaring boyfriend, Christian, and his Swedish friend Pelle for his familys (super-fun!) drug-induced midsummer celebration.

The movies aesthetically shot gore and claustrophobic feel, despite the pastoral setting, are truly terrifying. And Dani and Christians toxic relationship is just as scary as Pelles cult family. Not to mention, the brightly lit cinematography will have your eyes squinting and your pulse accelerating for approximately two hours.

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Whats scarier than outer space? How about being in outer space alone with no one to talk to except a robot with the voice of Kevin Spacey? Yup. No thanks. While Moon is technically more of a thriller than an actual horror film, this little indie flick is deeply, and intimately, unsettling.

The main character, Sam, whos nearing the end of his (alleged) three-year one-man mission on the moon, lives out his days in isolation. But it gets one thousand percent worse when he finds out that his mission is longer than he thought. I wont reveal the twist because its simply too good, but lets just say youll be seeing double by the end of this one.

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The scariest moment I remember from this movie is that someone literally kills and eats a dog on screen. Which, no. No.

This 2006 remake of the original 1977 film is hands down the best example of a family road trip gone wrong. Basically, the Carter family strays from their planned path and ends up stranded in a government atomic testing zone. And who else lives there, you ask? Why, a family of bloodthirsty cannibals, of course! You can probably figure out the rest. (But truly, RIP the dog.)

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Okay, honestly, this movie is actually insane. Set in 1905, it follows Thomas (played by Dan Stevens, TBT to Downton Abbey!) on his journey to the island of Erisden. Hes on a mission to rescue his sister, who was kidnapped by the islands violently religious cult.

When Thomas arrives, he quickly realizes there is something ~majorly~ wrong with this group. Other than the fact that, yeah, theyre a cult. Basically, the group worships an Earth Motherlike goddess (a creepy one) named Her and her equally creepy potato-sack-face-mask-wearing assistant. I like to call these two Blood Grandma and Blood Boy because (you guessed it!) they need blood sacrifices from the cult to survive.

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STREAM NOWYes, this movie is titled Midnight Meat Train. Yes, its set on a train (mostly). At midnight. Yes, there is a lot of meat (aka slaughtered humans!). And surprise, it stars a fresh-faced Bradley Cooper! Also surprise, this movie has one of the most mind-f*cky endings of all time.

Based off a 1984 short story by Clive Barker, it follows the life of a struggling photographer (yes, Brad!) in search of some dark artistic inspiration. But when he stumbles across the menacing subway serial killer Mahogany (yes, thats his actual name), he gets more and more entangled in these brutal late-night butcherings. And things getweird.

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Remember how badly Orphan freaked you out in 2009? Well, I have a feeling its going to feel a lot creepier now, considering this storyline might have actually played out IRL. (Theres a couple that claims the little girl they adopted was actually an adult sociopath.)

For those who havent seen Orphan, its about a couple that adopts a 9-year-old girl after recently losing a baby. To their horror, she turns out to be a full-ass adult serial killer.

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If youre a fan of My Favorite Murder, you probably already know that Karen and Georgia (two women who literally talk about murder for a living) were both majorly disturbed by this Australian movie. It really is one of the most unsettling things ever.

Hounds of Love is based on a true story (strike one) about a serial-killing couple (strike two) that abducts an innocent teen, Vicki, who was just trying to get to a party (ding, ding, ding, youre out!). Vicki ends up trapped in their home for days and has to find a way to survive. Its somehow even worse than it sounds?

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If you have not yet seen The Others, I am so jealous of your entire life and soul. The plot twist in this one is SO good.

Anyway, Nicole Kidman plays the mother of two children who are allergic to sunlight. They live in a big ol creepy mansion with a bunch of ghosts. I wont spoil too much because like I said, the plot twist will get you.

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The Fourth Kind is a fake documentary, which is totally the scariest kind of movie because its designed to make you question whats real and whats not. It leaves you with the long-lasting kind of fear that makes you freak out when you wake up and look at the clock at 3:33 a.m. even years after seeing the film because you genuinely think youre about to be abducted by aliens.

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Netflixs take on Stephen Kings novella, In the Tall Grass has already earned its spot as one of the spookiest movies of all time. You will be uncomfortable for the entire hour and 40 minutes of this film.

