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10 Screen Life Horror Movies You Can Watch Right Now
We have become a social media-obsessed culture. Everything we do, we post online and we never think of the dangers that wait for us afterward. Social media and technology have influenced the horror genre creating an entirely new subgenre- Screen Life Horror– where all the horror is set entirely on a computer screen.
I thought it’d be the perfect time to take a look back at 10 of the top screen life horror movies available now. Check to see where these titles are streaming or available to rent by clicking HERE.
Unfriended (2014)
If there is one horror movie that really captures the screen life formula it would be 2014’s Unfriended.
Captured all on a webcam, Unfriended unfolds over a teenage girl’s computer screen as she and her friends are the targets of a vengeful spirit who is out for revenge after a viral video that depicted a shaming bullying incident that resulted in their friend’s suicide. On the anniversary of their friend’s suicide, they receive a mysterious message from someone claiming to be their dead friend that threatens to expose their darkest secrets.
A take on cyberbullying and the damages that come along with it, Unfriended is surprisingly scary and well crafted. Even though it’s not the first film to use the screen life format, it manages to use it effectively by generating some innovative and chilling sequences.
Unfriended is now available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
Searching (2018)
Being told entirely through a computer screen, the thriller Searching has David Kim’s (John Cho) 16-year-old daughter suddenly vanishing without a trace. With little to no help from the police, David has to search for his daughter in the one place that no one has looked; her laptop, where her innermost secrets are kept, and hoping to find out what he can. He searches her computer’s history and traces her digital footprints and has to link up the clues before his daughter disappears forever.
Searching is a top-notch thriller with suburb storytelling that immediately hooks you in and has you questioning everything. Filled with twists and turns, Searching is an original and unique psychological thriller that will entice any horror fan.
Searching is now available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
Ratter (2015)
The crime of cyberstalking is brought to the surface with director Branden Kramer’s film Ratter.
Ratter has Emma (Ashley Benson), a single girl living alone in New York City, that finds herself being watched by a stalker who has hacked all of her devices so that he can watch her anywhere, at any time. But watching isn’t enough and his stalking goes from virtual to physical.
Ratter is one of those films that just gets under your skin by showing just how fragile our sense of privacy really is. Ratter keeps a plot simple by focusing more on suspense and building up Emma’s sense of paranoia that leads up to an ending that will leave you rattled.
Ratter is now available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
The Den (2013)
Okay! Admit it, at one time or another you’ve been on a Chatroulette-esque site, usually stumbling on someone flossing their teeth or dancing around naked. But what if you stumbled upon a murder, what would you do? That’s exactly what happens in The Den, a webcam-based horror film that makes you think twice before going online.
Elizabeth (Melanie Papalia), a graduate student conducting a sociological experiment seeing how many strangers she can connect with and how many of those turn out to be a meaningful connection. One night, Elizabeth logs into a webcam site known as The Den, during her cam session she witnesses a brutal murder and becomes the killer’s next intended target.
The Den is a rough and tough slasher film that borderlines on being a snuff film as the film doesn’t shy away from being vicious and down-right brutal at times.
Ratter is now available to watch for Amazon Prime Video members.
Megan is Missing (2011)
We’re told at a young age not to talk to strangers, but what about strangers online? They can’t hurt us — right? In Megan is Missing we find out how dangerous the internet can truly be.
In the film, we meet Megan (Rachel Quinn) and her friend Amy (Amber Perkins), they’re best friends. They are 14-years-old and do everything together. Go to parties, talk on their phone, share secrets, post videos online and chat with guys online. But on January 14, 2007 Megan disappeared…forever.
First to capitalize the dangers of the internet, Director Michael Goi based the film on actual child abductions cases and features teenagers being kidnapped and tortured. The amount of torture and violence is extremely disturbing but at the same time all too real. The film will leave you wondering- What happened to Megan and could it happen to me?
Megan is Missing is now available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
Breaking away from the traditional found footage formula that the franchise is known for, Paranormal Activity 4 shifted to from a hand-held camera to a screen life format.
Taking place five years after Paranormal Activity 2, Katie Featherston and her nephew Hunter are still missing after the events of part 2 and a new family begins experiencing the same type of paranormal activity.
Not as scary as the previous entries but still features some frightening scenes involving a demon materializing through the screen of an Xbox Kinect, a creepy neighbor kid and pulse-pounding ending that will take your breath away. But the screen life format couldn’t save the franchise as the franchise was starting to lose steam by this point.
Paranormal Activity 4 is now available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
Unfriended: Dark Web (2018)
Down the dark rabbit hole, we go with Blumhouse’s Unfriended: Dark Web which digs deep into the sinister corners of the internet.
A solid follow-up to Unfriended, Dark Web follows Matias (Colin Woodell) a young man who finds a laptop at a coffee shop. After bringing it home, he goes online for a game night with his friends. The night of fun turns deadly when Matias discovers that his new laptop has access to the dark web, and shows his friends a mysterious folder that unlocks disturbing videos of people being tortured. The group of friends receive a message that they will die if they disconnect or call the police and that they are being watched by cybercriminals that will stop at nothing to cover their tracks.
Shifting from ghosts to hackers, Dark Web is grittier and nastier than its predecessor with graphic videos depicting women being tortured, kidnapped and held captive. Dark Web is a movie that makes you scared of browsing the internet because one wrong click and you can enter a world that you won’t get out of.
Unfriended: Dark Web is now available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
V/H/S (2012)
Segment “The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger”
When you’re thinking of screen life horror films, your mind doesn’t instantly go to V/H/S as its more of a traditional found footage film. But there is a segment called The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger, that fits perfectly into the sub-genre.
The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger, is told entirely through a series of video chats as we follow Emily (Helen Rogers) as she notices an odd bump in her arm which reminds her of something strange that happened to her as a child. While at the same time, Emily also begins noticing strange occurrences happening in her home. Frequently Skyping with her boyfriend, we watch her get relentlessly terrorized by supernatural forces and watch as she slowly begins losing her mind.
Out of all the V/H/S segments, you never know exactly what is going on. Is it paranormal? Is it aliens? Or is it all in her imagination? But that’s exactly what the screen life format does, never reveals too much and when it does its all too terrifying. Still solidly creepy as this segment delivers on the shocks and the jump scares that will make you skin crawl.
V/H/S is available to watch on Shudder.
Open Windows (2014)
In 2014, we dived into the world of voyeurism, obsession, webcamming, and computer hacking with Nacho Vigalondo’s film Open Windows.
Told entirely through a laptop, Open Windows Nick Chambers (Elijah Wood) wins a contest to meet his favorite actress, Jill Goddard (Sasha Grey) -he’s her biggest fan. Jill refuses to have dinner with Nick, but he gets a second chance as he is given the opportunity to spy on Jill through her webcam… Nick is then pulled into a deadly game of cat and mouse.
This is the kind of film Hitchcock would make if he were still around today. Considered a modern-day Rear Window with plot twists, suspense and ending you won’t see coming. This high-tech thriller is not to be missed.
Open Windows is now available to watch for Amazon Prime Video members.
Host (2020)
One of the best and maybe one of the only good things to come out of 2020 was Rob Savage’s Host. Filmed entirely during lockdown and clocking in under 60 minutes, Host is a fast-paced horror film that takes having a Zoom party to another level.
Taking place entirely during a Zoom call, six friends gather together to conduct a séance. During the séance, things go wrong and the girls contact a sinister presence. Strange occurrences begin to happen and the girls face the fact that they may not survive the night.
Anxiety producing, terrifying, unbelievably scary, what hasn’t been said about this movie? Rob Savage delivers an original and modern take on the screen-life format by incorporating them at a time when all we do have is Zoom calls.
Host is now available to watch on Shudder for subscribers.
Honorable Mentions:
Other genre favorites include Collingswood Story, Usernamer:666, Followed, Cam and Shook. Shook can be watched on Shudder.
This article has been updated from our archives.
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This Week in Horror: Black Phone 2, The Backrooms, and the Return of Scary Movie
A release week. Something in theaters today, something on Netflix tomorrow, a trailer that is going to divide people cleanly down the middle, and a Kane Pixels situation that is either the most exciting thing to happen to A24 horror in years or a complete disaster, and we are about to find out which in two weeks. Here is everything.
Obsession Opens Today
Obsession is in theaters today. Curry Barker directed, Inde Navarrette stars, and the premise involves a supernatural toy called One Wish Willow that does not appear to grant wishes in a way that works out well for anyone. Barker is coming off solid work in the short horror space and this is his feature debut.
The Black Phone 2 Hits Netflix Tomorrow
The Black Phone 2 streams on Netflix starting May 16. Scott Derrickson directed both, Ethan Hawke and Mason Thames are back, and the first one did $132 million on a budget that did not require $132 million to recoup, so this sequel had time to actually be made right instead of being rushed out.
