10 Great Movies That Scared You Without Showing Anything
2. The Conjuring
Despite being rated R, The Conjuring has no profanity, no nudity, and not one drop of blood. The MPAA says the rating is because of "intense sequences of disturbing violence and terror." In other words, it's rated R just for being so damn scary even without showing anything graphic.
It's a delightfully subtle movie, with one of the key set-pieces simply involving a woman walking around a house and hearing clapping sounds. But its "less is more" approach extends beyond the ghost story aspect of the film.
Take the opening Annabelle sequence, a brief little vignette about a haunted doll terrorising a group of girls. Unlike a Chucky movie, you never see the doll moving at any point. The film terrifies you by implying Annabelle's actions but having them all occur off screen.
The movie's closing sequence is like James Wan's thesis statement on minimalist horror. He slowly zooms into a music box as the crowd tenses up and waits for something to pop out and then... nothing happens. He doesn't actually need anything to jump out because the buildup alone was enough to scare you.