The best horror films aren't just scary. They're connecting.
Just ask my friends. We’ve watched more than 250 horror movies together over the past five years. What started as a weekly movie night has turned into something much more – countless nights debating endings, ranking favorites (we even made a spreadsheet) and being utterly terrified together. There's something oddly comforting about watching your worst fears unfold on screen while sitting safely beside people you trust.
"Even though the scary movie is on your screen and not in real life, there is the anticipation of feeling scared," explained Kia-Rai M. Prewitt, a clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic. "Similar to real-life emotional situations, a bond is often created when we
experience intense feelings with others."
And horror movies are nothing if not intense.
With Halloween approaching, there's no better excuse to gather some friends, dim the lights and dive into a horror movie marathon. The recommendations below span everything from slashers and monsters to psychological nightmares. Some are terrifying. Some are hilarious. A few are downright disgusting. To help you find the right fit, each film is separated by sub-genre and includes scare and gore ratings.
If you liked: The Conjuring (2013)
Watch: Terrified (Aterrados) (2017)
Scare: 👻 👻 👻 👻 Very-High
Gore: 🔪 🔪🔪 High
Vibe: Nightmare fuel
Every horror fan has that movie they won’t stop recommending to friends. Terrified is that movie. Not to be confused with the movie Terrifier, this Argentinian film follows paranormal researchers into a neighborhood in Buenos Aires as they try to understand the truth behind strange, violent hauntings. Forget the slow burn. Terrified heads straight for the scary stuff.
Worth trying: Host (2020)
Scare: 👻 👻 👻 High
Gore: 🔪🔪 Medium
Vibe: Modern séance
A movie that takes place entirely on Zoom sounds like a gimmick, but Host turns our collective pandemic experience into one of the most effective paranormal horrors of the decade. Watch it online with all of your friends in a voice chat and relive the days when the only socializing you could do was through a webcam.
Need something less scary? Hausu (1977)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Surreal fever dream
Equal parts horror, comedy and fever dream, this 1977 Japanese cult classic in the Criterion Collection is unlike anything else on this list. Flying heads. Killer pianos. This haunted house comes to life in a truly gruesome fashion with plenty of wacky hijinks along the way making it a memorable and fun ride.
If you liked: Scream (1996)
Watch: Black Christmas (1974)
Scare: 👻👻 Medium
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: The call is coming from inside the house!
A group of sorority sisters is stalked by a killer during Christmas break in one of the movies that helped define the slasher genre. Decades before Scream started poking fun at horror tropes, Black Christmas was already proving how terrifying an anonymous voice on the other end of the phone could be.
Worth trying: Thanksgiving (2023)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪🔪🔪 High
Vibe: Bloody fun
Is the premise stupid? Yes. The residents of Plymouth, Massachusetts are terrorized by a masked killer in a pilgrim hat one year after a Black Friday tragedy. But pausing the movie half-way through and forcing your friends to guess who the killer is has the same emotional payoff as picking the right lottery numbers. It's bloody, good fun.
Need something less scary? Totally Killer (2023)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: 80s slasher sleepover
Back to the Future meets Halloween? Totally. This movie has time travel, ’80s fashion and a mother-daughter teenage duo set to take down a psycho killer and alter the future forever. Tubular!
If you liked: Alien (1979)
Watch: The Ritual (2017)
Scare: 👻👻👻 High
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Where the ancient one lurks
Nothing is scarier than getting lost in the Swedish wilderness and stumbling upon something bone chilling and bewildering. This film is filled with dread that grows with each scene and develops a disorienting atmosphere that gets under your skin long before any monsters appear.
Worth trying: Daddy's Head (2024)
Scare: 👻👻👻 High
Gore: 🔪🔪 Low
Vibe: Grief creature feature
With a title like Daddy’s Head, I was expecting something silly. Instead, I found one of the creepiest horror movies in recent memory. The less you know, the better. Just prepare yourself for a creature design you won't easily forget.
Need something less scary? Jennifer's Body (2009)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Mean Girls, but make it monster
Not your typical monster movie, this terrifying bloodthirsty demon is packaged in the body of a teenage girl who likes to eat boys for dinner. Yum! Filled with high school BFF drama, razor-sharp dialogue and enough 2000s nostalgia to make you miss your side bangs, Jennifer’s Body is fun, flirty and frightening all at once.
