Games

Scariest Ghost Movies

Published

4 weeks ago

October 25, 2024

Christoph Rediske

Key Takeaways

Ghosts in horror movies tap into fears of the afterlife, creating formidable and terrifying entities.
“Thirteen Ghosts” delivers creative and terrifying ghost designs, leaving a lasting impact on viewers, especially the Jackal ghost.
“The Taking of Deborah Logan” offers found-footage horror with a possessed woman, culminating in a terrifying and memorable ending.

Horror movies strive to instill spine-tingling dread in their audience, immersing them in worlds inhabited by a tangible threat in one form or another. Slasher killers, demons, zombies, and ghosts have proven their mettle when it comes to scaring their viewers witless.

In particular, ghosts play into the common fears of death and the afterlife. Their penchant for mischief and even violence only makes them more formidable, and their ghastly visages are terrifying to behold. Even those who are no strangers to horror movies should take care when delving into these tales of ghostly horror, lest their soul leave their body.

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9 Thirteen Ghosts

A Veritable Cornucopia of Entities

Director: Steve Beck
Release Date: October 26th, 2001
Run Time: 1hr 31m

When struggling with dire financial straits, hearing the news of inheriting an estate might seem too good to be true. And for Arthur and his family, it is. His Uncle Cyrus was a ghost hunter who captured several angry spirits over the course of his career, and these ghosts just so happen to dwell in the basement of Arthur and his family’s dream house. As one would expect, the ghosts are freed to wreak havoc on the new family that moved in, all too eager for an outlet.

Thirteen Ghosts in itself is a rather shlocky horror movie that doesn’t take itself very seriously, but it does succeed in delivering scares with terrifying and creative designs for its ghosts. Many of them still tote the scars of their death, and sometimes appear close to inhuman. The Jackal in particular still lives in the nightmares of those that dared to watch this movie at a tender age.

8 The Innkeepers

Those That Check Out Sometimes Never Leave

Director: Ti West
Release Date: February 3rd, 2012
Run Time: 1hr 41m

Ti West is now known for the X trilogy, more grounded in reality and centered around Pearl and Maxine. But before he created these acclaimed movies, he created The Innkeepers, a more independent project with far less realism, and way more scares. The Yankee Pedlar Inn is on its way to closure, leaving only two members of staff to work the closing shift before it closes its doors for good. As with most old hotels, there are countless rumors and stories chronicling supernatural events, which interest Claire and Luke.

With little work to do, they decide to gather evidence of the hauntings themselves, resulting in some startling scenes. The most notorious ghost, Madeline O’Malley, is a terrifying one, draped in bridal garments, impossibly pale skin, and a dash of blood for good measure. She steals every scene with her ghastly appearance.

7 The Taking of Deborah Logan

Director: Adam Robitel
Release Date: October 21st, 2014
Run Time: 1hr 30m

Found-footage films are always a source of hot debates, as movie enthusiasts have divided opinions. Some cite the shaky camera actions as a cop-out to avoid high-quality effects. Others like that it places the viewers in the action, as though they themselves are the ones documenting the horrors with trembling hands. But as with every subgenre, there are hits and misses.

The Taking of Deborah Logan was certainly a hit, involving a personal documentary of the aforementioned Ms. Logan, and an aging woman suffering from Alzheimer’s. But her increasingly bizarre behavior suggests there is more to this story than meets the eye. It turns out that she has been possessed by a spirit, puppeteering her body and forcing her to commit these strange acts. The ending scene in particular will go down in horror movie history.

6 Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum

The Setting is the Perfect Accoutrement

Director: Jung Bum-shik
Release Date: March 28th, 2018
Run Time: 1hr 31m

Abandoned asylums are among the creepiest places that could ever exist. So, of course, this brings ghost-hunters to the asylum, armed with live-streaming equipment to capture any activity that happens inside its dilapidated walls. They explore every nook and cranny, and find more than they bargained for.

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The ensuing events are enough to disturb the team and the audience watching the movie, becoming more and more violent and disturbing. To make matters worse, the team cannot escape the grounds. The film forces viewers to watch right until the end, when darkness claims the last remaining survivors.