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A true-crime novelist is suffering from writers block, so he moves into the house of a family that was murdered. (Its probably important to mention they were killed in that home. Honestly, I feel like he could have written the story without moving in there, but! To each his own!) While in the home, he discovers a bunch of spooky home movies that prove hes in a much creepier situation than he initially thought. Its horrifying!

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Nope! This ones not about your Scorpio ex who still wont forgive you for accidentally Liking that one guys photo on Instagram. Sarah Michelle Gellar stars in this iconic, ridiculously scary movie about a house thats been supernaturally cursed. Its the kind of thriller youll think about any time your jacket is making a weird shadow on your closet door in the middle of the night.

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Zombie movies are very scary. Yes, even when they have very beautiful men like Chris Hemsworth and Jesse Williams in them! The Cabin in the Woods is about five friends who arrive at a cabin in the middle of nowhere for a trip. They end up being completely terrorized by the undead. Although this will give you nightmaresits also probably a pretty solid excuse to avoid that friends trip your group chat keeps trying to plan.

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Amazon remade the classic 1977 horror film Suspiria and somehow made it even scarier? Its kind of impossible to describe this intense movie about a witchy dance academy, but if you decide to watch it and feel that you need a palate cleanser afterweve got you.

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The worst thing about Insidious is that its the one movie about a haunted house where the family is actually like, You know what? We should just move. Instead of being rewarded with a new calm, suburban lifestyle, this family discovers that the house wasnt the problem. Its actually their son. You truly hate to see it.

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Hereditary is the rare horror film that keeps you guessingor more accurately, keeps you screaming WTF?!throughout the entire film. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that Toni Collette plays Annie, a mother of two teens, who is trying to cope with her own moms death.

Filmmaker Ari Asters directorial debut blends together real-life horrors (like the loss of a child and feeling disconnected from the people closest to you) with the genres stalest motifs (ghosts, devil worship, creepy children and their even creepier mothers) into something truly original.

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This 1973 classic, adapted from the 1971 book of the same name, tells the story of a 12-year-old girl named Regan MacNeil who gets possessed by the devil after using a Ouija board to communicate with her imaginary friend Captain Howdy. And, likethis is why you should never have an imaginary friend.

Aside from being terrifying because its a movie about a possessed preteen who pukes green slime and pees on floors, The Exorcist gets extra scare points for being inspired by the true story of Roland Doe, a young boy in Maryland who underwent an exorcism in 1949.

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Robert Eggers debut feature-length film builds at a slow pace that youll either totally love or totally hate. The story revolves around a Puritan family that moves to a remote part of the woods, which we all know is never a good idea.

As the atmosphere builds and the family starts to fall apart (read: accuse each other of being witches), a patient viewer will be swept away into one of the most satisfying endings ever. Its so bleak that it received an endorsement from the actual Satanic Temple, thats all Im saying.

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Have you noticed how children are kinda automatically scary, no matter what theyre doing or saying? Like, they could just look over at you and whisper, I wish I had some pizza, and youd be like, AAAH! STOP!

The Babadook, which relies heavily on the kids are creepy feeling, centers on a recently widowed mother of a 6-year-old son whoafter reading a pop-up book about a top-hat-wearing ghoul named Mister Babadookspends the rest of the movie screaming bloody murder and attempting to convince his mom that the Babadook is real.

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Every moment of Paranormal Activity plays upon the viewers ultimate fears: (1) people staring at you while you sleep, (2) the person youre romantically tied to being secretly evil, and (3) actual ghosts in your actual house. Filmed in such a way as to make it seem like a real home movie, Paranormal Activity is expertly paced and leaves you dreading the nighttime scenesfor obvious reasons. Ive personally never watched the last few minutes because I keep hearing that theyll ruin my life.

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Another exorcism movie thats supposedly based on a true story, this one stars Jennifer Carpenter as Emily Rose, a country girl who goes away to college and then becomes possessed by the devil. Ah yes, the dangers of going away to school and all that, eh?

The inspiration for the film came from the story of Anneliese Michel, an allegedly possessed woman who died from starvation after a series of unsuccessful exorcism attempts in 1976. Jennifers ability to contort her body as her character falls more and more under the spell of evil forces is so mesmerizing and disturbing that it should have won an award.

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People tried to say this wasnt scary both before and after it came out because its only rated PG-13. Those people are delusional.

