The most supernatural horror movies ever made
Ranked on VHSCREAM’s threat axis, where 0 is a supernatural threat and 100 is human monsters. These are the 15 lowest-scoring of the 61 horror films we have scored. Every number is a human judgment against a published rubric, not an average of votes.
The threat axis asks what is actually doing the harm. At 0 it is something that does not obey physics — a ghost, a curse, a demon, a god. At 100 it is people. The bottom of this axis is the purest supernatural horror we have scored, and because it is a measurement rather than a tag, a film marketed as a ghost story lands well up the scale if the real danger in it turns out to be a family.
The most supernatural horror movies ever made, ranked
| # | Title | Year | By | The Threat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Omen | 1976 | Richard Donner | 006 |
| 2 | Poltergeist | 1982 | Tobe Hooper | 008 |
| 3 | The Exorcist | 1973 | William Friedkin | 008 |
| 4 | Insidious | 2010 | James Wan | 010 |
| 5 | The Nun | 2018 | Corin Hardy | 010 |
| 6 | Suspiria | 1977 | Dario Argento | 012 |
| 7 | The Conjuring | 2013 | James Wan | 012 |
| 8 | Annabelle | 2014 | John R. Leonetti | 014 |
| 9 | It | 2017 | Andy Muschietti | 014 |
| 10 | Paranormal Activity | 2007 | Oren Peli | 014 |
| 11 | Alien | 1979 | Ridley Scott | 015 |
| 12 | Evil Dead | 2013 | Fede Alvarez | 018 |
| 13 | Ringu | 1998 | Hideo Nakata | 018 |
| 14 | Sinister | 2012 | Scott Derrickson | 018 |
| 15 | A Quiet Place | 2018 | John Krasinski | 020 |
Scores run 0–100 on a single axis and say nothing about quality. A work can be the bleakest thing here and still be the best on the list.
What the numbers say about this list
The list runs from 006 at number one to 020 at number 15. The median of all 61 films we have scored on this axis is 035, so every entry here is past it — this is a tail rather than the top of a flat curve.
15 of these 15 also place on another of our ranked lists — The Omen, Poltergeist, The Exorcist among them. Extremity tends to arrive on more than one axis at a time, which is the most useful thing six numbers tell you that one cannot.
The same axis, over a different shelf
Threat is scored the same way whatever the medium, so these ask the same question of the other media we score.
The most supernatural horror novels ever written · The most supernatural horror albums ever recorded
Questions about the most supernatural horror movies ever made
What is the most purely supernatural horror film in your index?
The Omen (1976), at 006 on threat. Second is Poltergeist at 008, and number 15 on this list scores 020. The full table is above, with the year and the creator for each.
How is this list of horror films ranked?
By one measured axis and nothing else. We score all 61 horror films in the index on six continuous axes against fixed anchor works, then sort by threat and take the 15 lowest. There is no vote, no average of other people's ratings and no overall score — the numbers on this page are the whole ranking, and they run 006 to 020.
What does the threat axis measure?
Where a work sits between a supernatural threat at 0 and human monsters at 100. It is a description rather than a verdict: a work can be at either end and be excellent or worthless. Among the films in this index the median on this axis is 035, which is the number worth holding in mind while you read the list — 006 means something only against it.
Are these the scariest horror films?
Not as a claim we would make. Threat measures one thing, and only the bleak end of tone is simply harder to endure — the other five axes describe a kind of fear rather than an amount. The Omen tops this list at 006 and scores 008 on tone, which are two separate facts about it. The scariest horror we have scored takes the question apart properly.
Want this ranked against you rather than against the axis?
Build your tape →Every ranked film list → · All 61 films → · How the axes relate →