I love horror films — these disturbing 15 are the scariest I’ve ever seen | Films | Entertainment

I love horror films, despite how disturbing and terrifying they can sometimes be. And these are the scariest I’ve ever seen. There are no comedy interludes or cheap special effects in these films. They are pure, unadulterated terror — and most have the supernatural element that makes them all the more chilling.

From demonic classics to nasty modern-day chillers, you will definitely not feel comfortable while you watch these films.

It’s a strange part of the human condition that we enjoy things that scare us but there are scientific explanations for it. University researchers looked into why we enjoy horror films, despite the fact that they make us feel what you might describe as negative emotions.

They found that stimulation is one of the driving forces behind the consumption of horror. Exposure to terrifying things like demonic possession or nightmarish characters like Michael Myers or Freddy Krueger can be stimulating both mentally and physically.

“These experiences can give rise to both negative feelings, such as fear or anxiety, and positive feelings, such as excitement or joy,” said the researchers at John Hopkins University. “And we tend to feel the most positive emotions when something makes us feel the most negative ones.”

They also looked at the difference between why some people get a kick out of horror while others do not. And they said research suggests that those who enjoy horror have a psychological “protective frame” — we have “a sense of control” and “a confidence in managing the dangers we encounter”.

But that’s enough of the science. Let’s get on with the important business of the 15 scariest films of all time. Of course, what we find scary is hugely subjective. So feel free to disagree with this list and make your own suggestions in the comments.

Freddy Krueger is one of the nastiest, scariest and most iconic horror creations of them all. Burned and disfigured in life, the serial killer returns with his glove armed with razors to kill his victims in their dreams, causing their deaths in the real world as well. Wes Craven’s original spawned six sequels and more spin-offs — but the original still stands out as a slasher full of creative and shocking kills.

A police officer travels to a remote Scottish island to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. When he arrives, he finds the inhabitants of the island have abandoned Christianity and now practise a form of Celtic paganism. He suspects the young girl has been the victim of a sacrifice, but learns that might not necessarily be the case.

It’s been called “the scariest horror movie ever made” while also being ranked among the best films of all time.

Stanley Kubrick’s epic and twisted The Shining was made in 1980 and based on the Stephen King novel of the same name (though King reportedly does not like the film). It stars Jack Nicholson, in one of his earliest roles, as Jack Torrance, a father who takes a job as the winter caretaker for an isolated hotel cut off from the world by heavy snowfall. Whether it’s the isolation, supernatural forces or his own mental health, Torrance descends into madness to become violent, unhinged and fixated on murdering his family.

After the tragic death of their daughter, a married couple travel to Venice to restore a church. There they are warned their daughter is trying to contact them and warn them of danger. While the young girl’s mother is convinced she is hearing the truth, her father does not — then he catches a glimpse of what looks like his daughter running through the streets of the iconic Italian city.

The Evil Dead billed itself as “the ultimate experience in gruelling horror” — and it’s not far wrong. Also the ultimate “lost in the woods” film, a group of friends find a Book of the Dead when they go to a remote forest cabin and unwittingly unleash flesh-possessing demons from the depths of hell. It’s an unrelenting video nasty.

In 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers murders his older sister by stabbing her with a kitchen knife. Fifteen years later, Michael escapes from a psychiatric hospital and returns home. In the process he becomes on of the most terrifying and iconic cinema creations of all time.

A terrifying demonic classic. An American diplomat is convinced by a hospital chaplain to adopt another child after his own dies in childbirth. Very soon, it emerges there is something terrifying about the boy, who may turn out to be the Antichrist himself.

Said to be based on the true story, the film tells the story of the death of a young woman and what killed her. After a priest performs an exorcism, he is accused of negligent homicide. But was she possessed by demons?

Before there was Amityville, there was Harrisville. Reportedly based on a true story in which a husband and wife paranormal investigation team work to help a family terrorised by a dark presence in their farmhouse.

A devoutly religious mother moves her family to a large English country house during World War II and awaits word on her missing husband. When things she can’t explain begin to happen, she believes at first that her servants are tormenting her. But she comes to realise the supernatural truth.

Schoolboy Cole Sear has a terrifying ability: he can see and talk to the dead. Child psychologist Malcolm Crowe starts working with him, but soon Malcolm learns the truth about his own identity and what really happened in his home when a former patient broke in.

Of all the films listed here, I think this one might have had the most profound effect on me. When I watched it as a teenager, alone at home in a house that had no neighbours nearby, I struggled to sleep for days afterwards. It really messed with my head.

Three young people head into woods to explore the myth of the Blair Witch. The film opens with this ominous introduction: “In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.” That perfectly sets the scene for the psychological chiller that follows and its final moments still make my skin crawl.

A series of deaths surround a cursed video tape which is said to kill the viewer seven days after watching. After teenagers are discovered dead with their faces twisted in fear, a reporter watches an unlabelled video she finds then receives a phone call in which she is told: “Seven days.” But who is the young woman in the white dress and why does the cursed video tape keep showing a well?

An entire family is found murdered in their home — but detectives can’t explain why there’s a woman, dead, half-buried but otherwise seemingly untouched, in the basement. The body is sent to coroners. There are no external visible signs of trauma – but they begin to piece together Jane Doe’s horrifying past.

The supernatural horror film opens with old footage showing a family of four standing beneath a tree with sacks over their heads and nooses around their necks. And, when a writer discovers a box of home movies depicting grisly murders in the attic of his new house, it just gets nastier. The home video footage is truly disturbing, no matter how many times you watch it.