tourist movie horror

The Scariest Travel Horror Movies Of All Time

Holidays and trips are generally supposed to be fun-filled occasions when a person and their friends or family get to enjoy fresh scenery away from the monotony of home. But since horror movies' favorite thing to do is subvert the expectations of what should happen when everything is going smoothly, when travel goes wrong in a genre movie, it goes fully into a lower circle of hell for everyone involved. Where relaxation might have originally been the name of the travel game, everyone's plans must quickly shift from tourist/traveler to survival mode as they battle supernatural and/or human monsters, often to the death.

Travel horror movies have spectacularly high body counts as the protagonists struggle to stay alive in the added stress of an unfamiliar or foreign land they must navigate along with whatever fresh horror the story brings into their orbit. From family reunions gone wrong, road trips run off-road, the spooky side of international relocation, plane crashes, and even research voyages abroad that end in murder and mayhem, these are the scariest travel horror movies of all time.

Don't Look Now

Based on Daphne DuMaurier's chilling novel of the same name, Don't Look Now follows John and Laura Baxter after the drowning death of their young daughter Christine in the pond next to their English country home. Overwhelmed by grief and post-traumatic stress, the Baxters send their son to boarding school in London and the couple retreats to Venice, where John will be helping restore an ancient church. While enjoying a canal-side meal, the Baxters meet Heather and Wendy; Heather claims to be psychic, and has messages for the Baxters from Christine. Heather says Christine's spirit has been following them around. 

Told in a phantasmagorical style that weaves a variety of enigmatic imagery throughout the movie, Don't Look Now  sees John become obsessed with a child's figure he sees running around Venice in the same red raincoat his daughter used to wear. Time also becomes slippery as John's grief plays tricks on his mind, all the while reports of a serial killer roaming Venice adds another menacing backdrop to this lush, haunting, and shocking installment of travel horror.

When Adelaide was a little girl she went with her family to Santa Cruz, California on vacation. While there, she wandered off and encountered a doppelgänger who assaulted her, and the experience left her temporarily mute. 

Decades later, Adelaide returns to Santa Cruz with her husband Gabe and their two children Zora and Jason, even against Adelaide's better judgment and her terrible premonition that little girl she once saw was out to hurt her. When a family appears on their doorstep, looking just like them, Adelaide's nightmare turns into her family's too, as the violent interlopers terrorize and torture the family. 

As it turns out, there is an entire world of people living underground who share a soul with their identical twins above, and they have surfaced to reclaim lives that were taken from them in this ghastly experiment. As our heroes battle their Tethereds, the truth of Adelaide's shocking past is finally revealed in a terrifying and heartbreaking climax, securing Us as one of the scariest travel films ever.

Death Proof

As if airports aren't uncomfortable enough, in Quentin Tarantino 's grindhouse film Death Proof , an airport is the hunting ground for a serial killer named Stuntman Mike who chooses his female victims in the parking lot. The first half tells the story of Austin DJ Jungle Julia, Shanna, and their visiting friend Arlene, who meet Stuntman Mike at local bar. Arlene notices Mike's creepy muscle car with an aggressive skull and lightning bolt design on its hood and suspects he's been following them. As the night winds down, Mike claims that his stunt car is death proof, but only for the person driving it, as he vehicular murders Pam to go on to crash his car into Shanna's, brutally killing the group of women and somehow surviving. 

In the next chunk of Death Proof , Stuntman Mike targets a group of stunt women in Lebanon, Tennessee who've just picked up their friend Zoe Bell (playing herself) visiting from New Zealand. Zoe's plan is to play ship's mast on a white Dodge Challenger, which just happens to be available for sale locally. With Bell performing her own stunts on the hood of the car, Death Proof is an adrenaline-fueled exercise in terror as the women fight to survive their encounter with one of the screen's most unusual serial killers.

An American Werewolf in London

"Stay off the moors" are the very simple instructions that American tourists David and Jack receive while backpacking through Scotland. But the two men stray off the road and find themselves lost in the swamps and summarily attacked by what they thought was a wolf. Jack is killed on the spot and David badly mauled, waking up days later in a London hospital being tended by a beautiful nurse named Alex who invites him into her home. Unfortunately for David, he finds out the hard way that it wasn't a wolf that attacked him — it was a werewolf , and now he's turned into one too, terrorizing London and brutalizing its citizens. 

While there are definitely comedic elements to An American Werewolf in London thanks to director John Landis' dark sense of humor, make no mistake that this movie is absolutely horrifying. David is haunted by the ghosts of his victims as well as Jack, whose body decomposes throughout the film, and it also features one of the best and most painful-looking werewolf transformations in horror history. The ending is as tragic as it is heart-wrenching.

After her sister stages a murder-suicide that includes their parents, a traumatized Dani decides to go to along with her anthropologist boyfriend Christian and his classmates to Sweden for thesis research. While the scenery is beautiful and lush, drenched in light as Sweden's summers only have a few hours of darkness each night, Dani and company quickly sense that not everything is as idyllic as it appears on the surface. This foreboding kicks into overdrive when the group is invited to witness a suicide ceremony that takes the lives of the two oldest members of the community. 

Is it the steady stream of hallucinogens that the visitors are drinking or is something more sinister going on as one by one, the foreigners disappear from the village until only Dani and Christian remain?  Midsommar is a technicolor nightmare that ends as horrifically as it started, making this one of the creepiest travel horror movies of all time.

Paxton and Josh are quintessential "ugly Americans" backpacking across Europe via train, behaving badly and not feeling even remotely responsible to act any other way. On their travels, they meet a guy who tells them they should go to Bratislava, Slovakia because women there are famously beautiful with liberal sexual inhibitions. But after a night of wild partying with said women, first their Icelandic friend Oli goes missing, then Josh and a Japanese tourist named Yuki.

When Paxton is kidnapped, we quickly realize that tourists are being bought and sold on the dark web in order to be tortured and killed by their purchasers. The monsters in Hostel are very human, and while many find the film more gory than scary, it certainly made a lot of people reconsider their backpacking trips across Europe for years after the film came out.

Fifteen years ago, Loretta broke off contact with her parents after she eloped with her professor, a union her folks disapproved of that ended in a violent altercation between the three of them. But now Loretta's kids Tyler and Becca are curious about their family, and Loretta arranges for them to take the train and stay with Nana and PopPop for a week while Loretta goes on a cruise with her new boyfriend. Having never even seen a photo of their grandparents, Tyler and Becca have no idea what to expect, but they certainly don't expect to see Nana running around naked at night and projectile vomiting, or PopPop's weird behavior and strangely menacing stories. There's also a strange smell coming from the basement which the kids have been told is mold, but turns out to be far from it. 

By the end, everyone's holiday's were ruined and the body count reaches five, quite a feat for a film with a small cast of just eight people. In classic M. Night Shyamalan style, the twist in The Visit is hard to see coming and is sufficiently scary to have made this one of the most disturbing travel horror movies of all time.

Karen Davis is just a regular American exchange student in Japan sent on a simple task to take care of a housebound American living locally. But what Karen doesn't know is that Emma's house is haunted by the horrifying specter Kayako, who was murdered by her husband along with their child and even their pet in a fit of his jealous rage. Her restless spirit turned into a demonic entity due to the violence of Kayako's death, and this entity now comes with a curse that falls on anyone who enters her dwelling. 

All of Karen's best attempts to defeat Kayako fail, and in the end this American in a Tokyo suburb finds herself fully enmeshed in Kayako's terrible story. Filled to the brim with effective and disturbing jump scares as well as a truly creepy story based on the original Japanese film Ju-On , The Grudge will make you think twice about that exchange program, or going anywhere at all outside the safety of your own curse-free home.

After a shipwreck that finds Jenn washed ashore along with her badly injured friend Brad on a deserted island, she is further horrified to find the graves of a family long dead buried on the island. Using her wits, Jenn cobbles together what she can of their belongings to try and save Brad, but it's already too late. She buries him along with the family and waits for rescue. But after night falls, she sees and hears a monstrous creature coming out of the water and onto land. It devours what was left of Brad's body. 

Sweetheart features a powerhouse performance by Kiersey Clemons as Jenn battles not just the aquatic monster that has a taste for human flesh, but also the strange circumstances that led to the shipwreck in the first place. When her boyfriend Lucas and frenemy Mia show up on the island, their erratic and abusive behavior is as terrifying as the creature who has been terrorizing Jenn for days. Sweetheart features both human and supernatural monsters on the remote island, securing its place as one of the more unique (and scariest) travel horror movies of all time.

The Descent

As extreme sports enthusiasts, Sarah and her friends meet every year in a different place around the world to tackle whatever the local physical feat would be, from rock climbing to white water rafting. But after a terrible car accident in Scotland kills Sarah's husband and daughter, the next time the friends meet in North Carolina to spelunk Appalachian caves is a melancholy reunion for a still-grieving Sarah who is also suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. While cave diving deep through a narrow corridor —  The Descent is a claustrophobic's nightmare come to life — a cave-in blocks the group of women, who soon find that their group leader Juno has taken them into an unknown cave system with no apparent way out as they continue down, down, down. 

As if the enclosed spaces weren't already terrifying enough, the women are quickly set upon by a group of flesh-eating humanoid monsters who have adapted perfectly to cave living. As the women use their considerable skills to find their way out, their friendships are put to the test as much as their physical abilities and primal survival modes. The European ending is one of the grimmest you'll ever see, but even the American version with a sole survivor remains a most terrifying example of travel horror.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

While road tripping, Sally, her brother Franklin, and their friends make the mistake of picking up a hitchhiker between towns. The hitchhiker is an odd duck and creeps the group out even before he pulls out a razor and cuts Franklin, forcing the group to kick him out of the car. Reeling from the strange encounter, they continue on their trip with one detour to a local swimming hole that ends up being their next big mistake. 

The pond is next to the Sawyer home, which houses a demented family of torture murderers who also like to eat their victims, and it's not long before Leatherface and his chainsaw are after Sally and her friends. Tobe Hooper's brutal Texas Chain Saw Massacre is so scary particularly because of the banal settings of a road trip and back-country Texas that become the backdrop to some of the most disturbing imagery ever put to screen.

You're Next

When Erin travels with her boyfriend Crispian Davison to his family reunion at their huge vacation estate in suburban Missouri, she's nervous about meeting his wealthy family for the first time, especially since she didn't grow up as a person of means. When things begin getting tense at the first group dinner, Erin thinks it's just family drama playing out — until an arrow flies through the dormer window, killing Aimee Davison's boyfriend Tariq and wounding the older Davison brother, Drake. 

All of their cellphones go dead and soon a group of intruders wearing animal masks breaches the mansion and brutally stalks and kills Davison family members one by one. As Erin uses her skills from a traumatic survivalist childhood to outwit the killers, she discovers that Crispian has his own terrible secrets, which have turned him and his brother Felix into the worst kind of human monsters. Family reunions are always complicated in one way or another as dysfunctional family dynamics can rise to the surface. But in  You're Next , these tensions turn deadly, making us all wonder about skipping our own. 

Tara and her friends travel to Ireland from the U.S. to visit with their local buddy Jack to explore the Irish countryside as well as its natural abundance of magic mushrooms for a different kind of trip entirely. Jack warns them of the difference between psilocybin mushrooms and the dangerous death's bell mushroom that can provoke serious psychosis. Tara gets confused, though, and accidentally pops a death's bell, prompting a seizure.

On their jaunt through the glorious moss-covered woods they come upon an abandoned building that Jack later tells them was a children's home until the head monk in charge went mad and killed a bunch of people. Already having consumed their fair share of hallucinogenic mushrooms, Tara starts having even more disturbing visions of her own that might be premonitions about her friends' murders at the hand of said monk. 

But as the body count rises and the menacing monk along with his various familiars sets an unsettling scene in such a lush surrounding, we find out that nothing is quite what it has seemed, nor is Tara who we think she is. Shrooms is a cautionary tale about following simple instructions when visiting a foreign land. Your life could totally depend on it.

Jessie Burlingame and her friends are on their way to a hiking and camping trip in the West Virginia hills when their tires suddenly go flat. As they investigate, they realize that the road has been booby-trapped and their concern shifts to who might be targeting them. In the process, they connect with a medical student named Chris who'd been sent down the same wrong turn as Jessie, Carly, Scott, Evan, and Francine as the attacks on the group escalate. While the group fights for survival, they discover their stalkers are a group of inbred cannibal killers who enjoy playing terribly with their food before murdering and cooking the folks they entrap off that beaten path. 

Wrong Turn features a solid hat-tip to Stephen King 's Gerald's Game character Jessie Burlingame, and Jessie in the movie is even handcuffed to a bed just as she is in King's story. While the quality of the many sequels to Wrong Turn quickly devolved, the original is taut and suspenseful with sufficiently terrifying human monsters to make it one of the scariest travel horror movies of all time.

