[gtranslate]
Connect with us

Lists

You’re Not Mentally Prepared For These 10 Controversial Horror Movies

Published

1 year ago

on

The Cambridge Dictionary’s definition of the word controversial is, “causing disagreement or discussion.” The films below are definitely an example of that. Whether they sparked outrage among conservatives, left audiences in a state of nausea, or just pissed people off, the following films have definitely caused a buzz. They generated reactions that permeated the mainstream and caused uneasiness within the hive.

A Serbian Film (2010)

This movie is banned in 46 countries. Four minutes had to be cut for UK viewers and the U.S. asked that over one minute be cut just to get an NC-17 rating. The themes and depictions portrayed in this film are unnerving. If there were such a thing as thought police, they would have certainly interfered with director Srdjan Spasojevic’s impetus which on the surface is unthinkably horrific, but equally provoking when it comes to what humans will do when faced with dire circumstances and lack of money. It also says something about how those in power will take advantage of the downtrodden for the sake of profit.

Martyrs (2008)

Are you religious? Do you believe in the afterlife? What really happens after you die? If these questions are intriguing to you (don’t) watch Martyrs (the 2008 original, not the 2015 remake). Exploring the intricacies of the human spirit in both its corporeal form and transcendence, Martyrs plays out like a visual roadmap through depression. Nihilistic by design, this movie is filled with torture, the literal decimation of the human spirit, and an incredibly heavy unresolved denouement. The crisis hotline number should be superimposed over every frame. In this film, it definitely does not “get better.”

Faces of Death (1978)

It’s been long debated whether or not the content in Faces of Death is real. iHorror answered that question back in 2014. But in 1978 the answer wasn’t so clear. Even today where everything is viewable on the internet, Faces of Death remains an uncomfortable watch even for the most desensitized critic.

Mother! (2017)

Mother! may be the most divisive on the list. It has big-name stars, a big-name studio, and a big-name director. Still, it sits nearly in the middle of people who like it and people who hate it. For example, it concurrently received both boos and a standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. There are so many theories on what this film is actually about. The director Darren Aronofsky has stated that it is a metaphor for the current state of the world. Given that prompt and what you can imagine the visuals to be, you’re halfway there to understanding it.

Last House on the Left (1972)

Wes Craven had his forefinger on the pulse of what scares people. But he also had a penchant for redemption, meaning his protagonists always got their revenge. Although Last House on the Left skews that formula bit, it still holds up as one of the best forceful sexual abuse revenge movies ever made. Raw and unflinching, Craven’s masterwork just goes for it, so much so that the MPAA board made him remove some footage for an X-rating. He did, but even that wasn’t enough and they asked him to edit it again. For sensitive 1970s theatergoers at the time, the intense brutality contained in the movie was too much. One person is reported to have had a heart attack during one viewing.

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

The mother of all found footage movies. This movie, other than A Serbian Film, might be the most visually disturbing than any other on this list. All of the kills are extremely realistic, it was enough to cause Italian authorities to insist director Ruggero Deodato prove his cast was still. If he didn’t, he would face murder charges. Deodato probably should have had the forethought to not have his cast sign contracts that stated they had to disappear for three years after the movie’s release to give the illusion that he killed them on film. Of course, they showed up alive and the charges were dropped, but that only goes to show you how cruelly deceptive this movie really is. Unfortunately, the cast of animals brutalized in the movie were really killed on-screen.

The Exorcist (1973)

The Exorcist hype was real: people passing out in the theater, instant panic attacks, vomiting and nausea in the lobby, and triggering faith-based existentialism, The Exorcist had people understandably traumatized back in 1973. Still, curious moviegoers wanted to experience it for themselves, lining up for blocks to get in to see it, if by chance they were able to get a ticket.

Halloween Ends (2022)

This movie isn’t as disturbing as some of the others on this list. But it is controversial because of the dissatisfaction with the fanbase. The Halloween franchise is beloved by many, and Michael Myers is a certified horror icon. But the last film in the David Gordon Green trilogy threw people for a loop because it strayed so far off of the well-traveled path. One point of criticism was the lack of kills, something that is synonymous with a slasher. The other was that Michael Myers isn’t predominantly featured in the movie until about the last 15 minutes, even though the poster and all promotional materials show him front and center.

Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

Back in the 80’s America was having an identity crisis. It was the age of the “concerned parent.” For every cultural step forward, there was a court of judgey moms who acted as gatekeepers to Hollywood’s key masters. So when filmmakers created a film about an ax-wielding Santa Claus, besmirching Christianity’s holiest of days, there was a problem. A big problem. The film itself is tame even by 80s slasher standards, even though that was the crux of the conservative argument. Mostly parents were unsettled by the one sheet which depicted Santa carrying an ax down a chimney.

Thankfully, the movie wasn’t at the mercy of free-thinking video store owners (except Blockbuster) and tape rentals were through the roof, sparking the cult movie rental craze and inspiring independent filmmakers who, rather than face the disdain of the pulpit, opted to make movies straight-to-video. Enter the UK and their own hit list called the “video nasty.”

Terrifier 3 (2024)

Arguably, the first Terrifier film wasn’t a great success, still, it did have its fanbase. However, it couldn’t hold a clown horn to the sequel which came out in 2022. Then came Terrifier 3 in 2024 which has the distinction of being the most successful independent film of all time (over $89 million worldwide). For the most part, it follows the standard slasher formula, but what makes it controversial is the gore. The practical effects are extreme, especially one involving a chainsaw. Like so many of the movies listed above, theatergoers got sick. Those who watched the film’s antagonist, Art the Clown, hack and slash his victims was too much to bear. Vomiting and fainting were reported as well as calls to the paramedics.

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Related Topics:

Lists

10 J-Horror Films to Watch After Losing Koji Suzuki

Published

3 days ago

on

May 11, 2026

By

Koji Suzuki died on May 8. He is the man who wrote The Ring, which means he is personally responsible for a thing that happened to a very large number of people in the late 1990s, we developed a complicated relationship with our own televisions. Not as a metaphor. Every television. All the time. For like two years.

If that sentence makes sense to you, you already know why this is a hard week. If it does not, welcome to the part of horror that lives in transmission. Here is where to start.

Ringu (1998)

This one is on Suzuki directly. Hideo Nakata adapted his novel and made Ringu, and the thing that makes it still work in 2026 is that Sadako is not after you specifically. She is not a slasher villain with a grudge. Well, she kind of is, but still. She is what happens when grief has nowhere to go and nobody came. Watching this for the first time in a dark room and then having your phone ring is an experience I recommend to everyone exactly once.

Start here. Obviously.

Dark Water (2002)

Nakata adapted a second Suzuki story, and the one people reach for less often is the better one to sit with after a loss. A divorced mother moves into a run-down apartment with her daughter. The ceiling is leaking and a stain keeps growing. Not weird at all.

Dark Water does not care about your jump scares. It cares about what it costs to hold yourself together when things keep getting worse in small increments, and it builds to an ending that will get you.

Watch this one on a night when you have some emotional margin to spare.

Audition (1999)

Do not look this one up. Do not let anyone tell you anything about it. If someone says “you should watch Audition, it’s really extreme,” what they are actually saying is “I ruined it for myself, and now I’m going to ruin it for you.” Takashi Miike spent the first hour of Audition building something very specific, and it requires that you do not know what it is building toward.

Trust the slow start. Stay with it. It will reward you.

Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)

Takashi Shimizu did not make a ghost story. He made something that operates on its own internal logic about how curses work and who they take, and then he does not explain it to you, and that turns out to be the correct choice. Ju-On has two of the most effective horror figures ever put on screen in Kayako and Toshio, and Shimizu is careful never to give you enough information to make them less frightening. The American remake exists. It is fine. This one is better.

Kairo (2001)

I need you to understand that Kiyoshi Kurosawa made a film about loneliness and the early internet in 2001, and it has gotten more accurate every single year since then. That is not a comfortable fact. Kairo, released in America as Pulse, is about people being slowly consumed by ghosts that arrive through internet connections, and it is also about a generation trying to fill something hollow with something that was never going to fit. It is slow. It is patient.

I have watched this film four times, and it makes me feel worse every time. I keep recommending it.

Uzumaki (2000)

The premise is that spirals are evil. All of them. The spiral in a snail shell, a fingerprint, the smoke off a chimney. Higuchinsky adapted Junji Ito’s manga and made a film that commits to this so completely that arguing with it becomes impossible. This is one of those horror films that is not exactly scary and is not exactly not scary, and where exactly it lands depends entirely on how you feel about spirals by the time the credits roll.

I feel pretty bad about spirals now. Been a while.

