Can the genre known as «supernatural thriller» be summed up succinctly? Perhaps not to the same extent as other broader genres, but it’s still doable. Essentially, the word thriller is used to describe a genre used that emphasizes exciting and intense stories, and will often enthrall and/or unnerve viewers. Supernatural forces are things that can’t be explained away with science or previously established rules of nature, and can involve things like ghosts, spirits, or unusual creatures.
So if something’s a supernatural thriller, that doesn’t automatically mean it’s a combination of horror and thriller, but it will be something that features characters or themes usually associated with fantasy and/or horror genres, and will make them tense or thriller-like. With that messy but hopefully comprehensible definition established, here are some of the greatest movies that can be classified as supernatural thrillers, ranked below from great to greatest.
25 ‘High Plains Drifter’ (1973)
Of course, High Plains Drifter is first and foremost a Western, and an overall pretty underrated one at that. It stars Clint Eastwood as a mysterious stranger who rides into an Old West town (that might sound familiar), but there are interesting and unsettling choices made during the telling of what could be a rather ordinary Western story.
Eastwood’s character seems even more mysterious than his other Western characters – even the man with no name – and as High Plains Drifter goes on, it begins to flirt with demonic and/or supernatural themes in interesting, undeniably unique ways. It’s fairly bleak and unsettling as far as Westerns go, but combining such a genre with elements of a supernatural thriller makes it a fascinating watch,
24 ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ (1996)
Left turns are common within the filmography of Robert Rodriguez, given he began making low-budget arthouse action movies like El Mariachi (1992), then branched out into bigger-budgeted territory with Desperado (1995), and then not long after was directing a movie as wild as From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).
Wild’s the best word to describe this movie, as though it retained some familiar crime/action elements, it also ended up fully embracing horror thanks to an infamously jarring plot twist at about the halfway mark. Sure, From Dusk Till Dawn has been out for years at this point, but divulging exactly how it becomes a supernatural thriller still feels taboo.
23 ‘The Crow’ (1994)
Less so a comic book movie in the traditional sense, and more of a thrilling exercise in style over substance to the point where substance all of a sudden feels lame and unneeded, The Crow is the ideal combination of fantasy, action, and thriller genres. Indeed, the premise also allows some supernatural shenanigans to shine through.
This classic from 1994 (one of many) centers around a man and his fiancée getting brutally murdered, only for the former to rise from the dead and seek vengeance for both himself and the love of his life. The Crow is an aggressively 1990s movie, with its in-your-face soundtrack choices and aesthetics, but it’s undeniably thrilling and exciting, being the rare supernatural thriller that doesn’t really explore the horror genre at any point.
22 ‘The Fog’ (1980)
In comparison to the 1978 horror movie directed by John Carpenter that starred Jamie Lee Curtis, The Fog might be a tiny bit disappointing. That 1978 film was Halloween; an undeniable slasher classic that saw a town attacked by an emotionless, nigh-unstoppable murderous force of nature one year during the titular holiday.
Still, Halloween didn’t really have anything overtly supernatural going on, so those wanting to see Carpenter and Curtis engage with something a little more ghost-heavy should find plenty to like in The Fog. It’s certainly atmospheric in its depiction of a small town getting overwhelmed by various supernatural forces as the titular weather phenomenon descends, making for an engagingly spooky viewing experience.
21 ‘Cronos’ (1992)
Directorial debuts (at least as far as features are concerned) are seldom more indicative of a filmmaker’s style than Cronos is when it comes to instantly showcasing things that will go on to define directors. In this instance, it’s Guillermo del Toro tackling something with tragic villains, unsettling magic, and a pervasively dark atmosphere that humanity nonetheless sometimes manages to shine through.
Few would call Cronos one of del Toro’s very best movies, but that’s more a result of his subsequent films being so great, rather than Cronos being lacking. It tackles the supernatural well, with a unique take on vampirism and ideas of immortality, and stays exciting, visually engaging, and at times quite thrilling throughout.
20 ‘Insidious’ (2010)
Every horror fan loves a good demonic possession movie. Perhaps some will be more willing to engage with the subgenre frequently, given these sorts of movies do indeed adhere to a formula, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a horror fan who’d swear off all demonic possession movies. The genre was particularly popular during the late 2000s and early 2010s, and Insidious – with its 2010 release – is smack bang in the middle of all that.
It’s a movie that may have gotten a wide release on April Fool’s Day, but the demons at its center are no joke, given they’re particularly vengeful and willing to truly mess with the family members they target. Insidious doesn’t redefine what supernatural thriller/horror movies are capable of by any means, but it’s decently entertaining and quite unnerving throughout, making it difficult to criticize too harshly.
19 ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ (1997)
Released just five years after Al Pacino won his solitary Oscar for appearing in a movie about his character bonding with a younger man (Scent of a Woman) was The Devil’s Advocate. This 1997 film may swap out a young Chris O’Donnell for a young Keanu Reeves, but it’s a very different sort of movie, having a slow descent into supernatural horror and psychological thriller territory with its increasingly unusual and unsettling story.
