Scream, The Strangers, It, Tusk, Halloween; some horror movies are so iconic that just seeing their name or hearing them brought up in conversation is enough to send chills down your spine. Each subgenre of horror contains similar elements of fear laced through stories individual enough to wet the palate of scary movie fans of every kind.
There’s something particularly haunting about tuning into the type of film you know has the potential to unnerve you completely. We all have our favorites, the movies we’ve all but memorized at this point, films we could watch and go to sleep right after, but some we only watch now and then — they’re the kind of movies that have us running upstairs after we flip off the light switch and sleeping with that Disney nightlight we never got rid of. Okay, so maybe we bought it at Target, but don’t act like we’re the only ones.
Some films strike fear into the hearts of even the most intense horror lovers, and a Reddit thread is giving horror lovers a chance to really set themselves up to be scared with a new game of sorts. If you list your greatest fears in a comment in the threads, other scary movie fans will share movies you should (or maybe shouldn’t) watch this Halloween season.
Are you looking to indulge in a night of your worst fears? Grab those blankets and nightlights because we’re kicking things off with body horror.
Are you looking to indulge in a night of your worst fears? Grab those blankets and nightlights because we’re kicking things off with body horror. I’ll be the first to admit clowns are my greatest fear; that and one I’ll address a few comments down. I thought nothing would ever get to me like those two things until I watched a movie about body horror. There are so many ways body horror movies can frighten you; once they have, it almost feels uncomfortable even to exist.
The first comment suggested Tusk, in which many replied that they had to turn the movie off because of how intense it got, and other Redditors suggested films such as The Thing, An American Werewolf in London, Men, and Annihilation.
Moving onto a fear that is harder to name but one you’ll understand experiencing, this horror fan is most spooked by things that are just slightly out of place, routine things that are just a bit unordinary in horror. They gave a few examples, and the comments section responded immediately.
It Follows and The Killing of a Sacred Deer absolutely fit this fear. If you’ve not watched either, they’re on different ends of the horror spectrum, but both will leave you feeling extraordinarily uneasy. They Look Like People, 1408, and Us all also fit the bill here.
Home invasion horror is next, and I’ll tell you something; one line from a film solidified this fear for me in a way none others have. In The Strangers, when the masked killers are nearing the end of their torture and are ready to deliver the final blow, one of the victims asks why they’re doing this, and their reply is simple: “because you were home.”
I don’t know how to describe what that did to me, but it made me live in immense fear when it comes to simply being at home. That’s the whole point of home invasion horror, of course, but nothing I’ve ever seen has hit the point home quite as well.
Of course, The Strangers was recommended, as were films like Hush, Knock Knock, I See You, and Shut In. These movies’ll have you running upstairs after shutting off the lights and needing that Disney nightlight. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Next up is a fear that we’ve all probably experienced from time to time without really knowing what it’s called: “Cassandra syndrome.”
Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Jaws, Rosemary’s Baby, Knowing, and Hush are all recommendations for this type of horror.
Be it clowns or slashers that are your kryptonite, there’s something for you to discover and uncover in the thread, and here’s to getting to know your fears on a deeper level. What better way to spend spooky season, right?