Scary movies seem to be an addiction worldwide, certainly in the United States. Why do the scariest movies do so well? For many, they give off a similar thrill to being on a huge rollercoaster. It’s exhilarating and surprising all at the same time. Others prefer feeling genuinely terrified as if their lives are truly in danger.
Regardless of why scary movie fans enjoy the watch, there is no denying there are some truly unique movies to see. Of course, the most terrifying movies all tend to have a quality story, so much work goes into the process.
Scariest Movies Categorized
It’s crazy that there are so many different movie genres out there for every fan. Even more in-depth, the scary movie genre has several subcategories housed within. While these may not be the official labels, I would categorize all of the scariest movies under the following categories: slashers, psychological thrillers, found footage, supernatural/science fiction, and zombie movies.
While horror fans would know that there is some clear overlap between these categories at times, most of the scariest movies fall under one of these subcategories. For instance, psychological thrillers feature a supernatural character or a slasher who is more of a powerful supernatural force like Michael Myers.
Psychological Thrillers
Some examples of psychological thrillers would be “Us,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “American Psycho,” and “Split.” These are all amazing movies that play with your psychological being and either betray you or force you to feel extremely uncomfortable while viewing. Often, it involves a character or characters with some type of psychological condition or some other outside force that is causing a negative impact on their decision-making.
Found Footage
While psychological thrillers are a truly terrifying genre, found footage is one genre that has some of the scariest movies I have ever seen in it. Found footage is a unique genre that involves some type of recording device and is shot in a first-person point of view.
The idea is that this gives the viewer a feeling of “being there,” seeing all the horrors through the characters’ terrified eyes. Some prime examples of the scariest movies in the found footage category are Cloverfield, Blair Witch Project, Creep, and Sacrament. All are great movies to watch if you get the chance!
Slashers
Slashers have a great cult following and iconic movies. They are fairly self-explanatory: usually, some crazed person or entity is running around slicing people up. “Friday the 13th, “Halloween, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre are all great examples of the scariest movies the slasher genre has to offer.
Personally, slashers aren’t that scary to me. They’re more gory and have some neat stories. Maybe that’s because I’m desensitized to seeing killing and violence in movies and TV. The point is that you won’t find as many jump scares in slasher movies as you will in supernatural or science fiction movies.
Supernatural & Science Fiction
Supernatural and science fiction have enough things in common that I would just lump them together as supernatural can take on many meanings. Supernatural and the word “paranormal” can technically apply to anything beyond the normal scope of understanding. Which could be anything from Aliens to demonic beings to everything in between that doesn’t physically exist in the natural world. Or at least it shouldn’t exist.
The supernatural and science fiction genre is by far my favorite horror genre. These are the scariest movies because this is when those masterfully executed jump scares take place. Some amazing examples are “Alien”, “Predator”, “The Conjuring”, “IT” and “Hereditary”. Now the Zombie category is obvious: it’s about Zombies!
Now, take a look at my list of the nine scariest movies ever to hit the big screen. You may not see your favorite scary movie on this list, but I promise you that all nine movies are sure to give you a scare. A few of them have even been proven by science to be terrifying. At least for your heart!
