Family

11 works in the index tagged FAMILY, across every medium we score — film, television, print, audio and objects.

The Exorcist

William Friedkin · 1973 · Film

Faith tested to destruction in a child's bedroom. Still nasty.

The Shining

Stephen King · 1977 · Book

The novel is about alcoholism. The hotel is just the venue.

The Shining

Stanley Kubrick · 1980 · Film

A hotel doing slow arithmetic on a family. The dread is architectural.

Pet Sematary

Stephen King · 1983 · Book

King's bleakest. He sat on it for years because it upset him.

Oculus

Mike Flanagan · 2013 · Film

Two timelines braided until neither is trustworthy. Cleverer than its poster.

The Babadook

Jennifer Kent · 2014 · Film

Grief with a pop-up book. The monster is not subtle and doesn't need to be.

The Witch

Robert Eggers · 2015 · Film

Period-accurate misery and a goat. The family destroys itself first.

Lights Out

David F. Sandberg · 2016 · Film

One idea, executed relentlessly. On and off, on and off.

Hereditary

Ari Aster · 2018 · Film

Grief that curdles into something much older. Slow, then unsurvivable.

The Haunting of Hill House

Mike Flanagan · 2018 · Television

Family trauma with a bent-neck lady standing in the back of every frame.

A Quiet Place

John Krasinski · 2018 · Film

Silence as the rule and the threat. A creature feature that behaves like a thriller.