I watched a lot of horror films to write this book. Some I’d seen before, but many I watched for the first time. This isn’t the full list of movies that I watched; but rather every horror and horror-adjacent movie that got a mention in this book. If you ever need an excuse to finally visit your horror blind spots (not that you ever need an excuse), I highly recommend writing a book on the subject.
Black Sunday (1960, dir. Mario Bava)
Final Destination (2000, dir. James Wong)
Get Out (2017, dir. Jordan Peele)
Hell Night (1981, dir. Tom DeSimone)
Hereditary (2018, dir. Ari Aster)
It Follows (2014, dir. David Robert Mitchell)
Jaws (1977, dir. Steven Spielberg)
Peeping Tom (1960, dir. Michael Powell)
Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Scream (1996, dir. Wes Craven)
The Exorcist (1976, dir. William Friedkin)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991, dir. Jonathan Demme)
The Witch (2015, dir. Robert Eggers)
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016, dir. Dan Trachtenberg)
Aliens (1986, dir. James Cameron)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, dir. Wes Craven)
Cat People (1942, dir. Jacques Tourneur)
Friday the 13th (1980, dir. Sean S. Cunningham)
Halloween (1978, dir. John Carpenter)
Hereditary (2018, dir. Ari Aster)
Jurassic Park (1993, dir. Steven Spielberg)
Lights Out (2013, dir. David F. Sandberg)
Lights Out (2016, dir. David F. Sandberg)
Martyrs (2008, dir. Pascal Laugier)
My Friend Dahmer (2017, dir. Marc Meyers)
Rabid (1977, dir. David Cronenberg)
Raw (2016, dir. Julia Ducournau)
Scream (1996, dir. Wes Craven)
Shivers (1975, dir. David Cronenberg)
Sinister (2012, dir. Scott Derrickson)
Split (2016, dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
Suspiria (1977, dir. Dario Argento)
The Blair Witch Project (1999, dirs. Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick)
The Brood (1979, dir. David Cronenberg)
The Exorcist III (1990, dir. William Peter Blatty)
The Fly (1986, dir. David Cronenberg)
The Others (2001, dir. Alejandro Amenábar)
The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007, dir. John Erick Dowdle)
The Shining (1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991, dir. Jonathan Demme)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, dir. Tobe Hooper)
Videodrome (1983, dir. David Cronenberg)
We Summon the Darkness (2019, Marc Meyers)
You’re Next (2011, dir. Adam Wingard)
13 Ghosts (1960, dir. William Castle)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, dir. Wes Craven)
Battle Royale (2000, dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
Beginning of the End (1957, dir. Bert I. Gordon)
Black Christmas (1974, dir. Bob Clark)
Black Christmas (2019, dir. Sophia Takal)
Black Devil Doll from Hell (1984, dir. Chester Novell Turner)
Blackenstein (1973, dir. William A. Levey)
Black Xmas (2006, dir. Glen Morgan)
Blacula (1972, dir. William Crain)
Blood and Black Lace (1964, dir. Mario Bava)
Blood Cult (1985, dir. Christopher Lewis)
Blood Feast (1963, dir. Herschell Gordon Lewis)
Candyman (1992, dir. Bernard Rose)
Candyman (2021, dir. Nia DaCosta)
Cannibal Holocaust (1980, dir. Ruggero Deodato)
Contagion (2011, dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Critters (1986, dir. Stephen Herek)
Dark Water (2002, dir. Hideo Nakata)
Dark Water (2005, dir. Walter Salles)
Dracula (1931, dirs. Tod Browning and Karl Freund)
Fatal Attraction (1987, dir. Adrian Lyne)
Faust et Méphistophélès (1903, dir. Alice Guy)
