The 10 Best Slow-Burn Horror Movies of All Time

Conventional horror movies scare you for the moment, slow-burn horror movies scar you for days. Here are some of the best.

Horror films have come a long way from being overtly scary to being covertly terrifying. Previously, in the past, the genre mainly focused on films that relied on jump scares that were made to spook the audience. Filmmakers like Robert Eggers and Ari Aster went against the grain of conventional horror and ushered in a new wave of horror movies that go beyond the momentary gag and continue to linger long after the credits have rolled.

These types of films marry the terror of classic horror movies with the sensibility of a drama, and the pacing of a thriller, giving the narrative a solid foundation to fester in. While conventional horror films are fun and entertaining for the moment, slow-burn horror has a tendency to seep into the viewer’s psyche and disturb them for days. So without further ado, here are some of the best slow-burn horror movies that have a spooky taste and a spookier aftertaste.

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10. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

Adrian Lyne’s film is a hallucinogenic trip into the past and present of war veteran Jacob Singer’s life (Tim Robbins). Full of symbolic imagery, the film follows Singer as he's haunted by flashbacks of the war, his past marriage, and the death of his son. Lyne confidently maneuvers the many potent emotions experienced by a man who's troubled by something beyond him, powerless and futile to figure it out or battle the depths of his own mind.

9. The Omen (1976)

The Omen is one of the creepiest child horror movies and operates within the framework of classic slow-burn horror. What starts out as a harmless adoption of a motherless child, slowly takes shape as a sinister manifestation of evil, reflected within the childlike innocence of the young boy. Director Richard Donner makes a smart choice by giving evil a never-before-seen face, giving new meaning to the phrase that monsters don't hide beneath the bed, they sometimes sleep in it.

8. Melancholia (2011)

Part drama, part horror, and complete terror, Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia is a claustrophobic, taut, and tense masterclass in tension-building. Known for his propensity for tormenting the viewer via the tormenting of the character, Melancholia asks a lot of the viewer with a slow script and a somewhat farfetched plot, but where it scores big is in its treatment of the spectacle, almost leaving the viewer in a state of intellectual ecstasy.

7. The Witch (2015)

As far as horror debuts go, there aren’t many as wholesomely terrifying as Robert Eggers' The Witch. Strapped for cash, but not creativity, Eggers' film arrives at horror through the backdoor of folklore, making it seem more relatable, engrossing, and deeply terrifying.

Led by a brilliant Anya Taylor-Joy, The Witch is a bona fide tale of slow-burn horror that strikes the perfect balance between scary and spooky, unfolding with a slow but steady stream of terror and paranoia.

6. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Roman Polanski’s filmography contains many gems like Chinatown, The Pianist, and Macbeth, with Rosemary’s Baby being one of his more underrated works. That being said, the film is a classic tale of horror that only reveals what’s necessary, putting the audience in the same bracket as the character before unleashing a barrage of cruel intentions, and their sinister extension. The film follows a young couple, Rosemary and Guy, who move into a new apartment and stumble upon strange happenings and stranger neighbors.

5. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Where Ana Lily Amirpour’s film misses out on terror, it makes up for it in endearment. A festival circuit gem that swept away the audiences during its premiere at Sundance, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a stylistic piece of work that blends arthouse and horror, all while following a shy vampire who struggles with her identity and her surroundings. Addressing some bold themes of feminism, self-identity, and drug use, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a treat of a film, full of style and substance.

4. The Wicker Man (1973)

Set against the vast expanses of a Scottish island, The Wicker Man follows a devout Christian detective who's sent into the orbit of a pagan tribe while searching for a missing girl. A slow-burn horror film in all respects, The Wicker Man blends mythical elements with reality, creating a vacuum of paranoia and terror in its wake.

3. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

A twisted tale of revenge steeped in symbolism, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is calm and pristine on the surface while brimming with an internal sense of chaos from within. Led by an incredible Colin Farrell and Barry Keoghan, the film starts off as a drama about a surgeon and his newly formed friendship with the son of a deceased man he operated on. As the film progresses, true intentions come to light and crazy things begin taking place. Being the rational man that he is, Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell), turns to science for the answers to his troubles, but only plunges headfirst into the world of the mythical and unknown.

Directed by the Greek maestro Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, Dogtooth), The Killing of a Sacred Deer is slow-burn, modern-day horror at its best.

2. The Lighthouse (2019)

What can be more terrifying than two men descending into the dark depths of their own psyche while being cut off from human civilization? Furthering this stream of thought, Robert Eggers' 2019 cult classic takes place on a remote island, putting two great actors (Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe) in a claustrophobic blender of chaos and serving their slimy, scary, and traumatized remains for all to see.

1. Hereditary (2018)

When Hereditary was released back in 2018, it rocked the world of horror aficionados. Ari Aster’s debut film created an undying stream of horror, in the most unlikely of places - the matriarch of a household.

Much like Hitchcock’s bomb under-the-table theory, Aster’s film explores the effects that spirits and ghosts can have on one’s personality, while keeping them alive, making it a more horrifying experience as the characters are puppets that are being tortured on a whim, eagerly waiting to be rescued by death.