15 great horror films for scaredy cats

Fright factor: 1

Tastes change over time, and what was once terrifying to movie audiences seems tame in comparison to the horror films of today. You could put on any of Universal’s classic monster movies and have a great time without ever feeling the need to cover your eyes, but James Whale’s gothic masterpiece Frankenstein rises to the top due to its iconic imagery and cultural impact. The groaning, lumbering, bolt-necked monster embodied in this film by the legendary Boris Karloff has become the most recognizable version of the character, surpassing even Mary Shelley’s original Modern Prometheus. Amusingly, the film begins with a gleeful warning to the audience that it may shock you, “it may even horrify you.” Maybe that was true in 1931, but it’s hardly the case now, and even more so if you’ve seen Mel Brooks’ hilarious send-up Young Frankenstein (also highly recommended if you’re looking for comedic horror of the more intentional variety).

Fright factor: 4

Considered by many to be not just one of the best horror films of all time, but one of the best films period, the chills in The Night Of The Hunter don’t come from blood or gore but a foreboding sense of dread that builds throughout the film. Robert Mitchum plays a serial killer posing as a preacher who descends on a small Ohio town in search of a cache of money hidden by his former cellmate. He insinuates himself into the life of the man’s widow and children, but his true nature is soon revealed. The film was such a commercial and critical failure upon its initial release that its director, British actor Charles Laughton, never stepped behind the camera again. Over time it’s benefited from reevaluation among cinema scholars and filmmakers, counting Martin Scorsese, William Friedkin, the Coen brothers, Spike Lee, and Guillermo del Toro among its most ardent advocates. It’s often praised as a truly scary film, mostly by those who were exposed to it at a young age. Though it’s certainly dark and highly expressionistic, even haunting, the terror exists more on an intellectual level than a visceral one.

Fright factor: 3

Alfred Hitchcock’s masterful thriller Psycho is another example of how time can dampen the shock value of a film that once terrified audiences in theaters. Even if you haven’t seen the entire film, you’ve probably seen clips of its most harrowing scene—one of the most famous scenes in all of cinema—in which Janet Leigh’s character Marion Crane is assaulted in the shower by a shadowy figure wielding a knife. Hitchcock shot and edited the scene in a way that conveyed the idea of a bloody attack without ever showing it explicitly. He didn’t need to; your mind automatically fills in the gaps. Watching it the first time through, you may be surprised by how little violence it has considering the film’s reputation. The first half is basically a heist film, before Marion makes the fateful decision to stop for the night at the Bates Motel. If you’re looking for a well-made horror classic that speaks to the more evolved parts of your brain, you can’t go wrong with Psycho.

Fright factor: 1

The prolific collaboration between Roger Corman and Vincent Price in the 1960s produced eight delightfully schlocky films inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe, including this unexpectedly comedic one. As many of the films on this list demonstrate, there’s nothing like laughter to cut through the darkness. Set in 16th-century Europe, The Raven stars Price and Boris Karloff as rival magicians, and Peter Lorre as the raven (who is actually another wizard under a spell). Oh, and it also has a young Jack Nicholson in the role of Lorre’s son. The story doesn’t have much to do with Poe’s original poem, either in content or in tone, it’s just a playfully wicked, highly diverting fantasy that culminates in a wizard’s duel full of cheesy effects. To give you some idea of what to expect, when Price asks the raven if he should ever again hold “that radiant maiden whom the angels call Lenore” Lorre responds in his signature raspy voice, “How the hell should I know?”

Fright factor: 3

There was a time when Disney was experimenting with edgier films with a PG rating (this was before the advent of PG-13) meant to spook kids just enough without traumatizing them for life (they’d already done enough of that in their animated features). Something Wicked This Way Comes was one of the best to come out of this era. They even got Ray Bradbury to write the script, based on his own 1962 novel of the same name. The creepy tale centers on a carnival that sets up shop overnight in a small town in 1930s Illinois. Best friends Will Halloway (Vidal Peterson) and Jim Nightshade (Shawn Carson) are the first to realize that something is off about the new arrivals, led by a mysterious man not-so-subtly named Mr. Dark (Jonathan Pryce). The real hero of the story is Will’s father Charles (Jason Robards), who is faced with a choice between his heart’s desire and saving the boys from the sinister Dark. Pryce is absolutely mesmerizing in the role, and Pam Grier also makes an impression as the Dust Witch, a powerful seductress who travels with the carnival. We should probably add the caveat that if you suffer from arachnophobia you may want to skip this one. As a bonus recommendation, you might also want to check out 1980’s The Watcher In The Woods, another haunting feature from the Dark Disney era.

Fright factor: 1

The film version of a stage show that was itself a musical based on a 1960s horror film by Roger Corman isn’t easy to pin down into any one particular genre. Obviously it’s a musical, full of catchy tunes by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, but it’s also a comedy, and of course there’s some horror in the concept of a man-eating plant that convinces an insecure flower-store clerk to murder people to satisfy its taste for blood. Rick Moranis plays the ill-fated clerk, Seymour Krelborn, opposite Ellen Greene as his romantic interest, Audrey. Together, they make an unlikely but sweet pair. It’s more likely you’ll get chills from Greene’s stunning vocals than from the killer plant Seymour names Audrey II, though the puppetry involved in creating it is quite impressive. That’s not surprising considering the film was directed by legendary Muppet performer Frank Oz.

Fright factor: 1

Long before Universal attempted to revive its classic monsters via the doomed Dark Universe initiative, there was this family film that brought them all back and pitted them against a group of monster-obsessed kids. Monster Squad writer-director Fred Dekker and co-writer Shane Black were inspired by Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein rather than any of the more serious films, though they also included Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, and the Gill-man. Since Universal wasn’t actually involved in the production, having passed on the script in development, they brought on Stan Winston to recreate the classic monsters in a way that was fresh yet recognizable, and also wouldn’t get them sued for infringement. Though it flopped at the box office upon its initial release, a small but dedicated group of fans turned it into a cult hit and it even enjoyed a revival in the mid-2000s that’s still ongoing as new generations continue to discover it.

Fright factor: 2

Tim Burton’s wildly imaginative horror fantasy Beetlejuice has only grown in popularity since its release, becoming a Halloween staple and inspiring an animated series, several video games, and even a Broadway musical (which has been in the news recently for reasons not having anything to do with the film). Michael Keaton steals the show as the devious scamp in the title, an exterminator who specializes in scaring people out of their homes so the ghosts residing there can live in peace. All you gotta do is say his name out loud three times. The cast also includes Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O’Hara, and Winona Ryder as a goth teen more interested in the spirit world than the one she lives in. You may as well brush up on the original film this fall, since we’re due for a sequel next year featuring Keaton back in the title role. Ryder will also be returning as Lydia, now grown up with a daughter of her own, played by Jenna Ortega.

Fright factor: 2

Addams Family Values is one of those rare sequels that’s actually better than the original (and the original wasn’t bad). Having already met the family of deviant misfits anchored by eternally amorous soulmates Morticia (Anjelica Huston) and Gomez (Raúl Juliá), the follow-up gave the characters more dimension. It also introduced Joan Cusak as Debbie Jellinsky, a murderous nanny who takes a shine to Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd). They all have their own creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky moments in the film, but the segment where Christina Ricci’s Wednesday is shipped off to camp with her brother Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) and the righteous chaos they cause there is the one that we’ll remember most fondly. If you’ve got time for both, by all means make it an Addams Family double feature. And while you’re at it, why not chase it with a few episodes of Wednesday or the new animated series too? There’s enough Addams Family content to last from now until Halloween.

Fright factor: 2

“Boys and girls of every age, wouldn’t you like to see something strange?” It’s not spooky season unless you throw on The Nightmare Before Christmas at least once. This beloved stop-motion-animated feature from director Henry Selick (not Tim Burton, despite his name being above the title) is the perfect thing to set the mood without causing any actual nightmares. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the tale of Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon when speaking and Danny Elfman when singing), the Pumpkin King who’s grown tired of Halloween and decides to take over Christmas instead. As you might expect, it does not go over well. Although this isn’t usually classified as a horror movie—let’s call it horror adjacent—we still find the clown with the tearaway face pretty unsettling.

