17 Ghost Movies That Scare The Living Daylights Out Of People
There are numerous subgenres within the horror film genre, and while some of us enjoy them all, many moviegoers have a preference for one over the other — or a certain style of horror film that scares them the most.
Films about ghosts, in particular, can be terrifying. Many people think ghosts exist (and even visit the human realm), thus when we see movies about ghosts and hauntings, we are typically filled with genuine terror – even if only for a brief moment.
We're talking about the kind of disturbing terror that gives people nightmares. Strange things that can't be explained happen all the time in the real world — babies and pets staring at the corners of rooms, indoor temperatures suddenly shifting, strange noises waking us up at night, things falling off shelves at random — so when we see these things attributed to paranormal beings in the movies, it hits a nerve.
Whether it's a docu-style film about a haunting or a fully-staged historical piece about the supernatural, films about ghosts are unquestionably terrifying. Sometimes we get the impression that the strange occurrences we're viewing could actually happen in real life.
That's why we can't sleep at night because of these 17 terrible ghost flicks. Take a look at them.
1. "Session 9"
Session 9 is a 2001 film about a group of workers who are recruited to clear asbestos out of an abandoned mental institution in exchange for a large sum of money. For personal reasons, certain members of the team are at odds with one another, causing severe stress on the job site.
Unsettling happenings begin to torment them after one of the workers walks off and starts playing cassettes of one of the hospital's former patients.
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2. "The Blair Witch Project"
When The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999, it shocked the film industry. It was one of the first found-footage horror films, and the perspective alone was enough to terrify audiences.
It tells the story of a group of students who go into the woods in Maryland to produce a documentary about a local witch legend, only to be terrified by terrible powers. The film Blair Witch is an excellent warning to stay out of the woods after dark.
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3. "The Woman in Black"
The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe, follows a sad young lawyer who travels to a rural village in England on business and soon discovers that his client's mansion is haunted by the spirit of a spiteful woman. The ghost, on the other hand, isn't happy with tormenting the house's occupants; she wants to inflict her vengeance on the entire community.
Through and through, the film is dark and suspenseful.
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4. "What Lies Beneath"
A newly retired woman — who has sent her only child off to college — finds herself often alone at her lakefront house in Vermont, while her husband is away at work as a university research scientist, in this eerie ghost picture starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford. Soon, her loneliness becomes unbearable, and she suspects that her house is genuinely haunted.
She becomes increasingly terrified and paranoid, but her husband believes she is merely losing her mind, despite the strange incidents she alleges are occurring.
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5. "Insidious"
Insidious is the film that launched an entire franchise based on paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren's real-life cases. It's about a family who wakes up to find their little son in a coma, with physicians baffled as to why or how it happened.
They return home with little chance of his waking up, but his mother soon notices a weird presence in their home. She enlists the services of a paranormal investigator who worked with her husband as a child to figure out what's going on and save her son.
He explains that the youngster is astral projecting and is not in a coma, but that he has become caught in an alternate universe, inadvertently allowing ghosts and demons to enter.
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6. "Oculus"
Oculus is about siblings who witnessed their father murder their mother at home. When the brother is released from a mental institution for killing his father in the aftermath, his sister persuades him that if they can prove that an ancient mirror that existed in their childhood home was at the foundation of their awful childhood experience, he will be exonerated.
It's a strange story, but it's creepy enough to make viewers avoid looking in mirrors for a while.
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7. "The Uninvited"
After attempting suicide, a young woman is admitted to a psychiatric institution. Things aren't any better when you go home.
In reality, it appears that a nefarious force is at work. Her father has remarried, and her new stepmother — who also happens to be her mother's old nurse — makes her uncomfortable.
She begins to have visions of her deceased mother and believes that her stepmother is the one who murdered her.
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8. "The Sixth Sense"
When it was released in 1999, The Sixth Sense was regarded as the year's best film. It's about a young boy who now has a reputation for "seeing dead people," as in a lot of ghosts.
A well-known child psychologist is enlisted for assistance after learning that he failed a previous youngster with a similar condition. The picture is eerily disturbing, giving the impression that spirits lurk around every corner.
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9. "Paranormal Activity'"
Another found-footage film that spawned a franchise is Paranormal Activity. Although some of the flicks are a little goofy, the original is really terrifying.
It follows a couple who move into a new home and begin to notice strange and unexplained occurrences that get progressively dangerous. They set up a night-vision camera with the intention of recording whatever is worrying them at night, but instead find up documenting some terrifying events.
10. "The Orphanage"
The Orphanage is a fantastic film about a mother who relocates her children to her childhood home. She intends to reopen the house, which was originally an orphanage for handicapped children, to care for the children herself.
Meanwhile, her small kid has been conversing with mysterious new acquaintances whom no one else can see. She shakes him off... until he vanishes and she is forced to seek the help of a paranormal investigator, who explains that the orphanage is haunted.
11. "Poltergeist"
Poltergeist is the quintessential ghost movie, despite the frequently ridiculous visual effects — which were great for their time. It tells the story of a family who moves into a new construction home and discovers otherworldly powers at work.
When their youngest child is kidnapped during a paranormal occurrence, they seek the help of ghost hunters, who help them realize that their home is home to hundreds of lost souls, who have enticed their daughter into their realm.
12. "The Nun"
The Nun, another story from Ed and Lorraine Warren's files, is the stuff nightmares are built of. The Vatican sent a jaded priest with a tumultuous history and a novice nun to a secluded Romanian village to investigate the death of a young nun. They're confronted by an evil entity that turns out to be the ghost of a nasty nun who's out to terrorize the convent.
13. "Ghost Ship"
Ghost Ship may be one of the most glitzy ghost films ever made, but that doesn't mean it's without its scares. This suspenseful horror film features plenty of gore and some of the most bizarre ghost interactions you'll ever see. Imagine being imprisoned on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, haunted by dozens of the dead!
14. Winchester
It's difficult not to be terrified by Winchester, which stars Helen Mirren. Not only does the film's performers deliver on the suspense, but it's also about perhaps the world's most haunted mansion.
It's based on true events surrounding the eccentric Winchester weapons heiress, who became persuaded that she was being haunted by the ghosts of individuals slain by the Winchester repeating rifle while living in her remote mansion in California.
Talk about remorse!
15. "Velvet Buzzsaw"
While the genre of Jake Gyllenhaal's Velvet Buzzsaw is difficult to classify (it's very comedic), it is undeniably frightening. The film's seemingly incomprehensible happenings kept fans buzzing for weeks after it was released on Netflix.
It involves a group of people from the elite art world who are being pursued by a supernatural being bent on punishing them for their greed.
16. "The Invisible"
The Invisible, starring Justin Chatwin and Marcia Gay Harden, is a lesser-known film about a teenage kid who is violently abused after being mistaken for someone else. The day after the incident, he wakes up in a sewer, only to discover that no one can see him.
He's dead, but he hasn't crossed over, and he has no way out of the endless loop he's trapped in.
17.
Years after a guy has a mental breakdown and murders his wife, their two daughters are found living alone in the woods. The devastated girls are adopted by their uncle and his new wife, who quickly discover that something terrible has followed them to their new home.
A spirit they call Mama refuses to let go of the girls so they can continue their normal lives.
Movies about ghosts can be very scary. And we love that feeling of sheer terror when something unexpected happens.
Most people find them more frightening than movies about monsters and similars. Maybe because deep down, most of us believe in ghosts.
Sometimes we feel like all these things shown in movies are not that far-fetched. Right?
