Top 10 Horror Movies That Invented New Ways to Scare Everyone

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Color us terrified. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the horror movies that pushed the genre forward in new and inventive ways.

Transcript

00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the horror movies that

00:09push the genre forward in new and inventive ways.

00:20Number 10.

00:21It Follows.

00:22You can get rid of it, okay?

00:23Just sleep with someone as soon as you can.

00:26Just pass it along.

00:27The analogy of sexually transmitted diseases is part of the reason It Follows felt so fresh

00:32back when it was released in 2014.

00:35Writer-director David Robert Mitchell may not have completely explained the rules for

00:39why the entity follows the way it does or how it can be destroyed, yet it's more about

00:44the journey than the destination here.

00:46It Follows plays with our paranoia as we constantly scan the background for who's on the horizon.

00:51The performances and the character's general likability get us invested in the story, while

00:56the soundtrack keeps us on edge.

00:58This one is destined to become a modern horror classic.

01:08Number 9.

01:09Get Out.

01:10He's dating my sister.

01:11You had your chance.

01:12I can't get to know the guy.

01:14The trope of the body snatcher was nothing new in the horror genre by the time Jordan

01:18Peele created Get Out.

01:19Yet his film managed to inject new life into this narrative through the exploration of

01:23class and race.

01:25Get Out also subtly incorporates humor throughout the story, but make no mistake, the film is

01:30full of uneasy frights.

01:32The existential horror of the sunken place in particular gives us nightmares.

01:36Peele's script is smart, taut, and tense, and the subtle easter eggs hidden throughout

01:41the film make it eminently rewatchable.

01:49Number 8.

01:50The Strangers.

01:51Are you a sinner?

01:52Sometimes.

01:53There's just something primal about horror films that are set in those situations where

02:04we're most vulnerable.

02:06It could be Psycho in the shower or Jaws in the open water, but they make our skin crawl.

02:11The Strangers strikes a similar nerve, that fear of our homes being invaded when we're

02:16all alone.

02:17Of course, it helps that the cinematography here underlines just how frightening that

02:21situation can be, as the titular strangers lurk in the shadows.

02:25This film is violent, sure, but it's also scary as hell, and isn't afraid to let moments

02:30linger for the sole purpose of making us look twice into the darkness.

02:42Number 7.

02:43The Silence of the Lambs.

02:44This movie is one of only a handful of horror films to ever make a serious impact at the

02:48Academy Awards.

02:50Its handling of themes such as gender identity have made it the subject of much retrospective

02:54criticism.

02:55But it's not Buffalo Bill's motivations that make this film so terrifying.

03:10At its heart, The Silence of the Lambs is a story about the abduction and murder of

03:15female victims, crimes that feel all too real and terrifying.

03:25Jodie Foster's performance as FBI trainee Clarice Starling was career-defining.

03:30And who can ever forget the way Anthony Hopkins inhabited the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter?

03:35He manages to make the former psychologist and cannibal, charming, magnetic, manipulative,

03:40and ultimately one of the scariest characters in cinema.

03:50Number 6.

03:51Hereditary.

03:52In 2018, cinema-goers were introduced to a new master of horror, filmmaker Ari Aster.

04:02An unrelentingly bleak and deeply disturbing film, Hereditary pushes the boundaries of

04:07the genre in ways that, quite frankly, we didn't know were possible.

04:17It immediately drew comparisons to such highly influential pictures as Rosemary's Baby

04:21and The Exorcist.

04:22The film doesn't bother with jump scares.

04:25It instead shocks with genuinely unexpected and deeply disturbing imagery, from which

04:30it refuses to turn away.

04:32The tension and overwhelming sense of dread are so pervasive that some viewers may not

04:37last long enough to see the mystery unraveled, further bolstered by stellar performances

04:42all around.

04:43Hereditary isn't just a scary movie.

04:45It will shake you to your core.

04:55Number 5.

04:56The Shining.

04:57Directed by Stanley Kubrick, The Shining is undeniably unconventional.

05:03It's a lonely, ambiguous, and thoroughly unsettling experience that, while arguably

05:08a tale of the supernatural, is fundamentally about one man's descent into madness.

05:17It's a significant departure from the source material written by Stephen King, but a study

05:21published in 2004 conducted by King's College London actually labeled it, quote, the perfect

05:26scary movie.

05:32The Shining never fails to terrify, but the answer as to what exactly makes it so scary

05:37remains elusive.

05:39From set design to the imagery used, The Shining is artful in its approach to inducing fear.

05:48Number 4.

05:49Alien.

05:53Despite the science fiction elements of the story, there can be little debate that Alien

05:56is in fact also a horror film.

05:59Being stuck inside a claustrophobic environment you can't escape with a mindless creature

06:03that only wants to kill you is a creepy idea to be sure.

06:09Heck, even just sitting down to enjoy a meal together in this movie becomes a complete

06:15nightmare.

06:16That chestburster scene is forever burned into all our memories.

06:20Ridley Scott's space adventure doesn't only grab you by the neck, but also never

06:24lets you go again.

06:26It inspired a worthy follow-up with Aliens, as well as a slew of lesser sequels and prequels.

06:32But the original remains the creepiest and most shocking.

06:42Number 3.

06:43Psycho.

06:44We know what you're thinking.

06:45How does this film crack the top three when relative to the horror movies released in

06:48the years since, it's so tame?

06:56The thing is, while Psycho may start off slowly enough, the conclusion that it builds to is

07:00incredibly effective.

07:02Its ability to scare has been undermined by its own success.

07:06Most people already know the story.

07:10But show it to someone with no knowledge of the plot and their reaction will be genuine

07:14terror.

07:15And the initial lack of horror makes the sudden violence and twisted reveals all the more

07:20powerful.

07:21No one will argue against the fact that Psycho is one of the greatest horror films ever made,

07:26but it also remains one of the scariest.

07:39Number 2.

07:40The Exorcist.

07:41You're gonna die up there.

07:43Demonic children get us every time.

07:45The Exorcist introduces us to Regan, a friendly 12-year-old girl who becomes possessed by

07:50a demon after playing with a Ouija board.

07:52Captain Howdy.

07:53Do you think my mom's pretty?

07:55A terrific and refreshing concept for a horror film was taken to the next level by William

08:00Peter Blatty's exceptional screenplay and the amazing direction of William Friedkin.

08:09Unflinching and truly scary, this is what we'll always imagine an actual possession

08:14would actually look like.

08:16It forces us to picture how helpless we'd feel if ever this happened to a loved one.

08:20Add to that horrifying moments like when Pazuzu tells father Damien Karras about his mother's

08:24fate in hell.

08:26This is as scary as scary gets and undoubtedly a horror classic.

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08:551.

08:56The Blair Witch Project

08:57One of the most successful indie flicks ever, The Blair Witch Project's marketing campaign

09:09made it the most talked about movie in the US.

09:12The fact that the teasers and trailer wet audience appetites while giving away virtually

09:17nothing about the plot made the found footage flick's twists and turns all the more shocking.

09:27Its unknown stars allowed us to empathize completely, which made those surprises even

09:32more terrifying.

09:34To cap it all off, the simple yet horrifying closing seconds ensured that this film was

09:39one of the scariest of all time.

09:45Which horror movie do you find the most inventive?

09:47Let us know in the comments below.

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