Ah, "Hereditary". That sensational rollercoaster of dread and wonder that left many of us googling "How to cope with emotional trauma after a horror movie." Directed by Ari Aster, this modern horror masterpiece has it all: tension you could cut with a knife, eerily uncomfortable family dynamics, and a plot that throws curveballs like a possessed Major League pitcher. It's the stuff nightmares are made of, and honestly, what more could you ask for in a horror movie?
But what happens when the credits roll and you're craving another dose of psychologically scarring cinema? You could start digging your own basement crypt, or maybe even joining a cult. On second thought, don't do either of those things. How about diving into a list of movies that echo the unsettling themes and spine-chilling scares of "Hereditary"? Trust me; these movies are the comfort food of dread, the donuts in your horror coffee. So, let's get into it.
The Witch (2015)
90%
84
7Directed by Robert Eggers, "The Witch" transports you to 1630s New England where you'll bear witness to a Puritan family's unraveling after their youngest member mysteriously vanishes. Sounds fun, right? Wrong. This movie is as fun as a dentist appointment that lasts three hours. The atmosphere drips with a sense of dread thicker than your grandma's Thanksgiving gravy. Toss in some religious hysteria, supernatural events, and Black Phillip the goat, and you've got yourself a diabolical buffet of unsettling treats.
CAST
Anya Taylor-Joy
Ralph Ineson
Kate Dickie
Harvey Scrimshaw
Ellie Grainger
Lucas Dawson
Bathsheba Garnett
Sarah Stephens
Julian Richings
Daniel Malik
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
96%968You've got to love the '60s for delivering classic horror like "Rosemary's Baby." Directed by Roman Polanski, the film dives into the life of a woman who becomes suspicious of her neighbors and her own pregnancy. Think your in-laws are tough? Try having neighbors who might be in cahoots with the Devil. It's like "Desperate Housewives," but instead of backstabbing, there's, well, Satan.
CAST
Mia Farrow
Ruth Gordon
Sidney Blackmer
Maurice Evans
Ralph Bellamy
Victoria Vetri
Patsy Kelly
Elisha Cook Jr.
Emmaline Henry
Get Out (2017)
98%7.8Jordan Peele's "Get Out" took the horror genre by storm, just like an untethered weather balloon with a vendetta against society. This movie deftly blends elements of psychological horror and racial tension, leading us through the journey of Chris as he meets his white girlfriend's family for the first time. The less said, the better. Just know that this movie will make you reevaluate every awkward family dinner you've ever attended.
CAST
Daniel Kaluuya
Allison Williams
Bradley Whitford
Caleb Landry Jones
Stephen Root
Catherine Keener
Marcus Henderson
Betty Gabriel
LaKeith Stanfield
Lil Rel Howery
It Follows (2014)
95%836.8You have a date, things get a little steamy, and then you're cursed with a relentless, shape-shifting entity that follows you. Forever. "It Follows" is basically a one-night stand gone disastrously wrong. I mean, we've all had some regrettable dating experiences, but this takes the cake—or should I say, the entire cake shop.
CAST
Maika Monroe
Keir Gilchrist
Daniel Zovatto
Jake Weary
Olivia Luccardi
Lili Sepe
Bailey Spry
Carollette Phillips
Loren Bass
Charles Gertner
Midsommar (2019)
83%727.1Ari Aster returns to ruin your sleep schedule with "Midsommar," a sun-drenched nightmare set during a Swedish midsummer festival. Picture this: you're dealing with a break-up and your friends invite you to a festival in Sweden that seems idyllic—like Coachella but with less cultural appropriation. Turns out, it's not the paradise you envisioned. It's all flower crowns and group hugs until somebody gets sacrificed.
CAST
Florence Pugh
Jack Reynor
William Jackson Harper
Will Poulter
Vilhelm Blomgren
Isabelle Grill
Gunnel Fred
Ellora Torchia
Archie Madekwe
Henrik Norlén
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
95%767.4Nothing says '80s horror like "A Nightmare on Elm Street." Wes Craven's dream-invading slasher, Freddy Krueger, is the nightmarish blend of your high school bully and that creepy uncle no one talks about. Forget counting sheep; you'll be counting the minutes till sunrise after watching this one.