For what it’s worth, Al Pacino is also captivating and overwhelms the film at large when it comes to both movies, but that would have to be about where the similarities end. The Devil’s Advocate is another supernatural thriller where it feels like the less said about where the plot goes, the better, but it is a strange and oftentimes hard-to-believe cinematic trip worth taking.
18 ‘The Haunting’ (1963)
Without The Haunting, the progression of Robert Wise’s filmography from 1961 to 1965 would make more sense, given he went from a romance/crime/musical in 1961 (West Side Story) to a romantic drama in 1962 (Two for the Seesaw) and then to a very romantic musical in 1965 with The Sound of Music.
Among all those other films, 1963’s The Haunting is certainly an outlier, seeing as this one is without romance or musical numbers and is instead an iconic haunted house thriller about one man’s desperation to prove that ghosts are real. It’s an old-fashioned horror romp in the best way possible, exploring supernatural ideas well while always remaining thrilling and exciting.
17 ‘Angel Heart’ (1987)
Robert De Niro is probably the best thing about Angel Heart, even if he only shows up for a few brief moments. His role in the film demonstrates well that it’s not always the quantity of screen time that counts, but the quality, and within the film, De Niro quietly chews scenery like it’s the most delicious thing in the world, proving unsettling all the way.
De Niro’s character sets the protagonist (played by Mickey Rourke) of Angel Heart on a perilous quest that begins as a missing person case, but soon reveals itself to be something more complex entirely. It’s an unsettling slow-burn of a supernatural mystery/thriller film, and arguably one of the most underrated of its kind from the 1980s.
16 ‘Hellraiser’ (1987)
In terms of long-running horror franchises, few are quite as expansive or as inconsistent as the Hellraiser series. These films are textbook supernatural horror/thrillers put on screen, sure, but plenty of entries in the franchise have been lackluster. At least that can’t be said for the original Hellraiser, though, released in 1987.
It follows a man coming back to life as a zombie of sorts and reintegrating himself into the life of his partner, though all the while, he’s being pursued by fearsome cenobites: demons from the underworld he’s escaped from. It’s a super eerie and very engaging movie, making it understandable both why Hellraiser started a franchise and why its various sequels weren’t able to live up to the first.
15 ‘The Others’ (2001)
The Others is a haunted house thriller movie that appears to be playing all the expected tropes very straight, until it reveals that not everything is how it seems, and then things get wonderfully/horrifically complicated. As such, the most that should be said about the plot is that there’s a mother and her children, they’re stuck inside a house, and strange events are happening to them and around them.
It’s gothic horror with a capital G and a capital H… and maybe all the other letters can be capitalized too, for sufficient emphasis. With vague supernatural forces stalking sympathetic characters in areas that are almost always dark, The Others manages to be very eerie, atmospheric, and effectively spooky throughout.
14 ‘Mandy’ (2018)
Everybody knows that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (and its sequels) feature plenty of chainsaws, but not everyone’s aware that the best chainsaw sequence in any film arguably comes from Mandy. This 2018 film, starring Nicolas Cage, gets progressively more wild as it goes along, to the point where a duel with such infamous weapons might not even represent Mandy at its weirdest.
It’s a revenge-centered movie that starts slow, and then becomes something entirely bizarre and psychedelic once an unforgivable violent act is committed. The second half blends horror, action, fantasy, and some (very dark) comedy to staggering effect, making Mandy a film that’s both odd and impressively unforgettable.
13 ‘The Lost Boys’ (1987)
Released during a decade when teen-centered coming-of-age movies were arguably at their peak, The Lost Boys does something interesting with the whole subgenre by adding vampires into the proceedings. It’s a movie about growing up and trying to fit in, but a bunch of the characters also happen to have supernatural powers.
It’s a horror/thriller movie, but it’s also pretty funny – albeit slightly scattershot – with a plot about a small town torn apart by mysterious murders, and a gang of young vampire hunters who want to stand up to the fanged dangers around them. It might not be super scary, but The Lost Boys is at least super fun.
12 ‘The Conjuring’ (2013)
Some three years after Insidious, filmmaker James Wan returned to the horror genre (along with Insidious star Patrick Wilson) to make 2013’s The Conjuring. This one is up there among the most iconic horror movies of the 2010s, with its plot once again having a familiar presence surrounding a family being targeted by demonic and/or supernatural forces.
Here, however, the main characters are two capable paranormal investigators who are also married: Ed and Lorraine Warren. What follows are all the jumpy, nail-biting moments you’d expect from a paranormal horror/thriller movie, with The Conjuring notoriously being so scary that it earned an R-rating for scares alone.
11 ‘Suspiria’ (1977)
Genuinely standing as the best horror movie Dario Argento ever directed (and he made a bunch of compelling ones), Suspiria is one of the most essential horror films of its decade. It takes place at a prestigious dance school where strange things appear to…