5 Poltergeist

One of the Best Classic Movies of All Time

Director: Tobe Hooper
Release Date: June 4th, 1982
Run Time: 1hr 54m

Poltergeist is one of those classic household horror movies parents showed their kids when they were likely too young to see. The Freelings are a family like any other, parents and children living together in a planned estate. What isn’t usual is the circumstances that began in their home, starting with the youngest daughter Carol Anne conversing with a static-filled TV screen, uttering the famous tagline: “They’re here.”

The events grow in intensity, resulting in terrifying scenes. The one revolving around the horrifying clown doll is the most dreaded moment in the film. The movie also had a tragic production, with the actresses portraying the two daughters dying. This movie is their legacy, and a formidable one at that.

4 Lake Mungo

A Time-Turning Horror Story

Director: Joel Anderson
Release Date: June 18th, 2008
Run Time: 1hr 28m

The premature loss of a family member is an indescribable tragedy, and this is the grim reality the Palmer family face at the beginning of Lake Mungo. While out on a family swimming trip, their teenage daughter Alice vanishes. Her body is recovered and a funeral is held, and that is when strange occurrences begin happening in their home.

It is soon revealed that her older brother Mathew faked the noises. It seems like maybe there was nothing supernatural occurring after all, and this was just a tale of tragedy. But this is a red herring, luring the audience into a false sense of security. Footage surfaces of Alice walking along the shore of the titular lake and encountering what looks like her future corpse, bloated and disfigured from her watery death. It is a disturbing moment that makes the film a worthwhile watch.

3 The Ring

Sadako is Just as Terrifying as Her Cursed Tape

Director: Hideo Nakata
Release Date: January 31st, 1998
Run Time: 1hr 35m

A cursed tape that will kill its watchers in seven days is not a threat to be taken lightly, even for those who hold little belief in the supernatural. This is the crux of the story of The Ring, as Sadako haunts an unmarked VHS, and kills any who sees it within a week of watching. The main character, Reiko, hears rumors circulating about her niece and her friends dying after watching a strange tape. She herself bears witness to the esoteric collection of strange visuals and disturbing sounds, and is given the exact same deadline.

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The tape itself is disturbing to see, with eerie clips accompanied by even creepier sounds. And then comes Sadako in all her ghostly glory, her long hair obscuring her face as she crawls out from a well on a screen, and out of the screen itself to visit death and terror on her unfortunate victims. Even though Sadako’s backstory is marred with tragedy, it doesn’t make her or the curse tape any less terrifying.

2 Hell House LLC

This Horror Mockumentary Is a True Test of Courage

Director: Stephen Cognetti
Release Date: November 1ST, 2016
Run Time: 1hr 23m

Halloween attractions are designed to instill fear in the customers who attend. This doesn’t apply to the staff that run them, as they already know the parts that move and the parts that go bump. But when said attraction is on haunted ground, they will find themselves confronting frightening events that they did not set up.

This is the situation surrounding Hell House LLC, the first movie in a series about the eerie Abaddon Hotel and the events that unfold there. The crew working there died under mysterious circumstances, and a documentary crew takes on the onerous task of finding out what happened to them. The footage they find is nothing short of terrifying, as the crew confronts ghostly figures and traumatizing clown dolls that seem to move on their own.

An Unsettling Film that Remains With Viewers

Director: Ricky Umberger
Release Date: July 20th, 2018
Run Time: 1hr 11m

The aptly named The Fear Footage shows the footage recovered from the body camera of Deputy Leo Cole after he was reported missing. The footage shines light on the mystery behind his appearance, though it does also raise more questions, showing some bizarre and disturbing events.

Leo finds himself contending with masked cultists, ghosts, and a haunted house that doesn’t seem to want to let him go, as though he is trapped in a personal hell. The Fear Footage is one of those hidden gem movies that need to be experienced first-hand, as words alone aren’t enough to evidence just how frightening this movie is. And with a trilogy of films to enjoy, viewers have plenty of material for nightmares.