If you liked: Get Out (2017)
Watch: Climax (2018)
Scare: 👻👻 Medium
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Worst party imaginable
A dance troupe gathers for a party that gradually transforms into a psychological nightmare after someone spikes the punch. It’s impossible to tear your eyes away as everything spirals into paranoia, chaos and complete emotional collapse.
Worth trying: Infinity Pool (2023)
Scare: 👻👻 Medium
Gore: 🔪🔪🔪 High
Vibe: Wealthy weirdos behave badly
A wealthy couple’s vacation gets dragged into an increasingly depraved nightmare involving a group of people who have entirely too much free time and money. This movie is very weird, very stylish and impossible to predict, which makes it catnip for horror fans looking for something different.
Need something less scary? Triangle (2009)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Theories required
I recommend Triangle like I recommend a roller coaster: Don’t ask questions, just get on. After a boating accident leaves a group of friends stranded at sea, they discover an abandoned ocean liner that may not be as empty as it seems. The mind-bending plot in this movie will have you and your friends debating theories long after the credit roll.
If you liked: Obsession (2026)
Watch: Attachment (2022)
Scare: 👻👻 Medium
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Romance gone very wrong
Come for the whirlwind love story. Stay for the demonic attachment problem. When a woman follows her new flame home to Denmark, she discovers her girlfriend’s mother may be hiding something sinister. Romance and horror blend perfectly in this unsettling, surprisingly emotional tale that will leave you reeling.
Worth trying: Late Night With the Devil (2023)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: The Exorcist live on TV!
A possessed girl. A late-night talk show. One disastrous live broadcast. Framed as a lost TV episode from the 1970s, this clever possession thriller slowly turns a ratings stunt into a deal with the devil himself.
Need something less scary? Extra Ordinary (2019)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Demons, but make it wholesome
An Irish horror-comedy about a reluctant paranormal expert who must help save a driving instructor's possessed daughter. Equal parts sweet, weird and genuinely funny, it's the perfect palate cleanser for anyone who wants supernatural scares without the nightmares.
If you liked: The Fly (1986)
Watch: The Substance (2024)
Scare: 👻👻 Medium
Gore: 🔪🔪🔪🔪 Very-High
Vibe: Outrageously gross
Ever wondered what would happen if someone made a body horror movie with absolutely no restraint? The Substance is your answer. Starring Demi Moore, this movie is shocking, stylish and wildly over-the-top... meaning you may want to skip your lunch before watching it.
Worth trying: Color out of Space (2019)
Scare: 👻👻 Medium
Gore: 🔪🔪🔪 High
Vibe: Nicolas Cage
Want to watch Nicolas Cage spend two hours slowly losing his mind? This is the film for you! Based on an H.P. Lovecraft story, this gloriously weird cosmic horror combines body horror with the stuff of unhinged nightmares and will leave you feeling a bit insane yourself.
Need something less scary? Together (2025)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪🔪 Medium
Vibe: I think it’s time to break up
Spending time with your significant other is great. Spending every second together? Not so much. Funny, surprisingly emotional and packed with squirm-inducing body horror, Together turns relationship anxiety into one of the strangest, and stickiest, horror experiences to date.
If you liked: Paranormal Activity (2007)
Watch: Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018)
Scare:👻👻👻👻 High
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Haunted asylum on adrenaline
A livestream crew explores one of Korea’s most infamous abandoned psychiatric hospitals and discovers the ghostly nightmares that lurk within. A personal favorite, Gonjiam proves that found-footage films can still surprise even the most seasoned horror junkies.
Worth trying: The Medium (2021)
Scare: 👻👻 Medium
Gore: 🔪🔪 Medium
Vibe: Cursed documentary
This Thai and South Korean film about a crew documenting a spiritual medium in rural Thailand is so convincing that I almost thought I was watching a real documentary – at least until things started to really unravel. What starts as a fascinating look at local beliefs gradually transforms into a terrifying found footage movie about possession, grief and a horrifying ritual gone wrong.
Need something less scary? Deadstream (2022)
Scare: 👻👻 Medium
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Influencers will do anything to get views
An influencer spends the night in a haunted house to win back his followers and spooky shenanigans ensue. It's equal parts found footage, slapstick comedy and genuinely effective haunted-house horror that had our entire crew laughing AND screaming.
