10 Most Horrifying Urban Nightmare Movies

The most recent urban nightmare movie, Get Out was a surprise hit by comedian Jordan Peele with funding from the infamous Blumhouse production company. With an intense focus on the theme of American racial relations, this movie tells a down to earth story of an interracial couple who go to visit the girlfriends seemingly friendly white middle-class parents. However, it soon turns out that the family have made a little business for themselves whereby they take the brains of aging white people, and put them into the bodies of African-Americans in order to ‘enhance themselves’ at the expense of the victim’s life.

It’s a very bold plot that, although unrealistic, definitely taps into the difficult state of American racial inequality, whilst also being funny, sympathetic and visually stunning. It captures that horror of being victimized by someone you trust as well as creating a form of ‘body-horror’ that has rarely been seen onscreen before – that of being trapped in your own body whilst someone who hates you takes control of it.

Get Out did a lot to revitalize the horror market, and especially the genre of ‘urban nightmare’. In a genre that was rampant with slasher villains, ghosts and other supernatural beings, bringing a more ‘natural’ horror into the mix definitely helped the movie stand out in the industry. Unfortunately, Peele couldn’t follow up those themes with the disappointing Us in 2019, but this film is nonethless a gem.