Best slow-burn horror films

Horror that builds dread instead of throwing jump scares. These films let the unease grow until it is too late to look away. Every pick has a TMDB rating of 6.5 or more from at least 500 votes, and new releases wait until their ratings settle. The order follows the Boxlist quality score, and we checked the list by hand to remove obvious misfits.

1
Psycho (1960)
Film8.4
When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious...
US TCM, Amazon Prime (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), Chili (rent)
2
Alien (1979)
Film8.1
During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet.
US Hulu, Amazon Prime (rent), UK Disney, Amazon Prime (rent)
3
Get Out (2017)
Film7.6
Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend.
US HBO, Amazon Prime (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), Chili (rent)
4
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Film7.8
A young couple, Rosemary and Guy, moves into an infamous New York apartment building, known by frightening legends and mysterious events, with the...
US Kanopy, Paramount+, UK NowTV, Chili (rent)
5
Let the Right One In (2008)
Film7.5
Set in 1982 in the suburb of Blackeberg, Stockholm, twelve-year-old Oskar is a lonely outsider, bullied at school by his classmates; at home...
US Amazon Prime, Kanopy, UK Bfi Player, Amazon Prime (rent)
6
A Quiet Place (2018)
Film7.4
A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.
US FX, Paramount+, UK Amazon Prime (rent), Chili (rent)
7
Hereditary (2018)
Film7.2
When Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter's family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets...
US Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent)
8
Suspiria (1977)
Film7.6
An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of...
US Kanopy, Tubi TV, UK Amazon Prime, Bfi Player
9
The Shining (1980)
Film8.2
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the...
US Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), Chili (rent)
10
The Babadook (2014)
Film6.5
A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son's fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a...
US AMC, Hulu, UK Amazon Prime, Chili (rent)
11
Carrie (1976)
Film7.2
Carrie White, a shy and troubled teenage girl who is tormented by her high school peers and her fanatically religious mother, begins to use her...
US HBO, Amazon Prime (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), Chili (rent)
12
The Lighthouse (2019)
Film7.5
Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.
US Cinemax, HBO, UK Amazon Prime, Chili (rent)
13
Nosferatu (1922)
Film7.7
Vampire Count Orlok is interested in a new residence and in his real estate agent’s young wife.
US Amazon Prime, AMC, UK Bfi Player, Amazon Prime (rent)
14
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Film7.5
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
US Kanopy, Amazon Prime (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), Google Play (rent)
15
The Witch (2015)
Film6.8
In 1630s New England, William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life with five children, homesteading on the edge of an impassable wilderness...
US Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), Chili (rent)
16
Frankenstein (1931)
Film7.5
Dr. Henry Frankenstein attempts to create life by assembling a creature from body parts of the deceased.
US Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), Chili (rent)
17
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Film7.6
Bride of Frankenstein begins where James Whale's Frankenstein from 1931 ended.
US Amazon Prime (rent), Google Play (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), Chili (rent)
18
Pearl (2022)
Film7.3
Trapped on her family’s isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother.
US Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent)
19
Us (2019)
Film7.0
Husband and wife Gabe and Adelaide Wilson take their kids to their beach house expecting to unplug and unwind with friends.
US Netflix, Amazon Prime (rent), UK BBC, Netflix
20
X (2022)
Film6.8
In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act...
US Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent)