Hereditary shook audiences when it came out in 2018, earning a reputation as one of the scariest films in recent memory. But horror fans love to debate, and plenty of people argue that other movies have left them even more disturbed.
Whether it’s extreme violence, creeping dread, or psychological torment, some films push the boundaries in ways that are hard to forget. Here are 16 horror films that fans say hit even harder than Hereditary.
1. Martyrs (2008)
Few films have left audiences as emotionally destroyed as this French extreme horror. Martyrs follows two young women on a path of trauma and violence that never lets up.
The film refuses to offer comfort or resolution, pushing viewers into a place of genuine hopelessness.
What separates it from most horror is its philosophical edge. The final act raises unsettling questions about suffering and meaning that linger long after the credits roll.
Many fans say no other film has shaken them quite as deeply.
2. The Dark and the Wicked (2020)
Set on a desolate Texas farm, this movie wraps you in dread from the very first scene. A brother and sister return home to care for their dying father, only to find something sinister has already moved in.
The atmosphere is suffocating in the best possible way.
Director Bryan Bertino builds terror through small, quiet moments rather than loud jump scares. Viewers have reported feeling genuinely unsettled for days afterward.
Horror fans looking for something that gets under the skin should start here.
3. Antichrist (2009)
Lars von Trier made this film while struggling with severe depression, and every frame reflects that pain. A grieving couple retreats to a remote cabin in the woods after a tragedy, where their relationship and sanity begin to collapse.
The imagery is striking, strange, and deeply uncomfortable.
Antichrist blends art-house filmmaking with genuinely shocking content. It earned notoriety at Cannes for its graphic scenes, but fans argue the emotional devastation is what truly unsettles.
It is not an easy watch by any measure.
4. The Exorcist (1973)
Over 50 years later, this film still makes people sleep with the lights on. The story of a young girl possessed by a demon shocked the world when it released, reportedly causing viewers to faint in theaters.
That legacy has never fully faded.
What makes it endure is how grounded and realistic the horror feels. The characters are believable, and the escalating terror follows a logical, terrifying path.
Generations of horror fans consistently rank it among the most effective scary films ever made.
5. Sinister (2012)
A 2015 study by the science of scare project ranked Sinister as the scariest horror film ever tested, measuring heart rate increases in real viewers. That is a bold claim, but fans back it up enthusiastically.
The film follows a true crime writer who discovers disturbing home movies in his new house.
The footage within the movie is genuinely nauseating in its simplicity. Paired with a creeping supernatural threat, Sinister creates a slow-burn anxiety that builds into something truly unbearable.
It is hard to shake once seen.
6. The Witch (2015)
Calling itself a New England folktale, this A24 film trusts its audience to sit with growing unease rather than cheap scares. A Puritan family is banished from their colony and settles near a dark forest where something wicked begins circling them.
Tension builds slowly, methodically, and brilliantly.
The old English dialogue and period-accurate setting make everything feel disturbingly real. By the time the horror fully arrives, viewers are already completely unsettled.
Fans of atmospheric, intelligent horror consistently hold this one in the highest regard.
7. The Descent (2005)
Before a single monster appears, The Descent is already one of the most stressful films you will ever watch. Six women descend into an uncharted cave system, and the claustrophobia alone is enough to make audiences squirm.
Then things get considerably worse.
Director Neil Marshall understood that real fear comes from helplessness. The creatures in the dark are terrifying, but the feeling of being trapped with no way out is what stays with viewers.
Many fans argue the original UK ending makes it even more devastating than most realize.
8. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Roman Polanski turned pregnancy anxiety into pure psychological terror with this 1968 masterpiece. Mia Farrow plays a young wife who begins to suspect her neighbors and husband have sinister plans for her unborn child.
The horror works because it taps into something deeply primal and real.
Nothing is over-explained, and the film never fully confirms what is happening, which makes it all the more disturbing. Decades later, it remains a gold standard for slow-burn dread.
