10 Most Anxiety-Inducing Horror Movies EVER

Okay, yes, most people reading this list have seen the ending, so you can stop laughing.

The twist may be risible, but the opening hour of Alexandre Aja's Switchblade Romance is an unbearably tense and genuinely terrifying cinematic nightmare. The film displays a skill with suspense and gore that the director's later efforts have yet to match, with Pirahna 3D focusing on gory laughs at the expense of scares whilst his Hills Have Eyes remake lingers on the upsetting scenes but builds little suspense and tension.

Whereas this 2003 horror more than earns its original title Haute Tension.

The slow build up establishes the film's remote location and the gradual, atmospheric early glimpses of the villain leave the audience certain something awful is coming. But the film's patient approach means that the eventual home invasion sequence feels like it will have to be a relative relief, thanks to how nerve-shredding the build up has been.

Then the scene arrives, and Aja's ingenious decision to leave some violence unseen and some explicitly dwelled upon leaves the viewer uncertain and on edge, unsure where they stand and unprepared for whatever is coming next.

Including, yes, a hilarious twist.