The 30 best paranormal movies, ranked

Entertainment Weekly crosses over to the other side with these superb, spooky films.

One has to wonder how ghosts and ghouls have time to haunt us when they’re so preoccupied acting in paranormal movies. Certainly, the genre lets us live vicariously through (often ill-fated) characters who either summon or accidentally encounter some of the other side’s residents.

Paranormal movies mainly preside in the horror and thriller genres, but there are a few comedic or dramatic exceptions. Almost all of them offer audiences an indelible glimpse of the supernatural that real life, for better or worse, doesn’t afford us. There’s nothing like that implacable tingle, that crawling dread, of films like these.

To keep the ghosts at bay, read on for Entertainment Weekly’s list of the 30 best paranormal movies, ranked.

30. Paranormal Activity (2007)

Oren Peli’s genre-defining found footage thriller stars Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat as a couple who believes their suburban home might be beset by malevolent forces of some kind. With the help of a handy digital camera, the pair set out to find the source of the nightly disturbances.

The Paranormal Activity franchise has gone so far down the rabbit hole that it’s easy to forget its ultra-simple, stripped-back roots. Peli structures his picture in the seamless style of old-school horror-thrillers, first by establishing the characters and then spinning scares from their relationship that further exacerbate the bumps in the night.

Where to watch Paranormal Activity: Max

29. Session 9 (2001)

Brad Anderson’s skin-crawling ghost story follows a group of sanitation workers (led by David Caruso and Josh Lucas) who encounter some creepy goings-on, and even spookier recordings of therapy sessions, when they’re sent to clean out a disused mental asylum.

Journeyman director Anderson outdid himself with this rollicking yet understated horror-fest, which executes its finest scares without using much more than its ingeniously unsettling sound design.

Where to watch Session 9: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

28. The Frighteners (1996)

Peter Jackson’s jolly horror-comedy finds an architect turned exorcist (Michael J. Fox), who’s able to communicate with departed spirits, trying to solve the mounting body count in his idyllic small town while romancing the widow (Trini Alvarado) of one of the victims.

Nobody does their respective jobs as well as Jackson and Fox do theirs, and to see these two working together is almost too much goodness to behold. The Frighteners is just as goofy and splattery as you want a Jackson genre picture to be, anchored in a solid mystery and Fox’s preternatural ability to command the screen.

Where to watch The Frighteners: Tubi

27. Insidious (2010)

Josh and Renai Lambert (Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) move their family to what should be an idyllic suburban home; but when one of their children falls ill, the Lamberts uncover a much darker reason behind his ailment.

James Wan’s haunted house picture essentially birthed Blumhouse’s brand of inexpensive, wildly lucrative horror. In the same vein of Paranormal Activity, Wan’s film launched a sprawling franchise with a simple, effective formula that packed an additional wallop for having been absent from cinemas for some time by the 2010s.

Where to watch Insidious: Peacock

26. It Follows (2014)

David Robert Mitchell’s astonishing paranormal picture has spawned a litany of imitators, none of which match It Follows’ distinctive mix of mood, high-concept plotting, and propulsive fear. Jay (Maika Monroe) has sex with her boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary) only to discover he’s passed along a fatal curse that she can only shake by sleeping with another person. And so it begins its shape-shifting pursuit — slow, deliberate, agonizingly persistent.

Mitchell conjures a maddening sense of dread out of the simplest techniques; once we’ve seen the entity walking toward Jay, every person casually moving in the background feels like a threat. Of course, It Follows is as much about growing up as it is about fear and sex — or, rather, it’s about what’s scary about growing up, the dying of the youthful presumption of safety, protection, and immortality.

Where to watch It Follows: Netflix

25. The Amityville Horror (1979)

This classic haunted house tale tells the unfortunate “true” story of George and Kathy Lutz (James Brolin and Margot Kidder), who buy a rambling house on Long Island only to discover its murderous past and supernatural inhabitants.

A tremendously effective horror story that takes its time to eke out substantial frights, Stuart Rosenberg’s completely over-the-top vision of yuppie-dom gone awry kicked off one of Hollywood’s most dubious franchises. Though a few of the sequels have their merits, Amityville in Space and Amityville Karen remain for completists only.

Where to watch The Amityville Horror: Max

24. Sinister (2012)

Scott Derrickson’s brilliant found footage-cum-haunted house tale stars Ethan Hawke as a morally murky true crime journalist who moves with his wife (Juliet Rylance) and kids into the home where a brutal family murder took place, the inspiration for his latest book. Things go badly, and only get worse when Hawke finds a box of 16mm snuff films in the attic.