Fear in the Dark (1991, dir. Dominic Murphy)
Final Destination (2000, dir. James Wong)
Frankenstein (1910, dir. J. Searle Dawley)
Frankenstein (1931, dir. James Whale)
Freaks (1932, dir. Tod Browning)
Friday the 13th (1980, dir. Sean S. Cunningham)
Ganja and Hess (1973, dir. Bill Gunn)
Get Out (2017, dir. Jordan Peele)
Ginger Snaps (2000, dir. John Fawcett)
Godzilla (1954, dir. Ishirō Honda)
Gremlins (1984, dir. Joe Dante)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990, dir. Joe Dante)
Halloween (1978, dir. John Carpenter)
Hereditary (2018, dir. Ari Aster)
High Tension (2003, dir. Alexandre Aja)
Host (2020, dir. Rob Savage)
Hostel (2005, dir. Eli Roth)
House of Wax (1953, dir. André De Toth)
House of Wax (2005, dir. Jaume Collet-Serra)
I Drink Your Blood (1970, dir. David E. Durston)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, dir. Don Siegel)
It (1990, dir. Tommy Lee Wallace)
It’s Alive (1974, dir. Larry Cohen)
Jizo the Spook (1898, dir. unknown)*
Kiss the Girls (1997, dir. Gary Fleder)
Le château hanté (1897, dir. Georges Méliès)
Le manoir du diable (1896, dir. Georges Méliès)
M (1931, dir. Fritz Lang)
Martyrs (2008, dir. Pascal Laugier)
Matango (1963, dir. Ishirō Honda)
Night of the Living Dead (1968, dir. George A. Romero)
Nosferatu (1922, dir. Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau)
Parasite (2019, dir. Bong Joon-ho)
Parents (1989, dir. Bob Balaban)
Peeping Tom (1960, dir. Michael Powell)
Photographing a Ghost (1898, dir. G. A. Smith)
Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Pulse (2001, dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Rabid (1977, dir. David Cronenberg)
Raw (2016, dir. Julia Ducournau)
Resurrection of a Corpse (1898, dir. unknown)*
Ringu (1998, dir. Hideo Nakata)
Rosemary’s Baby (1976, dir. Roman Polanski)
Saw (2004, dir. James Wan)
Scream (1996, dir. Wes Craven)
Scream 3 (2000, dir. Wes Craven)
Se7en (1996, dir. David Fincher)
Shivers (1975, dir. David Cronenberg)
Single White Female (1992, dir. Barbet Schroeder)
Society (1989, dir. Brian Yuzna)
Squirm (1976, Jeff Lieberman)
Straw Dogs (1971, dir. Sam Peckinpah)
Sugar Hill (1974, dir. Paul Maslansky)
Suicide Club (2001, dir. Sion Sono)
Tarantula! (1955, dir. Jack Arnold)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970, dir. Dario Argento)
The Black Scorpion (1957, dir. Edward Ludwig)
The Blob (1958, dirs. Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr., and Russell S. Doughten, Jr., uncredited)
The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971, dir. Piers Haggard)
The Brood (1979, dir. David Cronenberg)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, dir. Robert Wiene)
The Craft (1996, dir. Andrew Fleming)
The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954, dir. Jack Arnold)
The Driller Killer (1979, dir. Abel Ferrara)
The Exorcist (1973, dir. William Friedkin)
The Faculty (1997, dir. Robert Rodriguez)
The Gate (1987, dir. Tibor Takács)
The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963, dir. Mario Bava)
The Grudge (2004, dir. Takashi Shimizu)
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992, dir. Curtis Hanson)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923, dir. Wallace Worsley)
The Invisible Man (1933, dir. James Whale)
The Last House on the Left (1972, dir. Wes Craven)
The Lawnmower Man (1992, dir. Brett Leonard)
Them! (1954, dir. Gordon Douglas)
The Matrix (1999, dirs. Lilly Wachowski and Lana Wachowski)