After a robbery gone wrong takes Rob's life while his friend Luke witnesses the incident, Rob's four best friends decide to voyage to Sweden in his honor. Against the backdrop of this terrible trauma as well as the lush Swedish landscape (which is actually the Carpathian Mountains of Romania), the four friends honor Rob's memory until Dom badly injures his knee and can't walk. The group decides to cut through the forest in the hopes of getting back to civilization faster, but they soon find a number of disturbing elements including gutted animals and strange little objects everywhere. 

Tensions in the group rise after they find a cabin filled with esoteric objects and paintings that seem to have a hypnotic effect on the group, among other things. Luke soon realizes they are being stalked by something massive and inhuman in the woods as his friends are snatched one by one, triggering his trauma of Rob's murder too. By the third act of The Ritual , the folk horror aspects are fully revealed as Luke must make a choice for his own life and redemption. This violent and grotesque tale of a memorial holiday gone totally off the rails should really make you just want to stay home.

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17 Movies Where A Perfect Vacation Turns Into A Total Nightmare

There's always a little anxiety that goes into any vacation, even without the reminders of the perils facing the characters in these vacation horror movies . Yet, the lure of faraway places wouldn't be the same without a little hint of danger, and sometimes the reminder that, when we're far from home, we're also more vulnerable adds a bit of spice to the experience. Whether they make us more likely to venture out or less, however, there's no denying we love to watch tourist horror movies, where vacationing foreigners often wind up on the wrong side of the locals, their surroundings, or sometimes even the weather.

Vote up the movies that feature the vacations you would least like to be included on…

• Lions Gate Films

For many American students, backpacking across Europe is something of a rite of passage. And many of those who do so decide to stay in hostels scattered across the continent. Which makes the setting of Eli Roth's notorious 2005 film - a hostel in Slovakia that hides a sinister secret - a particularly nightmarish one for many.

The premise here is that a group called the Elite Hunting Club allows wealthy individuals to pay to mutilate and kill tourists, who are kidnapped for that very purpose. The latest targets are a pair of Americans (Jay Hernandez and Derek Richardson) who are lured to the Slovakian hostel by a stranger they meet while vacationing in the Netherlands. The results are unpleasant for all involved.

• Dimension Films

There are plenty of dangers that come along with backpacking across the Australian Outback. We've all heard the jokes about how everything in Australia wants to kill you, so the last danger we probably concern ourselves with when we imagine crossing the vast Australian countryside is a deranged loner like Mick Taylor, the villain who haunts Greg McLean's 2005 film. Yet, the events of the film were based loosely on real life slayings that targeted backpackers in the region, committed by individuals such as Ivan Milat, in the '90s, and Bradley Murdoch in 2001.

In the movie, Mick has obviously been preying on travelers for a while, but his most recent targets are three backpackers, two of them British tourists played by Cassandra Magrath and Kestie Morassi. The film was successful enough that it spawned not only a sequel but a TV series.

The Descent

Here in the United States, when we think of vacations, we tend to think of traveling abroad. But, of course, not everyone lives in the US, and the States are as likely to be a tourist destination as anywhere. Such is the case with the group of friends in Neil Marshall's The Descent , six female thrill-seekers who have gathered in North Carolina to go spelunking.

Unfortunately, they find themselves trapped in unfamiliar caves, which would be bad enough, but they also find that they're not alone down there. The caves are home to “crawlers,” subterranean humanoids that may have once evolved (devolved?) from humans trapped underground. They are pallid and monstrous-looking and can see perfectly in the dark. They're also very, very carnivorous, as the friends find out to their great misfortune.

Midnight Express

• Columbia Pictures

Many of us like to use our vacations to travel to locations that are, to us, exotic. Of course, the downside of going someplace new is that it's unfamiliar, which can be a real pleasure as a tourist, but can become a nightmare if, for example, you become embroiled in the region's legal system. For the most part, legal systems in most countries are designed for residents, not foreigners, and even without corruption or intentional malice, it can be easy for outsiders to become lost in the system.

Perhaps one of the most iconic stories of his happening is Midnight Express , the 1978 classic from a screenplay by Oliver Stone, adapted from Billy Hayes's autobiographical book of the same name, which recounts his experiences after being arrested and imprisoned in Istanbul, Turkey for smuggling hashish while on vacation.

The downside to the Oscar-winning film's success is its negative impact on the reputation not just of the Turkish prison and legal systems, but of Turkey itself - a fact that Stone himself has acknowledged, even saying he “ over-dramatized ” the truth. That admission came after Hayes himself complained about the liberties the film took, saying it misrepresented and exaggerated his experiences . He and Stone both apologized for the film's negative impact on Turkey's reputation.

47 Meters Down

• Entertainment Studios

Being trapped is scary. Drowning is scary. Sharks are scary. Combine all three, and you've got the surprise 2017 hit 47 Meters Down , which did well enough that it prompted a sequel in 2019. While vacationing in Mexico, two sisters decide to go cage diving, an act which, while thrilling, should not normally be particularly dangerous. However, in their case, the cable breaks, plunging the cage to the sea floor and trapping them there with a depleting air supply, surrounded by great white sharks.

Of course, help is right above them, but to reach it they'll have to swim up those eponymous 47 meters through all the sharks, and there's the added difficulties that come with being so deep in the ocean to consider, which makes their continued survival a distinctly touch-and-go situation.

The Impossible

• Summit Entertainment

When we think about our vacations turning into nightmares, we often imagine ourselves at the mercy of some kind of human villainy. Criminals, kidnappers, backwoods cannibals, pagan cults, and the like. What we may be less likely to consider is the threat we face from the natural world. In J.A. Bayona's Oscar-winning 2012 film The Impossible , the threat faced by Doctor Maria Bennett (Naomi Watts), her husband Henry (Ewan McGregor), and their children (including a young Tom Holland in his first role), is none other than the real-life 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Based on a true story, the film follows the family as they are vacationing in Thailand when the tsunami hits. In the carnage that follows, they are separated and placed in grave danger, but manage to find their way back to one another.

Brokedown Palace

• 20th Century Fox

A lot of problems on vacation begin when not everyone is on the same page. For example, if you tell your folks you're going to Hawaii for your after-graduation trip, like Alice and Darlene (Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale) do in Brokedown Palace , then you should probably go to Hawaii and not Thailand.

And if you do go to Thailand, be careful who you get too caught up with, and don't get framed as a drug mule after a smuggler slips some heroin into your luggage. Otherwise, you might find yourself sentenced to spending most of the rest of your life in prison in Thailand, which is almost certainly not on anyone's bucket list.

A Perfect Getaway

• Universal Pictures

Writer/director David Twohy ( Pitch Black ) assembled quite a cast for his vacation in paradise from 2009. The suspects include Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant, and even future Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth. In short order, the film becomes a kind of Hitchcockian whodunit, as two couples who are vacationing in a remote part of Hawaii begin hanging out together before suspecting that one of the pair may not be quite what they seem. In fact, it appears that someone has been knocking off tourists and assuming their identities, and each of the two couples begins to suspect that the other may be the culprits.

But which is which? That's the puzzler in this thriller that reminds you that no matter how gorgeous the surroundings are, it doesn't matter when you're running for your life.

• Aquarius Releasing

Five surgeons embark on a fishing trip deep into the wilderness of Northern Ontario in this too-often forgotten 1977 classic, part of a regular outing they've done together for years, picking a new destination each time. This go 'round, however, they seem to have chosen the wrong one, as they wake to find their boots missing.

What's more, unfortunate “accidents” begin to befall them and, before long, they realize they are being stalked and tormented by an unseen assailant, someone who has a grudge against them due, it turns out, to their shared profession. By the time they realize that they are dealing with a disfigured and brain damaged military veteran whose own botched surgeries are to blame for his ailments, most of their number have already been picked off in gruesome and horrific ways.

Depending on how you parse its various themes, Ari Aster's Midsommar has a lot of valuable lessons to teach, such as: if your relationship is already on the rocks and you're struggling to recover from some serious trauma, don't take a trip to visit a weird human sacrifice cult in rural Sweden. Actually, that might be good advice no matter what your overall relationship or current mental health status may be.

Sure, the Harga, a commune in Sweden's Halsingland region, seems idyllic enough at first. The natural surroundings are beautiful and the people all seem friendly… until folks start disappearing or dropping like flies.

The first American production filmed on location in Brazil, the 2006 film Turistas opened to some serious controversy, both in that country and in the States. This is partly due to the fact that Brazil is not portrayed in an exactly flattering light, but it's also because the film's attempt at social commentary paints its villainous organ harvesters as getting back at Americans for years of colonialist exploitation… which is a weird tack to take, absolutely.

Still, the film taps into “ America's fears of traveling abroad ,” as director John Stockwell put it, as a busload of tourists, played by the likes of Josh Duhamel, Olivia Wilde, and Melissa George, are trapped together, drugged, and subjected to the depredations of the aforementioned sadistic organ harvesters.

The Most Dangerous Game

• RKO Radio Pictures

Filmed contemporaneously with King Kong , on the same jungle sets and using many of the same cast and crew, The Most Dangerous Game was a much less ambitious film, but had nearly as sizable an impact on popular culture. Adapted from a 1924 short story by Richard Connell, it was the first time (of many) the tale would be adapted to the screen, both officially and otherwise.

The plot concerns a Russian hunter named Count Zaroff, who lives on a jungle island where he intentionally shipwrecks passing vessels so that he can hunt their passengers for sport. His most recent marks are the survivors of a wrecked luxury yacht, including a fellow big game hunter, in whom Zaroff takes a special interest. The visuals of this pre-Code horror film became notorious and remain unsettling, even to this day, including human heads mounted on walls and preserved in glass jars. 

Anyone who has ever visited a vacation spot that looked perfect in the brochure but turned out to be less-than-idyllic in person knows that first impressions can be deceiving. Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a young American seeking adventure in Bangkok when he stumbles upon what seems to be the perfect getaway - an unspoiled and secluded beach, kept secret from most of the world and inhabited by only a small community of individuals from all over the globe.

Unfortunately, the seemingly pristine spot has its dark side, as Richard and his companions soon learn, running across drug traffickers and the jealousies and rivalries that individuals bring with them, even when they're trying to get away from it all.

The Man Who Knew Too Much

• Paramount Pictures

An extremely loose remake of his 1934 film of the same name, Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) is not only a classic of the “wrong place, wrong time” genre, but also one of the seminal “people on vacation getting in over their head” pictures. In this case, the people are Ben and Jo McKenna (James Stewart and Doris Day) who are vacationing in Morocco with their young son when they get caught up in a plot to take out a political figure.

When their son is kidnapped, they find themselves forced to become directly involved in the matter, traveling from Morocco to London in order to thwart the assassination attempt and rescue their boy. In addition to being a bona fide Hitchcock classic, The Man Who Knew Too Much is also the birthplace of the famous song, “Que Sera, Sera," which won an Oscar when it was released.

And Soon The Darkness

• Warner-Pathe

Two British nurses (Pamela Franklin and Michele Dotrice) are on a cycling holiday through rural France when one of them goes missing. The other searches frantically, but can find few people to help her, and those she does find seem like they might harbor sinister motives, especially once she learns that the place where her friend disappeared was the site of an unsolved assault and slaying a year before.

And Soon the Darkness was directed by Robert Fuest, whose other film credits include such horror classics as The Abominable Dr. Phibes and The Devil's Rain , an co-written by Brian Clemens, who would go on to direct Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter for Hammer films. The 1970 British original got an American remake in 2010, which moved the action to Argentina and cast Amber Heard, Karl Urban, and Odette Annable.

Produced by Luca Guadagnino, this 2021 Netflix original follows an American tourist in Greece (John David Washington) who finds himself caught up in dangerous political unrest after an accident that claims the life of his girlfriend. Though he, himself, struggles to find a reason to go on living, he must suddenly fight for his life against duplicitous cops and even agents of the United States embassy who are involved in a plot to cover up a political kidnapping and assassination within the country.

Before long, he is on a run for his life trying to get back to Athens to reach the American embassy and hopefully safety, though he finds that even with the dubious promise of sanctuary, he never really knows who to trust…

The Girl Who Knew Too Much

• Warner Bros.

Also known as The Evil Eye , Mario Bava's 1963 classic pretty much invented the Italian giallo genre. In it, Leticia Roman plays a young woman vacationing in Rome who has come to visit her aunt when she witnesses a murder. However, the body soon disappears, and the authorities don't believe her. However, she has, as the title implies, seen too much, and is soon on the villain's radar, as more bodies pile up, all tied to a decades-old series of slayings that will eventually be unraveled.

Largely considered the first giallo film, many of the elements that define that genre are already present here, including the outsider (often a foreigner) who knows too much, but who is disbelieved by the authorities until it's too late.

• Entertainment
• Graveyard Shift
• Watchworthy

The best horror movies in every subgenre of horror. Whether it's evil dolls, terrible vacations, or anything in between, we've got a list for it.

10 Horror Movies That Will Make You Rethink Traveling Abroad

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Every Horror Movie Releasing in September 2024

10 old black and white sci-fi movies that still hold up, why chris evans called his first 4 movies 'really terrible'.

Travel broadens the mind, opening our eyes to other cultures and incredible lands beyond our own. With traveling being limited these past several years, the opening of travel lanes has gifted the world with an influx of tourism. People crave these new experiences, so they fly off around the world in search of adventure.

It always benefits the would-be traveler to approach each new situation with a sense of caution. If horror movies have taught us anything, the outside world can be a scary place, but these 10 films take the idea to a whole new level. After watching the films on this list, the idea of traveling abroad may no longer hold the same appeal for you. In fact, the monsters and threats they introduce may just convince you to never leave your house again.

10 The Wicker Man (2006)

The Wicker Man opens like most typical noir thrillers. Police officer Edward Malus receives a call from his ex, Willow. He learns that her daughter, Rowan, has gone missing on a remote island off of the coast of Washington state. There, he finds a once-thriving society of pagan worshipers, who survive financially off of their now-dying honey farms. As his investigation into Rowan’s disappearance escalates, and he discovers that the citizens of this island society are shrouded in secrets, Malus’ adventures on the island quickly turn horrifying.

While the original 1973 film is by far the better movie, the remake starring Nicolas Cage is the more memed of the two, and it better shows the horrors of travel. Edward Malus might only be a few miles off of the coast of American soil, but he is completely out of his element amidst this neo-pagan coven. His agenda forces him to experience nearly every part of their culture, from their education to their religion. This culture shock culminates in one of the most brutal (and arguably most hilarious ) ritual death scenes in any horror movie.

9 As Above, So Below (2014)

Equal parts Indiana Jones and The Descent , As Above, So Below is one of the more underrated gems on this list. Scarlett Marlowe is obsessed with finishing her father’s life work: finding the Philosopher’s Stone. This alchemical tool can supposedly turn iron to gold and grant the user eternal life. After finding evidence that the Stone might be buried deep beneath the Paris Catacombs, Scarlett enlists a team to sneak into the deepest, darkest corners of the underground network. However, nothing is as it seems, and as the magic of the stone begins to alter their perceptions of reality, the team must face their greatest fears.

Given their popularity as a tourist hotspot, the Paris Catacombs are the perfect destination for an internationally focused horror movie. Full of the bones of thousands of deceased, the location is chilling all on its own. Throw in the mystically charged visions the expedition is forced to confront, detailing their darkest failures, and you might just have enough incentive to take Paris off of your list of dream destinations.

8 The Ritual (2017)

The idyllic mountain views. The lush forests of evergreens. The Ritual makes a great case for visiting Sweden, at least in the beginning. Four friends honor their fallen friend by taking a hiking trip into the Swedish wilds. After one injures their knee, they decide to cut their journey in half by stepping off the path. When they arrive at an abandoned cabin with a wooden idol in the attic, things start to get weird. Something is hunting them in the woods, something that can make them see visions of their worst fears, and as they die, one by one, they learn that sometimes you should just stay on the path.

The Ritual is brilliant in the way it introduces the viewer to the beauty of the region before ripping it all away in sudden, bloody violence. The monster at the heart of this film isn't seen until the very end, but its presence is felt in every cracking twig and moving shadow. The Ritual works because it isn't about the monster; it is about the four friends, lost and broken in more ways than the physical. While the hiking trip was only meant to bring them closer together, it only ensures their demise. Also, if you're interested in other work adapted from Adam Neville's novels, check out No One Gets Out Alive, which focuses on rampant colonization and the theft of cultural artifacts.

7 The Conjuring 2 (2016)

The Conjuring 2 sees famed demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren take their paranormal adventures overseas as they are asked to investigate a potential case of demonic possession in London. The Hodgson family is being besieged by a powerful demonic entity, one that has even stretched its bony fingers into American hauntings. With the rainy streets of London as a backdrop, Ed and Lorraine must work together to stop Valak's incursion into our realm and save the young girl, even if it puts their lives at risk.

The Conjuring universe of films has made Ed and Lorraine Warren's adventures iconic in not only the supernatural communities but in pop culture as well. While The Conjuring 2 wasn't as well received as the first, it is still full of the terrifying spirits and touching storytelling that are hallmarks of this series. London is a city full of paranormal history; the center for spiritualism in the late 1800s, it only makes sense that the Warrens found themselves there in 1977. While the city doesn't play a major role in the film, the dark history of London only feeds the terror at its heart. It is the perfect setting for the introduction of one of horror's most terrifying antagonists in Valak

Related: The Conjuring Universe: Every Movie, Ranked

6 Old (2021)

We all crave a warm, sunny tropical vacation. With the sun above and the sand between our toes, it seems like time simply slips away. M. Night Shyamalan took this concept and made it reality in his 2021 film Old . Capitalizing on pandemic-driven fears surrounding travel and isolation, Old follows a group of tourists as they vacation at a luxury hotel, given access to a secret, private beach. While there, they quickly discover that they are losing years of their lives with each hour that passes, turning their idyllic beach vacation into a nightmare.

Shyamalan's films can be divisive for horror fans, but it is hard to argue that Old is terrifying in a whole new way. There isn't some looming monster waiting to devour the tourists. Just a beach and a few poor decisions. The group of tourists simply came to this tropical island to relax and unwind; instead, they lost years of their lives and the vast majority end up dead. There is, of course, a Shyamalan twist at the end of the film, revealing that there is an overarching villain, but it doesn't change the fact that Old makes you rethink that beach resort vacation.

5 Dracula (1931)

By now, everyone knows the story of Dracula , Bram Stoker's iconic vampire that has given the world nightmares since 1897. While not the oldest vampire story, the Transylvanian Count has become the most iconic vampire in modern pop culture. The 1931 film follows Renfield, a London solicitor who arrives in Transylvania to sell properties in London to one Count Dracula. While there, he encounters several horrifying supernatural entities, including his vampiric host and his three monstrous wives. Enslaved to the vampire, Renfield escorts his new master back to London, completing his bloody world-spanning circuit.

While there have been plenty of adaptations of Bram Stoker's story, the 1931 classic starring Bela Lugosi has defined pop culture. Lugosi is the face of Dracula in much the same way as Boris Karloff is the face of Frankenstein, and with the new Universal Monsters comic book series coming to Image Comics, now is the perfect time to check out this terrifying classic. Renfield's travels to Transylvania may be tame in comparison to modern horror, but this film is unique on this list as Renfield actually makes it home. And like any good trip abroad, his experiences in Transylvania follow him home, quite literally in his case.

4 Midsommar (2019)

Ari Aster's Midsommar has become a horror classic alongside his debut film, Hereditary. While Hereditary focuses on the struggles of a grieving family besieged by supernatural threats, the monster here is far more human. Another film on this list taking place in Sweden (seriously, Sweden, what's the deal?), Midsommar follows Dani, an American college student left reeling after the murder-suicide committed by her younger sister. In an attempt to ease her mind, her boyfriend Christian invites her along on a trip to a small community in Sweden. Once there, the group thinks they are about to witness the innocent pageantry of typical midsummer festivals, but under the veneer of bright flowers and charming folk music, they pay witness to some true horrors.

Midsommar succeeds in the way it explores its themes of grief and of isolation. Dani feels truly alone in her group of friends, especially after losing her family in one fell swoop. The trip to Sweden was meant to ease her burden, and in some ways, the end of the film seems to suggest that it does. Even with the horrors she witnesses, Dani ends the film smiling as her boyfriend burns in a fertility sacrifice. Being introduced to a new culture is never easy, but what the group witnesses in Midsommar is beyond anything the travel guides will tell you.

Related: Director Ari Aster's Best Movies, Ranked

3 Final Destination (2000)

Final Destination wins the award for the least distance traveled before the horror begins. Having just boarded a plane to Italy, seven American high school students have their plans changed when Alex Browning has a vision of the plane's imminent destruction. His hysteria has Browning and his classmates removed from the flight, so they get to watch in terror as the plane explodes outside the window. However, Death is greedy, and these seven students were on his list. In some of the most iconic deaths in horror movies, the students begin to die in more and more mysterious ways.

While the horror largely takes place on home soil, Final Destination opens with the group trying to experience a new country. However, fate had different plans for them, and like many travelers, their plans had to be changed at the last minute. While the vast majority of tourists don't have to worry about their plane exploding or the vengeful hatred of Death, Final Destination serves as a good reminder to always go with the flow when you're traveling and to not let inconveniences slow you down. Even if said inconveniences find you being decapitated by flying shrapnel or strangled by sentient shower hoses.

2 The Invitation (2022)

One of the newest films on this list, 2022's The Invitation brings a whole new layer of fear to the vampire genre. After losing her mother, Evie feels lost and alone, with no family to support her. After taking a DNA test, she discovers that she does indeed have family. The product of a scandalous affair between a lady of a London household and a black servant, Evie's ancestors found their way to America. When her new cousin invites her on an all-expenses paid vacation to the marriage of a lord, she thinks it's a dream vacation, especially after meeting the devilishly handsome Walter De Ville. However, her dream vacation turns into a nightmare when the true bride and groom are revealed, and she is forced into a bloody fight for survival.

The Invitation turned heads on its release for its discussion of race and status, and the stately London manor setting brings forth comparisons to its obvious influences in Dracula and other period horror pieces. Combining the sexiness and the monstrousness of vampires in the same film is a tall order, but director Jessica M. Thompson manages to craft a story that perfectly balances the two. More than that, she goes to great lengths to ease the viewer's tension while watching Evie sink into her fantasy vacation, only to make their blood run cold as the vacation sours into violence.

1 Influencer (2022)

The Shudder original film Influencer doesn't have a big supernatural threat, a triple digit body count, or massive budget CGI effects. It doesn't need these things in order to succeed. Instead, director Kurtis David Harbor decided to focus on the real world horrors of traveling abroad. When Instagram influencer Madison travels alone to Thailand for a period of good content and cultural immersion, she finds herself bored and alone in the hotel. This all changes when she meets CW, a local, who takes her to see the best Bangkok has to offer. However, not everything is as it seems with CW, and after a boat excursion to an isolated island goes wrong, Madison's perfect vacation takes a turn for the worst.

Influencer succeeds as a perfect warning for those traveling alone in another country. Its focus on identity theft and the dangers of traveling ignorantly are made all the more terrifying by how realistic they are. Everything that happens to Madison has happened to unfortunate travelers all around the world. It isn't just a brilliant scary movie. It is a very real warning to educate yourself on what could happen when traveling abroad so that you can have the most enjoyable and safest trip possible.

• Movie Lists

20 Travel Horror Movies that Make You Want to Stay Home

I’m writing this post from Bratislava, Slovakia.

To be honest, I was a little hesitant to come here because the only things I knew about this place come from a few movies: Hostel (Parts 1 and 2) and Eurotrip .

Both portrayed this place as an example of a backwards, “evil” Eastern European city.  The truth is this is a great city, full of cool and interesting people.

Now in honor of my misconception about Bratislava, I’ve decided to put together a small list of 20 travel horror movies I feel make people too scared to leave their home.  (But if you’re brave enough..you might want to learn how to start a new life and be able travel to any spot in the world .)

To give you a taste of these flicks, I’ve included the trailer to the ones I could find on YouTube.  I do have to warn that some of these images are fairly strong.  So if you’ve got a weak stomach, then you might want to skip them.

Let’s start with the one that gave me the idea for this list:

#1- Hostel (Parts 1 & 2) :

My opinion?  I don’t recommend watching these movies…I’m not even sure why I did.  The premise is a bunch of backpackers go to Bratislava, get drugged and then end up being tortured to death by millionaires who pay for the privilege of dissecting young people.  Yeah, it’s as messed up as it sounds.

#2- Wolf Creek:

This movie features a trio of backpackers traveling through the Australian Outback who encounter a lunatic that (surprise, surprise) finds unique ways to torture and kill them.

#3- The Human Centipede:

I refuse to see this flick out of principle because the trailer completely horrified me.  But for the sack of this list it’s perfect.  Basically the film two young backpackers (are you sensing a trend here?) encounter a mad German scientist who decides to connect three people, basically forming a ‘human centipede.’  This is one of those movies that make me wonder what’s wrong with the world.  With that said, here’s the trailer…it’s pretty awful.

#4- Blair Witch Project

This is a film that features another trio of characters who go camping in the woods of Maryland to research the myth of the “Blair Witch.”  Shot with a “home video” camera, this movie does a great job of scaring you without using gore or special effects.

#5- Friday the 13 th (Parts 1 through Infinity):

I had to include this ‘cautionary tale’ film series about camping.  Everyone knows the premise so I won’t rehash it here.  On a side note, as a kid I stayed in a campground that was the supposed setting for the first film.  For some reason I had a lot of trouble sleeping during the nights I stayed there.

#6- Deliverance:

This isn’t exactly a horror movie, but if you watch the scene where Ned Beatty ‘squeals like a pig’ you’ll never want to go camping in Georgia.

#7-Cabin Fever:

Here’s another gory camping movie.  This one feature a bunch of dumb, overly-sexed college kids who get infected with a strange disease…it’s definitely not for those with weak stomachs.

#8- An American Werewolf in London

This is a classic example of why it’s dangerous to backpack through Europe.  Two young Americans travel through the English moors when one gets killed by a werewolf, while the other gets bitten and is infected with curse of lycanthropy.  Of course, fun and shenanigans happen when he ends up in London in hairy situation.  (Sorry, I couldn’t resist) .

#9- Touristas (Paradise Lost):

Once again, we have a movie that features a bunch of backpackers.  This time they’re traveling through Brazil when they encounter a bunch of locals who like to harvest organs from “gringos” and donate them to a hospital in Rio de Janeiro.

#10- The Ruins:

This film is a warning about the dangers of messing around with ancient ruins.  Traveling through Mexico, two couples meet a German who brings them to a Mayan temple ruin in the jungle.  Of course, the locals aren’t too happy with this idea and neither is the evil, vine-infesting temple.

#11- The Descent

If you’ve seen this movie, then you’ll probably avoid traipsing around dark, mysterious caves.  The basic premise is six women get trapped in a cave system in the Appalachian Mountains where they’re pursued by a bunch of man-eating humanoid creatures.

#12- The Hills Have Eyes:

This is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen…but it’s great for this list.  Basically it’s a family traveling through a desert that gets waylaid by a group of mutants.

#13- Texas Chainsaw Massacre:

Yet again we have another road trip movie that features a group of cannibals.  In this one it’s a group of young people traveling through rural Texas where they’re hacked to pieces by a deranged family.

#14- The Hitcher:

I like this movie because it’s a great example of the bad things that can happen when you pick up a hitchhiker.  The main character is basically tormented by a hitcher and is framed for a number of murders.  It’s one of those movies that do a great job of combining a bit of gore with a whole lot of suspense.

#15- Brokedown Palace:

I like this example of what happens when you try to transport drugs through an airport.  You get locked away in a brutal, Thailand jail.

#16- The Thing:

This isn’t exactly a travel movie.  But “The Thing” is one of those films that’ll chill and horrify you enough to never go near Antarctica.

#17- Tourist Trap:

Here’s another oldie, but goodie.  This film features a group of teenagers that come across an old ‘tourist trap’ filled with mannequins.  It’s another reminder to never go into places that has any sort of doll…pretty creepy if you ask me.

#18- A Perfect Getaway:

A thriller movie that involves three couples hiking through a remote part of Hawaii.  Of course, it turns out that one of these couples has murderous intentions.

#19- Open Water:

If Jaws wasn’t enough to scare you away from the ocean, Open Water will put the final nail in the coffin.  This movie features a couple who goes scuba diving, but gets accidentally left in the open water (clever title, right?) .  The rest of the film shows them scared out of their minds as they realize they’re going to become shark chum.

#20- Psycho:

Of course I couldn’t leave out the granddaddy of all the “this is what happens when you go to strange places” movies.  It features a young woman who travels out west, ends up in a hotel run by a demented cross-dresser and gets brutally stabbed in a shower.

On another side note, for many years my mom was terrified of the “shower scene.”  Of course this didn’t stop my dad from playing a practical joke on her one day while she was showering.  I think he slept on the couch that night.

Any others???

Hopefully I did a good job of listing a bunch of movies that’ll never make you want to travel again.  But if I missed any, feel free to list them below.

31 thoughts on “20 Travel Horror Movies that Make You Want to Stay Home”

Not a big fan of scary movies but you hit on some classics.

I’ve never camped in Blairstown but being there during the day is quite enough. It’s out in the boonies!

Enjoy your weekend…..and Slovakia 🙂

Ryan Biddulph

Actually I made it safely out of Bratslava. (I write posts a few days in advance usually) So horror stories to tell.

I am actually not a huge horror fan myself..I have not seen every single one of these. I actually dilike the “gore” horror movie trend.

For me ‘good’ horror is filled with suspense.

Funny enough, I’ve only seen two of these movies (#8- An American Werewolf in London and #10 The Ruins). Guess I’m not into either horror or camping movies 🙂

Although, I loved An American Werewolf in London when I was younger. Brings back a lot of memories.

The scariest movie I ever saw (and it gave me chills and scared me for life) was The Fog (the original version).

Hope you’re having fun in Bratislava 🙂

American Werewolf in London is a great movie IMO. Though almost not a horror..I found that to just be kinda ‘fun’ It works well though. I kept telling myslef to “not leave the road” and “don’t go into the moors” when I was visiting England.

Even though most of the places didn’t look like the village from American Werewolf in London

I think the moral of the story here is don’t go camping. Particularly if there is a pretty girl along as you will be likely to end up a corpse while she runs around half naked for a while.

Nice list watch a few of them however i am not a real fan of horror thanks for heads up and enjoy your journey

I love scary movies and watched few in this list, will check the torrents for the others.

Thanks for the collection 🙂

I’m not a big fan of gore, or camping. But sometimes it’s not just back packers that get a surprise when they travel away from home. How about ‘The Shining?’ sometimes it’s not a hostel but a hotel. Sometimes it’s not a holiday, but a job. Always it’s somewhere just a bit off the beaten track.

Hope you’re enjoying your travels! Where to next?

The shining is a great movie, and it would fit too. I didn’t think about it. And I do love Steven King stories. Particularly his older stuff.

As for gore…I am not a fan either. I like “horror” but I like the suspense aspects. I haven’t actually seen all the gore fest films, because sometimes the trailers themselves disturb me too much.

Man, the Hostel movies just made me feel dirty…like I needed a shower in Holy Water directly afterward.

That was quite a witty and also very true statement. I am not really old enough to start despairing for the “future” of the youth who “love” those movies, but they seem to be pretty darn twisted and make me very uneasy. I cannot say that I even liked the fact I watched both.

I absolutely LOVE horror movies – I’ve seen about 18/20 here multiple times. Love them so much.

You pretty much have them nailed in terms of travel movies. The only other one I’d recommend is Irreversible – well, to be honest I wouldn’t recommend it because it’s one of the most disturbing movies you’ll ever watch – it’s just really, really raw.

Yeah, I am not a fan of the “disturbing” ones. I am not even sure why I ever made it thru hostel 1-2. I like horror, but not big on the current “gross out” and “torture” trends. I like suspense and if there is gore I want it to not be realistic…like monsters and such. (not the human kind)

I’m not a massive fan of scary movies – but I do like to watch them occasionally – adrenaline rushes are addictive!

I’ve seen Blair Witch Project, The Descent, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho. None of them where particularly horrifying. I’ve heard of many of the others but haven’t gotten around to watching them – surprisingly not because of the gory bits.

I’d heard somewhere about the human centipede. Can’t recall where though – but I agree that the principle of the thing questions what we are really capable of.

I like Lesley’s mention of the Shining – it’s an awesome movie. Not really scary, but an awesome movie.

The human centipede just about gave me nightmares from only watching the preview.

I definitely like old school horror better actually, without all the gore and simply sick twisted people.

I am a great fan of scary movies and love to watch them again and again…(especially the good ones)

Great fan of Hostel part 1. I do have wolfcreek….seen it about hundred times….

Never had a chance to see The Human Centipede, Tourist trap or the perfect gateway….They are on my list now..

Great share Steve…

You are a braver man than me, most of those kinda give me the willies. They are quite scary, though.

I really like Psycho video. great share steve.

Best ~ Hieu Martin

Glad you liked it Hieu,

Thanks for stopping by and commenting

I am an intrepid traveler although I have stayed put for a while now and after watching your videos am quite happy and secure here in Sydney!! Ha ha..

When I first started travelling I had some of my own travel horror story experiences but you soon learn to live in the present and sense when things are not OK and when not.

Well, Wolf Creek happens in the Australian Outback. So stay safe in Syndey, cause they find ways to get backpackers EVERYWHERE

You do know that the actual Ivan Milat backpacker murders happened in central NSW? Berrima and Belanglo State Forest aren’t that far away from Sydney. Wolf Creek is based on a mixture of cases, sure the Falconio abduction/murder happened in the NT, but these things, same as anywhere are not just things that happen in the middle of nowhere.

Just needed to get that off my mind, since I grew up in a place that’s considered to be in the Outback and felt kind of uncomfortable about the insinuation that all the crazies are out here. Wolf Creek is full of bulldust.

Lol haha just can’t stop blushing! nice one man! thanks for sharing.

I’ve only seen Blair Witch and Psycho because I can’t stomach gore at the movies. I can tolerate reading more than watching. I really appreciate the Hitchcock style scary films. Maybe it’s best for my future travel plans that I haven’t seen most of these!

I actually agree with you. I do not mind reading gore in books, but some of the overly graphic movies (hostel, saw, turistas…a lot on this list) actually really disturb me. Disturb not scare…a slight but important difference

Steve. (p.s.) i knew there was some reason i never enjoyed backpacking or camping. LOL.

I saw all of them! Great picks! I LOVED Paranormal Activity. BUT you have to watch it in the theater. My 17 year old son couldn’t sleep in his room for a week after watching that!

The Exorcism of Emily Rose and of course the original, The Exorcist. The classic scene of Max Von Sydow figure in the doorway on a misty foggy night with terror going on in Regan’s bedroom upstairs. The best!

October looks like a great slew of new horror flicks coming out: Case #39, Let Me In, Hatchet 2, My Soul to Take and soooo looking forward to SAW 7 in 3D!

I like the scary, good suspenseful, and the gore. I squirm and scream and think, “That’s gotta hurt!” and “How stupid can they be? Get out of there!” while I look through my fingers as I cover my eyes in the dark theater….

Nice choice of movies.. I also watched lots of horror movies, in fact Resident evil, Saw, and Final Destination are the best movies I’ve ever watched. Because they gave me an excitement while viewing it.

nice work steve , but like you i dont like alot of this disturbing garbage, thats not horror. real horror movies like ”house on haunted hill’ or the old universal films of the ’30’s and 40’s had charm, and were void of twisted plots and gore, alot of these arent horror films but demonic films,,,

yikes, adam. talk about scarey. just your comments here will now keep ME up at nite. already horrified enuf to find out one of my best friends enjoys this waste of celluloid. great horror films, the ones really worth viewing, need only two ingredients. 1) suspense and 2) a few never-to-be-forgotten-carefully-placed musical notes. like psycho. jaws. halloween. and the grand daddy of them all – the twilite zone. as a child i only need hear that music to be sent scrambling for safety to where all good children go – under the covers. to this day it still evokes the same reaction. these latest gore and torture flicks will never deserve to be in the same company when talking classic horror movie genre.

im after a movie i thought jesse spencer was in it it’s a backpacker thriller & this guy picks up a couple & he has this panel van in the end he dies when he tries to get the girl who is driving but she slams on the breaks & he get caught/poked by the wire divide in the car

Comments are closed.

The Tourist

HBO Max continues stealth drops of some of the best drama mini-series on television. Last year highlights included “The Head” and “ Station Eleven ,” and they start 2022 strongly with the fantastic “The Tourist,” a twisty tale that plays like an Aussie version of “ Fargo .” With sharp dialogue, clever plotting, and career-best work from Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald , this is a great little thriller, a show that constantly keeps you guessing and entertained in equal measure.

The “ Belfast ” and “ Fifty Shades of Grey ” star plays an unnamed man (at least for a while) who is driving through the very remote Australian outback. He stops at a station to use the bathroom, banters with the guy behind the counter, and hits the road again. Looking in the rearview mirror, he sees a truck gaining on him with remarkable speed. The Man twists off the road to avoid it and the trucker follows, revealing through a POV from his cab that this is very intentional—he’s trying to kill this tourist. They race through the desert until The Man’s car crashes. He wakes up in a hospital with no memory of who he is or how he got there.

Enter a small-town officer named Helen Chambers (Macdonald), engaged to an awful man named Ethan ( Greg Larsen ) and thrust into a mystery about who this handsome Irishman is in a hospital bed. When The Man finds a note with a time and a location in his pocket, he heads to a small town called Burnt Ridge, where he meets a woman named Luci ( Shalom Brune-Franklin ) who might know about his past, ends up crossing paths with a sociopath ( Ólafur Darri Ólafsson ) who clearly wants him dead, and gets a phone call from a man who’s been buried underground. And then things get even weirder.

Created by the people behind the excellent “ The Missing ” (which aired stateside on Starz), the writing on “The Tourist” is a metronomic back and forth between reveals and how those reveals propel the narrative in a new direction. Pushing their way through all the chaos are Dornan and Macdonald, both phenomenal. Dornan finds a quirky, unsettled way to play a man who doesn’t know who he is without resorting to the cliché of the lost soul. If anything, he leans into more of a blank slate interpretation of amnesia, playing a guy who’s more open to what comes next because he can’t remember what came before. And Macdonald is charming and so incredibly likable that she becomes the heart of a show that can be cold at times.

Echoes of “ Memento ” and “Fargo” aside, “The Tourist” also has its own quirky personality. Some of those quirks get a bit extreme in late-season episodes in ways I can’t spoil, but the show is never boring. It’s a reminder that the Dornan who was so great in “ The Fall ” is still out there, and I hope it leads him to more bizarre, challenging roles like this one. There’s an argument to be made that there’s an even-better 100-minute movie in this six-episode mini-series, but that’s not the world we’re in right now. A story like this has a better chance to be told in the TV system than the mid-budget film one, and the writers don’t drag their feet or spin their wheels like so many streaming thrillers. They’re constantly moving our hero forward, keeping us uncertain about his past and even his moral center.

Some will argue that “The Tourist” gets too convoluted and I’ll admit that I enjoyed the playful uncertainty of the first half of the season more than the intensity of the second half. Although the show does get deeper in how it unpacks lies we tell ourselves and those we listen to from other people. It turns out that everyone on “The Tourist” has a secret or two, and almost all of them could use a car accident to reset the hole they’ve dug for themselves. 

I’m not sure how intentional it is but the show never stopped reminding me of some of my favorite early Coen films—the noir danger of “ Blood Simple ,” the open roads of “ Raising Arizona ” (and a bearded hunter who seems unkillable), Macdonald’s very Marge Gunderson character—and yet these nods to greats are embedded in a breakneck plot that never slows down enough to distract from its own inspired storytelling. Take the trip.

Whole series screened for review . It premieres on HBO Max on March 3 rd .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

• Jamie Dornan as The Man
• Danielle Macdonald as Helen Chambers
• Shalom Brune-Franklin as Luci
• Damon Herriman as D.I. Lachlan Rogers
• Alex Dimitriades as Kostas
• Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Billy
• Greg Larsen as Ethan Krum
• Chris Sweeney
• Daniel Nettheim

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The 200 Best Horror Movies of All Time

New year, new boo! We’ve re-vamped, fangs and all, our guide to the 200 best horror movies of all time, with critics and audiences now coming together in hellacious harmony to pick the freakiest, frightiest, and Freshest from horror movie history!

To assist in scheduling your film fright night, we guide you through German expressionism ( Nosferatu , The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ) and Universal monsters ( Dracula , The Wolf Man ). Creature features ( King Kong , The Fly ) nestle with Best Picture nominees ( The Exorcist , Get Out ). Slashers ( Scream ), zombies ( Dawn of the Dead ), vampires ( Let the Right One In ) abound with terror of the more psychological persuasion ( Don’t Look Now , The Innocents ). Plus, we honor the recent stabs and strides made by female horror directors ( A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night , The Babadook , The Invitation ) and directors abroad ( Under the Shadow , The Wailing ).

To sort the list, we’re using our recommendation formula, which calculates a movie’s Tomatometer rating AND its Audience Score , along with the film’s number of reviews and year of release. And how did we pick what to initially throw into our bubbling recommendation cauldrong? We hand-picked only Certified Fresh movies with a positive Audience Score, with recent movies needing at least 100 critics reviews. What’s recent? Anything after 2016, which is when we expanded our critics pool and criteria.

Ready to settle in for dark nights of Fresh fear? Then flip the switch on the 200 best horror movies of all time. It’s alive! It’s alive!!

Alien (1979) 93%

Let the Right One In (2008) 98%

Aliens (1986) 94%

Jaws (1975) 97%

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 95%

Get Out (2017) 98%

Psycho (1960) 97%

One Cut of the Dead (2017) 100%

King Kong (1933) 97%

A Quiet Place (2018) 96%

Halloween (1978) 96%

Shaun of the Dead (2004) 92%

What We Do in the Shadows (2014) 96%

Diabolique (1955) 95%

The Invisible Man (2020) 92%

Nosferatu (1922) 97%

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) 97%

Rosemary's Baby (1968) 96%

The Wailing (2016) 99%

Bride of Frankenstein (1935) 98%

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) 96%

The Devil's Backbone (2001) 93%

Eyes Without a Face (1960) 97%

A Quiet Place Part II (2021) 91%

The Babadook (2014) 98%

Train to Busan (2016) 95%

The Ring (1998) 98%

His House (2020) 100%

Night of the Living Dead (1968) 95%

Talk to Me (2023) 94%

Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) 97%

Repulsion (1965) 96%

Frankenstein (1931) 94%

Vampyr (1932) 98%

Freaks (1932) 95%

The Night of the Hunter (1955) 93%

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) 95%

The Innocents (1961) 95%

Prey (2022) 94%

Under the Shadow (2016) 99%

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) 94%

Border (2018) 97%

M3GAN (2022) 93%

Dawn of the Dead (1978) 91%

Godzilla (1954) 94%

Peeping Tom (1960) 95%

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) 96%

Re-Animator (1985) 94%

The Fly (1986) 93%

Suspiria (1977) 94%

Pearl (2022) 92%

Zombieland (2009) 89%

The Birds (1963) 94%

The Innocents (2021) 97%

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) 91%

X (2022) 94%

Misery (1990) 91%

The Cabin in the Woods (2011) 92%

The Amusement Park (1973) 96%

It Follows (2014) 95%

Raw (2016) 93%

Dead of Night (1945) 93%

Dracula (1931) 94%

Carrie (1976) 93%

The Host (2006) 93%

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) 90%

Kwaidan (1964) 91%

28 Days Later (2002) 87%

Don't Look Now (1973) 93%

Thelma (2017) 92%

Attack the Block (2011) 91%

The Orphanage (2007) 87%

Barbarian (2022) 92%

Werewolf by Night (2022) 89%

Us (2019) 93%

Upgrade (2018) 88%

Evil Dead 2 (1987) 88%

An American Werewolf in London (1981) 89%

Ready or Not (2019) 89%

The Lighthouse (2019) 90%

It (2017) 85%

Eraserhead (1977) 89%

Green Room (2015) 90%

Beast (2017) 92%

Hereditary (2018) 90%

Drag Me to Hell (2009) 92%

The Return of the Living Dead (1985) 91%

The Wicker Man (1973) 91%

Dead Alive (1992) 89%

You Won't Be Alone (2022) 93%

The Fly (1958) 95%

Let Me In (2010) 88%

Village of the Damned (1960) 93%

Don't Breathe (2016) 88%

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) 89%

The Phantom of the Opera (1925) 90%

The Conjuring (2013) 86%

Cat People (1942) 92%

Horror of Dracula (1958) 91%

The Blackening (2022) 87%

Grindhouse (2007) 84%

The Thing (1982) 84%

House of Wax (1953) 93%

The Shining (1980) 83%

The Love Witch (2016) 95%

Bone Tomahawk (2015) 91%

The Descent (2005) 87%

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) 91%

Mandy (2018) 90%

Duel (1971) 89%

The Cat and the Canary (1927) 93%

The Wolf Man (1941) 91%

Saint Maud (2019) 92%

Poltergeist (1982) 88%

House (1977) 91%

The Endless (2017) 92%

The Evil Dead (1981) 86%

Violation (2020) 88%

Martin (1978) 90%

Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010) 85%

Nanny (2022) 91%

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) 86%

The Witch (2015) 91%

Annihilation (2018) 88%

The Dead Zone (1983) 89%

Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021) 87%

Island of Lost Souls (1933) 88%

The Others (2001) 84%

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) 89%

Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) 86%

Hatching (2022) 93%

Santa Sangre (1989) 87%

Theater of Blood (1973) 88%

Gremlins (1984) 86%

The Haunting (1963) 87%

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021) 88%

The Night House (2020) 88%

Sputnik (2020) 88%

The Black Phone (2021) 82%

Cronos (1993) 90%

The Dark and the Wicked (2020) 91%

The Invitation (2015) 90%

Freaky (2020) 83%

Tremors (1990) 88%

The Exorcist (1973) 78%

Evil Dead Rise (2023) 84%

The Mummy (1932) 89%

Carnival of Souls (1962) 87%

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) 88%

Candyman (2021) 84%

Hounds of Love (2016) 88%

Audition (1999) 83%

Piggy (2022) 91%

Dead Ringers (1988) 85%

Nope (2022) 83%

Slither (2006) 87%

Crawl (2019) 84%

Doctor Sleep (2019) 79%

Day of the Dead (1985) 87%

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970) 85%

The Omen (1976) 85%

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) 86%

Scream VI (2023) 76%

Fresh (2022) 81%

Color Out of Space (2019) 86%

The Conjuring 2 (2016) 80%

Better Watch Out (2016) 89%

Scream (1996) 81%

Saw X (2023) 80%

The Girl With All the Gifts (2016) 85%

Predator (1987) 80%

Goodnight Mommy (2014) 85%

Fright Night (1985) 83%

Midsommar (2019) 83%

Warm Bodies (2013) 81%

Sisters (1973) 85%

Shadow of the Vampire (2000) 82%

I Walked With a Zombie (1943) 85%

Near Dark (1987) 83%

House of Usher (1960) 84%

Thirst (2009) 81%

Split (2016) 78%

The House of the Devil (2009) 85%

Smile (2022) 80%

Werewolves Within (2021) 86%

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) 79%

Halloween (2018) 79%

Videodrome (1983) 83%

Overlord (2018) 82%

Scream (2022) 76%

Come to Daddy (2019) 88%

Bones and All (2022) 82%

The Lost Boys (1987) 77%

Dawn of the Dead (2004) 76%

Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021) 84%

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) 74%

Frailty (2002) 75%

1408 (2007) 80%

Little Monsters (2019) 79%

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) 78%

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The Top 10 Cities For Horror Movie Tourism

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10 Charming Small Towns Near Tucson, Arizona

This underrated arizona national park is set to be one of the most popular for 2024, 10 charming small towns in new york's catskills.

Many people like watching movies that keep them up at night. The horror movie genre has some passionate fans, and it's not unusual for some of them to seek out the places they saw on screen. If you're one of those scary movie buffs, this list below should help you get started on exploring some iconic locations where legendary movies were filmed.

RELATED:  10 Famous Places That Inspired Incredible Movies

Seeing these places up close and personal may make them seem less scary than they did on the screen...or maybe even scarier. Either way, snap some pictures! Check out some of the cities below that you might not have known served as a set for your favorite film!

10 Los Angeles, California

Of course, the city where most of the entertainment industry takes place is on this list. In fact, there are so many cool spots that there are tours you can take where you'll be shown multiple locations where scary movies were filmed. Some of these locations include the house featured in the 1978 film Halloween and the home where character Nancy Thompson lived in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street .

Those particular examples are private property, so keep that in mind if you plan on taking pictures. If you want to cover a lot of horror movie ground in one city, Los Angeles is the way to go.

9 Oak Bluffs/Edgartown, Massachusetts

Care for a swim? Head to Joseph Sylvia State Beach in Martha's Vineyard. Not only will you get a little sun and sand, but you'll also be visiting the main filming location for the 1975 movie Jaws . Also, check out the "Jaws Bridge," a.k.a. the American Legion Memorial Bridge, as the stones Roy Schneider ran across are still visible.

Many locations in the downtown area, such as restaurants, stores, and houses were also used in the famous Steven Spielberg movie. Hopefully, a freakishly large shark will not actually be there to greet you.

8 Government Camp, Oregon

If you're more of a snowy mountain person than a sandy beach person, why not book a stay at Timberline Lodge a.k.a. the Overwatch Hotel from The Shining ?  You can choose to ski or hike around the property, of course, but the best part about Timberline Lodge is that they totally embrace fans that come for the sole purpose of exploring where The Shining was filmed.

RELATED:  20 Real-World Places That Inspired Horror Films

The hotel actually has the ax used in the film on display, alongside the iconic quote "Here's Johnny!" The lodge is said to sometimes play the film after 10:30 pm upon request, and there are many Shining-themed events held there around Halloween time.

7 Newport, Oregon

While you're still in Oregon, why not make your way over to Newport and visit the Yaquina Head Light? You may recognize this particular location as the Moseko Island Lighthouse in The Ring . Tours are available for this lighthouse on a first come first serve basis, and you can climb all the way to the very top and look out.

The weather is often very foggy and dim - part of why the location was chosen for the movie - so you may be able to immerse yourself into the environment and feel as if you are actually in the movie.

6 Bastrop, Texas

Remember the gas station from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre ? While that's since been turned into a restaurant, gift shop, and lodge aptly named "The Gas Station." There are four cabins available to stay in and the restaurant serves up some pretty good BBQ.

As for the gift shop, it's entirely dedicated to merchandise and memorabilia related to Texas Chainsaw and some other scary movies. Make sure you check out the van out back, which is an exact replica of the van featured in the movie. Bastrop, Texas might seem a little random of a place to visit, but it's actually the perfect city to go to if you're a horror movie fan.

5 Hardwick, New Jersey

Have you ever wanted to be a camper at Camp Crystal Lake? Fortunately, that dangerous of a camp doesn't exist, but Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, where Friday the 13th was filmed, does. Turns out the "Crystal Lake" on the property is actually called "Sand Pond," and it's now a summer camp for Boy Scouts.

RELATED: 20 Spooky Movie Sets Around The World Not For The Faint Of Heart

Showing up there randomly isn't advised, but if you check out the camp's website they offer guided tours almost all of the time. Most of the set is exactly the same as it was during filming, and some actors from the film have even been known to show up for meet and greets.

4 Washington, D.C.

The home of a possessed little girl named Reagan from The Exorcist is still up in Washington, D.C., but it is private property so you won't be able to go in and explore. You'll have to stick to taking pictures from a distance. You will be able to check out, however, the stairs where a certain character from the movie meets his demise.

The stairs are very narrow and creepy, and D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser had them officially recognized as a tourist attraction with a plaque commemorating the location. You'll know you've found the right steps when you see the plaque!

3 Evans City, Pennsylvania

As most of the original 1967 movie Night of the Living Dead was filmed around Evans City, a museum dedicated to groundbreaking film now resides there too. The Living Dead Museum details the history of zombie lore, dating all the way back to Babylonian times. The museum not only celebrates Night of the Living Dead and other zombie films in history, but it celebrates more modern iterations of the zombie genre like Resident Evil and The Walking Dead .

There are also celebrity hand-prints featured on the "Maul of Fame." For an in-depth look at props, production photographs, and notes from filming Night of the Living Dead , this museum must be checked out.

2 Monroeville, Pennsylvania

Night of the Living Dead 's sequel, Dawn of the Dead , made just as much of a splash as its predecessor. If you've ever been curious about the mall featured in the majority of the 1978 movie, good news: It's still open!

After your visit to the Living Dead Museum, make your way over to Monroeville and visit the Monroeville Mall, where the movie was filmed. While the stores are bound to be different decades later, visitors report that other things -- like the escalators, in particular -- really haven't changed that much.

1 Gaithersburg, Maryland

Feel free to take a peaceful stroll around Seneca Creek State Park -- just make sure to keep an eye out for the Blair Witch. The innovative 1999 film The Blair Witch Project , which started a whole new sub-genre of "found footage" horror films, was filmed at this park in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

The park rangers even give an occasional tour and will guide you to important landmarks in the film, so its recommended you look into that for the ultimate horror movie experience. Or, you could just go on a nice walk or bike ride and admire nature - but where's the spooky fun in that?

NEXT: 20 Real-Life Spooky Locations That Inspired Iconic Halloween Films

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Paris' Most Eerie Tourist Attraction Is An Unusual Destination Worth Waiting In Line For

Paris has a reputation for being an incredibly romantic city, known for cafes and cheeses — but for around 550,000 visitors per year, a trip to France's capital means entering the Empire of the Dead. In between taking the best food tours in Paris and taking romantic evening walks by the Seine, you can descend into a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the cobblestone streets of the City of Light. Here, the walls are lined with the bones of about 6 million human bodies.

Every year, people explore these cool, damp, dimly lit tunnels for a chance to look into the dark eye sockets of the skulls arranged in artful patterns, arches, and columns in the many alcoves and ossuaries in the catacombs. In fact, it's so popular, that you might find yourself waiting in line to enter, even in the chilly offseason. There are about 200 miles of tunnels under the streets of Paris, but if you decide to experience the catacombs for yourself, you'll only explore about a mile of them in your hour-long journey into the L'Empire de la Mort.

Why are there so many bones in the Paris Catacombs?

An underground maze of tunnels packed with artistically arranged human skeletons might seem like something out of a horror movie, and in 2014 the horror movie, "As Above, So Below" which was filmed in the Paris Catacombs, depicted them as the secret gateway to Hell. Like many other things that Hollywood gets wrong about Paris , that is completely fictional — but it doesn't mean there isn't a fascinating story behind why the people of 18th century France decided to fill the tunnels under their city with towers of human bones.

In the 1700s, the population of Paris had grown to such untenable numbers that the mass graves that held the city's dead were overflowing, and periodically, were opened up and cleared out to make room for fresh bodies. Simultaneously, Paris had grown so quickly that the weight of it caused enormous sinkholes to open up all over the city, the ground suddenly consuming entire buildings and pulling them into the depths of old abandoned mines below. These disturbing times called for a disturbing solution — the empty mines would become the final resting place of the people of Paris.

How to visit the Empire of the Dead

While a few tourists reportedly experience the bizarre phenomenon Paris Syndrome when confronted by the reality that the heavily romanticized city can be overwhelming and potentially isolating, others come to France craving the unexpected and macabre. If you would like to embrace French existentialism and confront your own mortality while visiting Paris, you can check out the catacombs for.

While many thrill-seekers and curious explorers have ventured into the forbidden parts of the catacombs, this can be extremely dangerous. In 2017, a pair of teenagers who were exploring the tunnels got lost and had to be hospitalized for hypothermia after spending three days lost in the dark tunnels. However, if you want to safely see this fascinating piece of history for yourself, a small portion of the catacombs are open for visitors every day of the week except Mondays, New Year's Day, May Day, and Christmas. You can purchase tickets up to a week in advance from Paris Musées Billetterie .

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The Scariest Horror Movies of the 2000s

Alison foreman.

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This article is part of IndieWire’s 2000s Week celebration.  Click here for a whole lot more.

To seriously paraphrase the cat from “Coraline,” you might think horror movies in the 2000s were all hokey, exploitative , and bad… but you’re wrong.

We’re rounding out 2000s Week with a consideration of the scariest cinema the decade had to offer. That’s a fitting exercise as our blast from the past becomes yesterday’s news, and IndieWire’s exhausted staff catches its collective breath. (Can someone, anyone, please get vital signs on David Ehrlich?)

Hindsight is a funny thing. What differentiates the memories we want to keep from the nightmares that won’t leave us alone? With dozens of hidden-gem horror titles tossed out to make room for a measly top 13, this list wishes it knew. But, trapped in a torture chamber of our own making, the following curation was made with a variety of baseline good horror films that are fun, reflective of the times, and furiously fucked-up.

Extreme gore dominated the 2000s, but you won’t find “The Human Centipede” here. Franchising was big then too, but not one of the Final Destination films made our cut. Yes, everybody and their mother was terrified of “The Ring,” but we’ve got a Japanese techno-haunting that’s even scarier. There’s plenty of zombie fun to be had in the aughts, but “28 Days Later” just didn’t horrify us enough. On the tank top front — you know, that special classification of horror remakes starring Hollywood A-listers in roles that are mostly embarrassing — feel free to watch Jessica Biel’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” on your own time.

We didn’t get to include the Rob Zombie “Halloween” remake! We couldn’t find space for James Gunn’s “Slither” ! Not even “American Psycho” qualified, but what does it say about the 2000s that three of these movies are from Australia? Y2K (the “k” stands for the killer, baby!) was a kaleidoscopic time for the horror genre, and what you take from it reflects more about you than the movies that made it.

Listed from least to most terrifying… and we’re only starting with a “Saw” sequel…. these are the 13 scariest horror movies released between 2000 and 2009. We’ll tell you why these specific titles are still troubling us to this day, but don’t be afraid of ruining anything you haven’t seen. Even looking back more than two decades, we kept every entry spoiler-free.

13. ‘Saw II’ (2005)

What it is: The first sequel in the still-boiling Saw franchise. After the events of “Saw” (you know, that whole make-Westley-from-“The Princess Bride”-hack-off-his-own-foot situation), Jigsaw is back with even grander, grislier designs. Escape room horror reaches a fever pitch when eight seedy strangers wake up in an abandoned flop house rigged to kill them all with a toxic nerve agent in two hours. Work together to test themselves, and they just might survive. But fail to repent for their sins, and it’s — say it with me — game over.

Why it’s scary: Director Darren Lynn Bousman steps up to co-write with Leigh Whannell here. While “Saw II” might not be as tight as James Wan’s indie from 2004, it capitalizes on everything that makes this franchise one of horror’s most indelibly disturbing. You’ve got some unforgettably awful traps (Needle pit! Needle pit!) and John Kramer (Tobin Bell! Tobin Bell!) finding their footing in a formula that, at the time this hit theaters, had maximum potential. Notorious already, but not yet the whacky police procedural we’d come to know (and still love!), Saw is the success that it is because of “Saw II” — even if 2006’s lesser “Saw III” made more money.

12. ‘The Strangers’ (2008)

What it is: A stark home invasion that will scare you anywhere and anytime, but that can absolutely rip the piss out of you if you’re home alone at night. Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) are having a rough evening. Coming in from their friends’ wedding reception, the soon-to-be ex-couple is reeling after Kristen rejects her boyfriend’s marriage proposal. The flightless lovebirds try to comfort each other…until a strange knock at the door sets them walking down the aisle to a new kind of hell.

Why it’s scary: “The Strangers” reminds us of the Manson Family murders, but what makes writer/director Bryan Bertino’s instant classic so terrifying is its senselessness. The masked killers — known in the franchise as Dollface (Gemma Ward), Pin-Up Girl (Laura Margolis), and the Man in the Mask (Kip Weeks) — attack Kristen and James at the worst possible time, but even they can’t know just how spectacularly fucked-up this whole situation is. The menace of the intruders shouldn’t be undersold; they’re fast, they’re mean, and they know they’ve already won. Still, it’s the pained looks between Kristen and James that will live in your head rent-free. Maybe they weren’t meant to live happily ever after, but no one deserves to die like this. The same could be said of the franchise overall, consdiering that the newly released “The Strangers: Chapter One” is unconscionably bad. 

11. ‘Pulse’ — AKA ‘Kairo’ (2001)

What it is: As a matter of legacy, the beating heart of the aughts’ Japanese techno-horror trend may very well be the American remake of “The Ring,” but “Pulse” (also known as “Kairo”) goes faster, further, and freakier as ghosts overtake Tokyo through the internet and a found footage element reveals the unsettling spiritual center to Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s continuously underrated film. The compassionate Michi (Kumiko Asō) and curious economics student Ryosuke (Har) see their dualling experiences — of a liminal apocalypse rendered via unrelenting cinematic dread — explode into pandemonium when Michi’s encounters with spirits collide with Ryosuke’s investigative forensics.

Why it’s scary: Our protagonists grapple with this extraordinary and ethereal doomsday in different ways, but the scares “Pulse” pulls off are absolutely universal. Dancing through existential themes in a way it seems only this era of Japanese cinema can, Kurosawa (no relation) considers the emotional underpinnings of loneliness carefully and uses the specter of mass suicide in a way that feels earned. What’s more, “Pulse” is a subtle visual feast, making the most of its dark corners with camera and entity movements that are hard to anticipate but never cheap. Do not watch the 2006 remake of this movie… unless you want to see a bunch of god-awful jump scares and Kristen Bell trying to break out of “Veronica Mars,” in which case — have at it.

10. ‘Lake Mungo’ (2008)

What it is: The denial stage to grief arrives as a subtle deluge of terror in writer/director Joel Anderson’s “Lake Mungo.” Part found footage , this Australian horror mockumentary profiles a family coming to terms with the drowning death of 16-year-old Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker), who already felt like she was going to die. When a ghostly presence settles into the Palmers’ home after Alice’s funeral, her brother Matthew (Martin Sharpe) sets up a surveillance system and captures images his already-suffering parents, June (Rosie Traynor) and Russell (David Pledger), can’t believe.

Why it’s scary: Only slightly serpentine but very smart, Anderson’s script comingles serious tragedy with escalating twists and turns to deliver what still holds up as one of the most exquisite jump-scares/reveals ever rendered. “Lake Mungo” has its detractors. This isn’t the sort of movie that will scare you the whole way through, and it does have plenty of moments that drag. Even so, Anderson’s character work is extremely nimble, and the cast rises to meet the challenge. In the vein of 2010’s “The Babadook” (are the Australians…OK?), this all-timer horror debut has a maddeningly diaphanous conclusion that haunts and hurts the heart to this day. That’s in no small part because Anderson hasn’t made any more movies, but he should.

