TV AND MOVIES

27 Horror Films So Legitimately Terrifying, People Lost Sleep Over Them

A good night's sleep? I don't know her.
Posted on October 9, 2019, at 6:46 p.m.

Allie Hayes
BuzzFeed Staff

🔥 148 comments

We recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to share a horror movie that
they personally found so disturbing, it literally kept them up at night. Here are just some
of the best responses:

1. House of 1,000 Corpses (2003)

Lionsgate Films

"I didn’t sleep with the lights off OR shower with the curtain fully closed for weeks after seeing this. I
was forced to watch this during a sleepover, and it was the last time I ever let myself get pressured
into watching a horror movie. I 'noped' the heck out of there so hard after the movie ended, I even
called my parents and faked being sick to have them come get me."

—emilyd4cb669fb9
2. Us (2019)

Universal Pictures

"This movie literally made me pee my pants. I was part of a film club at my high school, and we
watched this for Halloween. I'm usually a wimp about stuff like this, but I wanted to watch it and get
over my fear. Bad idea. When it got to the part where the family was standing in the driveway and
they suddenly moved, I actually screamed. It wasn't until the period ended and we turned the lights
back on that one of my friends yelled, 'Hey! Did you pee your pants?!' The whole class saw and I had
to tie a sweater around my waist for the rest of the day! I still haven't lived it down."

—slothgirl

3. Hell House LLC (2015)

Terror Films

"It's on Amazon Prime and is absolutely unnerving. I love horror movies, so it takes a lot to spook me,
but this one had me checking and rechecking my basement, door, and window locks multiple times a
night."

—jessicad4b02081cc

4. Midsommar (2019)

A24

"I watched the 9 p.m. showing of this with some friends and literally stayed up all night, cuddled in a
blanket, sitting in a well-lit room, watching Bob’s Burgers until the sun came up."

—tylersmith1

5. Blair Witch Project (1999)

Artisan Entertainment

"It was all funny and laughing until the movie was over and my brother and I realized we were
alone...in our house in the middle of the woods...at night. And we couldn't figure out what kept setting
off the motion detector light in our driveway. Yeah, neither of us got any sleep that night."

—leoness13

6. The Orphanage (2007)

Warner Bros. Pictures

"Spoilers: There’s a terrifying scene where a woman gets hit by a car and her face gets deformed, but
that’s nothing compared to the twist ending. I had to look at pictures of dogs on my phone for over an
hour before I could even think about trying to go to sleep."

—lizlandmine

7. Martyrs (2008)
The Weinstein Co.

"The word 'disturbing' doesn't even come close to describing it. It shook me up for a while!"

—papierherz

8. Saw (2004)

Lionsgate Films

"I saw it with a group of friends in the theater when it was first released. It was so disturbing, I had to
sleep on my mom's floor that night. I was 16 years old."

—katek4161e6ae2
9. It Follows (2014)

Radius-TWC

"The soundtrack and premise work together to create a very unsettling atmosphere for me. I watched
it late at night and then went to sleep, but then my dog started barking for no reason at, like, 3 a.m.,
and I woke up thinking the entity was outside my door. It was pretty hard to sleep after that."

—matthews92

10. The Fourth Kind (2009)

Universal Pictures

"The 'actual footage' shown next to the movie footage freaked me out so much that my then-
boyfriend (now-husband) had to stay the night because I was NOT about to sleep alone. I have yet to
watch it again."

—c48a4d893e

11. The Grudge (2004)

Columbia Pictures

"I saw this when I was 10 and was scarred for, like, six months. Not being able to sleep was bad, but I
was even more afraid to shower because of the scene where the hand grabs Sarah Michelle Gellar’s
head while she’s washing her hair. I would always wash my hair with my eyes wide open and risk
getting shampoo in my eyes because I was too scared to close them."

—kristenf4ec4ed144

12. Silent Hill (2006)

Metropolitan Filmexport

"This was the very first horror movie I ever watched. I thought it was going to be fine because I had
watched a friend play through the game, which didn't have the best graphics in the world. Anyway, I
had just turned 15 and a bunch of us were at my friend's place for her birthday, and we watched it. To
this day, the air raid siren sounds still freak me right out, and it's been nearly a decade since I
watched it."