Fans of Hereditary will recognize its DNA immediately.
9. The Babadook (2014)
Grief does not look like sadness in this film. It looks like a monster in a top hat that refuses to leave.
Australian director Jennifer Kent crafted a horror film that works as both a supernatural thriller and a raw portrait of a mother drowning in depression after losing her husband.
The creature itself is genuinely frightening, but the emotional weight is what breaks viewers. Fans frequently describe crying and feeling deeply disturbed at the same time.
That rare combination makes it one of the most affecting horror films of the past decade.
10. Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
There are disturbing films, and then there is this. Based on the Marquis de Sade’s writings and set in fascist Italy, director Pier Paolo Pasolini created a film that has been banned in multiple countries.
Calling it horror is almost an understatement.
The film is a brutal examination of power, dehumanization, and cruelty with no redemptive arc whatsoever. Many viewers cannot finish it.
Those who do often describe it as one of the most psychologically damaging things they have ever watched. It is not entertainment.
It is an endurance test.
11. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Shot on a tiny budget with a raw, documentary-like style, this film feels uncomfortably real. Michael Rooker plays Henry with a chilling matter-of-factness that makes the violence land harder than any Hollywood production could manage.
There is no dramatic music or cinematic flair to soften the blows.
What disturbs fans most is the film’s complete lack of moral judgment. Henry is not glamorized, but he is never truly condemned either.
That moral emptiness creates a viewing experience that feels genuinely wrong in a way that is hard to articulate afterward.
12. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
When this Italian film released in 1980, its director was arrested because authorities believed the actors had actually been killed on camera. That alone tells you something about how disturbingly realistic it felt.
Cannibal Holocaust is widely considered the grandfather of found-footage horror.
The content is extreme, graphic, and deeply controversial, including real animal deaths that many viewers find unforgivable. Horror fans debate whether it qualifies as art or exploitation.
Either way, it earns its reputation as one of the most genuinely disturbing films in the history of cinema.
13. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Yorgos Lanthimos has a gift for making viewers feel deeply uncomfortable without ever raising his voice. This film follows a surgeon whose life begins unraveling after he befriends a mysterious teenage boy.
The dialogue is unnervingly flat, the logic is dreamlike, and the stakes become terrifyingly high.
Fans describe it as a slow-motion nightmare that keeps escalating without mercy. The final act forces an impossible choice that haunts viewers long after the screen goes dark.
For those who appreciate horror that refuses to follow conventional rules, this one is unforgettable.
14. The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015)
Quietly released and widely overlooked at first, this A24 film has since built a devoted following among horror fans who love slow, cerebral terror. Two students are left behind at a boarding school over winter break, and something dark and patient begins closing in on them.
Oz Perkins directs with a cold, mournful atmosphere that feels almost hypnotic. The film’s structure keeps you slightly disoriented until a devastating reveal ties everything together.
Fans of Hereditary specifically mention this one as capturing the same suffocating, grief-soaked dread.
15. Incantation (2022)
Taiwan’s highest-grossing horror film uses the found-footage format in a genuinely inventive way. Incantation follows a mother trying to protect her daughter from a curse she accidentally triggered years earlier by filming a forbidden religious ritual.
The film directly addresses the viewer, pulling you into the curse itself.
That interactive framing device is clever and genuinely creepy. The ritualistic imagery sticks with you, and the emotional core involving a mother’s desperate love makes the horror hit harder.
Fans of folk horror and supernatural dread consistently recommend it as deeply unsettling.
16. Saint Maud (2019)
There are no monsters lurking in shadows here, yet Saint Maud may be the most quietly terrifying film on this list. Morfydd Clark plays a devout nurse who becomes obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient.
Her faith and her grip on reality begin to blur in deeply unsettling ways.
Director Rose Glass builds a suffocating portrait of loneliness and religious mania that feels achingly human. The final image is one of the most haunting in recent horror memory.
Fans of Hereditary’s emotional devastation will find a lot to connect with here.