10 Terrifying Horror Movies Like Insidious to Watch Tonight

The best Horror movies like Insidious, have a great mix of supernatural scares, creepy settings, and constant stress that makes people keep looking under the bed long after the movie is over. Insidious (2010) by James Wan brought back the haunted house genre with a scary story about astral projection, The Further, a creepy other world, and a monster who loves Tiny Tim music. Insidious found the right mix of scary images and slowly building dread for modern horror. Since then, horror fans have been looking for that same feeling.

But what exactly makes a movie scratch that same Insidious itch? Of course, jump scares help, but they’re not the only thing that makes it work. A lot of creepy stories, a lasting sense of doom, and the feeling that someone or something is watching you (even when no one is there) are in it. As horror movies like Insidious show, things that are cursed, ghosts that won’t leave, or creepy beings from another world can make you feel a lot of things. Are you ready for more scary meetings with the supernatural? These scary choices will definitely deliver.

10 Terrifying Horror Movies Like Insidious:

1. The Watcher (2022):

The Watcher is a scary story about a beautiful house at 657 Boulevard in a made-up New Jersey. Based on a real story, the story is about a couple and their kids who move into their dream house, only to find out that the neighborhood is very scary. Their worries are compounded when they begin to receive mysterious letters from someone calling themselves “The Watcher.” As the story goes on, the family not only has to deal with the scary mystery behind the strange letters and events that push them to the edge, but the show also keeps viewers interested and worried for them.

The first season follows Theodora, Dean, and his wife as they do a thorough investigation and come up with many ideas about who “The Watcher” is. Still, no one knows who The Watcher is.The series ends on a strange note, which makes people want a second season to find out what happened and answer all the questions.

2. The Conjuring (2013):

Fans of Insidious will really enjoy The Conjuring, and it’s not just because both movies were directed by James Wan. Based on a real case that paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren looked into, The Conjuring is just as much of a blockbuster jump scare movie as Insidious, and James Wan’s amazing visuals are on full show the whole time. In the movie, the Perron family is constantly scared by a devilish spirit that lives in their new home. The scenes are filled with unforgettable scary things and macabre designs. A family is being harmed by evil spirits in their home in this scary story that has the same creepy, building supernatural horror as Insidious.

Practical effects and sharp sound design are also used to great effect in both Insidious and The Conjuring, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats. Also, the world of The Conjuring has grown to include spin-offs and sequels like Annabelle and The Nun. This is similar to how the world of Insidious grew with its own sequels. The Conjuring 2 and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It are must-sees for fans of the way Insidious solved creepy secrets and fought evil spirits. They continue the scary tradition with lots of scares and emotional stakes.

3. The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020):

A small number of scary movies and TV shows get good reviews on sites like Rotten Tomatoes. But Mike Flanagan’s amazing horror show The Haunting of Bly Manor, which is a mix of gothic romance and horror, got an impressive score of over 80% on the site. What an amazing accomplishment! It shows how brilliant the show really is. This story is about a haunted house, for those who love those kinds of tales.

The story takes place in the 1980s and is a follow-up to The Haunting of Hill House. It’s about a young American woman named Dani Calyton who goes to a haunted house to take care of the kids who have lost their parents. She doesn’t know it, but the house is cursed by a mean ghost that wants revenge, and the kids are very aware of its presence. Even though this well-written scary house story is about a haunted house, it also has an emotional story about love and loss.

4. It Follows (2015):

Finding a way to fight back against a supernatural threat that seems unbeatable is a big part of the plots of horror movies like Insidious. It Follows (2015) is one of the best modern movies that does this with shocking jump scares. The story of It Follows, which was written by David Robert Mitchell, is pretty simple: a curse is passed from person to person through sexual contact, and the target is slowly stalked by a shape-shifting entity until it kills them brutally. Still, beating the curse isn’t as easy as it seems, and the movie gives the idea a gravity and thought that fans of Insidious will respect, if not love.

Even though It Follows is very different from Insidious in terms of how it looks and how it tells its story, they are both about an evil force that you can’t escape. Both movies look at the idea of a relentless being that sticks to someone and won’t let go, even if the people they’re torturing run away. It Follows is just as scary as Insidious because the tension builds slowly and makes you feel more and more afraid. Of course, the general mood is a different kind of creepy, but it stays with you long after the movie is over, horror movies like Insidious.

5. Paranormal Activity (2007):

This ghostly horror film is based on found footage and was directed by Oren Peli. It’s about a young couple named Katie and Micah who are having haunting experiences in their suburban home and want to record these strange events. From the beginning of the scene that says the footage being shown was found at the scene of a terrible crime, people probably knew they were about to see the scariest horror story that stays with them long after the movie is over.

For horror movie fans who like bloody movies about serial killers after a group of kids, Paranormal Activity might not be the best choice because it goes into a different level of fear. This slow-burning horror movie cleverly builds suspense and tension, like classic ghost stories, so it gets under people’s skin and stays with them the whole time. Unlike most ghost stories, though, the story takes a turn that no one saw coming and goes in a different way.

6. Grave Encounters (2011):

Grave Encounters, which came out in 2011, is a great movie for people who liked the paranormal research part of Insidious the most. The found-footage horror movie is about a group of ghost hunters who lock themselves in an old mental hospital that they think is haunted by the ghosts of patients who were mistreated and staff who didn’t follow the rules. Even though Grave Encounters is darker and more based in reality than a horror movie like Insidious, it still ends in a surreal, nightmare-like state of horror that stays with you.

The suffocating mood and nightmare-like building in Grave Encounters remind me a lot of the horror movies like Insidious. The hospital itself turns into a terrifying maze. Both movies look at what it’s like to be stuck in a slightly off world where bad things rule and rules don’t apply. Fans of the scary graphics and mind-bending space in Insidious will enjoy this just as much. Grave Encounters 2, which came out in 2012, is just as creepy as the first movie. It goes deeper into the strange story and has more supernatural horror. It’s easy to say that Grave Encounters is the perfect movie for anyone who wants a scary, spooky adventure on the level of Insidious.

7. Crimson Peak (2015):

Krimson Peak is a scary story with lots of turns and turns as it deals with love, betrayal, the effects of past actions, and family secrets. The story takes place in the late 1800s and is directed by Guillermo del Toro. Edith Cushing is a young woman who wants to be an author and she marries Thomas Sharpe, a beautiful and mysterious British aristocrat. When they get married and move into their new home, the Allerdale Hall, Edith starts to see and hear strange things that happen in the past.

With this terrifying story, del Toro once again shows that he is a master at making magical stories and really scary, original stories. The movie’s beautiful images have gotten a lot of praise and have become one of the best parts of the experience. Still, some watchers complain that there aren’t enough mysteries and thrills to keep them interested. Even though Crimson Peak has some problems, it is still fun to watch, even if you are not a big horror fan.

8. Poltergeist (1982):

An important part of the plot of Insidious comes from this famous horror movie by Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg. It’s clear that Elise and her paranormal detectives, Specs and Tucker, are direct references to the movie because both stories are about a last-ditch effort to save a child who has been taken by evil forces into the spirit world. Even though Insidious is a much more modern horror movie, the original Poltergeist is still a very scary movie with some really creepy ideas that are brilliantly put into action.

Poltergeist, a true classic, is a spiritual cousin to Insidious. Horror fans will recognize the similarities right away, especially since both movies have a child who is pulled into another world. This movie used paranormal experts, creepy TVs, and strange otherworldly worlds. Insidious did the same thing but added a modern twist to it decades later. When the ghosts show up in Poltergeist, they are both amazing and scary. The movie had that same strange mix of wonder and fear before CGI. This is a must-see for Insidious fans who like haunted house horror with emotional stakes and creepy world-building. It’s also a great example of spooky filmmaking.

9. The Pact (2012):

The Pact is an exciting and scary movie about two sisters, Nicole and Annie, who go back to the house they grew up in to take care of their mother’s business. When Nicole goes missing, Annie decides to find out what dangerous things are going on in their mother’s house. The movie starts out slowly, but it builds up into a strange and scary horror story as it goes on.

Unlike movies with cheap jump scares, The Pact really scares you by slowly giving you clues that help you figure out the creepy mystery. Even though it was made on a small budget and doesn’t have anything groundbreaking, it’s a well-made horror movie with great performances from its skilled cast. Unlike many other low-budget horror movies, this one doesn’t have any of the cheesiness that usually comes with them.

10. Host (2020):

Fans of horror movies who liked how Insidious changed the idea of a haunting in a movie plot will probably enjoy Host. The story is all about a Zoom call between a group of friends that turns deadly when the séance they hold over the call brings a demon into everyone’s lives. The idea of a movie that is only a character’s computer screen was first used in the movie Unfriended many years ago. Many horror movies like Insidious fans would also enjoy this movie. However, Host doesn’t spend much time building up; instead, it jump-scares right away, making the experience rougher.

The pace is constant, the scares happen quickly, and you can feel the sense of doom that is building up. Host has a raw, suffocating feel that reminds me of the most terrifying parts of Insidious, like when Josh goes into The Further. What makes Host really unique is how it brings ghost stories into the modern era while still playing with classic themes like possession and the unknown. If you like scary movies that scare you in new ways and keep you on the edge of your seat, Host is a modern classic that does the same thing Insidious did.

Conclusion:

If Insidious scared you so much that you slept with the lights on, these scary movies are just what you need for your next scary night. Each book on this list has the same scary elements that made Insidious a modern horror classic. There are haunted houses, demonic possessions, eerie dimensions, and ghosts that won’t go away. It doesn’t matter if you watch The Haunting of Bly Manor for its slow-building fear, Host for its raw intensity, or Crimson Peak for its gothic terror. These supernatural horror stories will keep you guessing and scared long after the credits roll.

Want to find some horror movies like Insidious to watch tonight? Jump into these scary experiences that are more than just jump scares and give you the unsettling fear of the unknown. Remember that you can’t go back once you let the supernatural in.

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