Are you searching for a horror flick not submerged in blood, gore, and heart-thumping fright? Do you want enough terror-oomph to propel your inquisitiveness without bone-chilling panic? Fortunately, since the early 90s, horror films have lost much of their edge. Today, many moviegoers leave the theaters disappointed because the hair-raising horror film they saw wasn’t so fearsome.
If you desire a great story with a little shiver or just a not-too-scary flick, these are probably the best horror movies for people who don’t like horror.
Related:Stephen King’s Christine Remake: Plot, Cast, and Everything Else We Know
11Rosemary’s Baby
After reading Ira Levin’sThe Stepford WivesandRosemary’s Baby,itmight be fair to assume the author hates women. Or, Levin cleverly and gruesomely warns women of the evil men are capable of, hinting women should live without them. Director Roman Polanski’s 1968 film,Rosemary’s Baby,is one of those flicks that occupy the mind with these existential questions, so often, the viewer forgets their fear. It’s classified as a horror movie, as it should — shaky camera creating uncertainty, Satan-worshiping neighbors, and the Devil’s child in the womb.
Rosemary (Mia Farrow) is married to Guy, an actor who can’t catch a break in his professional life until he meets with those Satanic neighbors who promise him career opportunities in exchange for a one-night stand between their leader, Lucifer, and his wife. Guy acquiesces. Soon, Rosemary is pregnant with the Devil’s spawn, and viewers watch her slowly take on the characteristics of the undead — pale skin and a craving for raw meat. When the “baby” is born, Rosemary discovers the truth and screams, “His eyes are black!” Her child is the son of Satin.
10Christine
Director John Carpenter said no human is the star in the filmChristine, the killer car. He stated how he established Christine as the main character by showing how evil the vehicle is in the opening scene. A mechanic is polishing Christine before she exits the manufacturer. He opens the hood, and Christine slams down on the serviceman’s hand, injuring an innocent victim. Later, theglossy 1958 red Plymouth hardtophas her new owner under her spell and is highly protective of him, resorting to killing for her proprietor. Every time nefarious events destroy Christine, the car miraculously restores. As Christine grows more vicious, so does her owner. Watch the grueling measures friends take to demolish Christine in this Stephen King-adapted film.
9Fright Night
A few bloodletting scenes in the filmFright Nightawait squeamish fans. This Tom Holland ’80s cult classic stars Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowell, who are spectacular and are a 1980s fanatic dream. The film is cloaked in ’80s fabric from beginning to end — clothing, hairstyles, music, and afterschool teen burger joints. Holland even makes a young Amanda Bearse look seductive as Sarandon becomes obsessed with her and her likeness to his former lover. The cowardly McDowell is hilarious, bringing his Barney Fife-like demeanor to the role.
8Halloween
They’re perhaps thefirst mother/daughter actresses to have breakthrough performances in horror films. Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of Janet Leigh, who appeared in Hitchcock’sPsycho, debuted her acting in John Carpenter’sHalloween, a movie about Michael Myers, an escaped mentally ill teen serial killer who hunts Laurie Strode(Curtis). It sounds like a grizzly tale, but this late 1970s flick offers more fun than terror.
Yes, all of Laurie’s teenage friends get murdered. But the components making this a quintessential film — parents are away, sex-crazed teens, and creative killing methods — almost turnHalloweeninto a dark comedy. Check out the entire franchise if the original doesn’t frighten you terribly. Except forHalloween III(the producers moved on without Myers but returned to their original formula), there are thirteenHalloweenfilms, and they all have nearly the same premise.
7The Visit
A young brother and sister visit their grandparents they’ve never met. After a series of strange encounters, through a video chat, the siblings' mother informs them that those arenottheir grandparents. As they film their adventure, they capture eyebrow-raising oddities from their “grandparents” that would unnerve any child or adult. Like a Whitney or Mariah song, fans wait anxiously for the crescendo’s peak. It’s slow, but be patient with M. Night Shyamalan’sThe Visit. It’s worth it.
The Menuis like eating a box of assorted chocolates and biting into one that you didn’t expect to be so tasty. You gobble the entire container attempting to find the same mouthwatering piece of surprise goodness. Never did fans see coming their waya maniacal, psycho-killing chef behind that solemn-faced, serious-minded cordon bleu cook. This movie is horror in a delectable nutshell, as you witness perfectly-plated entrées and their written descriptions of each in the corner of the screen. Amputations, suicides, and self-loathing are just some of the alarming “treats” in this movie. If Mark Mylod’s 2022 film doesn’t frighten you, at the very least, it will ignite an exploration of fine dining.
If Kathy Bates didn’t create the phrase “Mr. Man,” it is forever hers after the 1990 Rob Reiner filmMisery. Paul Sheldon (James Cann) is a successful author who Annie Wilkes (Bates) nurses after a car accident. Unbeknownst to Sheldon, Wilkes is a registered nurse and certifiable nutcase. She is beyond an obsessed fan. The avid reader is a lonely, deranged killer who holds Cann captive until he resorts to desperate actions to free himself. The movie has moments of cringe, but the chemistry between Cann and Bates is undeniably present and exemplary.
4A Quiet Place
A Quiet Placedoesn’t sound like a horror film, but it’s a unique nightmare for those who have to live and walk around as quietly as possible for survival. Thishuman-destroying creature is simultaneously annoyed and attracted to noise, creating tension and curiosity for fans. The female protagonist, Emily Blunt, married on and off the screen to John Krasinski, is a veteran at hushing herself. Krasinski, who also co-wrote and directed the 2018 film, allocates a couple of activities that call for a great deal of noise — stepping barefoot onto a nail and giving birth. See how Blunt’s character handles both.
A Black serial killer in a horror film is just what Hollywood needed in 1992. The Bernard Rose film,Candyman, illustrates a legend who creeps into the psyche and the world of anyone who dares say his name, “Candyman,” three times. He then becomes a part of that person, killing others and framing the audacious one responsible for awakening him. The protagonist,Virginia Madsen’s big, beautiful, powerful eyespaired with Tony Todd’s (Candyman) strapping stature and intoxicating voice is haunting.
There are extensions to theCandymanstory, but the original is superior to its successors. The first installment isn’t just a horror flick. Madsen’s character has an enviable life before Candyman enters the scene, and his antics lead her to lose her career and lover. There is also a story behind Candyman. Before preying on intrigued victims, an unspeakable tragedy visited him, too.
The master of suspense made actress Janet Leigh terrified of taking showers. She said after filming Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 horror,Psycho, she never showered again. “You’re very vulnerable in a shower,” Leigh said. This isn’t the only actress Hitchcock traumatized. Tippi Hedren from Hitchcock’s horror,The Birds,claimed traumatization after filming, too.What’s fantastic aboutPsychois the symbolismfans probably wouldn’t notice if they hadn’t seen interviews and documentaries on the work — Leigh dresses in white by day, then black when she decides a dark fate. The director gives audiences a hint of what to expect in the opening credits, as cast members' names get sharply sliced through over a violent violin tune.
Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates is a complicated and shocking character inPsycho. Discussions about multiple personality disorders evaded the public during the film’s release. But Bates fell victim to this illness, sometimes dressing as his mother, murdering in the mind and attire of this deceased woman he massacred years earlier. Leigh’s character is hacked to death while showering, and every sound of a stab into her naked flesh is a knife repeatedly plunging into a melon behind the scenes, according to Hitchcock.