The Mummy (1932, dir. Karl Freund)
The Omen (1976, dir. Richard Donner)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925, dir. Rupert Julian)
The Platform (2020, dir. Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia)
The Ring (2002, dir. Gore Verbinski)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991, dir. Jonathan Demme)
The Slumber Party Massacre (1981, dir. Amy Holden Jones)
The Slumber Party Massacre II (1987, dir. Deborah Brock)
The Stepford Wives (1975, dir. Bryan Forbes)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, dir. Tobe Hooper)
The Thing from Another World (1951, dir. Christian Nyby)
The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976, dir. Charles B. Pierce)
The Trollenberg Terror (1958, dir. Quentin Lawrence)
The War of the Worlds (1953, dir. Byron Haskin)
The Wicker Man (1973, dir. Robin Hardy)
The Witch (2015, dir. Robert Eggers)
The Wolf Man (1941, dir. George Waggner)
They Live (1988, dir. John Carpenter)
Thir13en Ghosts (2001, dir. Steve Beck)
Turistas (2006, dir. John Stockwell)
Us (2019, dir. Jordan Peele)
Uzumaki (2000, dir. Higuchinsky)
Videodrome (1982, dir. David Cronenberg)
X-Ray Fiend (1897, dir. G. A. Smith)
28 Weeks Later (2007, dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo)
Alien (1979, dir. Ridley Scott)
Aliens (1986, dir. James Cameron)
Annabelle: Creation (2017, dir. David F. Sandberg)
Attack the Block (2011, dir. Joe Cornish)
Bird Box (2018, dir. Susanne Bier)
Blade II (2002, dir. Guillermo del Toro)
Cloverfield (2008, dir. Matt Reeves)
Crawl (2019, dir. Alexandre Aja)
Dark Star (1974, dir. John Carpenter)
Dawn of the Dead (1978, dir. George A. Romero)
Dawn of the Dead (2004, dir. Zack Snyder)
Dog Soldiers (2002, dir. Neil Marshall)
Eight-Legged Freaks (2002, dir. Ellory Elkayem)
Gremlins (1984, dir. Joe Dante)
Halloween (1978, dir. John Carpenter)
Hatchet (2006, dir. Adam Green)
In the Mouth of Madness (1995, dir. John Carpenter)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978, dir. Philip Kaufman)
It (2017, dir. Andrés Muschietti)
It: Chapter Two (2019, dir. Andrés Muschietti)
It Follows (2014, dir. David Robert Mitchell)
Jurassic Park (1993, dir. Steven Spielberg)
Lake Placid (1999, dir. Steve Miner)
Mimic (1997, dir. Guillermo del Toro)
Night of the Creeps (1986, dir. Fred Dekker)
Orphan (2009, dir. Jaume Collet-Serra)
Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016, dir. Mike Flanagan)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, dir. Guillermo del Toro)
Phenomena (1985, dir. Dario Argento)
Poltergeist (1982, dir. Tobe Hooper)
Red Dragon (2002, dir. Brett Ratner)
Rosemary’s Baby (1967, dir. Roman Polanski)
Silent Hill (2006, dir. Christophe Gans)
Slither (2006, dir. James Gunn)
Tales of Halloween (2015, dir. Axelle Carolyn)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991, dir. James Cameron)
The Amityville Horror (1979, dir. Stuart Rosenberg)
The Babadook (2014, dir. Jennifer Kent)
The Beast Within: The Making of Alien (2003, dir. Charles de Lauzirika)
The Blob (1958, dirs. Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr., and Russell S. Doughten, Jr., uncredited)
The Brood (1979, dir. David Cronenberg)
The Descent (2005, dir. Neil Marshall)
The Exorcist (1973, dir. William Friedkin)
The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020, showrunner Mike Flanagan)
The Host (2006, dir. Bong Joon-ho)
The Howling (1981, dir. Joe Dante)
The Invisible Man (2020, dir. Leigh Whannell)