Regardless of the films rating, The Visit depicts one of the grossest, scariest takes on creepy grandparents to spring forth from a writers twisted mind. Naturally, said writer is M. Night Shyamalan.

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Some people prefer the original Japanese version of this film to the 2002 remake, so if you have time, watch both. If you dont, start here. Added incentive: Naomi Watts stars!

This movie (along with several others from the early 2000s) marked a transition from slasher and monster films to a more psychological approach that relies on suspense and anticipation over in-your-face jump-scares. As anyone whos seen Samara crawling out of that TV knows, the visuals in this tale of a cursed videotape are haunting beyond belief.

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The primary bummer about It Follows is that the main events are set off by a young woman having sexbut the female lead is strong enough that the movie gets a pass for an otherwise non-feminist girls having sex leads to evil plot. There are a lot of legitimate scares in It Follows that catch you by surprise but are still very subtle, which makes the film feel refreshing, fun, and horrifying at the same time.

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Zombie movies have pretty much been the same, give or take a few details, since Night of the Living Dead came out in 1968: slow-moving zombies, arms outstretched, making urrrgh, arrrgh noises while they lumber toward you in hopes that youll trip over a bush so they can casually lean down and eat your brains. 28 Days Later comes at the genre in a new way by making the zombies fast and using an atmospheric soundtrack to really drive home the overall feeling of unease.

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Inspired by the horrific true story of Ed Gein, a Wisconsin serial killer who murdered people and made furniture and clothing out of their flesh, this is one of the creepiest classics there is.

Even if youve already seen The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 25 times, its worth watching at least once a year because it never gets old. And even though Leatherface hacks up teenagers with a chainsaw and wears a mask made out of skin, you cant help kind of rooting for him. Weve all had bad days!

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Jack Nicholsons face is made of nightmares. Like, you know those rides they have at amusement parks where animatronic people come to life as you pass by and say something weird to you? Those things are him. The good news? Jacks performance in Stanley Kubricks reimagining of the classic Stephen King novel is so beyond memorable that its definitely iconic.

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A favorite of goths due to its heavy reliance on evil, pain, gallows humor, and metal body adornments, this movie is most certainly a night ruiner.

The plot focuses on a character named Pinhead, who got his name becauseof the pins stuck in his face and head. Make sense? If you like gore and just about every other disgusting and grim thing you can dream up in your worst nightmares, then here you go.

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Director and composer John Carpenters use of sound and tension plus OG scream queen Jamie Lee Curtiss outstanding performance makes Halloween a no-brainer for this listeven as you come to the hopeless realization that yes, shes going to go investigate what that noise is, and yes, shes going to fall while running, and yes, Michael Myers is gonna pop out with his creepy mask-face when you least expect it.

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One of the most WTF movies ever made, this truly blew minds when it came out in 1991 (and won five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Actor).

The combination of Anthony Hopkins as the seductively grotesque Hannibal Lecter, Jodie Foster as the take-nary-a-sh*t Clarice Starling, and some lotion in a basket makes this a highly enjoyable roller coaster of freak-outs. Based on the popular novel by Thomas Harris, its truly one of the best psychological thrillers ever. Seriously!

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This is another one of those movies that people insist on saying isnt scary but is, in actuality, one of the most terrifying films ever.

Its got a creepy, overbearing mom, an accidental masturbation session in front of said mom, finger skin that peels off, and Natalie Portman going completely mental in the best possible way. In other words, its got it all! Darren Aronofsky directed, and since hes also responsible for such soul-crushing hits as Requiem for a Dream, it makes sense that Black Swan has a similar I want to die now effect on viewers.

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Released in 1999, this movie was one of the first to use the now-common technique of framing a scripted film as found footage. [Editors note: When I saw this movie in seventh grade, I was so convinced it was a documentary that I had nightmares for weeks.] A group of friends take off into the woods to document the myth of a witch who kills people, and sh*t devolves from there. Initial reviews claimed that people were literally passing out in movie theaters from fear, which I totally believe, TBH.

Also interesting to note: The actors who starred in this film have since had difficulty advancing their careers because people think theyre still missing or dead in the woods somewhereno, seriously.

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The 50 Scariest Horror Movies You Need to Watch Right Now - News Lagoon

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero