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moviesI am a longtime horror fan who's searching for a good horror movies to watch. A movie like The Exorcist that actually made me feel scared. Something that's inherently scary, and not because of jump scares. I have watched many popular horror movies and movie series like the Anabelle, The Insidious (my favourite), The Conjuring (another favourite), The Babadook and more. I am looking for movies set in 90s, 70s or earlier, that is not talked about much.
I love horror movies, but haven't found much time for them in recent years. The two I have watched relatively recently were Hereditary and The Ritual. Both were pretty good for different reasons.
top would be sinister. im not easily disturbed by horror movie but this one did a good job. Its from 2012 and takes present day but also crosses time. its a bit hard to explain and its best not to.
Event Horizon may be on the fringe of what you're interested in based on the comments.
Alien (1979)
The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988): takes place mainly in Haiti, where an american anthropologist is attempting to study rumors of zombie resurrection only to find himself caught between the combination of the Tonton Macoute and Voodoo occultism
Salem's Lot (1979): The original miniseries (2 parts iirc) This one has one of my all time favorite Nosferatu style vampires, along with Richard Straker, a very proper and suspicious antiques dealer played by James Mason
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986): Silly as it may seem to recommend a sequel like this, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is pretty wild and introduces Chop-Top played by Bill Moseley who is simultaneously disturbing and hilarious, always in a horror-y way.
These are probably like a 5-7 out of 10 for scariness, but are some of my personal favorite horror movies, one more recommendation which I'd give a somewhat higher scare value, but isn't in that era is
Frankenstein's Army (2013): Neat storyline, and some really cool practical effects. (Not army of frankensteins which is another film entirely from 2014)
The Others (2001), The Orphanage (2007), 1408 (2007), The Skeleton Key (2005), A Dark Song (2016).
1408 is a good read too.
Hereditary
Return of the Living Dead Part II(1988)
Go old-school. Classic, underground, teen, zombie flick.
"Seeeeennnnndd mooooore coooooops!"
Thank you. It's been some time since I watched a zombie moive.
It Follows
The Presence (arguably not a horror flick)
How about The Green Room? It didn't even register as a horror movie until it was too late.
The Green Room? Sounds interesting but I am looking for a movie that's scary without gore. I saw the guy with a machete in the poster.
It sounds like you might be more interested in thrillers, which focus more on the psychological and “scary“ aspects, whereas horror films tend to include more visuals and gore.
You should check out the film Get Out
Yea I have watched Get Out, it's a great movie.
Alright. I got you now. Pretty sure I know what you're looking for:
Shutter Island (2010)
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) (you don't have to have seen Cloverfield at all)
Coherence (2013) (a personal favorite of mine)
The Shining (1980)
Hereditary (2018)
Weapons (2025)
Late Night with the Devil (2023) (if you liked The Exorcist, you'll love this one)
I think any of these will be right up your alley. Minimal/no gore. Rely more on suspense/mystery than cheap jump scares. Each will give you lots of goosebumps.
If you can handle some gore in favor of compelling story/setting, I'd also add to the list:
The Thing (1982)
Event Horizon (1997)
Green Room is definitely gory. It's not over the top, but they don't shy away from what weapons do to human bodies.
The original slasher Black Christmas (1974) holds up well; unsettling, bleak, and scary imo
Rec, it's a pov Spanish language horror from 2008 but set in a building that could easily be a setting for 70s-90s. Kinda like Blair witch in a haunted house. Some jumps but the suspense is built for the bigger scares.
Candyman (1992) it's not exactly unknown but I think it's recognition falls behind other 90s horror movie& series. Philip glass soundtrack, multiple conflicting myths & legends, scares that are suspenseful and gory and unexpected.
There are a couple alternate soundtracks to Nosferatu (1922) that make it more scary and less dated
Edit: for more thriller less bloody I'd go with Hitchcock & the movies he helped inspire like Brick, Blue Velvet, Dark Passage, Basic Instinct
There are a couple alternate soundtracks to Nosferatu (1922) that make it more scary and less dated
I’m intrigued, any particular recommendations?
If you like gothic rock there's a version with a type o negative soundtrack, they didn't make a new score but took songs from their first few studio albums that fits really well
Probably my favorite is the Rob Wright string quartet, new score and songs really fitting to a creepy vibe
There's a bunch more listed here https://musicbrainz.org/series/a3b6359b-20be-4b46-8781-f74c9a85e3ff
Faust (1926) is another old silent b&w movie with multiple alternate soundtracks
Thank you so much.
A few off the beaten track movies that come to mind:
- Haute Tension
- The Descent
- Rec
- A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Enthusiastically seconding The Descent, OP. One of the most original, well-done indie horrors I know of. Go in blind for best results.
I have watched The Descent. I didn't know it was an indie movie. Is this the same movie about thrill seeking women who go cave exploration and get stuck inside with alien like creatures? The ending was ig appropirate for the movie but I wish she had gotten a happy ending.
Thank you for the list.
It's going to sound crazy but after reading your comment about not wanting gore, the perfect movie might be the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original.) It's just super creepy throughout but with impressively little gore etc.
Last Night in Soho is a mishmash of films but gorgeously shot with a sense of style, in some ways a love/hate letter to London in the 60s.
And finally, a weird one that I really dug, It Ends. It's not at all like anything else. I saw it called a hang out horror which is as good a description as any.
Haha. I do not believe you. Texas Chainsaw Massacre surely has a lot of gore. Last Night in Soho look visually appealing l might watch it someday.
https://screenrant.com/texas-chainsaw-massacre-movie-not-bloody-gory-reason/
Despite its odd reputation as being extremely violent, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is almost bereft of blood and gore, and here's why.
You could have literally just searched Texas Chainsaw Massacre gore.
This is exactly the type of movie you seem to be describing; it is literally one of the best horror movies ever made while simultaneously almost without gore and viscera.
The goriest thing about that movie is that ending shot with the spinning. I get motion sick just thinking about it.
My favorite horrormovie of all time is REC 2.
Saint Maud, a fanatically zealous Christian girl moves in with an aging ballet dancer to care for her. Religious mania and weird supernatural shit ensue.
The Ritual, 3 friends on a hiking trip become lost in an increasingly creepy and haunted Scandinavian forest.
Suspiria (remake), a German dance academy hides a bloodthirsty coven of witches. Not nearly as visually striking as Argento's 1970s original, but MUCH more coherent as a story.
Thank you for the recommendations.
You're welcome! Hope you like em.
The innocents with Deborah Kerr.