Cure (1997)

A detective investigates a string of murders committed by otherwise ordinary people who cannot explain what they did or why. Each killer can be connected to the same quiet drifter, who never directly tells anyone to do anything. Cure runs like a procedural thriller, and it is more unsettling for it. By the time the logic of the film finishes assembling itself, you realize you have been watching something that cannot be put back where it was before you watched it.

Noroi: The Curse (2005)

Found footage has a bad reputation because most found footage films earn it. Noroi is the one you use to argue that the format itself is not the problem. Koji Shiraishi’s film is assembled from documentary footage and TV recordings and interview tapes, following a filmmaker investigating deaths tied to an ancient evil. It gives itself two full hours to build its mythology before it shows you what the mythology actually is.

Horror fans who have seen everything consistently land on this one as the discovery they wish they had made earlier. That reputation is deserved.

One Missed Call (2003)

One Missed Call took the Ring premise, a curse that travels through technology, and applied it to voicemail. In One Missed Call you receive a message from yourself, three days in the future, playing the sound of your own death. The curse spreads to whoever witnesses it.

Worth every minute.

Suicide Club (2001)

Sion Sono opened Suicide Club with 54 schoolgirls jumping in front of a train and then went somewhere more disturbing after that, which is a commitment I respect. It is technically a crime investigation rather than a supernatural horror film. What makes it horror is the slow accumulation of evidence that understanding what is happening is not going to make it stop.

It belongs on this list because it would not exist without the audience Suzuki helped create, and because Suzuki kept returning to the same question Sono asks here. What happens when the terrible thing is already inside the transmission?

Koji Suzuki was 68. The well he built is still full. Start with Ringu if you are new to any of this. Start with Cure if you have seen everything else and want the one that will stay with you the longest.

Continue Reading

Lists

Horror Coming to Streaming in May 2026: Shudder Is Doing the Most and Netflix Finally Showed Up

Published

1 week ago

on

May 5, 2026

By

May is not messing around. Shudder has four originals and a prestige series. Hulu has the Sam Raimi film that quietly became one of the better reviewed horror releases of the year. Netflix has the biggest horror sequel of 2025 and a cult classic it should have picked up years ago.

Here is everything worth knowing.

Shudder

Shudder is winning May and it is not particularly close. The schedule is stacked enough that I am going to break it down by title.

Heresy — May 1

Dutch folk horror from first-time feature director Didier Konings, set in a medieval village where a young woman is caught between her faith, a community collapsing into paranoia, and something older than both of them lurking in the surrounding woods.

Heresy premiered at Rotterdam and went to Fantastic Fest, Sitges, Screamfest, and Grimmfest before landing here. The comparisons to The Witch are going to come fast and they are not wrong. Already streaming.

The Terror: Devil in Silver — May 7, weekly through June 11

The third season of AMC’s horror anthology. Dan Stevens plays Pepper, a working-class moving man wrongfully committed to a psychiatric hospital where the staff’s secrets are worse than the patients’. Six episodes, premiering Wednesday.

Whistle — May 8

Dafne Keen finds an ancient Aztec death whistle. The whistle’s sound summons the future deaths of anyone who blows it. The friends who heard it are now being hunted down by their own eventual ends.

Directed by Corin Hardy, who made The Hallow and knows exactly how to build a mythology that feels like it has been waiting underground for centuries. The cast around Keen includes Sophie Nélisse, Percy Hynes White, and Nick Frost.

Something Is About to Happen — May 15

Spanish horror-thriller from director Antonio Méndez Esparza, adapted from Juan José Millás’ 2018 novel. A woman loses her job as a software developer and becomes a taxi driver, and her life quietly becomes something it should not be. The horror here is slow and lives in the wrong angles of ordinary life. Available in the US and Canada.

This Is Not a Test — May 22

Adam MacDonald adapts Courtney Summers’ novel about five high school students, each damaged in their own specific way, who barricade themselves inside their school during a zombie outbreak.

The zombies are almost beside the point. This is a character study wearing apocalypse clothing, and lead Olivia Holt carries it. MacDonald directed Backcountry, which means he knows how to let dread build slow and then hit hard and suddenly.

Hulu

Send Help — May 7

Sam Raimi directing Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien as coworkers stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. Sounds like a premise that could go twenty different directions. It went the good direction.

Send Help opened in January with a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and earned $94 million against a $40 million budget, which is the kind of math that tells you audiences found it and liked it. Danny Elfman scored it. If you missed this in theaters, May 7 is your second chance.

