10 Recent Non-Horror Movies That Are TERRIFYING
These recent films couldn't be called horror movies, but they were still plenty scary...
There's no strict definition of a horror movie, and while there are obvious ideas and imagery we commonly associate with the genre, different things can be horrifying to different people.
And of course, there are films that categorically don't sell themselves as horror movies in the traditional sense which are nevertheless more terrifying than the overwhelming majority of card-carrying horrors you'll ever sit down to watch.
And that's absolutely the case with these 10 non-horror movies, which while being "horror-adjacent" at absolute best, nevertheless left audiences reeling all the same.
Perhaps they adopted the aesthetics of the horror genre to heighten the unnerving nature of their story, used modern tech to do something unexpectedly nightmarish, or simply offered such a real window into deep-seated existential horrors that we were all left positively shook.
Great horror movies will stick with you and keep you thinking about them weeks, months, even years later, and the same is absolutely true of these 10 films, which evidently made it their mission to make you as uncomfortable as possible and leave you positively terrified.
They're not horror movies, but they might as well be...
10. Friendship
To take one look at the new film Friendship, you'd safely assume it to be an indie comedy, given that it stars the ever-hilarious duo of Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson.
But this fascinatingly genre-bending affair is something quite different indeed.
Robinson plays Craig, a socially awkward man who attempts to make friends with his charismatic new neighbour Austin (Rudd). Yet despite the expectation of goofy hijinks, this is a strangely unsettling black comedy more in the vein of something like The Cable Guy.
Robinson's absolute inability to be "one of the guys" makes for squirm-inducing viewing, which combined with a moody aesthetic more typically reserved for A24's card-carrying horror films, increasingly leads the audience to expect a genuinely horrific outcome.
Though Friendship absolutely has its gut-busting laughs, the presentation throughout - both in terms of its visuals and unpredictable performances - makes this an anxiety attack of a "comedy" sure to leave you on edge until the end credits finally, mercifully roll.
It's an extremely tricky thread to needle tonally, and one which probably resulted in some disappointed viewers, but filmmaker Andrew DeYoung deserves so much credit for the boldness of his vision here.