Genre labels aren’t perfect, and there are some truly terrifying movies which most people don’t count as horror. Movies with more prominent sci-fi, action or fantasy elements are often forced into a box, but this discounts how they can leave their audiences feeling disturbed and frightened. Any movie can have elements of horror, no matter what genre people tend to classify it as.
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Often, movies that aren’t listed as horror can be especially disturbing, simply because audiences are less wary of being scared. Crime movies or sci-fi movies in particular have the opportunity to develop deep stories that are laced with darkness. The fact that they aren’t packaged as horror movies also means they can take the story in a natural direction without having to hit the tropes of horror movies which audiences have come to expect. Some of the scariest and most upsetting horrors are in disguise.
You are watching: 10 Movies That Aren’t Listed As Horror But Basically Are
Related 10 Best Horror Movies Of 2024
The best horror movies of 2024 offer a variety of sub and mixed genres among mainstream and indie hits, providing an experience for all audiences.
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10 The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017)
Psychological Drama
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7.3/10 The Killing of a Sacred Deer
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*Availability in US Director Yorgos Lanthimos Release Date October 27, 2017 Cast Colin Farrell , Alicia Silverstone , Barry Keoghan , Nicole Kidman , Raffey Cassidy
Every one of Yorgos Lanthimos’ movies can be identified by the same disquieting atmosphere. Even his more comedic movies, like The Favourite and The Lobster, can be extremely unsettling, thanks to Lanthimos’ choice of music, color and shot angles. The Killing of a Sacred Deer takes this atmosphere to the next level, and Lanthimos’ unnatural, inhuman characters play out his strangest narrative.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer features Barry Keoghan as a teenager who tries to exact revenge for his father’s death by forcing the surgeon responsible to kill a member of his own family. He possesses some mysterious supernatural powers, and he uses them to inflict a phantom illness on each member of the family. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is so unnerving and enigmatic that it seems for a while as though Martin’s hold over the family is merely psychological, and that their illnesses are a result of a shared delusion.
9 Jurassic Park (1993)
Sci-Fi, Action
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10/10 10/10 Jurassic Park
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*Availability in US Director Steven Spielberg Release Date June 11, 1993 Cast Sam Neill , Laura Dern , Jeff Goldblum , Richard Attenborough , Bob Peck , Martin Ferrero
Many of Jurassic Park‘s most memorable scenes are masterpieces of tightly choreographed horror. Steven Spielberg showed a natural feel for horror with Jaws and some of his other early movies, and he brought this experience to Jurassic Park. The scene with the raptors stalking their prey in the kitchen and the moment that the T. Rex finally appears in the middle of a thunderstorm are just two examples of Jurassic Park‘s terrifying side.
Thematically, Jurassic Park shares a lot in common with a seminal work of sci-fi horror: Frankenstein. Both stories show the consequences of humanity trying to subvert the natural order and cheat death. In both cases, the creators see their creations turning against them. The Jurassic World movies have a few scares, but they’re generally more geared toward action, and the horror scenes lack Spielberg’s flair. Jurassic World Rebirth will continue the franchise in 2025, but it will likely continue this trend.
8 Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)
Fantasy, Musical
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8/10 10/10 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
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*Availability in US Director Mel Stuart Release Date June 30, 1971 Cast Jack Albertson , gene wilder , Peter Ostrum , Denise Nickerson , Julie Dawn Cole
A big reason for Roald Dahl’s enduring popularity as a children’s author is that he doesn’t talk down to his readers. His stories can get pretty dark, and Hollywood has often tried to take the edge off by subtly changing them. 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory has some cheery music and a happy ending, but it can’t conceal the terrifying nature of Dahl’s story. As Charlie and the other Golden Ticket holders are escorted around the factory, they each meet terrifying fates one after another.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory has been likened to a slasher movie, with Wonka as a twisted murderer who leads his victims through a macabre maze. It also shares one key idea with horror movies: that characters are undone by their own vices. Augustus Gloop falls prey to his own gluttony, while Veruca Salt’s entitled behavior causes her downfall. Strangely, some of the scariest scenes in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory are unrelated to the ways the children leave the tour. For example, the Tunnel of Terror scene shows the passengers on Wonka’s boat their biggest fears in a psychedelic, feverish swirl.