We Bury the Dead — May 8

We Bury the Dead stars Daisy Ridley in a zombie drama set in Tasmania about grief and what happens when the ocean gives someone back. Ridley has been choosy since Star Wars and this one earned the yes. Worth your time.

Netflix

Jennifer’s Body — May 1

Women in Horror

Diablo Cody wrote it, Karyn Kusama directed it, Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried did something memorable with it, and 2009 audiences completely missed what it was. Netflix picking up Jennifer’s Body in 2026 feels less like a catalog acquisition and more like a formal apology. If you have never seen it or if it has been long enough that you want to revisit, it is already there and waiting.

Devil May Cry Season 2 — May 12

The animated series is back. Dante is back. If you watched season one you already know whether this is for you.

The Black Phone 2 — May 16

The biggest horror sequel of 2025 hits Netflix on May 16. Ethan Hawke returns, Mason Thames returns, and the film earned $132 million worldwide against a $30 million budget, which makes it one of the stronger horror performances of last year. Scott Derrickson directed both. The sequel follows Finney and his sister Gwen at a youth camp where the mystery of the Grabber’s earliest victims begins to surface. This is the anchor arrival of the month.

Nope — May 18

Jordan Peele’s third film and the one that asks what would happen if the thing in the sky had always been there and you just never noticed. Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya. If you have not seen Nope, May is your month. If you have seen it, you know it rewards a second watch.

Continue Reading

Lists

10 Horror, Thriller, and True Crime Series to Watch This Spring

Published

3 weeks ago

on

April 19, 2026

By

Just because it’s spring (March 20-June 20, astronomically) doesn’t mean horror is slowing down. While theaters have already had a solid run this season with films like Forbidden Fruits, Hunting Matthew Nichols, and Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, and with plenty more on the horizon, including Obsession (May 15), Passenger (May 22), and Backrooms (May 29), the small screen is quietly stacking up its own slate of nightmares.

From chilling new bloody mysteries to bing-worthy true crime and pulse-pounding horrors, television this spring is overflowing with stories to keep you up in the dead of night. 

Here are ten horror, thriller, and true crime titles we’re most excited to watch this season, along with what they’re about, where to stream them, and when they premiere.

Unchosen — April 21st on Netflix

A tense, psychological drama, Unchosen follows Rosie, a wife and mother living within a tightly controlled, deeply conservative Christian community. Bound by rigid expectations and an increasingly suffocating home life with her husband, Adam, Rosie finds herself quietly unraveling beneath the surface.

Everything shifts when she crosses paths with Sam, an escaped convict on the run. What begins as a risky act of compassion soon turns into something far more complicated, as Rosie finds herself drawn to him in ways that challenge everything she’s been taught to believe.

As her connection with Sam deepens, Rosie is forced to confront a life-altering choice: remain within the safety and constraints of the world she’s always known, or risk everything for a chance at something freer, and far more dangerous.

Starring: Asa Butterfield (Sex Education, Ender’s Game), Molly Windsor (Three Girls, Make Up), and Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who, Thor: The Dark World).

If Wishes Could Kill — April 24th on Netflix

At Seorin High School, a mysterious mobile app called “Girigo” begins circulating among students, promising to grant any wish. But after a classmate’s sudden death, the app’s true nature starts to come into focus, along with a series of chilling, supernatural warnings that seem to predict who will die next.

As fear spreads, a group of students band together to uncover the truth behind “Girigo” before the cycle claims more victims. But the deeper they dig, the clearer it becomes that some wishes were never meant to be granted.

Starring: Jeon So-young (My Youth, Honour), Kang Mi-na (Cafe Minamdang, Welcome to Samdalri), Baek Sun-ho (Between Him and Her, Dongjae, the Good or the Bastard), Hyn Woo-Seok (404 Still Remain, Aireul Wihan Ai), and Lee Hyo-Je (Good Person, Concrete Utopia).

My Killer Father: The Green Hollow Murders — April 28th on Paramount+

This true crime series explores the legend of the “Monster of Green Hollow,” a suspected serial killer believed by some to be responsible for dozens of murders decades ago.

At the center is Lucy Studey, who claims her father, Donald Studey, was the killer and that she knows where the bodies are buried. But another daughter disputes the accusations, insisting he was innocent.

With Donald Studey dead since 2013 and no confirmed human remains found, the truth remains uncertain, leaving one question hanging over the case: what really happened in Green Hollow?