CAST
Heather Langenkamp
John Saxon
Ronee Blakley
Amanda Wyss
Jsu Garcia
Johnny Depp
Robert Englund
Charles Fleischer
Joseph Whipp
Lin Shaye
Don't Look Now (1973)
94%957.1Directed by Nicolas Roeg, "Don't Look Now" takes us to the haunting canals of Venice following a couple tormented by grief. It's like a European vacation where the main attractions are sorrow, seances, and unsettling premonitions. Think of it as TripAdvisor's worst-rated vacation but with way better cinematography.
CAST
Julie Christie
Donald Sutherland
Hilary Mason
Massimo Serato
Clelia Matania
Renato Scarpa
Giorgio Trestini
Leopoldo Trieste
David Tree
Ann Rye
Let the Right One In (2008)
98%827.9Ah, love and vampires—two things that suck the life out of you. This Swedish masterpiece turns the vampire lore on its head, focusing on the friendship between a bullied boy and a bloodsucking girl. It's "Twilight," if "Twilight" had depth, palpable tension, and less sparkling.
CAST
Kåre Hedebrant
Lina Leandersson
Per Ragnar
Henrik Dahl
Karin Bergquist
Peter Carlberg
Ika Nord
Mikael Rahm
Karl-Robert Lindgren
Anders T. Peedu
The Others (2001)
84%747.6Nicole Kidman stars in this atmospheric slow-burn about a mother protecting her photosensitive children in a dark, old house. And by dark, I mean this house has fewer lights than a broke college student's apartment. "The Others" will make you question your own perceptions, and maybe even whether you remembered to turn off the lights.
CAST
Nicole Kidman
Christopher Eccleston
Alakina Mann
James Bentley
Fionnula Flanagan
Eric Sykes
Elaine Cassidy
Renée Asherson
Gordon Reid
Keith Allen
The Babadook (2014)
98%866.8A single mother, a troubled son, and a creepy storybook monster: the ingredients for a sleepless week. "The Babadook" dives deep into the intricacies of grief and fear, wrapped up in a package that screams, "Don't ever read bedtime stories again."
CAST
Essie Davis
Noah Wiseman
Hayley McElhinney
Daniel Henshall
Barbara West
Ben Winspear
Cathy Adamek
Craig Behenna
Hachi
Tim Purcell
Oculus (2013)
75%616.5Mirrors are tricky things; they show us who we are—or in the case of "Oculus," what we dread. This film pits siblings against an antique mirror with a penchant for malevolence. It's like a haunted house of horrors, except the house is a mirror, and there's no escape.
CAST
Karen Gillan
Brenton Thwaites
Katee Sackhoff
Rory Cochrane
Annalise Basso
Garrett Ryan
James Lafferty
Miguel Sandoval
Kate Siegel
Scott Graham
Shutter Island (2010)
69%638.2Martin Scorsese delivers a chilling psychological thriller that's more twisted than a bag of pretzels. Two U.S. Marshals, one haunted mental institution, and a disappearance that's as mysterious as your socks vanishing in the laundry.
CAST
Leonardo DiCaprio
Mark Ruffalo
Ben Kingsley
Michelle Williams
Emily Mortimer
Patricia Clarkson
Max von Sydow
Jackie Earle Haley
John Carroll Lynch
Ted Levine
2 degrees of seperation (similar to Shutter Island)
Black Swan (2010)
85%798Ever been obsessed with perfection? Then you'll relate to Natalie Portman's character in "Black Swan." She's a ballet dancer aiming for the perfect performance, but at what cost? This movie is the Nutcracker Suite played in a minor key, dark, grim, and full of unsettling crescendos.
CAST
Natalie Portman
Mila Kunis
Vincent Cassel
Barbara Hershey
Winona Ryder
Benjamin Millepied
Ksenia Solo
Kristina Anapau
Janet Montgomery
Sebastian Stan
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
92%727Let's loosen up with "The Cabin in the Woods." It starts off like any other cabin-based horror flick. You know, friends, booze, and bad decisions. But then it turns the genre on its head. It's as if the writers decided to toss all horror clichés into a blender, hit "puree," and then poured us a tall glass of "What the heck did I just watch?"
