Need A Reason To Grab His Hand? Here Are 13 Scary Movies To Add To Your Watchlist Immediately

I may be a movie buff, but I’m not a fan of hardcore horror. Gratuitous blood and guts aren’t my style, and demonic possession gives me the heebie-jeebies. But as the weather cools and the candles come out in the evening, I want a spooky thriller as much as the next girl.

If you’re looking for a movie that will give you jump scares and not bad dreams, check out these 13 classics. Some of them are spooky like Halloween, and some are terrifying true life stories, but all of them will give you a good reason to invite him over for a movie and a cuddle on the couch.

1. The Sixth Sense

This list has to start with one of the spookiest films ever: M. Night Shyamalan’s 1999 tense thriller The Sixth Sense. Months after a disturbed patient attacks him in his home, child psychologist Malcolm (Bruce Willis) has grown out of touch with his wife and can’t figure out where things went wrong. He begins working with Cole (Haley Joel Osment), a sweet but disturbed young boy who believes he can see and speak to the dead. One of the best shock endings in film history, The Sixth Sense will redefine everything you think you know.

2. Rear Window

Alfred Hitchcock’s classic murder mystery begins with a window into a courtyard and restless photographer Jeff (James Stewart) stuck inside until his broken leg heals. One hot summer night, he sees something strange across the way, and then he becomes convinced that the neighboring salesman has murdered his wife. Between Grace Kelly’s magnificent dresses, a sassy Thelma Ritter, and Hitchcock’s remarkable attention to detail, Rear Window will woo you with its style and then keep you on the edge of your seat.

3. The 33

It’s 2010, and 33 Chilean miners become trapped underground when their mine collapses. Locked in with little food or water, they must rally around emerging leader Mario Sepulveda (Antonio Banderas) and work together to survive while their loved ones try to break through government red tape to save them before it's too late.

4. Signs

If you loved Ridley Scott’s classic horror film Alien, this early Shyamalan thriller is for you. Mel Gibson plays Graham, a widowed reverend who has left his faith and wakes one morning to find crop circles in his fields. The crop circles don’t seem to be fake, though, and as the world starts to descend into panic, Graham works with his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) to prepare their house for invasion and keep Graham’s two children safe. Get your tin-foil hat ready – you’re going to need it.

5. Gravity

Lt. Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) and Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) are on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. But space debris disrupts their spacewalk and strikes their space shuttle, launching them on a quest to find the International Space Station and a way back to Earth. But their oxygen tanks are slowly depleting, and time is running out. You’ll never want to fly without holding somebody’s hand again.

6. Shadow of a Doubt

In this mystery thriller, Alfred Hitchcock brings terror to small town America. Charlie (Teresa Wright) is discontented with her small world in a quiet town, until her namesake Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) arrives to visit. But Charlie’s uncle starts behaving strangely right when she learns about a serial killer on the loose, and she begins to wonder – is her uncle wrapped up in the manhunt? And if so, is she in danger?

7. The Impossible

The scariest thing in the world isn’t always ghosts or monsters – sometimes, it’s the overpowering forces of nature that we can’t control. The Bennett family is vacationing in Thailand for the Christmas holidays when they are separated by a massive tsunami. As mother and father strive to keep their children safe and to find each other again, they fight through hair-raising dangers both from Nature itself and a city gone mad from destruction.

8. Psycho

Scandalous at the time of its release, Psycho is the disturbing forerunner of modern horror films. It follows Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) who leaves town with stolen money in the hopes of starting a new life with her boyfriend Sam. When Marion stops for the night at the Bates Motel off the highway, she’s brutally killed in the now infamous “shower scene” and disappears without a trace. Sam and her sister are left to follow the clues and find out what really happened in the eerie, off-road motel.

9. Shutter Island

Rachel Solando, a criminally insane woman, has escaped from Ashecliffe Hospital. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) arrives with his new partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) to look for her. But something strange is going on at Ashecliffe, and as Teddy digs deeper beneath the surface, he finds a web of lies that obscure the dark truth he seeks. Shutter Island is a psychological thriller that keeps you guessing right until the very end.

10. Charade

Charade crams romance, screwball comedy, and a thrilling murder mystery into one film. Called “the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made,” Charade follows socialite Reggie (Audrey Hepburn), who meets handsome Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) at a ski resort just after she decides to divorce her husband Charles. But when she returns to Paris, she finds that Charles has sold everything they own – and has been found dead. What ensues is a madcap, hold your breath, romantic ride full of the charm of Old Hollywood stars.

11. Children of Men

What if human beings became incurably infertile? This action thriller based on the novel by P.D. James tracks the dark road to depression and total war, which the absence of children has created. But cynical Theo (Clive Owen) finds out there is a young immigrant woman named Kee who, by some miracle, is pregnant. Theo and Kee get caught up in a race against the worst humanity has to offer as he works to protect her and the life growing inside her. An intense rollercoaster of a film, and one that becomes more relevant as infertility becomes an increasing issue in the modern world.

12. The Village

The village of Covington is picturesque and peaceful. But there’s something lurking in the woods surrounding them, something that only comes out at night and when it sees red, “the bad color.” Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) thinks he can make it through the dangers of the woods to the world outside, where there are medicines that could help his blind friend Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard). It’s romantic until it’s scary, with Legend of Sleepy Hollow level jump scares.

13. Free Solo

Free-solo mountain climber Alex scales sheer rock surfaces without any ropes to protect him from a quick dive to death. He’s had his eye on the El Capitan in Yosemite National Park most of his life – a free-solo climb no one has ever been able to achieve. But Alex has been hurt in falls before, and as he prepares to attempt El Cap without a rope, he begins to wonder if it’s worth losing everything he has on the ground. It’s terrifying and awe-inspiring, and, best of all, a completely true story.

Not what you were expecting? We're convinced that not every scary movie needs to make us nauseous with gory slasher scenes and an element of hauntedness. If you're ready to switch things up this spooky season, curl up beside your man and press play on one of these flicks.

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