7 No Country For Old Men (2007)
Western, Crime
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9/10 7.8/10 No Country for Old Men
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*Availability in US Director Joel Coen , Ethan Coen Release Date November 21, 2007 Cast Kelly Macdonald , Woody Harrelson , Josh Brolin , Javier Bardem , Tommy Lee Jones
After a brief hiatus spent directing their own projects, the Coen brothers are reuniting for a horror movie. Their new movie will be their first out-and-out horror film, but the directing duo have still managed to sneak some frightening moments into their other movies. From the jump scare-impact of Chad’s death in Burn After Reading to the overwhelming terror of the impending tornado in A Serious Man, the Coen brothers have shown that they know horror. However, none of their movies are as constantly scary as No Country for Old Men.
Javier Bardem’s masterful performance as Anton Chigurh breathes life into a detached psychopathic killer. As he roams across the desert with an air of invulnerable danger, he takes on a near-mythical quality as the harbinger of death. What’s even more terrifying is the moral chaos of No Country for Old Men. The Coen brothers do a great job of interpreting Cormac McCarthy’s novel for the big screen, and they drive home his idea that humanity’s narrow view of justice provides false comfort in an uncaring and unjust world.
6 Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)
Fantasy
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7.7/10 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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*Availability in US Director Alfonso Cuarón Release Date May 31, 2004 Cast Gary Oldman , David Thewlis , Daniel Radcliffe , Emma Watson , Rupert Grint , Robbie Coltrane , Timothy Spall , Maggie Smith , Michael Gambon , Richard Griffiths , Fiona Shaw , Alan Rickman
The Harry Potter movies gradually get darker as Harry and his friends grow up. The biggest lurch forward comes in the third movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. From the color palette to the story, The Prisoner of Azkaban looks much more like a horror movie. The first two Harry Potter movies can get a little scary toward the end, with the reveal of Voldemort and the basilisk, but The Prisoner of Azkaban has moments of horror peppered throughout.
From Harry’s first encounter with a Dementor, The Prisoner of Azkaban establishes a baseline level of anxiety. Even when stretches of the narrative focus on classes and personal drama, there’s always the lingering threat that a serial killer is on the loose and there are nightmarish apparitions stalking the grounds at Hogwarts. Even whimsical inventions like the Marauder’s Map facilitate some nail-biting moments, as Harry is followed by phantom footprints in the one place he usually feels safe.
5 Zodiac (2007)
Crime
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10/10 9.2/10 Zodiac
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*Availability in US Director David Fincher Release Date March 2, 2007 Cast Robert Downey Jr. , Jake Gyllenhaal , Anthony Edwards , Mark Ruffalo , Brian Cox
Many of David Fincher’s best movies leave the audience with a sense of lasting dread, even though they aren’t pure horror movies. Se7en dives into the twisted mind of a killer, Fight Club shows the danger lurking within seemingly ordinary people, and Gone Girl is a dark commentary on the fragility of polite society. Fincher’s crime movies all provide immersive visions of criminality, highlighting the psychological effects on the victims and investigators. None are as accomplished in this regard as Zodiac.
The real-life history of Zodiac adds some extra weight to the story. In some scenes, Fincher deploys a few classic tropes of the slasher genre, but this is no blood-soaked fantasy. Equally terrifying are the scenes in which Robert Graysmith’s amateur investigation leads him into real danger. Zodiac explores one particular theory, examining how a fascination can become a deadly obsession. Graysmith, like the audience, becomes desperate for the solution to the puzzle in front of him. Only when he finds himself trapped in a basement with the possible killer does he realize what he’s done.
