While there are a lot of options for new horror fans when it comes to choosing the right introductory movie, there are some well-known тιтles these newcomers should completely avoid. The horror movie genre can be a daunting one to enter into for new fans, and more so than most genres, it is important to find the right films to help find your footing. The best horror movies of all time include some perfect first films, but there are also тιтles new fans should work up to.

When starting out in horror, the slasher genre is ideal, while entertaining monster movies like Alien and Jaws also work. However, there are some movies you might have heard of that are simply too intense and go too far if you’re new to the genre. Some of these horror movies are terrifying for those who don’t scare easily. While you can revisit these movies later on, they should be taken off your watchlist as you get more comfortable with horror movies.

10

Eden Lake (2008)

Directed By James Watkins

New horror fans will likely be aware that the genre is not often going to deliver a happy ending. However, it might be a harsh introduction to the genre to witness just how bleak Eden Lake‘s conclusion is. The movie starts off peacefully enough, following a happy couple, played by Michael Fᴀssbender and Kelly Reilly, as they attempt to spend a romantic day together lounging by a secluded lake, only to be interrupted by a gang of troublesome youths.

What begins with teens being disruptive gradually turns more violent and dangerous. Eden Lake is particularly disturbing because it’s a grounded horror movie that feels like it could really happen. For new horror fans, they might want to stick to the more outlandish premises rather than this brutal thriller that causes viewers to reflect on the casualness of everyday violence, especially given the sickening ending to it all.

9

Human Centipede (2010)

Directed By Tom Six

There are some horror movies that might hide their unsettling nature from new genre viewers until it is too late. Fortunately, Human Centipede is the film that is able to deter the squeamish audiences from its premise alone. The movie follows a deranged doctor who kidnaps three people and sews them together in order to fulfill his twisted vision of a human centipede.

It might not be gory or feature jump scares that can put new horror viewers on edge, but Human Centipede is a lot to take in. The body horror element leads to some nauseating sequences, even for veteran horror fans. However, the tone is also quite demanding as it is relentless humiliation and torture without any reprieve or hope offered to the audience. While the sequels go even further than this first movie, an uninitiated audience can avoid the franchise entirely.

8

Hereditary (2018)

Directed By Ari Aster

Ari Aster is a horror filmmaker that horror fans should build up to rather than tackle right away. His movies are intense and challenging, and it seems as though his upcoming Western horror Eddington will be along the same lines. Aster started his directing career with perhaps his most intense movie, Hereditary, which deals with a family dealing with the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, only to find that they are being targeted by an evil force.

Hereditary is one of the defining movies of the elevated horror movement, featuring brilliant filmmaking, complex themes, and strong performances. However, it is also a raw experience with some of the most unsettling moments coming from the human aspects of the story. In a film about demonic possession, Hereditary can make the audience squirm with conversations between family members. It is a harrowing and exhausting experience that not everyone is ready for.

7

Funny Games (1997)

Directed By Michael Haneke

Funny Games is a film that experiments with the horror genre, making it immediately a safe movie for newcomers to avoid. The Austrian project follows a family spending some time in their vacation home, where they are visited by two strangers. While the young men are initially simply off-putting and awkward, they soon turn menacing and take the family hostage simply to amuse themselves in tormenting them.

Although Funny Games is a satirical examination of the horror genre and some may find the dark humor in it, there is no denying that it is still a deeply disturbing movie. This is achieved despite the violence on screen being minimal. It is another reminder of the cold-bloodedness humans are capable of, leading to one of the most haunting endings for a horror movie.

6

Mother! (2017)

Directed By Darren Aronofsky

At the height of her fame, Jennifer Lawrence took a big risk in taking on the lead role in this movie that is far from a crowd-pleaser. Mother! is a psychological horror film from Darren Aronofsky that stars Lawrence as the wife of a struggling writer (Javier Bardem), who attempts to make their home perfect before the arrival of their baby. However, her idyllic life is interrupted when her husband invites strangers into their home.