CAST
Kristen Connolly
Fran Kranz
Jesse Williams
Anna Hutchison
Chris Hemsworth
Richard Jenkins
Bradley Whitford
Sigourney Weaver
Brian J. White
Amy Acker
The Lodge (2020)
75%646For all the stepmoms out there trying to bond with their new families, "The Lodge" is what NOT to do. Imagine being snowed in with your soon-to-be stepchildren in a remote winter cabin. What could go wrong? Oh, just some lingering cult trauma and a few mind-bending twists. It’s like "Home Alone," except Macaulay Culkin's antics are replaced by ominous religious undertones and psychological horror. You know, family fun!
CAST
Riley Keough
Jaeden Martell
Lia McHugh
Richard Armitage
Alicia Silverstone
Katelyn Wells
Rebecca Faulkenberry
Danny Keough
Lola Reid
Speak No Evil (2022)
84%786.6Two families bond over vacation adventures, only to discover their friendship might not survive a second round. It's like a sitcom episode where everyone is all laughs and giggles until they're suddenly not. The free-wheeling Dutch hosts invite their more reserved Danish pals for a countryside escapade that quickly spirals into a cringe-worthy nightmare. Think of it as a weekend dinner party where the main course is awkwardness and the dessert is a heavy dollop of "Are they quirky or are they actually plotting our demise?" It's a profoundly unsettling examination of human connections and the often deceptive veneer of social pleasantries.
CAST
Morten Burian
Sidsel Siem Koch
Fedja van Huêt
Karina Smulders
Liva Forsberg
Marius Damslev
Hichem Yacoubi
Lea Baastrup Rønne
Jesper Dupont
Sieger Sloot
Don't Look Now (1973)
94%957.1Ah, the classic that inspired Ari Aster's "Hereditary." "Don't Look Now" is the godfather of atmospheric dread and family trauma. If this movie were a college course, it'd be "Intro to Shattering Your Emotional Well-Being 101," a prerequisite for any true horror fan. Like I mentioned before, this one is a trip to Venice you won't soon forget, because it replaces gondolas and fine Italian dining with psychic premonitions and grief.
CAST
Julie Christie
Donald Sutherland
Hilary Mason
Massimo Serato
Clelia Matania
Renato Scarpa
Giorgio Trestini
Leopoldo Trieste
David Tree
Ann Rye
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
86%656.8Nothing says “light-hearted” like an autopsy, am I right? Imagine you're a coroner and a mysterious, well-preserved body rolls in. You have no idea how she died, and let's just say, she's not giving up her secrets without a fight—or should I say, fright? It's like a medical drama and a haunted house had a baby, and that baby is all kinds of messed up.
CAST
Emile Hirsch
Brian Cox
Ophelia Lovibond
Olwen Catherine Kelly
Michael McElhatton
Parker Sawyers
Jane Perry
Mark Phoenix
Mary Duddy
The Ritual (2017)
74%576.3Four friends, a hiking trip, and a shortcut through the forest. What could go wrong? Well, if you've ever seen a horror movie (or read a fairy tale), you'd know that shortcuts through woods are never, I repeat, NEVER a good idea. "The Ritual" is like "The Blair Witch Project" meets Norse mythology, which is not a combo meal anyone ordered but tastes terrifyingly good.
CAST
Rafe Spall
Arsher Ali
Robert James-Collier
Sam Troughton
Paul Reid
Matthew Needham
Jacob James Beswick
Maria Erwolter
Hilary Reeves
Peter Liddell
The Orphanage (2007)
87%747.4This Spanish horror film delves into the life of a woman who returns to her childhood home—an orphanage, to be exact—with plans to reopen it. Little does she know, the building's former occupants have some unfinished business. It's like your high school reunion, but instead of your classmates being successful and good-looking, they're ghosts with unresolved issues.
CAST
Belén Rueda
Fernando Cayo
Roger Príncep
Mabel Rivera
Montserrat Carulla
Andrés Gertrúdix
Edgar Vivar
Óscar Casas
Geraldine Chaplin
Carmen López
Lake Mungo (2009)
96%6.3"Found footage" meets supernatural mystery in this Australian horror film. The movie revolves around a family coping with the loss of their daughter and the eerie events that follow. If "The Blair Witch Project" and a "Dateline" mystery special had a love child, it'd be "Lake Mungo." This one makes you question what's scarier: the possibility of life after death, or the secrets we keep when we're alive?
CAST
Rosie Traynor
David Pledger
Martin Sharpe
Tania Lentini
Cameron Strachan
Judith Roberts
Robin Cuming
Marcus Costello
Chloe Armstrong
Carole Patullo