4 Under The Skin (2013)
Sci-Fi
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7/10 7.3/10 Under the Skin
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*Availability in US Director Jonathan Glazer Release Date April 4, 2014 Cast Dougie McConnell , Lynsey Taylor Mackay , Jeremy McWilliams , Scarlett Johansson , Kevin McAlinden
Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin may have struggled at the box office, but it has since been recognized as a brilliant piece of slow-burn sci-fi. Scarlett Johansson stars as a mysterious alien with the appearance of a human who roams the Scottish countryside. When she encounters a man on his own, she traps them in an ink-black void. This could be another dimension, or simply a visual interpretation of death. This isn’t the only thing that Under the Skin leaves open to interpretation.
Under the Skin is structured like a slasher movie from the perspective of the killer. To add an extra layer of horror, the audience is never privy to the reasons for the murders. Under the Skin has been interpreted in many ways, with one prevailing theory suggesting that it’s a revenge story about a woman killing men who try to objectify and otherwise take advantage of her. The ambiguity heightens the sense of disquiet.
3 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Sci-Fi
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9/10 8.2/10 2001: A Space Odyssey
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*Availability in US Director Stanley Kubrick Release Date April 3, 1968 Cast Keir Dullea , Gary Lockwood , William Sylvester , Daniel Richter , Leonard Rossiter , Margaret Tyzack
2001: A Space Odyssey changed the sci-fi genre for good, but it has also influenced plenty of horror movies. The overwhelming cosmic chaos that underpins 2001 is echoed in movies like Alien and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The idea is that humans are an insignificant dot in a vast and uncaring universe. Other movies have embodied this malevolent idea in some kind of alien life form, but 2001 does an effective job with stark visuals and a tremulous score.
2001‘s other key contribution to the horror genre is its exploration of artificial intelligence. The middle third of Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece acts as a self-contained horror movie, with HAL eliminating the crew of Discovery One to protect its primary directive. HAL has a human voice, but no emotions or ethics. Likening the rogue AI to a cold-blooded psychopath is something that can be seen in dozens of more modern sci-fi movies. Few have had the same chilling impact as 2001.
2 Predator (1987)
Sci-Fi, Action
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8.7/10 Predator
Director John McTiernan Release Date June 12, 1987 Cast Arnold Schwarzenegger , Carl Weathers , Elpidia Carrillo , Bill Duke , Jesse Ventura , Shane Black , Sonny Landham , Richard Chaves
After Predator spends a good chunk of its opening act masquerading as a war movie, it reveals its true nature as a gripping sci-fi horror movie. Dutch’s team are trapped in the jungle, pursued by an alien hunter with an array of futuristic weapons. Predator is like a slasher movie in some ways. Even the framing choices and the haunting music emphasize that the characters are being watched from afar, and the explosions of gore suit the genre perfectly.
Predator shows the alien’s POV long before any part of its body. This sets up the fact that there is a threat out there in the jungle without giving the game away. It’s a tried-and-tested rule of the horror genre that a monster is much scarier if the audience doesn’t have time to see it. The Predator’s camouflage technology keeps it concealed, and the iconic creature design means that the effect doesn’t wear off when it finally removes its mask in the final showdown with Dutch.
1 Aliens (1986)
Sci-Fi, Action
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10/10 9.5/10 Aliens
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*Availability in US Director James Cameron Release Date July 18, 1986 Cast Sigourney Weaver , Michael Biehn , Carrie Henn , Paul Reiser , Lance Henriksen , Bill Paxton , William Hope , Jenette Goldstein
The first Alien movie is one of the greatest sci-fi horror movies of all time, but the franchise’s first sequel is often classified as action rather than horror. While it’s true that Aliens has more guns, fights and explosions than its predecessor, it still has plenty of scenes which recapture the visceral fear of the original. Part of what makes the first Alien so terrifying is that the Xenomorph is so mysterious. Aliens is forced to use a slightly different playbook to deliver the same scares. The one big innovation is the Xenomorph Queen.
Aliens makes a few fundamental changes which alter the horror. For starters, the introduction of Newt is a simple but effective way of giving Ripley something other than herself worth fighting for. With the stage set, James Cameron delivers a string of incredibly tense scenes. It takes about 45 minutes before the first sight of a xenomorph. Before this, the characters nervously creep toward a mysterious signal, slowly believing more and more in Ripley’s ghost story.
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