9. ‘Inland Empire’ (2006)

What it is:  The digital companion to “Mulholland Drive” you didn’t know you needed, David Lynch ’s “Inland Empire” stars Laura Dern as Hollywood starlet Nikki Grace. Nikki is just about to land the coveted title role of Sue Blue in the upcoming film “On High in Blue Tomorrows” — a career win that soon thrusts the actress into a landscape built on the intangible land dividing real life from the big screen. This experimental examination of standard Lynch fodder sees the filmmaker go totally gonzo with his nonlinear storytelling. His cast turns out too, with a memorable performance from Jeremy Irons that doubles as a key turn nearing the finale.

Why it’s scary: Like plenty of other titles in Lynch’s filmography, “Inland Empire” is not for everyone. The surreal psychological themes that run through almost everything the “Twin Peaks” auteur does are screaming here — fame, it’s a monster! — and, considering he’s not working on celluloid, those can be harder to endure as a viewer. Your mileage may vary, but if you don’t know what you’re getting into, this hallucinatory exploration of Hollywood is all about surrender. The willfully agitating, polarizing Los Angeles nightmare captured here is indeed opaque, but you certainly won’t miss its occasional jump scares. Lynch swings big and has fun with “Inland Empire.” That’s proven timelessly anxiety-inducing, even for its underwhelmed critics.

8. ‘The Descent’ (2005)

What it is: “The Descent” is an excellent excuse to bail on your friend group’s next activity. It’s also a cautionary tale about packing even the smallest shred of common sense when you decide to go spelunking. Written and directed by Neil Marshall, this terrifying treat from 2005 follows the young widow Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) into a dangerous cave system beneath the Appalachian Mountains. She’s joined by friends Beth (Alex Reid), Sam (MyAnna Buring), Rebecca (Saskia Mulder), and Holly (Nora-Jane Noone) — who have no idea the outrageously dumb Juno (Natalie Mendoza) is leading them into unexplored territory. After a rockslide leaves the six women trapped underground with no hope of rescue, an even worse threat skitters into their steadily dimming view.

Why it’s scary: From mining accidents to Baby Jessica in the Well, real stories about people trapped inside the Earth fascinate us. Moviegoers love algorithmic puzzles about bitches you shouldn’t trust just as much, and “The Descent” is delicious because it plays off both of those ideas well. The creature element will make or break the scare factor for you, but even if you’re not into the way these special effects are done, you’ve got to admire the rhythm. As snappy as a thread-bare belay line (climbing humor, anyone?), editor Jon Harris would later work on the survival drama “127 Hours,” and that shows in his keen attention to detail when it comes to depicting stress. “The Descent” also has a fantastic ending — one that includes an eye roll-worthy cliché before turning its metaphoric pickaxe back on the audience… although the U.S. theatrical version does cut off before that grim twist of fate.

7. ‘Inside’ — AKA ‘À l’intérieur’ (2007)

What it is: An excellent excuse to not make your baby share a birthday with Jesus, “Inside” (or “À l’intérieur”) finds an expectant mother readying to deliver her baby on Christmas Eve. Photographer Sarah (Alysson Paradis) is overdue at nine months pregnant but making plans to go to the hospital without her husband, who recently died in a car crash. Co-directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo comingle home invasion à la “The Strangers” with prenatal gore when a vicious intruder (Béatrice Dalle) declares her intention to take Sarah’s unborn infant for herself. From the first belly stab to every horror that come after that, “Inside” makes Bo Burnham’s spiraling pandemic comedy special look healthy.

Why it’s scary:  Between “The First Omen” and “Immaculate,” pregnancy horror has never been bigger. In 2024, it still hasn’t been done as well as what screenwriter Bustillo manages in this outright traumatizing script. As a viewer, Sarah’s fight to save her baby feels like giving birth to a nightmare. Watching various household objects gradually repurposed as lethal weapons in the battle between Sarah and her attacker feels like readying the nastiest nest. And your brain might actually contract into itself as you try to push through the brutality for the sake of our final girl, who is compelling every second. That includes the movie’s last twist: a bittersweet conclusion that lands like a breech.

6. ‘Wolf Creek’ (2005)

What it is: Set in its namesake Australian national park, Greg McLean’s “Wolf Creek” should not be viewed by any tourists — let alone British backpackers — going by way of the Great Northern Highway. Liz (Cassandra Magrath) and Kristy (Kestie Morassi) are traveling with their friend Ben (Nathan Phillips) when they stumble into the hunting territory of the especially masochistic Mick Taylor (John Jarratt). This is “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” meets “Crocodile Dundee” in the age of torture porn with all the smart character work of something like Act One “Blair Witch.” After a slow and ambling start to his story (yes, his), the charismatic killer manages to drug the group. The girls wake up in a shed with Ben nowhere to be seen. What happens next is a cause for eyewash, even brain bleach.

Why it’s scary: “Wolf Creek” is a staggeringly cynical film and brutal to the bitter end. All the implied horrors of someone or something like Leatherface are explicitly explored here against an emotional undercurrent that rivals “The Strangers.” Both the nauseating gore and the unrelenting chattiness of Mick Taylor make Liz and Kristy’s fight to survive extremely hard to take. Even when it comes to sexual assault, “Wolf Creek” doesn’t shy away from being as mean as any Australian snake. The result is just… painful, in every sense.

5. ‘The Cell’ (2000)

What it is: A movie “Saturday Night Live” veteran Kyle Mooney got way too high to watch, for one thing. ( Read our 2000s Week interview with the “Y2K” filmmaker! )

Director Tarsem Singh Dhandwar brings gothic fantasy flare — think Nine Inch Nails or Evanescence — to an utterly demented script by Mark Protosevich about a serial killer’s last victim. Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) is a children’s psychologist who uses an advanced neural network to work from inside her patients’ dreams. Special Agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) is an F.B.I. investigator who has just caught abductor/torturer/murderer Carl Stargher (Vincent D’Onofrio). With one last victim of Stargher’s (Tara Subkoff) languishing in an unknown location… and the suspect suddenly in a coma… Novak will need Catherine’s help to interrogate him. Can they find the titular cell before time runs out?

Why it’s scary: Even all these years later, Carl Stargher may be one of the most inventively awful characters ever written. After they’re kidnapped, Stargher’s victims wake up in a glass cage designed to give them false hope. They’ve got a toilet and somewhere to sleep, plus the killer is nowhere to be found. But in a few days’ time, the airtight chamber will steadily begin to fill with water — and what looks like a bunker for waiting becomes both a weapon and a grave. As if that horrifying concept isn’t enough already, once we’re inside Stargher’s mind the tortures take on an even more otherworldly feel. Don’t be too scared, though: Jenny with the Neckbrace is a professional and that sashimi-ed dream horse can’t hurt you.

4. ‘Drag Me to Hell’ (2009)

Read our 2000s Week interview with Alison Lohman by Esther Zuckerman !

What it is: Sam Raimi low-key has the time of his life with “Drag Me to Hell,” a supernatural haunting epic that has its fun toying with mousey bank employee Christine Brown (Alison Lohman). When Christine turns down the wrong loan applicant, Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver), to get ahead at work, the old woman conjures up a curse that can’t be shaken. Over three increasingly agonizing days, the demon Lamia will punish Christine for her callousness — step right up, we’ve got vomit! We’ve got blood! We’ve got a genuinely upsetting animal sacrifice! — before quite literally dragging our final girl into the depths of Hell.   Why it’s scary: Never date anyone as mind-numbingly dense as Christine’s boyfriend Clay (Justin Long). Co-written with brother Ivan Raimi, “Drag Me to Hell” sees the filmmaker behind “Evil Dead” tackle a classic case of “Is this girl haunted — or just crazy?” Lohman crushes as Christine, frantically begging for help as Ganush invades her car, her bed, and eventually her soul. This quiet classic might be underappreciated, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t thought about endlessly. Christine’s fairytale-like nightmare has been interpreted and re-interpreted by audiences ad infinitum. Women especially tend to appreciate its kaleidoscopic subtext as a consideration of any number of terrible real-world situations that hinge on making someone believe you.

3. ‘Hostel’ (2005)

What it is: Eli Roth ’s wildly divisive sophomore effort sees the “Cabin Fever” filmmaker up the ante in a big way. American tourists Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) are backpacking through Europe when they take a gamble on a seemingly random suggestion that they should travel to Slovakia to meet hot women. The boys, along with their new friend, Óli (Eyþór Guðjónsson), make the journey — only to encounter a pay-to-torture human trafficking ring where foreign visitors are the product. There’s no turning back, especially when you’re Achilles tendon has been sliced.   Why it’s scary: An essential entry in torture porn, “Hostel” is a silly concept that has some unfathomably stupid moments. Also from Roth, “Hostel II” explores the themes of American entitlement and post-Cold War nationalism better, but it can’t beat the sheer overwhelm of seeing the original for the first time. The set-up is believable enough and watching the first “Hostel” victim go down is an outright cinematic attack. When Paxton descends into the torture chambers of the Elite Hunting Club, your imagination will run wild with “Dante’s Inferno” vignettes rendered like snippets from Nazi exploitation films. What happens to Japanese tourist Kana (Jennifer Lim) in this film is both sadistic and silly, but that oozing eyehole certainly made Roth a fearmonger to watch.

2. ‘The Loved Ones’ (2009)

What it is: Yet another reason for someone to please: CHECK ON THE AUSTRALIANS . In “The Loved Ones,” final guy Brent (Xavier Samuel) has been through more than enough — even before he gets abducted. Still grieving the death of his father from a car crash he caused, the 17-year-old is battling suicidal thoughts and clinging to the promise of making new memories. Brent, his girlfriend Holly (Victoria Thaine), and Brent’s best friend Jamie (Richard Wilson) already have plans to attend a school dance together. But when Brent rejects the invitation of weird girl Lola (Robin McLeavy), he unknowingly signs up for a far more sinister song and dance.

Why it’s scary: Not until “Normal People” would another young woman react so badly to needing a date for the Debs. After Lola and her father Eric (John Brumpton) kidnap Brent, a combination of “Mean Girls”-era humor collides with the gleeful gore of something like the much later “Terrifier” to deliver a movie-going experience that’s as bone-deep uncomfortable as any hellish first date. The psychosexual elements at play here (rape, voyeurism, incest, oh my!) make “The Loved Ones” obviously grotesque, but it’s Brent being a sincerely good dude that tortures. Hang onto your brain’s frontal cortex… hell, pin it to your tux… this one’s got a record number of lobotomies.  

1. ‘Martyrs’ (2008)

What it is: Regardless of how well you know the pantheon of 2000s horror, genre experts should have seen this French assault on the senses coming from a mile away. Pascal Laugier’s “Martys” is infamously scary — the kind of movie you won’t pick out from between your teeth unless you extract them — and it tops this list, no contest.

The film opens on Lucie (Jessie Pham/Mylène Jampanoï), a young girl who has just escaped years in captivity by unseen torturers. Later at an orphanage, she befriends the gentle Anna (Erika Scott/Morjana Alaoui), and the two grow up together as much-needed companions.

15 years later, however, a strange monster (Isabelle Chasse) still haunts Lucie. The struggling survivor thinks that if she just gets her revenge, then the haunting might go away. Anna isn’t so sure. After Lucie breaks into the home of a seemingly normal suburban family — she is certain the Belfonds (Robert Toupin, Patricia Tulasne, Juliette Gosselin, Xavier Dolan-Tadros) hurt her — the two best friends have their relationship seriously tested. Did Anna ever believe Lucie? And what happens if she admits now that she doesn’t?

Why it’s scary:  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh my  god . Excuse me. What a question.

“Martyrs” is so viscerally upsetting that recommending it willy-nilly should be punishable by law. Seriously, if you suggest this fucked-up psychological horror to the wrong person, they might never recover. That’s true from the get-go, as even Lucie just invading the Belfonds’ home with a shotgun draws out agonizing deaths in an instant. The nightmarish scenes of her as a child, which hit the audience before that, are in their own way more disturbing. That’s to say nothing of the shocking image of a woman in a steel blindfold that many horror fans know this movie to contain. We won’t understand how that happened for a long while, and even when we do, “Martyrs” isn’t done torturing us yet.

Writer/director Laugier drags his audiences kicking and screaming through this — The Scariest Movie of Its Decade (and plenty others!) — with a combination of extreme gore, creature feature terrors, and a jaw-dropping conspiracy that could only be developed by the Devil himself. The core of what makes this movie so scary is hidden in its title, and an endurance-testing performance by Jampanoï is something the actress should be canonized for. Make it through “Martyrs” and you’ll find deliverance too, if only from the pressure to watch this one-of-a-kind mindfuck ever again.

