While one might expect every horror movie to be “Creepy,” that’s not really the case. Some of them are just more shocking, or visceral. Creepy horror movies, however, stick with you even longer. They make you feel unpleasant throughout (usually in gradually increasing increments). And, quite often, movies that succeed in carrying a creepy tone are remembered. For instance, The Omen, The Witch, The Amityville Horror, even the POV shots of Halloween and Friday the 13th fall under the creepy banner. But there are some creep-fests out there which seem to only be favored in the horror-loving community, and haven’t quite branched their way out of that group.
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What follows are creepy movies that seem to have fallen by the wayside to a degree, and that’s simply not right. Note that we went for straightforward horror films here so, even though it has “Creep” in the title and isn’t talked about enough, Night of the Creeps didn’t apply. That’s either a comedy with horror elements or a horror movie with comedic elements, depending on how you look at it.
7) Motel Hell
There are plenty of ’80s horror movies that are ripe for a remake. With Motel Hell, it’s really hard to imagine how they would go about doing that. This is one bizarre movie. Having the narrative’s two central characters be a husband and wife who fatten up visitors to their hotel so they can turn them into sausages is as creepy a direction as there gets. Toss in the fact that one half of that couple wears half a dead pig on his head sometimes and it’s A-level creepiness.
6) Deadly Blessing
For a Wes Craven movie starring a young Sharon Stone it’s surprising how little is spoken of Deadly Blessing. It has some pacing issues, sure, but this is overall a remarkably solid early effort from Craven. Deadly Blessing succeeds in being creepy because, one, it has a spider sequence and, two, it has such an unusual setting for a horror film (a contemporary farming community next to an old-fashioned Hittite group). It stands out and makes you feel as though the secular characters are in serious danger, especially when Ernst Borgnine is on screen popping his eyes open as wide as they can go with a big scowl on his face.
Stream Deadly Blessing for free on Hoopla.
5) Dolls
An underrated horror movie that should have started a franchise, Dolls is a surprisingly solid film coming from Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, the company also behind low-rent fare like Ghoulies. It accomplishes its mission, which is to make you empathize with a few characters and outright despise the rest.
This one is extremely creepy for a few reasons. One, it’s always unsettling when most of a cast list is playing unlikable characters. Two, sentient dolls (when generated in an effective manner) are also a surefire way to have your movie be creepy. And three, having a narrative unfold on a dark rainy night is similarly surefire.
Stream Dolls for free with ads on Tubi.
4) Stage Fright
One of the great underrated slasher films, Stage Fright is often quite brutal, but thanks to its dark rainy night visual tone and narrative where everyone is locked in a single locale, it has a way of raising the hairs on your neck. It also has an upbeat tempo soundtrack that doesn’t gel with the carnage we’re seeing on screen in a way that is oddly effective.
This Italian film follows a group of stage actors and their insufferable director as they contend with a man escaped from the local institution. However, since they’re in the process of rehearing for a play, they can’t quite tell the killer is among them at first, considering he is now wearing the owl costume that is a part of said play. Perhaps the cherry on the creepy cake that is Stage Fright is the elongated scene where one of the protagonists tries to sneak around the theater, avoiding the killer who has positioned all of the bodies of his victims on the stage and just sits among them staring forward. It’s highly unsettling imagery.
Stream Fright Night on Prime Video.
3) The Burning
An excellent summer horror movie, The Burning is, like Stage Fright, another example of a slasher movie that is both visceral and, thanks to a particular tone, creepy. Even the protagonist is a bit of a creep.
Then there’s the look of the killer, Cropsy, who makes Freddy Krueger’s skin look pristine by comparison. Toss in a great shot of Cropsy looking in a window with the typical screeching violin soundtrack sound and a horrifying raft massacre and The Burning stays with you.
2) Amityville II: The Possession
When it comes to the Amityville franchise, most people have seen or at least heard of The Amityville Horror, be it the 1979 original, the 2005 remake, or both. Many of them also know it led to a lengthy franchise, but they don’t know the events of the sequels because their negative reputation precedes them. But Amityville II: The Possession isn’t half bad, and it’s arguably even creepier than the original.
There are the typical tropes familiar to the franchise, e.g. someone in a grimy basement who feels a spirit pull on their shirt and lengthy shots of the Dutch Colonial Revival house, but those elements aren’t what makes this one creepy. No, it’s the hint of incest between the protagonist Sonny and his sister Patricia (played by Better Off Dead‘s Diane Franklin) that’s present in the film even before he’s possessed.
Stream Amityville II: The Possession for free with ads on The Roku Channel.
1) Basket Case
A truly bizarre monster movie, Basket Case tells the story of a young man with a particularly clingy twin. Duane and Belial were born as conjoined twins and now that they’re separated, Duane keeps the tiny, deformed Belial in a basket. But, considering they have a telepathic connection, Duane is forever subjected to Belial’s psychopathic tendencies.
Now, even though he’s the one in the little basket, Belial is dragging Duane around, killing off all of the doctors and nurses that separated them. But Duane just wants to move on. He even finds a romantic connection, but Belial wants Duane all to himself.
Stream Basket Case with an AMC+ Prime Video Channel subscription.
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