'Will make you jump out of your skin': readers on the best underseen horror films

Guardian readers
·6 min read

As Above So Below

Starts out as a Tomb Raider-style adventure and then brings some claustrophobic creepiness. A great antidote to the current Hollywood trend of “child ghost in the walls”. Spoffoth

  • As Above So Below is available on Netflix in the US and Amazon Prime in the UK

Kill List

I found Kill List genuinely unsettling. It’s a bleak British film with nasty undercurrents. Best seen without prior knowledge it gradually sucks you in to a grimy underworld and then does something very bizarre two-thirds of the way through. BungeeBill

Related: Hidden horrors: our writers on the scariest movies you (probably) haven't seen

Whenever these types of list come up I always take the opportunity to give a shout out to Kill List. That film and the ending haunts me to this day. tiffidsting

  • Kill List is available to rent in the US and UK

Paperhouse

Proper supernatural spookfest! I saw it first when I was about 22 and it scared me then. Well worth checking out. chimpanzeemeunkey

  • Paperhouse is available on Amazon Prime in the US and UK

Martyrs

There’s a film I wouldn’t watch again. There’s a certain scene in the bath that is seared in my brain, and the ending is absurd French philosophy grossness. Apparently people passed out in the cinema watching it. AvonsEgo

I would really recommend a French movie called Martyrs to any blase, jaded horror fans who just don’t flinch at anything any more. Just make sure it’s the French original and not the inevitably rubbish US remake. SpikeTheCat

Martyrs is still top of the pile for me. And me and my partner have scoured endlessly for horror films over the past year and a half. Chubbypandas

  • Martyrs is available to rent in the US and UK

The Queen of Spades

Not really into horrors but a film called the Queen of Spades, by Thornold Dickinson, is about a man who sells his soul to the devil in order to win at cards. Watch out for a scene involving Edith Evans and Anton Walbrook that never fails to shock, even though I know what’s coming. Something Trumpian about this classic too. zelablue

  • The Queen of Spades is available to rent in the US and UK

Housebound

A fantastically entertaining horror-comedy from New Zealand. Much more fun and scary than most “all out” horrors. DocHadisday

  • Housebound is available to rent in the US and UK

Pulse

I watched it late one night with my dad on ITV. An intelligent and evil pulse of electricity moves from house to house rewiring domestic appliances, turning them against the occupants. A genius idea, not brilliantly executed. Still, a great “B movie” piece of entertainment. j0nniedark0

  • Pulse is available to rent in the US and UK

V/H/S

There’s quite a few anthology horrors out there. By their nature they tend to be uneven (Dead of Night is a rare gem of the form). And 2012’s V/H/S is about as uneven as they come. But within this omnibus there are two or three stories that are quite brilliant and utterly terrifying. One with a modern-day succubus and another based around Skype calls (even more relevant these days) stand out especially. snatchcandy

  • V/H/S is available to rent in the US and on Amazon Prime in the UK

Angst

A serial killer is released from prison and immediately decides to kill again. Incredibly tense with a great central performance and some brilliant camerawork. RoscoeHSpellgood

  • Angst is available on Amazon Prime in the US and Shudder in the UK

Them

There’s a Romanian film, Them, which, when someone describes it to you feels as though it should be cliched, but is actually really scary. Isolde2

  • Them is available on Shudder in the US and UK

Vinyan

I was seriously freaked out by Fabrice du Welz’s Vinyan – a tale of a couple who have lost their son in the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Believing they see the son in a video of kidnapped children, they return to search for him in the hope that he might still be alive. What follows is a film wearing its influences on its sleeve (Don’t Look Now, Aguirre, Apocalypse Now/Heart of Darkness) but absolutely has a terrifying flavour of its own. Pinkie123

  • Vinyan is available to rent in the US and UK

Brotherhood of the Wolf

French film The Brotherhood of the Wolf ou Le Pacte des Loups is quite an effective horror film. It’s based on a series of strange, unexplained violent deaths that took place in 18th-century France and led to the legend of the Beast of Gévaudan. Over a two-year period it’s estimated that more than 100 people were killed, with most of them being partially eaten. Dundevanman

  • Brotherhood of the Wolf is available to rent in the US and UK

Eyes Without a Face

A disturbing portrayal of evil acts committed to compensate a loved one. Feeling sympathy for the perpetrators is genuinely discomforting. Frontbacktofront

  • Eyes Without a Face is on HBO and the Criterion Channel in the US and on the BFI Player in the UK

Terrified (Aterrados)

The scariest film you’ve more than likely never heard of is Aterrados (Terrified is the English title), a 2017 Argentinian film. It’s a proper horror film with genuine scares that will make you jump out of your skin, even if you’re a jaded horror film fan who has seen all the usual recommendations. The poster looks like some cheesy homemade effort but it’s actually a very well-made and effective supernatural horror film, if you can find any means of watching it I would urge you to do so. Guillermo Del Toro is a big fan of it and is rumoured to be producing an English language remake with the original director. If it doesn’t put the Bradley Pitts up you it’s probably worth going for a checkup. HiawathaImpact

  • Terrified (Aterrados) is available on Shudder in the US and UK

The Borderlands

Elliot Goldner’s 2013 British horror The Borderlands creeped me out. Holy visions at a rural church. Cheap, gritty and real-feeling, like all the best horror. I’ll say no more for fear of spoilers. Jon Dixon

  • The Borderlands is available to rent in the US and on Amazon Prime in the UK

Triangle

I’d definitely recommend Triangle to add to this list. I’ve never met anyone who knows it. I think the pitch was The Shining on a cruise liner, but the story is much more interesting than that initial premise. It stars Melissa George and Liam Hemsworth. mcbeswick

  • Triangle is available to rent in the US and on Amazon Prime in the UK

Coherence

My favourite part of the movie is that, like in all horror movies, you spend half the movie questioning why the characters don’t do this or that but in this movie when it reaches the third act the twist is that they did and that’s the problem. I can’t say any more without spoiling the ending but it’s certainly worth a watch. fedEUralist

  • Coherence is available on Amazon Prime in the US and UK