Fright factor: 5

Before he shipped off to Middle Earth, Peter Jackson kept busy making indie horror comedies in New Zealand. Many of them are no longer available to watch anywhere due to rights issues, but if you can find Dead Alive (also sometimes known as Braindead), it’s definitely worth a viewing if you can stand the excessive but mostly cartoonish gore. Following his breakout film, Heavenly Creatures, Jackson made The Frighteners, which was more in line with his earlier work. Michael J. Fox stars as a widower who develops the ability to see ghosts and uses it to con people into hiring him as a paranormal investigator, until an evil entity pulls him into a series of murders. Besides the clever hook, it also has music by Danny Elfman, makeup effects by Stan Winston, and digital effects by WETA workshop. There are some disquieting moments in the film, but it’s relatively tame by today’s standards.

Fright factor: 3

After their cult series Spaced, which aired on Channel 4 in the U.K. from 1999 to 2001 and brought Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright enough clout to move to the big screen, they teamed up for Shaun Of The Dead, a winking tribute to the zombie films they both loved. Though it helps to have seen the films they’re referencing, you’ll still get plenty of enjoyment out of the film without that context. Wright directed the film and co-wrote it with Pegg, who stars as Shaun, a directionless salesman who finally finds his purpose in life after a zombie outbreak forces him and his roommate (Nick Frost) to take action. Wright and Pegg’s script is deceptively breezy, but actually so structurally precise that everything that happens at the end of the film is perfectly set up in the beginning. The slow-moving zombies are standard for the genre, and are often played for laughs or metaphorical commentary.

Fright factor: 2

A possessed house that literally eats people might seem a little too extreme for a CG-animated movie for kids, so it probably won’t come as a surprise that the idea for Monster House came from Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, who had previously collaborated on Rick and Morty. The creepiest thing about the film might be the uncanny motion-capture animation, the same one Robert Zemeckis used for The Polar Express, though this film isn’t nearly as off-putting. Shoddy-looking human characters aside, the anthropomorphic house itself is brilliantly designed, and the backstory of how it came to be is a pretty good twist. The main character is DJ (voiced by Mitchel Musso), who lives across the street from the weird old house and has been keeping a close eye on it and its lone occupant, cranky old Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi). Ultimately, it comes down to DJ and his friends Chowder (Sam Lerner) and Jenny (Spencer Locke) to save the neighborhood from the vengeful spirit that’s taken over the house. The film has lots of tension and a swiftly moving plot to keep kids entertained. It never feels too mean or frightening, but might be upsetting for younger viewers.

Fright factor: 5

There’s no better way to honor Halloween than the ultimate Halloween movie, Trick ‘R Treat. And as this film informs us, if you don’t honor the holiday properly, Sam will find you and punish you for your disrespect. This is an anthology film divided into four segments, plus a prologue and an epilogue. Each segment takes place on the same Halloween night in a small Ohio town and represents the different ways we experience and celebrate Halloween—carving jack-o’-lanterns, dressing up in costume, pulling pranks, partying with friends, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. A tragedy that took place in the town long ago and a little burlap-clad spirit named Sam provide the connective tissue that holds it all together. There are some scary moments and disturbing themes, though it never crosses the line into the extreme, and it’s all in the spirit of Halloween fun.

Fright factor: 4

There’s never a bad time to watch Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s pitch-perfect mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows. The film that spawned the FX television series of the same name and the lesser-known Cops spoof Wellington Paranormal mixes elements of comedy, horror, and documentary films into a strange and beautiful stew (feels like there should be a Stu reference here). Clement and Waititi co-wrote, co-directed, and co-star as vampires sharing a flat in Wellington, New Zealand, with a few others of their kind. The film depicts a series of nights in the life of Vladislav (Clement), an 862-year-old barbarian; Viago (Waititi), a former 19th century dandy; Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), the young rebel of the group at just 183 years old; and Petyr (Ben Fransham), a Nosferatu-style creature purported to be 8,000 years old. The film makes the most of the vampires doing ordinary things, like fighting over chores or trying to get invited into clubs, tricking you into not seeing them as a treat. So when the time comes to remind you of exactly who they are, it’s super effective. Then it goes back to being a comedy again, leaving you questioning if you really saw what you think you saw.