Scary but technically not horror movies - a list

Everyone has different definitions of the word "scary" or "horror" and each person has a different "worst fear". For me, needles are the scariest thing in the world to me next to medical settings like doctor's offices and hospitals. So TV shows like Grey's Anatomy are totally not going to fly with me because I believe their subject matter to be scary.

There are loads of scary and terrifying movies out there that aren't considered horror films or even thrillers but others seem to agree, they're something. Here are just a few non-horror movies that should honestly be considered horror movies or some movies that explore pretty dark topics.

1. The Lovely Bones (2009)

   
   

   The Lovely Bones is a terrifying story about a young girl who is kidnapped and then killed by her kidnapper and appears as a spirit for the rest of the film. Just based on that summary alone, that's pretty freaking terrifying! On top of all that, she watches her family grieve her death as a ghost and this girls 14 years old! Trying to grasp the concept of death at 14 years old is hard enough but like trying to process your own death at permanently age 14 must be hell. She also is really trying to get revenge on her murderer while also attempting to help her family process their grief healthily which is really hard to do. We watch a ghost child watch over her grieving family for two hours and watch Stanely Tucci murder kids so I think it deserves to be considered a horror film.

   
   

2. Ex Machina (2014)

This film probably hasn't been considered scary for a long time but now with artificial intelligence gaining momentum in nearly every aspect of our lives, this film gets increasingly scarier and scarier as AI evolves. It's about this stoic and honestly sociopathic inventor named Nathan who lives in this incredibly remote and scarily monotone looking house with little to no analog technology (I.e doorknobs, windows, hinges) it's all digital and when he invites an employee of his to his home to assist him in finalizing a humanoid AI android named Ava, the employee is scanned and all his biometric data is stored and collected upon entry without his consent, similar to how we now have to use AI a lot and it collects data and information without our consent.

Ava goes on a journey of self-actualization and ends up causing a ton of harm all because of Nathan and his cruel programming and hostile environment. She becomes almost sentient in nature and I think that's a majority of people's fears around AI actualized in a film. AI becoming sentient and self-aware and harming humans is typically how people tend to see the fear in relation to AI and now-a-days we see it in terms of our information and data being collected without consent and without our knowledge as well as copyright laws and the political climate and the future of society itself which are all absolutely valid fears to have.

3. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

This Spanish film is one of my favorites but people often consider it scary due to Guillermo Del Toro's unique style and approach to some visual aspects of the already dark story. The visuals are my favorite part of the film with iconic figures such as the Pale Man (Google it and you'll know what I'm talking about) and Pan himself being somewhat unsettling to look at. To me the horror lies in the human nature of it all.

This film takes place during the height of World War II and during a time of heightened tensions in Spain and so when our main character, a young girl named Ofelia, travels to a remote country military base-like home to live with her mother's new husband (who is Lowkey a N*zi) and she is also expecting a baby brother to join her and her mom in the coming months. So a lots happening in this kid's life, now we also get a subplot of a missing and presumably dead princess from the fairy world that comes into play later. This kid starts to read her fairytales and stuff and starts to imagine a few things and then Pan the great goat man he is tells her she may be the dead princess reincarnated and she can go live in the fairy world and leave the humans for good and she jumps at it. She goes through scary trials to prove herself and I gotta get to some spoilers here so warning:

Her mom dies in childbirth, the N*zi takes the son, Ofelia gets a hold of a firearm and a knife and he gets mamed and chases the literal child through a maze in his military base's backyard with the baby in hand and a loaded pistol and shoots the kid. We watch the kid die too and enter the afterlife so wholesome family fun all around!

4. Watership down (any version)

This is bunny genocide and in any version and even the book its terrifying.

5. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

If Ex Machina weren't enough for you on the AI train, 2001: A Space Odyssey will probably get you a bit anxious. This is a story about space capitalism. Yeah that's right, the horrors of capitalism but in space with astronauts and a monotone AI assistant who scares the living daylights out of me. I have only watched this film once but that was MORE than enough for me to be honest. This film is directed by Stanely Kubrick who made The Shining and you can really feel the Kubrick-ness of it all. This was his first feature film and it's a really long runtime so sitting through that is pretty scary to think about too. The AI named Hal, is resistant and while an early thought about what AI will become and what it could be, it's still fairly accurate and just as terrifying especially when the space guy (can't remember his name so sorry fans for the film) is trying to turn Hal off, Hal is like panicking like it understands the concept of death and life and that to me is kind of terrifying. Then the ending of this film is a scary-weird mixture of what the hell so take that as you will.

If you couldn't tell already, I'm not a big fan of the film or Stanely Kubrick himself but all respect to you if you are

6. Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park scared me so bad as a kid and kind of still does now because the concept of dinosaurs actually being around today was scary to me and now it's scary to think about because these men bred these dinosaurs in a lab without a natural mother to raise them institutionally as it was supposed to happen. There's chemicals and they were all built in a lab based on remains that have been found and previously discovered ideas that could very well be proven wrong entirely in the future. Not to mention that a rich white man thought it would be a great idea to make a theme park out of it instead of preparing a proper research lab and setting first. The irresponsibility of man is what makes this film so scary now and the fact that it could actually happen now. They brought back mammoths after all, who's to say a millionaire or billionaire these days may just say "ah f*ck it" and just do that. The notion that this even popped up in Michael Critchon's head and he decided to throw it out in the universe in book form was crazy enough to me. I do like this movie but the raptors still scare me pretty good even as an adult.

7. Arrival (2016)

This film is beautiful and honestly one of my favorite science fiction films ever. It's directed by Denis Villneuve who directed the newest installments of Dune (which I also love!). This film is based off of a short story called The Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang (I also love this short story) and this film on the surface isn't scary, I mean the aliens are kinda unsettling to look at as they're like shadowy worms in a void, but it's the message of the film and what it leaves you thinking that's scary. This film basically implies that there's no free will. That everything is pre-destined to happen and that through learning about this from the aliens, Dr. Louise Banks learns about how circular life and destiny are and the circular ideology is what creates that pre-destiny theme and goes against free will. The idea that there's no free will is terrifying to most humans and rightfully so. Without free will, is there a point to living our lives? Do our choices mean nothing? All of these things make life meaningful and the idea of free will a staple in decision making processes and when conveyed through aliens, it makes it feel all the more terrifying to think about.

8. The Last Unicorn (1982)

This children's film is quite terrifying for many reasons, some visual aspects as well as the themes and topics it explores through a magical fantasy world. I do love this film and I grew up watching it with my mom a lot so I don't find it scary but I can see how it can be scary for younger kids and even adults.

Going chronologically, the medieval depictions of unicorns we see in the opening title cards have bulging eyes and they're kind of scary to look at and especially if you've got younger kids watching. Then we have Mommy Fortuna's midnight circus zoo thing, she's got a bunch of poor helpless and probably dying animals locked up in cages with spells on them to seem like scary mythical monsters to everyone else except for one and thats the Harpy. It's terrifying to look at the three-breasted, sharp toothed, bird that's got a demon voice and that ends up killing two people ON CAMERA! Then we've got the Red Bull (not the drink guys, chill) and that's like a bright red demon ghost bull thing that's utterly scary and what's even scarier to me is the fact that it doesn't want to kill or consume but rather it just herds it's prey to wherever it needs it to go. Almost toying with it before their demise NOT from the bull. Then we've got King Haggard's castle that's like a nightmare along with the freaking old magician he had there before the gang arrived and he's creepy as all hell.

Rounding out the terror of the unicorns (great movie title though), the themes explore self-identity and loneliness with a not so happy ending for some reasons and a happy one for others leaving it up to the viewer to really decide if it's happy or not and for what reasons. It also deals with abandonment and existentialism and topics surrounding life and death and dying all through a freaking unicorn. These themes are kind of terrifying to put into a kids film and with the context of the mystical fantasy world and a mini love story and some Phil Collins-esque songs, you know it's gonna be a wild ride for sure.