Ten terrifying horror movies you probably haven’t seen

LIKE horror? Do yourself a favour and see upcoming film It Follows. In the meantime, here are 10 seriously scary must-see movies.

Upcoming horror film It Follows has received rave reviews from critics.

ARE you a horror buff?

Go and see upcoming film It Follows when it hits cinemas and you’ll be rewarded with one of the best horror movies of recent years, a story of a teenage girl who is given a curse after a fling and then haunted by a slow-moving entity visible only to her.

It’s one of those tiny horror movies that could either slip away into a life of quiet cult adoration or become a giant breakout hit. If you’re in the mood for some unearthed horror treasure, you’d do well to try one of these.

10. HOUSEBOUND (2014)

Housebound is comedy-horror done right.

Comedy-horrors are tough to get right. If you lean too hard either way you risk weakening the other part, but this just about nails it. Director Gerard Johnstone keeps a tight hold on the delicate tone of this story about a woman put under house arrest in her childhood home. Her daffy mother thinks the place is haunted, which her daughter sincerely doubts. That is until she notices odd things too and wonders if her mother is right or if she’s just inherited her cracked mind.

9. INSIDE (2007)

Inside created a stir when it first released.

Beatrice Dalle does a good line in mad. She did to iconic effect in Betty Blue and does a rather more dangerous version in this, as a woman, simply known as La Femme, who stalks and attacks a pregnant woman in her home, threatening to cut her unborn child out of her body. A brief, breath-holding horror that created a stir at a number of film festivals and then oddly disappeared.

8. DERANGED (1974)

Deranged stars the old street sweeper from Home Alone.

Perhaps the most upsetting thing about this Ed Gein-alike story is that the madman at its centre, who likes nothing better than flaying women to make them into household furnishings, is played by Roberts Blossom, more familiar as the dear old street sweeper in Home Alone. There are some shonky elements to the film but Blossom is committedly creepy.

7. FRIGHT NIGHT (2011)

Fright Night is worth seeing for Colin Farrell.

This remake of the 1985 cult favourite flopped on release but it’s worth investigating, mostly for the swaggering turn by Colin Farrell as the charismatic vampire next door. If it starts to rely on CG too much toward the end, it’s plenty of fun in the 90-minutes before.

6. SESSION 9 (2001)

Session 9 makes an old horror cliche scary again.

Insane asylums are a hoary old horror cliche, but for good reason: they’re really scary. The ever-excellent Peter Mullan is the highlight of a cast that also features where-are-they-now types Josh Lucas and David Caruso, playing a cleaning crew who take a job at a derelict institution, at which something, inevitably, still lurks.

5. FEAST (2006)

Feast was a simple setup executed with wit and fun.

A tangle of strangers are isolated in a bar in the middle of nowhere and forced to defend themselves against a swarm of monsters intent on eating them. A simple setup executed with wit and fun. Deserved a much bigger release than it was afforded.

4. JOHN DIES AT THE END (2014)

John Dies at the End is weird. Very weird.

Another very weird film from Don Coscarelli, who made the marginally less weird Bubba Ho-Tep. A pair of exorcist investigators happen across a drug that causes those who take it to leap across dimensions and develop odd powers, which leads them to the unexpected task of having to save the world. There are some very messy elements to the storytelling but there’s so much gonzo creativity in this film that you can forgive it a few frayed edges.

3. THE ORPHANAGE (2007)

The Orphanage. It’s absolutely terrifying.

A minor horror hit that launched the career of J.A. Bayona (The Impossible), this is a masterfully told ghost story that is at once desperately sad and absolutely terrifying. A middle-aged woman (the staggeringly good Belen Rueda) returns to the orphanage where she grew up among mostly handicapped children in the hopes of restoring it as a sanctuary for a new generation of kids. While there her son begins to communicate with someone from her past …

2. SNOWTOWN (2011)

Snowtown is a chilling retelling of a real-life horror story.

Made with a flat look and complete lack of flare that lays its true story out chillingly, this is an account of Jamie, a teenager who forges a relationship with a charming stranger ... who turns out to be one of the most notorious serial killers in Australia. It’s hard going, with extremely graphic and horrible scenes of violence, and absolutely not for those of a sensitive nature. It will stay with you, not necessarily in a way you’d like.

1. RARE EXPORTS (2010)

Rare Exports features Santa Claus, but not as you know him.

Maybe save this one for later in the year. It’s a Christmas film, telling another side of the story of Santa Claus, but probably not one to share with kids by a crackling open fire. In a remote Finnish town a group of men begin a dig that unearths something ancient, an old man who is awoken by the gentle waft of gingerbread cookies. Santa Claus has come to town but this one takes very seriously the punishment of those on the naughty list. A very well orchestrated horror comedy.

This article originally appeared on AskMen and was republished with permission.