10 scary video games and 20 amazing horror flicks to watch after playing them
I love a good tale. The scarier, the better. And it seems I’m not alone.
Horror—whether in video games, movies, television, or other media—seems to be having a moment. While tales of terror can delve into everything from the supernatural to folk tales to serial killers to the innocuous quiet neighbor, all of the best ones deliver hefty doses of escapism punctuated by jolts of fear that leave your brain absolutely soaking in dopamine.
Fortunately for you, I absolutely gorge on horror year round—I’m fast approaching 2,000 horror movies watched. This year, I thought it would be fun to do some anxiety-inducing pairings of great horror video games with movies you might like to watch after you're done playing.
The suggested movies aren’t retellings so much as horror flicks that dwell in the same spooky settings, play with similar themes, or have comparable antagonists.
Still Wakes the Deep
In Still Wakes the Deep, players find themselves trapped on a damaged oil drilling platform in the North Sea. The 1970s setting becomes a harrowing tale of cat-and-mouse as the player tries to survive both encroaching monsters and the tumultuous sea.
Underwater
While 2020’s Underwater tells a different sort of story, it still features a cast trapped in a drilling facility in the ocean while pursued by a monstrous horde. In this case, the crew—which includes Kristen Stewart—is trapped six miles underwater at the base of a drilling station. It’s a slick, more-than-slightly Lovecraftian tale with one heck of a finale.
Sphere
Michael Crichton’s amazing books (and the movies they spawned) weren’t always about dinosaur parks and the arrogance of humanity. He also wrote some real nail-biters about pathogens, nanobots, brain surgery, and time travel (to name a few) and…well, still the arrogance of humanity. In Sphere, a group of scientists are placed in an underwater habitat to examine a spaceship discovered at the bottom of the Pacific. Things do not go well.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Frictional Games kicked off a delightful, fright-filled horror franchise when they dropped Amnesia: The Dark Descent into the world in 2010. Since its release, we’ve seen Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Amnesia: Rebirth, and—most recently—the claustrophobic Amnesia: The Bunker. You really should check them all out, but that first frightener is a must for any fans of Lovecraft and gothic Victorian horror.
Castle Freak
Speaking of H.P. Lovecraft and all of his tentacles, Castle Freak is a great fit for those who love Amnesia: The Dark Descent. In the movie, a recovering alcoholic inherits an Italian castle, only to discover the place isn’t entirely unoccupied. The monster that escapes then goes on a murderous rampage. Castle Freak is said to be heavily influenced by Lovecraft’s short story “The Outsider.” Be warned, this movie isn’t for everyone, but it has developed a cult following of sorts.
The Others
While Castle Freak never found its audience with its original direct-to-video release, the same can’t be said of the gothic ghost story The Others. Nicole Kidman’s take on the haunted (and haunting) mother of two young children in a spooky Jersey home is an unforgettable experience. And that ending!
The Mortuary Assistant
Setting anything inside a mortuary is always a good start for a solid horror experience. In this case, you play as Rebecca Owens, a hapless assistant at a mortuary who gets locked in and forced to…well, let’s just say “do work above her pay grade.”
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
You think Rebecca has it bad? Try being forced to come up with a cause of death for a corpse that seems to be both the victim and the suspect in a strange multiple homicide case. Things go from bad to worse as father and son Tommy and Austin first try to sort out the time of death and then try to avoid their own time of death in this seriously creepy film.
The Vigil
While The Vigil doesn’t take place inside a mortuary, it has the same vibe as both The Autopsy of Jane Doe and The Mortuary Assistant. In the 2019 movie, a former member of an Orthodox Jewish community is paid to keep vigil over a Holocaust survivor who recently died. The entire movie takes place in a small, increasingly creepy Brooklyn home over the course of a single night. It’s a dark and creeping horror movie that taps into religious traditions surrounding the dead.
Dead By Daylight
If you’re a fan of horror, you’ve surely played Dead by Daylight and its ever-expanding roster of would-be victims (aka survivors) and killers. The game does an amazing job of mixing the good and the evil from a deep list of horror, including folk tales, urban legends, ghost stories, and more than a few well-known movie franchises. In the game, you take on the role of either the killer or those trying to escape. It’s a wonderful bit of asymmetric fun that manages to continually expand what it means to be scary. For instance, you’ll find the likes of Ghostface, Freddy, and Leatherface hanging with the cast of Stranger Things, Castlevania, and even Dungeons & Dragons.
