There are many genres of storytelling that make a bigger impact when they’re properly contained to a feature film and horror is genre that’s been able to evolve in amazing ways. The horror genre has become increasingly proliferated. There are endless differences between a low-budget slasher movie and an esoteric moody art film, yet they both represent the versatility of the genre.
Horror movies can often put their focus on a giant body count and excessive gore, but frightening films that attempt to get emotional or dissect character can often be even more unnerving. Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak is a deeply gothic and emotional experience, but it's not the only horror movie of its kind.
10 Last Night In Soho Tells A Story Of Women In Trouble Between Two Time Periods
Edgar Wright has proven himself one of the most ambitious visionary directors of the decade, with each of his movies a stunning experiment in contrasting genres. Wright’s newest film, Last Night in Soho, turns to retro giallo horror sensibilities to create a kaleidoscope descent into madness. Grisly murders and haunting ghosts fill the picture, but at its core Last Night in Soho is an emotional story about one girl’s desire to save another, even if they’re displaced through time. The climax properly allows this intense emotion to meld together with Wright’s horror influences and deliver a dazzling finish.
9 Sleepy Hollow Embraces Gothic Horror To Tell A Classic Urban Legend
Tim Burton is responsible for countless cinematic classics, with much of his best work leaning into the horror genre, or at the least haunting and gothic visuals. Sleepy Hollow is Burton’s take on the classic piece of folklore and his film truly feels like it’s lost in a different era. Sleepy Hollow is genuinely scary when it wants to be, but so much of the film showcases foggy terrains, gnarled trees, and melodramatic exchanges. Burton taps into the perfect atmosphere for this story where the brutality of the Headless Horseman amplifies the palpable fear of the nation.
8 The Orphanage Locks The Audience Into An Unpredictable House Of Horrors
The Orphanage is a Spanish horror film and J.A. Bayona's directorial debut. The film manages to explore some seriously unnerving territory that surrounds a possibly supernatural orphanage. The Orphanage intentionally pulls from gothic 1970s Spanish horror cinema for its aesthetic and style, which results in a highly emotional movie that trusts its audience.
The Orphanage trades cheap jump scares for disturbing character drama. It's an elegant and grueling masterpiece about family and culpability. The ghostly figures present bring Crimson Peak to mind.
7 Housebound Proves That Some Of The Darkest Dangers Come From Within
Housebound is a New Zealand horror film from 2014 that has a lot to say. Housebound's premise looks at Kylie, who finds herself confined to house arrest for the better part of a year, only to suspect that her environment is actually haunted. Housebound's exploration of this concept and what's actually lurking within the walls of the house is incredibly satisfying. There are both haunting and hilarious visuals that plague Kylie, but Housebound’s earnest look into redemption, guilt, and the pressures of society make sure that it’s thematically sound in addition to frightening.
6 The Others Is A Traditional Ghost Story That’s Emotionally Draining
Much like Crimson Peak, Alejandro Amenábar's The Others tells a familial ghost story in a creepy and confined space. Nicole Kidman's Grace grows suspicious of supernatural behavior in her home, which complicates her efforts to look after her children, who have an extreme sensitivity to sunlight. The Others doesn't overextend itself, and Kidman's slipping sanity as she loses her grasp on what's real and fantasy is constantly engrossing. Kidman's powerful and heightened performance make The Others resonate as strongly as it does and the film is so effective because it doesn't restrict itself to purely functioning like a horror movie.
5 The Devil's Backbone Uses The Supernatural To Highlight The Horrors Of Humanity
The Devil's Backbone is one of Guillermo del Toro's first feature films and shares a lot of the same DNA as his later gothic horror film, Crimson Peak. Set towards the end of the Spanish Civil War, The Devil's Backbone explores an orphan's indoctrination into an oppressive new home following the death of his father.
The Devil's Backbone presents ghostly images and frightening figures, but the melodramatic horror story reinforces that the greatest evils in the world are found within humans, not supernatural forces. The film is a brutal look into abuse, loneliness, and the very real horrors that fill society.
4 A Cure For Wellness Is A Dark Descent Into Madness
Gore Verbinski who isn't especially known for horror, but he left an undeniable mark on the genre with The Ring, and 2016's A Cure For Wellness marks his return to the genre. The movie is set within a foreboding sanitarium and stars Dane DeHaan as a susceptible subject who doesn't know what he should trust. A Cure For Wellness features some traditional scares, but it prefers to take a gothic approach that leans into upsetting eel imagery and emotional catharsis. Feelings of guilt and paranoia are constantly prevalent as it gets into the very nature of sanity.
3 Stoker Is A Gripping Character Study Full Of Flawed Figures
Park Chan-Wook is one of the very best directors to come out of South Korea and Stoker marks the filmmaker’s first English feature. Stoker is a delicate and patient movie that unpacks a slowly imploding family full of people with impure impulses that are just waiting to be properly cultivated. Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, and Matthew Goode lead the movie and all give such moving and raw performances. Death does enter the picture in Stoker, but the story is more interested in the dark path that its characters find themselves heading down.
2 The Woman In Black Turns To Evocative Imagery For Its Purposeful Poltergeist
Some of the most effective horror films look at characters who are at the height of loss and stuck in periods of grief. The Woman in Black is a moody endeavor where Daniel Radcliffe's Arthur Kipps is consumed with grief over the loss of his wife. He soon comes in contact with a dangerous supernatural entity that the town keeps secret and he's forced to confront this evil force. Arthur's confrontation with the titular spirit is powerful, but The Woman in Black never escapes from heavy grief. Radcliffe's character grapples with paralyzing fears of isolation as he struggles to move on.
1 The Haunting Is A Horror Classic That Hits Just As Hard Nearly 60 Years Later
1963's The Haunting is still one of the very best takes on the haunted house subgenre of horror. Adapted from Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, the 1963 film looks at Dr. John Markway's attempts to get to the bottom of Hill House's supernatural behavior. A group of individuals, some with special ESP abilities, investigate Hill House's secrets, but learn just as much about themselves in the process. The supernatural spirits' compulsion to communicate gets to the bottom of these vulnerable individuals and proves that the living can have even more pain than the deceased.
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