A Glean movie guide
Hidden Horrors: 12 Underrated Gems
Scares you haven't seen yet.
Atmospheric, unsettling, and overlooked films for the true horror enthusiast.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
The Wailing
A masterful blend of police procedural and supernatural folk horror from South Korea.
A stranger arrives in a little village and soon after a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman is drawn into the incident and is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.
- 02
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
A masterclass in claustrophobic tension set entirely within a family-run morgue.
Father and son coroners receive a mysterious unidentified corpse with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to examine the "Jane Doe," they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key to her terrifying secrets.
- 03
Cure
A chilling Japanese masterpiece exploring the terrifying power of suggestion and the loss of self.
A detective starts spiraling out of control when a wave of gruesome murders with seemingly similar bizarre circumstances is sweeping Tokyo.
- 04
Lake Mungo
A haunting mockumentary that uses a realistic format to explore grief and the supernatural.
After 16-year-old Alice Palmer drowns at a local dam, her family experiences a series of strange, inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of a psychic and parapsychologist, who discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. At Lake Mungo, Alice's secret past emerges.
- 05
The Ritual
Tense survival horror that pits psychological trauma against ancient Norse folklore in the wilderness.
A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest, but encounter a menacing presence in the woods that's stalking them.
- 06
Possessor
A visually stunning and brutal exploration of identity through high-tech body horror.
Tasya Vos, an elite corporate assassin, uses brain-implant technology to take control of other people’s bodies to terminate high profile targets. As she sinks deeper into her latest assignment, Vos becomes trapped inside a mind that threatens to obliterate her.
- 07
Caveat
A uniquely unsettling thriller that uses a high-concept premise to build unbearable dread.
A lone drifter suffering from partial memory loss accepts a job to look after a psychologically troubled woman in an abandoned house on an isolated island.
- 08
The Empty Man
An ambitious epic that evolves from an urban legend into a mind-bending cosmic nightmare.
On the trail of a missing girl, an ex-cop comes across a secretive group attempting to summon a terrifying supernatural entity.
- 09
A Dark Song
A grueling and intimate look at the technical, soul-crushing reality of an occult ritual.
A determined young woman and a damaged occultist risk their lives and souls to perform a dangerous ritual that will grant them what they want.
- 10
Pontypool
A brilliant, high-concept horror where a deadly virus spreads through the English language.
When disc jockey Grant Mazzy reports to his basement radio station in the Canadian town of Pontypool, he thinks it's just another day at work. But when he hears reports of a virus that turns people into zombies, Mazzy barricades himself in the radio booth and tries to figure out a way to warn his listeners about the virus and its unlikely mode of transmission.
- 11
The House of the Devil
A pitch-perfect tribute to 80s horror that excels through deliberate, slow-burn suspense.
A young college student who’s struggling financially takes a strange babysitting job which coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger.
- 12
Session 9
A psychological cult classic that uses its real-life asylum setting to create pure atmospheric rot.
Tensions rise within an asbestos cleaning crew as they work in an abandoned mental hospital with a horrific past that seems to be coming back.