The Cabin in the Woods
As any horror movie and twisted tale aficionado can tell you, The Cabin in the Woods is about as perfect a meta-horror movie as you can make. I won’t spoil the ending, but in a nutshell, the movie takes place in an eponymous cabin in the woods and features—or even explains—just about every horror movie trope that you can think of. It also has some spectacular scenes of monster mashing (not in the dancey-fun way) that are sure to make everyone think of Dead by Daylight.
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Okay, so this is a very different take for fans of Dead By Daylight. Instead of a movie that frolics in the mixed dread of an encyclopedia of horrors, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a black comedy horror mockumentary that follows a killer as he builds up his kill count and transforms into a masked slasher. If you’d like to watch something similar but with subtler humor and a lot more societal decay, you should check out Man Bites Dog as well.
Alien: Isolation
We’ve talked a lot about it, and we’ve written a lot about it, but there’s still so much to say about what some might call the perfect Alien (not Aliens with an ‘s’) movie adaptation. In this 2014 survival horror game, you play as Amanda Ripley and attempt to outsmart a Xenomorph. There’s no attacking, no going on the offensive. It’s all stealth, creeping dread, and scream-out-loud surprises. The game is so good it’s finally spawning a sequel, and the folks behind this year's hit Alien: Romulus say they were inspired by elements of the game.
Alien: Romulus
Speaking of Alien: Romulus, you’re of course going to want to check this 2024 release out if you were a fan of Alien: Isolation. The movie takes place between the events of the belly-bursting horror of Alien and the “game over, man, game over” bravado of Aliens. Directed by Fede Álvarez, the man behind both the phenomenal Evil Dead remake and Don’t Breathe (below), Alien: Romulus successfully reminded viewers why the original 1979 classic was so engrossing and scary.
Don’t Breathe
While the “victims” in this movie aren’t being hunted by spider-like Facehuggers, they do have to survive a Gulf War veteran with a sadistic approach to neighborhood safety and an acute sense of hearing. The film keeps surprising the audience as it proceeds to chew through the cast, but it’s the underlying premise—you can’t make a noise because a blind vet will chop you up—that makes it feel an awful lot like Alien: Isolation.
CARRION
There aren’t a ton of video games out there that cast you unapologetically as the baddie, let alone one who is also an evolving monster. (Pause for a moment here to remember Evolve.) Developer Phobia Game Studio calls its amazing creation a reverse-horror game because you control a tentacled monster who breaks free of its containment to stalk the members of the Relith Science research facility. Cackle in joy as your creature consumes scurrying humans and continues to grow in ability and size.
The Blob
Clearly the best and most obvious fit for this wonderful game is the equally wonderful sci-fi horror classic The Blob. (I love both the 1958 original and 1988 remake.) In both, a carnivorous, unkillable, oozing blob of unknown but alien origin slowly—surprisingly slowly—consumes a town and everyone in it. Come for the crazy premise, but stay for that amazing movie theater scene. It’s glorious, and shame on you if you haven’t seen it yet.
Life
Life is like a grown-up and genuinely unsettling (read: less campy) take on The Blob, in my book. All the action takes place in space, as a dormant alien cell escapes containment and quickly proceeds to kill the folks trapped with it on the space station, offing them in the sort of horrific ways that are sure to dwell in the back of your mind for the rest of your life. I’ll just say one of the scenes is…hard to swallow.
Saturnalia
In this 2022 survival horror game from Italian studio Santa Ragione, players take control of one of four characters as they try to survive the ancient, ritualistic horror of a tiny Sardinian village. There’s a lot of death, there’s a mysterious creature, and there are some strong roguelike elements to keep it fresh for the entire game.
Blood and Black Lace
The developers of Saturnalia have said that their distinctly Italian horror game was inspired by the general feel and aesthetic of classic Giallo movies of the ‘70s. These murder mystery flicks are often considered to be the horror version of a Spaghetti Western—think Spaghetti Slasher. If that’s your thing, then one of the clear standouts is Blood and Black Lace, which essentially defined the genre and what it meant to be a Spaghetti Slasher. In this case, it means a masked and gloved stalker killing alluring fashion models with a shiny knife.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
If you’re only going to watch one Giallo, I’d strongly recommend The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Dario Argento’s directorial debut. The “Master of Horror” would go on to create dozens of horror movies and thrillers, including Demons and Deep Red (often called the best Giallo ever made), plus producing Dawn of the Dead. But in The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, an American writer visiting Rome tries to solve serial killings before being killed himself.