The Mist (2007, dir. Frank Darabont)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925, dir. Rupert Julian)
The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007, dir. John Erick Dowdle)
The Ritual (2017, dir. David Bruckner)
The Shape of Water (2017, dir. Guillermo del Toro)
The Silence (2019, dir. John R. Leonetti)
The Stuff (1985, dir. Larry Cohen)
The Terminator (1984, dir. James Cameron)
The Thing (1982, dir. John Carpenter)
Total Recall (1990, dir. Paul Verhoeven)
Tremors (1990, dir. Ron Underwood)
Trick ‘r Treat (2007, dir. Michael Dougherty)
Twilight (2008, dir. Catherine Hardwicke)
Us (2019, dir. Jordan Peele)
1BR (2019, dir. David Marmor)
28 Days Later (2002, dir. Danny Boyle)
A Quiet Place (2018, dir. John Krasinski)
At the Devil’s Door (2014, dir. Nicholas McCarthy)
Blair Witch (2016, dir. Adam Wingard)
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000, dir. Joe Berlinger)
Eloise (2016, dir. Robert Legato)
Halloween (1978, dir. John Carpenter)
Irréversible (2002, dir. Gaspar Noé)
Jaws (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)
Paranormal Activity (2007, dir. Oren Peli)
Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Shaun of the Dead (2004, dir. Edgar Wright)
The Blair Witch Project (1999, dirs. Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick)
The Innocents (1961, dir. Jack Clayton)
The Pact (2012, dir. Nicholas McCarthy)
The Shining (1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Alien (1979, dir. Ridley Scott)
Aliens (1986, dir. James Cameron)
Arachnophobia (1990, dir. Frank Marshall)
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003, dir. Kim Jee-woon)
Carved (2007, dir. Kōji Shiraishi)
Child’s Play (1988, dir. Tom Holland)
Deep Star Six (1989, dir. Sean S. Cunningham)
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982, dir. Steven Spielberg)
Friday the 13th (1980, dir. Sean S. Cunningham)
Ginger Snaps (2000, dir. John Fawcett)
Gremlins (1984, dir. Joe Dante)
It (1990, dir. Tommy Lee Wallace)
It (2017, dir. Andrés Muschietti)
Jaws (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)
Little Shop of Horrors (1986, dir. Frank Oz)
Night of the Living Dead (1968, dir. George A. Romero)
Poltergeist (1982, dir. Tobe Hooper)
Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Psycho 2 (1983, dir. Richard Franklin)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, dir. Steven Spielberg)
Scream (1996, dir. Wes Craven)
Suspiria (1977, dir. Dario Argento)
Suspiria (2018, dir. Luca Guadagnino)
The Blair Witch Project (1999, dirs. Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, dir. Robert Wise)
The Last House on the Left (1972, dir. Wes Craven)
The Mangler (1995, dir. Tobe Hooper)
The Ring (2002, dir. Gore Verbinski)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, dir. Tobe Hooper)
American Psycho (2000, dir. Mary Harron)
Beetlejuice (1988, dir. Tim Burton)
Black Christmas (1974, dir. Bob Clark)
Child’s Play 2 (1990, dir. John Lafia)
Child’s Play 3 (1991, dir. Jack Bender)
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977, dir. John Boorman)
Friday the 13th, Part 2 (1981, dir. Steve Miner)
Greener Grass (2019, dirs. Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe)
Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood (1985, dir. Hideshi Hino)
Maniac (1980, dir. William Lustig)
Marble Hornets (2009–2014, dirs. Joseph DeLage and Troy Wagner)
Mercy Black (2019, dir. Owen Egerton)
Natural Born Killers (1994, dir. Oliver Stone)
Oldboy (2003, dir. Park Chan-wook)