Derrickson is a woefully underrated horror director, and Sinister is his crowning achievement. The gory recordings are photographed in a surrealistic, utterly chilling manner, and, set to Christopher Young’s masterful industrial score, they carry an uncommon power.

Where to watch Sinister: Max

23. Child’s Play (1988)

Tom Holland’s franchise kick-off finds the soul of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) transferred into a cherubic Good Guys doll named Chucky. When the toy makes its way into the home of Andy (Alex Vincent) and his exhausted mother (Catherine Hicks), only a dedicated detective (Chris Sarandon) can stop the bloodshed.

Holland treats the idea of a loony murderer’s spirit occupying a doll’s form with an uncommon seriousness. Though some of the later installments veered into comedy, this original makes a compelling case for taking Chucky very seriously indeed.

Where to watch Child’s Play: Tubi

22. Final Destination 2 (2003)

David R. Ellis’ wildly entertaining first sequel in the admirably consistent franchise follows a group of spring-break revelers (led by A.J. Cook and returning star Ali Larter) who manage to avoid a catastrophic highway pileup only to find themselves being picked off, one by one, by that dreaded specter known as Death.

Breathtakingly gory and hell-bent on a very particular type of early-aughts destruction, Final Destination 2 is a slasher movie crossed with something approaching a supernatural action film. It’s remarkably entertaining and always rewatchable, with a few murder set pieces that will make you genuinely wince.

Where to watch Final Destination 2: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

21. Ringu (1998)

Reiko (Nanako Matsushima), a reporter, sets out with her ex-husband (Hiroyuki Sanada) to investigate the ghostly phenomenon of a disturbing videotape that seemingly killed her niece.

Hideo Nakata’s seminal fright flick kicked off a sprawling franchise across several continents, and it’s easy to see why. Ringu possesses a singular sort of fear that few films can pull off. Watching it leaves you with that unshakeable, unpleasant feeling of recalling too vividly a particularly disturbing nightmare.

Where to watch Ringu: Tubi

20. The Others (2001)

Grace (Nicole Kidman) moves with her children (Alakina Mann and James Bentley), who possess a sunlight allergy, into an isolated country cottage as she awaits the return of her husband from fighting in WWII. There, the arrival of a governess (Fionnula Flanagan) and her peers kicks off a series of horrifying supernatural occurrences that threaten to unravel Grace’s reality.

A wonderfully paced, brazenly old-fashioned ghost story, The Others feels timeless as all the best horror films do. Alejandro Amenábar directs with a lush eye for atmosphere and details, while the oft-imitated twist ending feels earned and emotionally cathartic.

Where to watch The Others: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

19. The Eye (2002)

The Pang Brothers’ ultra-spooky immersion into the supernatural underworld stars Angelica Lee as Mun, a prodigious blind musician who is gifted sight with a radical corneal transplant. Yet as she’s tormented by visions of the dead, Mun wonders if sight is worth her mental sanity.

One of Hong Kong’s signature modern thrillers, The Eye got swept up in American audiences’ fascination with Asian horror from the late ’90s through the aughts, later receiving an obligatory remake in 2008 starring Jessica Alba. Like most modern horror encores, that version is best left unseen; it can’t match the Pangs’ contemporary twist on classical, spine-tingling fright.

Where to watch The Eye: Not available to stream

18. The Beyond (1981)

Lucio Fulci’s paranormal masterwork concerns a young woman (Catriona MacColl) who inherits a palatial hotel that sits above the gates of hell. Predictably, things don’t go so well for her.

To define what the experience of The Beyond is actually like is… well, if you’ll forgive the paraphrased steal from Casablanca, it’s like any other Italian horror movie, only more so. Fulci embraces nightmare logic as enthusiastically as any filmmaker of his genre or generation, and this film is him at his gorily most unhinged. He indulges his penchant for toe-curling eyeball violence and subtly effective set design in this everything-and-the-kitchen-sink haunted house riff.

Where to watch The Beyond: Peacock

17. Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Karyn Kusama’s supernatural high-school dark comedy, written by Diablo Cody, is utterly excellent despite its initially lackluster reviews. Amanda Seyfried plays Needy Lesnicky, the dowdy best friend to the popular/hot/cool/flexible Jennifer Check (Megan Fox). When Jennifer is sacrificed as part of a devilish ritual by a skeevy rock band, she returns as a succubus with a taste for teenage boys’ flesh.

