8. Insidious (2010)
Look, we know: Insidious isn’t the most original horror movie out there. It’s a riff on the classic haunted house/poltergeist tropes that have driven the genre for years. That said, it brings its scares to life in a way that’s genuinely frightening, earning it a spot on this list for fear factor alone.
Insidious follows Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) and their three children as they move into a new home. When their son Dalton slips into a coma after an encounter with a mysterious entity, the family’s home is beset by malevolent spirits. They call in the help of psychic Elise (Lin Shaye) in an attempt to save their son from the demonic entities holding his consciousness in an astral plane.
What Insidious lacks in imagination it more than makes up for in atmosphere. It’s relentlessly creepy and solidly suspenseful, with numerous moments of mounting dread paying off with terrific scares. It’s far from perfect (as the reviews will attest), but it’s certainly terrifying.