The first Black Phone is one of the better supernatural thrillers of the decade, and the ending left enough room that a sequel is not a stretch. The thing I want to know is whether Derrickson is doing something with that space or just filling it. Tomorrow we find out.
The Scary Movie Trailer Is Here
The Scary Movie trailer is out and June 12 is the release date. Michael Tiddes directs. Anna Faris is back. Regina Hall is back. Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans are back. The whole thing looks exactly as chaotic as you would expect from a Scary Movie film in 2026, which will either be a feature or a problem depending entirely on how you feel about the franchise.
The original Scary Movie came out in 2000 and it was funny. Some of the sequels were funny. I am genuinely not sure what this one is going to be, and I mean that in a way that is not entirely negative. Faris has not been in a wide release in a while. Seeing her back in the thing she was genuinely great at is enough to make me curious even if the whole rest of the movie turns out to be a mess.
Insidious: Out of the Further Gets an August Date
The sixth Insidious film has been officially dated for August 21. Jacob Chase directs, Amelia Eve leads, and Brandon Perea and Lin Shaye are back in the cast. The trailer showed at CinemaCon in April and the response was apparently positive enough that the August date got locked in immediately after.
Shaye has been the connective tissue of this franchise since the beginning and the decision to keep her involved in whatever direction the series goes next is the right one. She is also just an extremely good horror actor who does not get enough credit for how much work she has done making these films feel like they are about something beyond the haunted house mechanics. August 21.
The Backrooms Movie Is a Month Away
The Backrooms opens in theaters May 29 through A24. Kane Parsons directed it. He is 20 years old. He is the Kane Pixels person, which means he built an entire mythology from scratch in YouTube shorts and did it well enough that A24 hired him to make a theatrical feature before he could legally rent a car in most states.
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve star. James Wan and Shawn Levy are producing. The budget exists. The question that has been hanging over this project since it was announced is whether a feature-length Backrooms works or whether the whole thing depends on the specific intimacy of the short format, and we are two weeks from knowing.
American Horror Story Is Going Back to the Coven
American Horror Story Season 13 is coming in October on FX and Hulu, and it is going back to the Miss Robichaux’s Academy setting from Season 3. Sarah Paulson is back. Evan Peters is back. Angela Bassett is back. Ariana Grande is joining the cast.
The Coven season was the last time the show felt like it had a unified identity, and bringing the whole thing back around to that specific world is a reasonable way to remind people why they liked it before the middle seasons started doing a lot of experimental things that did not always work.
News
Exclusive: ‘Key of Bones’ Reveals New Poster and Cannes Fantastic Pavilion Gala Screening
The curse is heading to Cannes.
iHorror is exclusively revealing the brand-new poster for Key of Bones: Curse of the Ghost Pirate ahead of the film’s screening this Saturday at the Fantastic Pavilion Gala during the Cannes Film Festival.
The supernatural horror-comedy will screen as part of the Fantastic Pavilion festivities during Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival, marking another major moment for the indie production as momentum continues building toward the film’s Fall release.
Filmed in Key West, Key of Bones: Curse of the Ghost Pirate follows a local waitress, a ghost tour guide, and an unlucky tourist who accidentally awaken a pirate curse tied to the infamous Anne Bonny. What follows is a wave of ghosts, supernatural chaos, cursed treasure, and paranormal mayhem spreading across the island.
Written and directed by Tony Armer, the film stars Gina Vitori, Melissa Chick, Jeremy King, Chad Newman, Benjamin Healy, Ty Spann, Kitty Clements and Vincent De Paul.
Key of Bones also marks one of the first feature film productions connected to iHorror, expanding the brand beyond horror coverage and into original filmmaking.
The newly released poster leans into the film’s mix of pirate mythology, paranormal horror, cursed treasure, and the eerie atmosphere of real haunted locations in Key West. It offers another glimpse into the movie’s supernatural adventure, comedy, and ghostly chaos.
If you’re attending events in Cannes this weekend and would like to catch the screening of Key of Bones: Curse of the Ghost Pirate, visit Fantastic Pavilion for event schedules and screening information.
For more on the film, visit www.KeyOfBones.com
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Universal’s Horror Make-Up Show Ends 36 Year Run
The Horror Make-Up Show at Universal Studios Orlando has closed its doors after 36 years of entertainment. But not permanently.
The long running show that combines horror, comedy, and interactive demonstrations is next in line for a makeover at the Florida theme park. Besides the E.T. Adventure, The Horror Make-Up Show is the only other remaining attractions at Universal Orlando from its opening day.
A Brief History of the Make-Up Show
The idea for the show originated from an attraction at Universal Hollywood called The Land of A Thousand Faces. Land ran from 1975-1979. The twenty minute show entertained an audience of up to 1,700 visitors in an open air venue. The show taught the audience about movie makeup. Additionally, two volunteers were chosen to be transformed into the Frankenstein monster and his bride.
Despite the show’s popularity, The Land of A Thousand Faces was closed to make room for a new experience at Universal Studios Hollywood.
An Era of Gods and Monsters
Lon Chaney
Explained with movie clips, Universal’s Horror Make-Up Show explains the humble beginnings of makeup and special effects in horror movies. Starting with the classic Universal monsters such as Frankenstein’s Monster, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Phantom of the Opera, this era heavily features the work of Lon Chaney.
Lon Chaney’s contribution to the world of horror makeup greatly impacted the industry for decades to come. Many of his creations were the results of self experimentation. In fact, his extreme dedication to his craft earned him the nickname “The Man of 1,000 Faces”.
While we do know how he did some of his makeup effects, Chaney took many of these secrets with him to the grave when he died in 1930.
Rick Baker
Another important name in the industry that Horror Make-Up mentions is Rick Baker. Baker created the incredible werewolf transformation in An American Werewolf in London (1981). It was his work in this movie that earned him his first Academy Award for Best Make-up in 1982. This would be the first win for the make-up artist in a long line of achievements.
Perhaps Baker’s second highest achievement was his work in Michael Jackson’s music video Thriller. Baker’s make-up transforms the pop singer into a werewolf among a hoard of zombies. The makeup artist even makes a cameo in the video as one of the undead.
Other movies Baker helped bring to life with his craft include; The Howling, Men in Black, and The Wolfman (2010).
A Blending of Technologies
As seen in An American Werewolf in London, Rick Baker did not only use prosthetics to create horror movie magic. Baker and his team designed the animatronics and “change-o” heads, limbs, and other props to create the groundbreaking transformation from man to werewolf.
The combination of prosthetics placed directly onto the actor in combination with robotics began the blending of technologies used to create the next generation of monsters.
The Horror Make-Up Show continues its education of the genre as technology expanded into the computer era. The final clips shown on screen demonstrates the latest evolution of horror make-up in Universal’s The Mummy (2017).
Computer generated imagery is layered over physical practical effects to create the amazing hieroglyphics covering the character of Ahmanet, played by Sofia Boutella. It is the partnering of these two technologies that the host of the show claims creates the best and most convincing effects in modern day horror.
Moving Forward
Hardcore horror movie fans of the Horror Make-Up Show will be some of the first to say while entertaining, the show is indeed outdated. The names Lon Chaney, Rick Baker, Dick Smith, and Tom Savini certainly deserve to be immortalized in horror history. However, there is so much new blood that should be acknowledged for their contributions to the genre that continues to propel it forward.
Artists such as Damien Leone (Terrifier), Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead), Todd Masters (Final Destination), and Eryn Krueger Mekash (American Horror Story) are all examples that have continued the evolution of visuals in the genre.
As touched upon in the original Make-Up Show, the best results in movies is when practical effects are blended with computer generated effects. Using just one style versus the other runs the risk of looking “too fake.” Using both techniques can also be more budget friendly and less time consuming for the actor in the make-up chair during the creation process.
The Future of the Horror Make-Up Show
Universal Studios Orlando is expecting to re-open their doors to the new Horror Make-Up Show during the winter of 2026. However, they have not yet announced what changes will be made, or what the future show will look like. The most the theme park has announced is the show will be:
“featuring classic and modern horror properties along with shockingly fun surprises – all while staying true to the comedic and irreverent vibe that guests love.”
What were your favorite moments of Universal Orlando’s original Horror Make-Up Show, and what do you hope they bring to the table when they reopen? Let us know in the comments!
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Lists5 days ago10 J-Horror Films to Watch After Losing Koji Suzuki
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News1 day agoThis Week in Horror: Black Phone 2, The Backrooms, and the Return of Scary Movie
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News2 days agoExclusive: ‘Key of Bones’ Reveals New Poster and Cannes Fantastic Pavilion Gala Screening
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News4 days agoUniversal’s Horror Make-Up Show Ends 36 Year Run
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Movie Reviews3 days agoReady or Not 2: Here I Come Blu-ray Review: Buy It for Samara Weaving
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Movie Reviews4 days agoSelf Driver Runs Out of Road
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Editorial3 days agoJonathan Tiersten’s Greatest Role, and it isn’t Sleepaway Camp
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