Until Dawn
Supermassive Games kicked off an ongoing series of interactive horror games back in 2015 with the release of Until Dawn. Its success led to The Dark Pictures Anthology games, The Quarry, and The Casting of Frank Stone. But for this first breakout hit, players are dropped into a slasher film. You try to help the game's eight protagonists survive their night at a cabin in the woods, replete with horrific traps, a captivating story, and the ability to change what happens next with your decisions.
Saw
There’s a lot of the Saw series in Until Dawn, from the unseen antagonist to the cruel traps that force people to make terrible decisions. James Wan’s horror series spans ten movies, with another currently in production. While the original movie spawned not just the series but also deeply impacted the horror films that came after, I think the most recent—Saw X—is the best of the bunch.
Evil Dead II
While the Saw franchise clearly influenced the gruesome life-or-death decisions forced in Until Dawn, the game also clearly borrows heavily from the aesthetic of the Evil Dead series. The game’s creative director, Will Byles, even mentioned Evil Dead II’s amazing audio and camera work as inspirations for the game. If you haven’t seen it, you’re in for a treat. It’s essentially a remake of the original zombie film but with some money behind it. Never has the team-up of director Sam Raimi and actor Bruce Campbell been better.
Dead Space
Dead Space is one of those unusual games that was well received at launch but even more appreciated a decade later. The gripping 2008 survival horror game from EA Redwood Shores tells the story of a mining spaceship overrun by gruesome Necromorphs. Dead Space is easily one of the best survival horror games ever made, and it was recently remade in 2023, tweaking the audio, story, and—of course—the look of the game.
Event Horizon
This is just a wonderful movie, filled with creepy moments and quotable dialog. The whole thing (starring Sam Neil and Laurence Fishburne) is a mind trip that blends science fiction with good old-fashioned hell. Somehow a lot of critics didn’t appreciate its raw horror when it hit in 1997, but nowadays most consider it a minted cult classic. From the haunting distress signal to Dr. Weir’s final promise to take everyone on a trip they won’t forget, Event Horizon is a must-watch for fans of Dead Space, horror, and good movies.
Pandorum
While not as horrific as Event Horizon, Pandorum does a great job of playing around with the idea of deep-space-triggered delirium and psychosis. In the film, two members of an interstellar ark awake to discover that things have gone haywire on their ship and that their 123-year journey hasn’t been completed. They spend the rest of the movie trying to avoid a group of cannibalistic creatures and figure out what the heck happened while they were sleeping.
Alan Wake
Both Alan Wake video games (and let’s not forget Control) are amazing. They manage to push forward the art of storytelling in video games and also traipse carefully along the line that separates action-adventure from survival horror. In the original Alan Wake, you play as the titular bestselling author as he investigates the disappearance of his wife and tries to uncover the mysteries of the small town of Bright Falls. In Remedy’s universe—which spans Alan Wake and its recent sequel Alan Wake 2, as well as Control—things get surreal fast, blurring the line between not just reality and fiction but author and reader.
In the Mouth of Madness
Speaking of the power of words. In the Mouth of Madness eschews any subtlety on the topic while examining what happens when an author’s words inexplicably have the power to drive readers insane. It’s a trippy movie with some wonderful effects. If you like it, know that it’s also thematically the third in what director John Carpenter calls his “Apocalypse Trilogy.” The other two films, The Thing and Prince of Darkness, are some of the best horror to hit the ‘80s.
The Dark Half
This Stephen King novel-turned-movie sometimes gets forgotten among King's many classics, but it’s both a fun read and a fun watch. Adapted by George A. Romero in 1993, the film follows the story of an author who decides to symbolically kill off his own pen name. Turns out the nom de guerre isn’t too hot on the idea, and proceeds to try and supplant the author—and not just in name. It’s not the best of King’s movies, but it’s worth a watch, especially if you’re into Alan Wake and exploring the horror of fiction writing.
And that’s 20 movies paired with 10 games. Still looking for some great stuff to watch this month (or whenever)? Some of my recent favorites include Die Alone, Satanic Hispanics, Oddity, Late Night with the Devil, Lisa Frankenstein, I Saw the TV Glow, Humane, Apartment 7a, and Abigail. Your mileage, of course, may vary.