the scariest genre of horror

Out of all the movies genres out there (Action, Sci-Fi, Romance, Thriller) psychological horror has got be my favorite, and I am here to explain why it should be everyone's favorite and how underrated these movies actually are.

[benzi]

“The Alien” from Annihilation by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow is the music playing in the background 👍🏻

[pajchoking]

Psychological horror is literally a jumpscare but the jumpscare never happens and the tension and the rising up are in the whole movie.

[audreyvandecauter]

I suffer from severe anxiety, and whenever my anxiety was so bad that I could barely function, I would immediately turn to horror. It was like retraining my mind, instead of feeling crippling "fear" over nothing in particular, the feeling would be associated with the horror movie, and once the movie finished, my anxiety would have disappeared too.

[corpspunk]

Even as a kid, who was OBSESSED with psychology and horror, I’ve always held a deep seated love with Psychological Horror. Hereditary for example did a great job of making the viewer feel trapped yet intrigued in what was to happen next. The after effects...leaves an indelible mark on the brain (no pun intended lol)

[LordGreninjack]

Ok that analogy using just a black screen was actually genius. Had me absolutely terrified.

[anna]

Florence Pugh's acting in Midsommar is some of the realest acting I've ever seen. The depiction of living with traumatic grief was spot on

[adamcupples]

I think the most unnerving thing about the babadook and hereditary is quite simple, there's no comfort, no happy lovely idealic family who slowly go insane, there's always tension, always drama and you actually feel uncomfortable

[punkrckr]

Your observation about the dinner scene in Hereditary is solid. A lot of horror movies try to make you feel something by suddenly popping a ghost on the screen, but for anyone who's ever had an interaction like that with their mom, Hereditary is gonna make you feel a whole lot more than a jumpscare ever will.

[gone]

People at university make jokes about how I don’t have emotions for not being scared at horror movies.
It’s not because I’m “too brave” to be scared. It’s just that horror movies that depend on jump scares really can’t catch my attention.
The type of horror that do really terrifies me are psychological horror, body horror and cosmic horror.
If someone wants to scare me, they can’t do it via jump scares.
This is why artists like Junji Ito are completely my favorite horror creators.

[EncoreBetch]

Babadook was always a terrifying movie for me. I grew up with chronic paranoia, and still have it, and because the movie revolves around tension building up and just never ending, I stayed up at night just becoming insanely traumatized and anxious. Truly a scary movie when you have mental illnesses.

[Luke]

I will say, That Insidious jumpscare is probably one of the best ever done, and I hate jumpscares. It wasn’t cheap, it was completely out of nowhere, you had no idea what you just saw and you’re joining the other characters in their surprise and fear. Another great one that comes to mind is the lawnmower in Sinister, probably the best jumpscare of all time. I much prefer suspense and disturbing imagery, like Hereditary or the Babadook. But I think a perfected jumpscare can still be super effective

[torytellstales]

I have to agree with using horror movies to calm you:
If you're sad and you go to watch a romance movie, it will make you feel ten times worse afterwards because you'll wish you were that lucky person who gets someone

If you watch a comedy movie when you're feeling sad, it may temporarily relieve your sadness but then you'll just bounce right back to sadness, action can have the same effect, being much worse because you'll wish you were a badass or you had a hero

Horror movies actually make you see things could be much worse for you, and therefore can brighten you up

[hypnoteapot]

Toni Colette is one the best actresses of her generation. Everything she touches is gold (about a boy, little miss sunshine, Hereditary). She needs more recognition.

[mattbondcomposer]

3:39 I never noticed before, but the lamp and table shadow mimick the silhouette profile of the Babadook in the next shot. Perfect cinematography. Everything is designed to relate to the paranoia of the protagonist.

[nobodyimportant]

I like to imagine that either the babadook is a character made up by the kid who he attributes the behavior of his mother to in order to pretend she's innocent, or that the babadook actually comes to parents who regret parenthood and gives them what they secretly want.

[OfficiallyOfficial]

Holy crap I actually got so scared by a black screen... HOW!?

[KMakoENVtuber]

That dinner scene in Hereditary, and the entire existence of Carrie’s mother really mess with me since I dealt with angry parents for the most of my childhood…nothing scares me more than an overbearing mother with a short fuse. Not demons, not a serial killer, not even the end of the world, scared me as much as my mother in a rage, taking my bedroom door off my hinges, just because I had a few C’s or D’s on a report card progress report.

[FuckTheYoutubeUsernameChange]

I love when the monster or threat is directly tied to the struggles of the protagonist. The Babadook is specifically representative of the grief that is slowly eating up our main character. It's why I love Silent Hill and P.T. so much.
Hereditary on the other hand reminds me of personal trauma far too much for me to ever be able to enjoy it. Even the mention of it makes me feel deeply uncomfortable and disturbed. Yes it's effective, but I will never watch it and avoid it where ever I can.

[QuestNation]

This is why I personally love horror as it’s so subjective. What might scare one person, might not scare another. The most effective horror film in recent memory for me was The Babadook.

[tituslafrombois]

To anyone who loves psychological horror, I can't recommend Possession (1981) enough. Genuinely one of the most distressing films I've ever watched.