Jennifer’s Body is one of those perfect fusions of time and place, capturing that mid-aughts period when pop culture was paradoxically alt. Cody also flexes her sprawling knowledge of the horror genre, making for a riotously entertaining film with a ferocious satirical undercurrent.

Where to watch Jennifer’s Body: Tubi

16. Talk to Me (2022)

This recent A24 effort from Australian directors Danny and Michael Philippou is one of the studio’s scariest outputs yet. A mummified hand that can imbue its possessors with both horrifying glimpses of the afterlife and a drug-life euphoria threatens to undo a suburban family when a young boy (the stupendously natural Joe Bird) spends too long on the other side and becomes possessed.

Remarkably unsettling and shockingly brutal, Talk to Me is a singular horror film that ranks among this decade’s finest. With a smart application of style and humor, the Philippous crafted a relentless modern chiller.

Where to watch Talk to Me: Paramount+

15. Suspiria (1977)

Dario Argento’s groundbreaking opera of furious sight and sound concerns young Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper), who upon being sent to a prestigious German ballet academy discovers that it is but a front for a coven of youth-siphoning witches.

Argento’s galvanizing picture remains a masterclass in harnessing the power of image and music to beguile an audience. It also feels as fresh and exciting today as it did almost 50 years ago.

Where to watch Suspiria: Xumo Play

14. Lake Mungo (2008)

After their teenage daughter (Talia Zucker) drowns, a family begins experiencing strange events in their home. They call in a paranormal psychologist, who uncovers disturbing secrets while parsing through their surveillance camera and cell phone footage.

This is a particularly somber and understated movie, resembling domestic dramas like Ordinary People more than traditional horror films. With a canny mix of found footage and faux-documentary, Lake Mungo transports the audience into its spare, chilling universe.

Where to watch Lake Mungo: Tubi

13. Hereditary (2018)

Ari Aster’s astonishingly original yet somehow terrifically old-fashioned ghost-and-witchcraft story stars Toni Collette as a bereaved mother who turns to the paranormal in the hopes of contacting family members she’s recently lost. As the supposedly well-intentioned woman leading her to doom, Ann Dowd commits to one of the most insidious villain performances in modern horror history.

The movie that established Aster as an art-house freakout auteur, Hereditary is breathtakingly, exhaustively intense and frequently just as emotional. That Collette didn’t collect an Oscar nomination for this role is a stain on the Academy.

Where to watch Hereditary: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

12. The Orphanage (2007)

J.A. Bayona directed this Spanish production about a young woman (Belén Rueda) who buys the orphanage in which she grew up with the intention of converting it into a home for infirm children. When her son goes missing, she turns to the many ghosts residing within the home to aid her desperate search.

More than a bit inspired by Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone, The Orphanage weaves a similarly melancholy and thematically rich haunted house tale that calls on the country’s complicated past to inflect its plot with verisimilitude. What’s more, it’s exceptionally scary.

Where to watch The Orphanage: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

11. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

Adrian Lyne’s mind-warping erotic thriller stars Tim Robbins as a Vietnam vet plagued with horrifying hallucinations once he returns stateside. As he discovers he's not the only member of his platoon to experience such oddities, Jacob is further removed from his already tenuous reality.

A thoughtful and enveloping exploration of psychosis, Lyne’s film remains a high-water mark in the psychological freak-out genre. Robbins grounds the eccentric proceedings with his reliable everyman persona, while Lynne one-ups his signature opulent visual style in such a way that he often wrong-foots the audience’s genre expectations with nothing more than a simple camera move.

Where to watch Jacob’s Ladder: Amazon Prime Video

10. The Sixth Sense (1999)

Young Cole (Haley Joel Osment) is plagued by visions of those who died violent deaths. His exasperated mother (Toni Collette) seeks help in the form of a psychologist (Bruce Willis), who may have more in common with Cole than he thinks.

M. Night Shyamalan’s classic ghost story popularized a now-ubiquitous twist ending and got all of us swearing we saw dead people. It’s still a hard-edged, substantially creepy fable with a heart-wrenching central performance from Osment and some of Willis’ best dramatic acting.

Where to watch The Sixth Sense: Max

9. Cat People (1942)

A well-intentioned husband (Kent Smith) accidentally ignites his wife’s (Simone Simon) supernatural curse, in which she transforms into a large feline when aroused. She then goes about stalking her nemeses, including the beautiful woman (Jane Randolph) with whom her partner has become infatuated.