—e45c5fbe89

13. Coraline (2009)

Focus Features

"My parents took us to see this because they thought it was a wholesome children's movie, but it
turned out to be one of the most terrifying experiences I've ever had. We begged our parents to
leave, but they wanted to prove that there would be a happy ending...it never came. The vague,
creepy ending left even my parents disturbed, and my sisters and I had nightmares about the 'Other
Mother' for MONTHS."

—kassidyk4c0f432a6
14. REC (2007)

Filmax International

"I love horror movies, but I was so freaked out after I watched this, I drove to sleep at my parents'
house and left my boyfriend and my roommate at my apartment."

—mkatherinekelly

15. The Boy (2016)

STXfilms

"Spoilers: At first I was making jokes about a doll walking around and how ridiculous it would look.
Then you find out it's a psycho living in the wall. That was more disturbing than I could handle, and it
still freaks me out to think about that."

—c48a4d893e

16. Candyman (1992)

TriStar Pictures

"This was the very first horror movie I ever saw. I was having a sleepover with a friend that night, but
we did not sleep At ALL, and neither of us would look into a mirror for months afterward."

—killerrqueen

17. Paranormal Activity (2009)

Paramount Pictures

"I know it’s considered a silly movie now, but when I left that theater with my friends, we were all
terrified. That night when we all got home, a door blew open in our apartment building and we all
screamed. Definitely lost some sleep over that one."

—abbyj6

18. Fire in the Sky (1993)

Paramount Pictures

"No exaggeration, this movie nearly put me in therapy. I watched it not knowing what it was about,
and I already have an irrational fear of aliens. I almost had a heart attack."

—jcantu

19. Would You Rather (2012)

IFC Films

"It’s about this girl who goes into this 'game' to win money, and when she gets there it starts off
normal, but then it gets weirder and weirder, until the dares are dangerous...and eventually start
killing people. I watched this one night and COULD NOT stop thinking about it when I tried to go to
bed."

—evp722

20. Eden Lake (2008)

Optimum Releasing

"The kids in that movie were both unbelievably cruel AND realistic. To be a stranger in a strange town
and to then be targeted by kids who are protected by their parents is actually pretty frightening. It
stayed with me for a long time."
—delainaa

21. Begotten (1990)

World Artists Home Video

"It’s a surrealist film about the story of creation, and it’s pretty much just those Scary Stories to Tell in
the Dark book illustrations by Stephen Gammell come to life. Need I say more? It'll give you
nightmares for life."

—peytonbeard

22. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

New Line Cinema

"I don't even remember watching the movie as a child, but I had nightmares for years that there was a
giant Freddy Krueger living under the street in front of my house. It was terrifying. I even woke up
screaming 'Help' one time, and it scared the hell out of my mom and stepdad."

—j24gfreak

23. Terrifier (2016)

Dread Central Presents

"No exaggeration — it took me at least five tries to finish the whole movie."

—lindsayh4cb7f7abb
24. The McPherson Tape (UFO Abduction) (1989)

Axiom Films

"It’s about this family making a home video, and then aliens invade their house. It's genuinely the
scariest film I have ever watched, and I cannot get it out of my head."

—bethc42f4ae362

25. Darkness Falls (2003)

Sony Pictures Releasing

"I watched this at a very young age, and I'm now an adult that sleeps with a night-light. Thanks, Dad."

—bernardkaelin

26. The Last House on the Left (1972)

Hallmark Releasing

"It felt so real and so heartbreaking for the victims in the movie. I couldn't get it out of my mind for
weeks, and it definitely caused me to lose some sleep."

—katd497fa0216

27. Oculus (2014)

Relativity Media

"I vividly remember having a full-on panic attack on the kitchen floor after a scene involving a mirror.
My mom had to put on Sharknado afterward for some comic relief to calm me down."

—zgbuchanan

What's a horror movie that kept YOU up all night (or year) after watching it? Share yours
in the comments below, and don't forget to follow the BuzzFeed Community for a
chance to be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed post or video!
Some entries have been edited for length and/or clarity.

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