Widow’s Bay — April 29th on AppleTV

Something isn’t right in Widow’s Bay. Mayor Tom Loftis is determined to revive his isolated island community despite its failing infrastructure,the  skeptical locals, and a long-standing belief that the town is cursed.

Against the odds, he succeeds in bringing tourists back. But as visitors arrive, so do the island’s buried secrets. After decades of silence, the stories once dismissed as superstition begin to resurface — this time, with very real consequences.

Starring: Matthew Rhys (The Americans, The Beast in Me) and Kylie McNeil (Belle, The Colors Within).

Lord of the Flies — May 4th on Netflix

From writer Jack Thorne (Adolescence), this new adaptation of William Golding’s 1954 novel Lord of the Flies brings the classic survival story back to the screen.

After a plane crash leaves a group of boys stranded on a remote island, they attempt to build their own society under the leadership of Ralph, with guidance from the thoughtful Piggy. But as fear and power struggles take hold, order begins to collapse and something far more dangerous emerges.

Starring: Winston Sawyers (The Crow Girl), Lox Pratt (Harry Potter), David McKenna, and Ike Talbut — all part of a largely young cast, with several actors making their on-screen debut. 

M.I.A. — May 7th on Peacock

Set against the backdrop of the Florida Keys and Miami, M.I.A. follows Etta Tiger Jonze, a restless young woman desperate for something more than her family’s dangerous, drug-running life.

When that world is torn apart by a brutal attack, Etta emerges as the sole survivor. Forced into hiding under a new identity, she sets out on a path of revenge, tracking down the twelve men responsible and discovering just how far she’s willing to go.

Starring: Wynn Everett (Palmer, The Newsroom), Tracey Reynolds (Bird Brain, Black Widow), and Dawn Noel (Game of Deceit, All Rise).

The Terror: Devil in Silver — May 7th on AMC/Shudder

The latest installment in The Terror anthology follows Pepper, an ordinary man whose temper lands him involuntarily committed to New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital. But what should be a temporary stay quickly turns into something far more unsettling.

Inside, Pepper finds himself surrounded by hostile patients and staff hiding disturbing secrets. And lurking within the hospital walls is something even worse: an unseen force that feeds on the pain and suffering around it.

Starring: Dan Stevens (Abigail, Downton Abbey).

The Killer Among Us — May 17th on Oxygen

Hosted by Alan Cumming, this true crime series examines shocking murders that unfold within tight-knit communities across the United States.

From small towns and universities to places of worship and close social circles, each case unravels the same unsettling truth that reveals the suspect is often someone familiar — a friend, neighbor, colleague, or classmate.

You’re Killing Me — Spring 2026 on AcornTV

This six-episode murder mystery follows bestselling novelist Allie and aspiring writer/podcaster Andi, who form an unlikely partnership after the murder of a close friend pulls them into a twisting small-town investigation.

As they dig deeper, they’re forced to work alongside Detective Jack Cavanagh, a former city cop adjusting to the quirks and secrets of rural policing. But in a town where everyone knows everyone, trust is in short supply, and the truth is even harder to pin down.

An exact premiere date has yet to be announced, but You’re Killing Me is currently slated for Spring 2026.

Starring: Brooke Shields (The Blue Lagoon, Endless Love), Amalia Williamson (Northern Rescue, Sullivan’s Crossing), and Tom Cavanagh (Ed, Scrubs).

The Vampire Lestat — June 7th on AMC

The third season of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire adapts Anne Rice’s second novel, The Vampire Lestat, continuing the story of both Louis and Lestat, but this time with Lestat taking on the role of narrator and telling of his past.

In this rock-and-roll–infused chapter, Lestat embarks on a high-profile, multi-city music tour while haunted by muses and figures from his past. As his fame grows, so does his influence over both humans and vampires, igniting unrest amid the so-called “Great Conversion” — a surge in the vampire population that threatens to destabilize their world.

Starring: Sam Reid (The Newsreader, Belle), Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones, Doctor Who), Eric Bogosian (Uncut Gems, Succession), Assad Zaman (Hotel Portofino), Jennifer Ehle (Pride and Prejudice, Zero Dark Thirty), and Delainey Hayles (Holby City, Carrie).

Spring may be warming up the outside, but on the small screen, things are only getting darker. From cursed apps and small-town mysteries to psychological horror and returning fan favorites, this season’s television slate proves that horror is thriving well beyond the theater.

Continue Reading