Succubus
(2024)A separated new father joins a dating app and meets a seductive woman. Her manipulative behavior pulls him into a horrifying mystery.
Horror that unsettles instead of startling
A jump scare is over in a second and you laugh at yourself. This is the other kind: films that get under things and leave them there. Most are quiet for long stretches, which is exactly the point.
Psycho
(1960)A woman steals money and ends up at a remote motel run by a quiet young man with a dark secret about his mother. A private detective and the woman's sister start looking for her after she disappears.
Seven
(1995)Two detectives, one near retirement and one new to the city, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motive for murder. Their investigation leads them through a decaying urban landscape toward a devastating final confrontation.
The Silence of the Lambs
(1991)An FBI trainee interviews a brilliant imprisoned cannibal to get inside the mind of a serial killer who skins women. She must race to stop the killer before he claims another victim.
Obsession
(2025)A music store employee buys a supernatural toy that makes his friend fall in love with him. The wish leads to terrifying consequences.
The Shining
(1980)A recovering alcoholic and aspiring novelist moves with his wife and clairvoyant son into a remote hotel as the winter caretaker. The isolation and supernatural forces in the hotel drive the father toward insanity and violence.
Shutter Island
(2010)Two U.S. marshals go to a remote island prison hospital for the criminally insane to find a missing patient. The lead marshal has hidden personal reasons for taking the case.
Memento
(2000)A man with a memory condition that prevents him from forming new memories tries to find his wife's killer. He uses notes, photos, and tattoos to track his investigation.
Alien
(1979)A commercial starship crew investigates a distress signal from a derelict alien vessel and brings a hostile creature onboard. They must survive as the alien hunts them one by one through the ship's cramped corridors.
The Thing
(1982)In Antarctica, a team of American researchers discovers an alien lifeform that can perfectly imitate any living thing. The group becomes increasingly paranoid as they realize any one of them could be the monster in disguise.
Lee Cronin's The Mummy
(2026)A family is reunited with their daughter who was missing and mummified. They realize she is not the same and something is wrong with her.
Kizumonogatari II: Nekketsu-hen
(2016)A high school boy is turned into a vampire after helping a wounded woman. He must hunt other vampires to reclaim his humanity.
The Sixth Sense
(1999)A child psychologist works with a young boy who says he can see dead people. The psychologist tries to help the boy cope with his frightening ability.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
(1920)A hypnotist named Dr. Caligari uses a sleepwalking man called Cesare to carry out murders. The film has a distorted, angular visual style that creates a sense of unease.
Coraline
(2009)A young girl moves into a new house and finds a secret door. Behind it is a perfect version of her life, but the perfection hides a dangerous secret.
It's Such a Beautiful Day
(2012)A stick figure man deals with a mysterious neurological illness that causes memory loss and strange visions. The story follows his experiences as he tries to make sense of his reality.
Rosemary's Baby
(1968)A young newlywed in Manhattan becomes pregnant and starts to believe her elderly neighbors have sinister plans for her and her baby. Her suspicions grow as she experiences strange events and mounting paranoia.
Mulholland Drive
(2001)An aspiring actress arrives in Los Angeles hoping for a big break. She befriends a woman who has lost her memory after a car crash. Meanwhile, a film director finds his latest project interfered with by shady figures.
Freaks
(1932)A trapeze artist schemes to marry and murder a wealthy dwarf performer in a traveling circus. Her plan sets off a dangerous confrontation with the other sideshow performers.
The Cremator
(1969)Set in 1930s Prague a cremator named Karel Kopfrkingl becomes increasingly insane. His twisted beliefs mix Nazi ideology with Tibetan Buddhism and he starts to see murder as a way to free souls. The film follows his descent into madness through long monologues.
Donnie Darko
(2001)A troubled teenager sleepwalks out of his house and avoids a freak accident. Afterward he starts seeing a man in a rabbit costume who says the world will end in 28 days.
Misery
(1990)A famous novelist is held captive in a remote house by his self-proclaimed number one fan after a car crash. She forces him to write a new book to her liking and becomes increasingly violent when he resists.
Kwaidan
(1964)Four ghost stories from feudal Japan show vengeful spirits punishing wrongdoers. The supernatural world seems cold and distant to the humans who suffer.
Jaws
(1975)A police chief teams up with a marine biologist and a shark hunter to track a man-eating great white shark terrorizing a New England beach town.
Nosferatu
(1922)A vampire named Count Orlok moves to a new town and preys on a woman. He also brings a deadly plague with him.
Deep Red
(1975)A pianist witnesses a murder and begins investigating the killings himself. He follows clues from the crime scene while a mysterious figure in black gloves continues to strike.
Onibaba
(1964)During a civil war in medieval Japan, two women survive by killing wounded soldiers and stealing their belongings. A man returns from the war and disrupts their uneasy partnership, leading to jealousy and desperation.
Black Swan
(2010)A dedicated ballerina lands the lead role in a production of Swan Lake. She becomes consumed by the pressure to embody both the innocent White Swan and the seductive Black Swan, and her grip on reality starts to unravel.
Exhuma
(2024)A group of people dig up a grave that gives off a bad feeling. Their actions let loose terrible things that were buried beneath.
Get Out
(2017)A young black man visits his white girlfriend's family estate for the first time. He soon realizes that the family's seemingly polite behavior hides a disturbing and sinister secret.
Blue Velvet
(1986)A college student returns to his small hometown and finds a severed ear in a field. This discovery leads him into a criminal conspiracy and a relationship with a troubled nightclub singer.
The Others
(2001)In 1945 on the island of Jersey, a woman lives in a secluded manor with her two children who cannot be exposed to sunlight. New servants arrive and strange occurrences begin to disturb their isolated household.
Halloween
(1978)A escaped mental patient returns to his hometown on Halloween night. He stalks a teenage babysitter and her friends while his psychiatrist tries to stop him.
The Tenant
(1976)A quiet man moves into a Paris apartment where the previous tenant tried to kill herself. As he learns about her life and deals with suspicious neighbors, he begins to lose his grip on reality.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
(1933)A criminal mastermind in an insane asylum writes detailed crime plans from his cell. A police inspector follows clues from a gangster, a traumatized informant, and a professor obsessed with the madman.
Eyes Without a Face
(1960)A plastic surgeon kidnaps young women to attempt a face transplant for his daughter, who was disfigured in a car accident. The daughter lives in isolation in their mansion while her father's experiments grow increasingly grim.
Tumbbad
(2018)A man named Vinayak becomes obsessed with finding a hidden treasure in a cursed Indian village. The treasure is linked to a dark supernatural force that demands a terrible price.
Cure
(1997)A detective investigates a series of murders where each killer confesses but has no clear motive. The trail leads to a mysterious amnesiac young man who may be connected to all the crimes.
Let the Right One In
(2008)A bullied 12-year-old boy in 1980s suburban Stockholm forms a friendship with a strange child who moves in next door. The child turns out to be a vampire, and their bond grows as violence erupts around them.
The Conjuring
(2013)Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren help a family being terrorized by a dark presence in their Rhode Island farmhouse in 1971. The film follows the Warrens as they try to stop the haunting from getting worse.
This list is from Underplayed Gems, a catalogue of films and series from everywhere. Not quite it? Tell the Catbot what you feel like watching, or browse by genre, country and year.