Pet Sematary (1989, dir. Mary Lambert)
Saw (2004, dir. James Wan)
Scream (1996, dir. Wes Craven)
Slender Man (2018, dir. Sylvain White)
Taxidermia (2007, dir. György Pálfi)
The Evil Dead (1981, dir. Sam Raimi)
The Exorcist III (1990, dir. William Peter Blatty)
The Killers (1964, dir. Don Siegel)
The Purge (2013, dir. James DeMonaco)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991, dir. Jonathan Demme)
The Toolbox Murders (1978, dir. Dennis Donnelly)
Tusk (2014, dir. Kevin Smith)
Un chien andalou (1929, dir. Luis Buñuel)
28 Days Later (2002, dir. Danny Boyle)
A Clockwork Orange (1971, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Afflicted (2013, dirs. Derek Lee and Clif Prowse)
Alien (1979, dir. Ridley Scott)
American Mary (2012, dirs. Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska)
An American Werewolf in London (1981, dir. John Landis)
Audition (1999, dir. Takashi Miike)
Bite (2015, dir. Chad Archibald)
Black Christmas (1974, dir. Bob Clark)
Blood Feast (1963, dir. Herschell Gordon Lewis)
Carrie (1976, dir. Brian De Palma)
Dawn of the Dead (1978, dir. George A. Romero)
Dead Ringers (1988, dir. David Cronenberg)
Deep Red (1975, dir. Dario Argento)
Don’t Look Now (1973, dir. Nicolas Roeg)
Evil Dead (2013, dir. Fede Álvarez)
Evil Dead 2 (1987, dir. Sam Raimi)
Friday the 13th (1980, dir. Sean S. Cunningham)
Funny Games (1997, dir. Michael Haneke)
Funny Games (2007, dir. Michael Haneke)
Ginger Snaps (2000, dir. John Fawcett)
Halloween (1978, dir. John Carpenter)
Jaws (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)
Orphan Black (2013, showrunners John Fawcett and Graeme Manson)
Prevenge (2015, dir. Alice Lowe)
Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Reservoir Dogs (1992, dir. Quentin Tarantino)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968, dir. Roman Polanski)
Saw (2004, dir. James Wan)
Scream 4 (2011, dir. Wes Craven)
Spontaneous (2020, dir. Brian Duffield)
Suspiria (1977, dir. Dario Argento)
Teeth (2007, dir. Mitchell Lichtenstein)
The Exorcist (1976, dir. William Friedkin)
The Fly (1986, dir. David Cronenberg)
The Human Centipede (2009, dir. Tom Six)
The Last Exorcism (2010, dir. Daniel Stamm)
The Mortuary Collection (2019, dir. Ryan Spindell)
The Omen (1976, dir. Richard Donner)
The Thing (1982, dir. John Carpenter)
Un chien andalou (1929, dir. Luis Buñuel)
Would You Rather? (2012, David Guy Levy)
Antichrist (2009, dir. Lars von Trier)
Beetlejuice (1988, dir. Tim Burton)
Cannibal Holocaust (1980, dir. Ruggero Deodato)
Children of the Corn (1984, dir. Fritz Kiersch)
Coraline (2009, dir. Henry Selick)
Don’t Look Now (1973, dir. Nicolas Roeg)
Friday the 13th, Part III (1982, dir. Steve Miner)
Hereditary (2018, dir. Ari Aster)
Hocus Pocus (1993, dir. Kenny Ortega)
Jennifer’s Body (2009, dir. Karyn Kusama)
Kiss the Girls (1997, dir. Gary Fleder)
Lake Mungo (2008, dir. Joel Anderson)
Midsommar (2019, dir. Ari Aster)
Possession (1980, dir. Andrzej Żuławski)
Session 9 (2001, dir. Brad Anderson)
Single White Female (1992, dir. Barbet Schroeder)
Street Trash (1987, dir. J. Michael Munro)
Suspiria (1977, dir. Dario Argento)
The Babadook (2014, dir. Jennifer Kent)
The Changeling (1980, dir. Peter Medak)
The Descent (2005, dir. Neil Marshall)
The Game (1997, dir. David Fincher)
Them (2006, dirs. David Moreau and Xavier Palud)
The People Under the Stairs (1991, dir. Wes Craven)
The Shining (1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, dir. Tobe Hooper)