10 Horror Movies You MUST Watch On The Big Screen

There is no other genre that does as well at the box office as horror, and that's because they just keep 'em coming all year round, and people flock to see them. It doesn't matter whether these films have a big budget or major stars attached, people just love a good scare.

Netflix and other streamers have capitalised on this in recent years, keeping a steady flow of horror content coming directly to their platforms to entice viewers to stay home and tune in. And yet, there are plenty of horror films out there that beg to be seen at the cinema, deserving of something better than the cheapest thrills of the TV, the laptop or - shudder to mention it - the mobile phone screen. 

When Phil Tippett bent his pipe cleaners and putty into nightmare fuel, he intended every miniscule detail to be writ large; when Luca Guadagnino and Gaspar Noe were making their dance nightmares Suspiria and Climax, they were intentionally creating grand spectacle; and when Patrick Lussier was putting together My Bloody Valentine 3D, he definitely wasn't envisioning people huddled around a 32" with a bowl of microwave popcorn. 

If nothing else, the cinema offers an encompassing experience that just can never quite be reflected at home, offering unparalleled sound, scale, and sheer big-screen awe. So get rid of the lights, pets, children, and furniture, find that ultimate darkness, and see the following ten films at the cinema if you can. 

The Paris catacombs are so much more than the health and safety-compliant section designed for tour groups and holidaymakers. In fact, there is a far larger network of tunnels under the city, many of which are dangerous, inaccessible, and home to who only knows what. 

And these catacombs are where we find archaeologist Scarlett Marlowe (Perdita Weeks) in As Above, So Below, on her hunt for the, well... the philosopher's stone. Far more than just a Harry Potter title, the stone is a legendary substance that has entranced a certain subsection of explorers in a similar way to the Holy Grail. But rather than a National Treasure-esque romp, Scarlett and her companions find themselves descending through something akin to Dante's nine circles of Hell. 

While found footage in general seems a TV-native format, this one is a little different. The documentarian style adds to the scope of what the film can do on the big screen, generating a claustrophobic feeling that captures what it's like to really be in the catacombs, not to mention Hell. Add to this sound that largely eschews music, focusing not on soundtrack but the minutiae of the sound design, and you've got a picture made for a great big auditorium with total audio-visual clarity.