10 Greatest Horror Films That Don't Rely On Jump Scares

When a mysterious stranger (Jun Kunimura) arrives at a rural mountain town, the population start to fall victim to a horrific disease that results in those infected becoming violently deranged, murdering their families before rotting away themselves.

In the middle of this madness is police officer Jong-goo (Do-won Kwak), who encounters a young woman (Woo-hee Chun) that tells him the stranger is an evil spirit responsible for what’s happened. But when he confronts this stranger, he tells him the opposite: that it’s the woman who’s the culprit and he's been trying to protect the town.

When Jong-goo’s daughter contracts the disease, he’s faced with an impossible decision about who to believe to save the lives of his family and himself.

This is Hong-jin Na’s The Wailing, a supernatural chiller laced with existential terror that builds through slow-burn terror.

Letting the insidious nature of the premise gradually seep under the viewer’s skin, The Wailing is unlike any modern supernatural horror. Instead of bombarding us with jump scares, Na constructs his terror through a masterful combination of grotesque imagery and jarring editing that makes for a wholly unsettling experience.

The further into this mystery we go, the more disturbing the answers become.