New horror fans will be best sticking to movies with fairly straight-forward plots that deliver the thrills expected with the genre. Mother! is far less concerned with a cohesive plot and feels more like a surreal nightmare, somewhere between reality and fantasy. That unsettling tone is made all the more difficult when the movie enters its final act and delivers some truly disturbing moments.

5

Cannibal Holocaust (1985)

Directed By Ruggero Deodato

Cannibal Holocaust is one of the most controversial horror movies and has built such a notorious reputation that new horror fans likely already know to avoid it. One of the earlier found-footage horror movies, Cannibal Holocaust follows a rescue mission to locate a documentary crew that has gone missing in the Amazon rainforest while making a project exploring the local cannibal tribes.

The movie remains a difficult watch due to its offensive depictions and moments of real animal cruelty. It is another film that immerses the audience in the grotesque and violent world without giving any chance to escape it. The violence is so realistic and impactful that there have been decades-long discussions about how much of it might actually be real. It is a movie that remains well-known not for being particularly good, but for its disturbing nature.

4

House Of 1000 Corpses (2003)

Directed By Rob Zombie

Before putting his own gruesome stamp on the Halloween franchise, Rob Zombie made his directorial debut with House of 1000 Corpses. The movie features a fairly typical setup of a group of teenagers on a trip across the country who make one ill-fated stop that leads to them being captured by the sadistic Firefly family. While the other entries in the Firefly franchise somehow manage to make the characters protagonists, they are simply horrific villains in their debut.

Zombie is obviously heavily influenced by The Texas Chain Saw Mᴀssacre and other grimy ’70s horror movies. However, there is a relentless bleakness to this movie that makes the grotesqueness hard to take in. From seeing a pre-The Office Rainn Wilson mutilated to the film’s downer of an ending, Zombie’s later work might be better for new horror fans.

3

Martyrs (2008)

Directed By Pascal Laugier

Martyrs begins in a thrilling way that seems to be setting up an exciting albeit brutal revenge thriller. However, while new horror fans might be onboard with this, the movie evolves into something much more complex, disturbing, and challenging for audiences. The French film has built a reputation as a particularly harrowing experience as it follows a young woman who seeks revenge on the people who captured and tortured her when she was younger.

The audience’s collective hearts sink as the film subverts expectations for the story and introduces the real, unflinching story in its second half. While it is a layered movie not easily defined, the fact that a big portion of the story explores what secrets of the afterlife may be revealed from extreme suffering should be enough to warn off some viewers.

2

Audition (2000)

Directed By Takashi Miike

Director Takashi Miike is known to be unrelenting in his graphic movies, making for another filmmaker whom new horror fans should likely avoid altogether. Audition is hailed as one of his best movies as well as one of his most infamous. It is also another film that hides just how wild things are going to get later on. The movie begins with a widower who begins holding auditions with women in the hopes of finding a new wife, eventually becoming enamored with Asami (Eihi Shiina).

The movie’s slow burn might give the sense of a comfortable story, but rest ᴀssured that things do become quite intense. The movie turns into a psychological horror ride while also not avoiding considerable amounts of gore. Audition features some of the most unbearable scenes of torture ever seen in movies, and plenty of hardened horror movie fans who have had to look away.

1

A Serbian Film (2010)

Directed By Srđan Spasojević

A Serbian Film often feels like a project that is simply testing the audience to see how much they can endure from a movie. The story follows a struggling porn star who agrees to participate in what is described to him as an “art film” only to discover that it is a snuff film that forces him to enter into one nightmarish and depraved scenario after another. With some of the deeply disturbing subjects the movie tackles, it is not surprising that A Serbian Film was banned in several countries.

The audience is hit hard with one off-putting scene after another, with nothing feeling achieved or resolved. Things just continue to get darker and darker, and the audience is forced to either abandon the movie or become numb to the horrors that are being depicted on screen. It is a clear film to avoid while you’re trying to find your footing in the horror genre, but it’s hard to say that someone will ever get to a point when they’re ready to watch A Serbian Film.