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Terror Trips

Six friends start a business, providing guided tours to the shooting locations of the world's most famous horror films, until they find the one spot where the horror is real. Six friends start a business, providing guided tours to the shooting locations of the world's most famous horror films, until they find the one spot where the horror is real. Six friends start a business, providing guided tours to the shooting locations of the world's most famous horror films, until they find the one spot where the horror is real.

• Jeff Seemann
• Hannah Fierman
• Chaney Morrow
• 30 User reviews
• 7 Critic reviews
• 1 win & 1 nomination

Top cast 18

• Lucas A. Ferrara

• Rob Carpenter

• (as Anita Martin)
• Stupid Bar Customer
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia Terror Trips was the first SAG film to shoot in the midwest after the start of the pandemic. The script was altered to incorporate more exterior scenes, in an attempt to mitigate risk of Covid-19 infection. The plan, along with other safety measure, worked. 257 Covid tests were administered to cast and crew, and all 257 tests came back negative.

George : Ladies and gentlemen. We are spending the weekend at THE Camp Crystal Lake.

Ed : This is so fucking cool!

Ginny : The camp from Friday The 13th? Really?

George : Yes. Tonight!

Eli : That place EXISTS?

George : It exists. It's an actual working Boy Scouts camp. The local police actually patrol the road to keep people away. But the kids are all gone for the season, so I rented it.

• Crazy credits There is a mid-credit scene featuring Anna, immediately followed by an American news show.
• Alternate versions The final post-credits scene (no spoilers, the scene with the binoculars) was never in the original script. It was filmed during a reshoot day and the director loved it so much, he decided to keep it in the final version of the film.
• Connections References Dawn of the Dead (1978)
• Soundtracks We Once Were New Written by Donne Copenhaver Performed by The Battle

User reviews 30

• Jun 15, 2022
• How long is Terror Trips? Powered by Alexa
• February 15, 2022 (United States)
• United States
• Official website
• On Location
• Guilford, Indiana, USA
• LRB Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $149,500 (estimated)

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• Runtime 1 hour 27 minutes

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The Total Film FrightFest Awards 2024: the big winners from this year's horror festival

And the winners are...

In its 25th year – a ripe old age for a festival so invested in death – Pigeon Shrine FrightFest again celebrated the horror, fantasy, and sci-fi genres over five spine-chilling, blood-curdling days.

With its opening and closing movies (Joanne Mitchell’s Broken Bird and Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes-sensation The Substance) both directed by women for the first time in the festival’s history, FrightFest sandwiched 70-odd films in between, offering genre cinema at its cutting-edge best. 

But which movies were the best of the best? Total Film emerged from the fest with bleeding eyeballs and a tattered list of awards…

The Dead Thing

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Strange Darling

The Substance

Test Screening

And the winner is…

Best Director

Clark Baker (Test Screening)

Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy (Dead Mail)

Joshua Erkman (A Desert)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

JT Mollner (Strange Darling)

John Fleck (Dead Mail)

Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling)

Kai Lennox (A Desert)

Sterling Macer Jr. (Dead Mail)

Zachary Ray Sherman (A Desert)

David Yow (A Desert)

Best Actress

Georgia Conlan (Charlotte)

Willa Fitzgerald (Strange Darling)

Sarah Lind (A Desert)

Emma McDonald (7 Keys)

Demi Moore (The Substance)

Margaret Qualley (The Substance)

Best Monster

Bath Beast (Test Screening)

Crabs (Survive)

Dracula (The Last Voyage of the Demeter)

Elisabeth-Sue (The Substance)

Graff (The Last Ashes)

Dr. Analog (Video Vision)

Toilet Terror (Scared Shitless)

Dusty Peters (The Invisible Raptor)

Final shot (Strange Darling)

Knife in mouth (The Last Ashes)

'Star of Fame' (The Substance)

Toilet plunge (Scared Shitless)

"You fucking tourist" (A Desert)

Empty cupboard (The Ghost)

Mickey’s trick-or-treating ghost (Traumatika)

"You are the outside" (Fright)

The man in the window (Shelby Oaks)

Stranger danger (Crabs)

Bloodbath (The Substance)

Bathtub dismemberment (Protein)

Head torn off (Scared Shitless)

Pier pressure (Mutilator 2)

Spurting stump (The Last Podcast)

Best Gross-Out

Achilles heel slices (The Last Ashes)

Meaty smoothie (Protein)

Penis sewn in corpse’s mouth (Broken Bird)

Pulling teeth (The Substance)              

Spine injections (The Substance)

Tongue snip (Members Club)

Best WTF Twist

And the winner is...

Survive (The morning after the storm)

Best non-stop limb-lopping, torso-chomping, head-snacking, and just all-round relentlessly hosing claret in a crowd-pleasing manner

The Invisible Raptor

Award for striking originality

That's it from this year's FrightFest! For more scares, check out our list of the  best horror movies  of all time.

Jamie Graham is the Editor-at-Large of Total Film magazine. You'll likely find them around these parts reviewing the biggest films on the planet and speaking to some of the biggest stars in the business – that's just what Jamie does. Jamie has also written for outlets like SFX and the Sunday Times Culture, and appeared on podcasts exploring the wondrous worlds of occult and horror. 

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Explore the Terrifying Scares of ‘A Quiet Place’ and Other Universal Frights at Horror Nights 2024

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[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for the featured houses.]

The Big Picture

• Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights 2024 features eight diverse haunted houses, including A Quiet Place and Monstruos 2: The Nightmares of Latin America.
• The house for A Quiet Place features massive puppet and animatronic creatures, the use of ASL, and immersive sound.
• The Monstruos 2 house pays homage to Latin American horror and features interactive scares.

Theme park Halloween season has officially arrived, with Horror Nights 2024 ready to bring the endless scares and inescapable chainsaws at Universal Studios Hollywood on select nights from September 5 through November 3. With eight haunted houses, both inspired by well-known horror properties and created from original twisted ideas – including A Quiet Place , Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire , Insidious: The Further , The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface , The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy , Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines , Monstruous 2: The Nightmares of Latin America , and Dead Exposure: Death Valley – scare zones, stilt-walking crows, The Purge: Dangerous Waters live stunt show, and a Terror Tram taken over by Blumhouse characters including M3GAN and The Grabber, there’s something around every dark corner to terrify everyone.

Collider, along with a handful of other press outlets, was given a peak behind the scenes of the houses for A Quiet Place and Monstruos 2, a sequel to the very popular 2023 house. After getting the scoop from Horror Nights creative director John Murdy and learning about what went into bringing the stories to life, we’ve compiled the highlights and some cool details that you should know and included some photos to give you an idea of what to expect and look out for. All images have been taken by Christina Radish.

A Quiet Place House

Be sure to keep quiet as you make your way from the abbot family farmhouse to the woods and then the foundry, traveling through this post-apocalyptic world brought to life..

• To build the house for A Quiet Place , which is based on the first and second film, they had the venue space gutted. What makes it different from any house they’ve done in the history of HHN, in the 114 houses they’ve done since bringing it back in 2006, is the audio. A Quiet Place is never really silent, although it feels like that in the movie, but the use of high and low frequencies create that feeling. So much of what you hear is environmental sound effects for what you hear in nature. In order to incorporate that into the house, they started to test out the audio offsite before HHN 2023 was even finished. The very large, hidden speakers that are typically used were swapped out for a lot of small speakers placed as close to the guests as possible.

• Another thing that sets this house apart from anything they’ve done at HHN is the use of American Sign Language (ASL). When you’re waiting in the queue, there are video displays that explain the backstory and the world, completely with ASL, that they cast a deaf actress to play a survivor letting guests know how to survive in this world. There are also performers in the house using ASL in short phrases.

• The creatures from the film are massive and were entirely created with CGI for the film. Since that couldn’t be translated to live performers, they had to figure out what the scale would be and create them with a combination of puppetry and full-blown animatronic characters. The Chucky house in 2023 served as the test case for using animatronic figures. There are 10 creatures in the house, six of which are puppets and the other four are animatronics, and the mouths of the puppet creatures are designed to be opened. They partnered with the mechanical engineering department that works on the rides and attractions to bring them to life. And since the Universal Orlando Resort is also doing a house for A Quiet Place , all the creatures were designed at the same place and then some were shipped to Orlando.

• If you want to survive this post-apocalyptic world, you must be quiet as you travel from the farmhouse to the woods to the foundry. In the movie, Lee has poured sand throughout the forest so that their footsteps don’t make noise. so if you look down in the forest scene, you’ll see a digital graphic of sand to mimic that. The human performers in the house are not necessarily there to scare anyone. They’re there to further the plot and bring the intensity of the film to life.

• The Abbott house serves as a transitional scene and to showcase the hanging lights that alert you to whether it’s safe when they’re clear, or the creatures are coming when they’re red. Throughout the house, Lee has done various different things to try to protect his family, but since the guests won’t follow that, they will continue to be punished. There are a lot of cause-and-effect triggers because they know that the guests won’t actually be as quiet as they were told to be in the pre-show. That will essentially serve as punishment (aka sounds) for not following the instructions.

• In the film, Regan has a cochlear implant, but it’s not working very well, and Lee is struggling to figure out how to repair it for his daughter. It keeps feeding back, which is really painful, but she also realizes that it impacts the creatures and that the high frequency stops them and makes them vulnerable, allowing them to be killed.

• In the second film, the Abbott’s neighbor, Emmett, comes into the story. Emmett and Regan set out in search of survivors and come across a railroad crossing, so they had to build a train. Part of the story with Emmett is that he had a family, but he’s the only one left, so there are drawings of his family around his hideout in the furnace.

• The film’s writer/director/star John Krasinski hasn’t seen the house himself yet, as they’ve been dealing with the executives at Paramount throughout the development and build of everything. But he’s excited to see the finished product.

Monstruos 2: The Nightmares of Latin America House

Beware of the cursed rider el charro, the devil dog el cadejo, and the boogeyman el cucuy, as you experience the myths of latin america..

• The original Monstruos house was designed with the idea that there would be a sequel, but that was dependent on how it was received by guests. When it became the fan favorite house that everyone talked about in 2023, they moved forward with this new design for 2024. The caretaker was brought back as the narrator to be out front and tell you about the experience and the featured characters, El Charro (the black horseman), El Cadejo (the devil dog), and El Cucuy (the boogeyman). The masks for the characters are built so that their eyes light up and glow.

• The dolls in the tree is inspired by a real place in Mexico, called the Island of Dolls, about a man who lived on an island by himself. One day, a drowned little girl washed on shore and he built a memorial to her with dolls. When he became convinced that he was haunted by her spirit, he obsessively put dolls all around the island until he died, and they were left there to get moldy and scary looking. Now, it’s a tourist site that people travel to.

• El Charro rides a horse and always has a bag of gold with him that he tries to offer to people. He’s allowed to come out of hell to ride at night because if he can get someone to take his bag of gold, they can take his place in hell. Guests will come across all of El Charro’s gold with promises of riches beyond measure. You’ll come across chained up bodies being eternally burned in hell, where you’ll learn that the price you must by for those riches is your soul.

• El Cadajo is a puppet because he’s a dog and they can’t have a performer running around on all fours to bring the character to life. The dog has red eyes and drool with his teeth bared.

• The El Cucuy section of the house incorporates some Dia de los Muertos theming that welcomes spirits at that time of year. While welcoming those spirits, it also ends up welcoming El Cucuy. El Cucuy carries a sack with him that contains all the kids that he’s kidnapped. El Cucuy is a shapeshifter that can enter the home as mist or a shadow, so that he can take the children back to his lair to eat. Towards the end of the house, you will run into the giant drooling head of El Cucuy, whose mouth is full of the heads of children.

• At the end of the house, you’ll interact with the caretaker, who you learn is actually Death. Before you go, he’ll take his shovel and try to add you to his cemetery.

• The Monstruos 2 house empties out into the Luchadores Monstruosos scare zone, which is celebrating Luchador cinema from Mexico of the ‘60s and ‘70s. So, it’s monster wrestlers fighting monster wrestlers. That feeds back into Universal Plaza, which has a celebration of Dia de los Muertos, with a food and bar. It’s set up to be a mini land within the theme park, specifically with Latin American content.

The annual event has really evolved to include a varied slate of horror properties. What started, almost 20 years ago, as an event focused on slashers, with Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Leatherface, now spans the range of the variety of horror offerings. Monstruos 2 is Latin American horror, Insidious is paranormal horror, Ghostbusters is comedy horror, The Weeknd is surreal and trippy horror, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre is slasher horror, for a balanced slate that hits on as many types of horror as possible.

Halloween Horror Nights is being held on select nights at Universal Studios Hollywood from September 5 through November 3.

• Halloween Horror Nights