If you liked: Midsommar (2019)
Watch: Suspiria (2018)
Scare: 👻👻 Medium
Gore: 🔪🔪🔪🔪 High
Vibe: Witchcraft through interpretive dance
A young American dancer earns a place at a prestigious Berlin dance academy only to discover something wicked is lurking behind the curtain. Suspiria is beautiful, disturbing and completely hypnotic, proving that horror movies can be art-house masterpieces and absolute nightmares at the same time.
Worth trying: Mandy (2018)
Scare: 👻👻 Medium
Gore: 🔪🔪🔪🔪High
Vibe: Nicolas Cage, but make it metal
My second Nicolas Cage pick in the list and I’m not even ashamed about it. Nicolas Cage versus a cult of murderous religious fanatics? Yes. Nicolas Cage screaming his way through a psychedelic heavy-metal nightmare covered in blood? Double yes. It is peak Nicolas Cage. It is peak everything.
Need something less scary? Ready or Not (2019)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪🔪Medium
Vibe: Wedding from hell
A bride's wedding night takes a turn when her wealthy new in-laws reveal a deadly family tradition. Funny, bloody and endlessly entertaining, Ready or Not is proof that horror movies can be just as much fun as they are frightening.
If you liked: 28 Days Later (2002)
Watch: Train to Busan (2016)
Scare: 👻👻 Medium
Gore: 🔪🔪 Medium
Vibe: Run, die, then cry
Word of warning: If you watch this film, prepare for emotional damage. A workaholic father boards a train with his young daughter just as a zombie outbreak sweeps across South Korea. What follows may be the best zombie movie I've ever seen, balancing nonstop action with heartbreak so devastating I actually cried. Like, a lot.
Worth trying: REC (2007)
Scare: 👻👻👻👻 High
Gore: 🔪🔪 Medium
Vibe: Claustrophobic panic
A television reporter follows emergency responders into an apartment building on what seems like a routine call. It turns out to be anything but. REC is frighteningly real. With no music or fancy camera work, this movie made me feel less like I was watching a zombie movie and more like I was trapped inside one.
Need something less scary? One Cut of the Dead (2017)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: A love letter to filmmaking
Trust me: Do not read anything about this movie before watching it. It starts slow but the pay off is so worth it and will leave you grinning from ear-to-ear even if you aren't the biggest horror fan. It’s one of my all-time favorite movies, EVER.
If you liked: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Watch: Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2017)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Demonic fairy tale
A reclusive blacksmith living on the edge of a small Basque village harbors a shocking secret behind his locked doors. Filled with practical creature effects, folklore and gothic atmosphere, Errementari feels like a beautifully crafted dark fairy tale.
Worth trying: Lamb (2021)
Scare: 👻Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Something weird is happening on the farm
A grieving couple living on a remote Icelandic farm discovers something impossible in their sheep barn and decides to raise it as their own. Like a fairy tale gone wrong, this Icelandic movie is haunting and strange but so rewarding for viewers willing to embrace its peculiar charm.
Need something less scary? Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Santa is SCARY
Forget everything you think you know about Santa Claus. What if he wasn't a jolly old man, but an ancient creature buried beneath the Arctic ice? This wildly inventive Finnish horror-comedy somehow makes the entire premise work perfectly.
If you liked: American Werewolf in London (1981)
Watch: Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: Small town monster mysteryA stressed-out sheriff investigates a string of brutal killings while the residents of his snowy mountain town become increasingly convinced a werewolf is responsible. This movie is a horror hidden-gem that helps turn the werewolf trope on its head and give you something inventive, surprising and so much fun.
Worth trying: Ginger Snaps (2000)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪🔪 Medium
Vibe: Puberty is terrifyingWhen a teenage girl is attacked by a mysterious creature, her body begins changing in ways she never expected. Ginger Snaps cleverly transforms werewolf mythology into a coming-of-age story filled with dark humor, sharp writing and enough blood to satisfy horror fans.
Need something less scary? Werewolves Within (2021)
Scare: 👻 Low
Gore: 🔪 Low
Vibe: ‘Clue,’ but with werewolvesI included a werewolf category just so I could recommend this movie. It's truly that good. A snowstorm traps a group of townspeople together just as something begins picking them off one by one. This movie will have you howling with laughter and keep you guessing until the very end.
Want to geek-out on our horror movie spreadsheet? We made a simplified version available here.
Think I missed some good recommendations? I'd love to hear from you. Email me at atorrey@usatodayco.com to keep the conversation going.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Horror movie onslaught: A super-fan's guide to obscure and disturbing finds