Jacques Tourneur’s fabulously creepy and macabre exploration of jealous sexual awakening features some unbelievably detailed sets and camerawork that seem innovative even today. Far from the staid paranormal horrors produced during this period, Cat People is ferocious and mysterious in equal measure.

Where to watch Cat People: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

8. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Roman Polanski’s adaptation of Ira Levin’s satirical shocker stars Mia Farrow as a young housewife who begins to believe her dream pregnancy is a cover for something much more nefarious, as her actor husband (John Cassavetes) brings an eccentric elderly couple (Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer) uncomfortably into their lives.

Polanski’s picture is elegant yet abrasive, an uncommonly lovely combination. Farrow is terrific in the lead role, getting the audience almost instantly on her side as the director ratchets up the tension to an unbearably chilling climax.

Where to watch Rosemary’s Baby: Paramount+

7. Poltergeist (1982)

Tobe Hooper’s story about a suburban family (helmed by Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams) beset by paranormal activity in their new home, which may or may not be built on an ancient burial ground, is completely insane. It’s one of the first horror movies to feel like an out-and-out action (or even disaster) movie, with crumbling sets and flashing lights right out of a Clive Barker climax.

Poltergeist has endured, though, because its scares are rooted in this authentic family unit’s terror. We feel for them, and the dissolution of their — ’80s American dream.

Where to watch Poltergeist: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

6. The Innocents (1961)

Based on Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, Jack Clayton’s spine-chilling ghost story (with a script by Truman Capote, among others) stars Deborah Kerr as a governess sent to an isolated estate to care for two odd children (Martin Stephens and Pamela Franklin). There, she encounters — what else? — disembodied voices and vengeful spirits.

Clayton’s exceptionally frightening haunted house picture established many of the genre’s most beloved tropes, a great deal of which are still in circulation today. Nearly every film on this list has arguably drawn inspiration from The Innocents. Here, Clayton creates a masterful mood of dread and dense mystery within a rich and oddly cozy atmosphere.

Where to watch The Innocents: Not available to stream

5. Hausu (1977)

There’s no other way to describe Nobuhiko Obayashi’s film except for “genuinely f—ing crazy.” Even to call it a haunted house movie seems tame; it’s more of a spiritual home invasion, really.

A group of seven schoolgirls — all with cheeky names like Kung Fu and Mac (for “stomach,” because she likes to eat) — venture to the home of one girl’s aunt, where they’re beset by disembodied, bottom-chomping heads, possessed mattresses, and hungry ghosts.

Obayashi’s picture is an authentically singular experience, and also a rather sweet one. It plays like a live-action, exaggeratedly silly Studio Ghibli movie.

Where to watch Hausu: Max

4. The Haunting (1963)

Robert Wise’s adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s masterful novella finds a specially selected group of people brought together to spend a night at the famously haunted Hill House. Each has their different motives — Eleanor (Julie Harris) wishes to separate from her overbearing family; a gregarious psychic (Claire Bloom) hopes to write a bestselling book; Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson) wants to uncover the home’s paranormal truth. Joined by the home’s heir (Russ Tamblyn), they set about uncovering the home’s insidious past.

Wise crafts an elegant and memorable ghost story here, retaining much of Jackson’s scabrous dialogue while improving upon the suspense set pieces established in her book.​​ It’s one of the spookiest, and most elegant, haunted house pictures ever made.

Where to watch The Haunting: Tubi

3. The Shining (1980)

Stanley Kubrick’s supernatural opus continues to spark scrutiny and debate almost 50 years later. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a has-been writer, takes a job at the Overlook Hotel as the off-season caretaker so he can write his next novel. Soon, his family (wife Shelley Duvall and son Danny Lloyd) experiences gory hallucinations and unexplainable events within the corridors.

Kubrick’s film is a devastatingly rendered portrait of an artist’s descent into psychosis, one that’s implicit through the pursuit of crafting a great work. The Shining is every bit as meticulous and fetishistic as its reputation would suggest, with Kubrick using his stern directorial hand to create a sense of unease on screen.

Where to watch The Shining: Max

2. Evil Dead II (1987)

Sam Raimi’s gleeful, gore-gag-laden romp (essentially a higher-budget, more jocular spin on his 1981 original) finds Bruce Campbell’s Ash once again battling a group of Deadites in a remote cabin.

Raimi strikes an inimitable tone of feel-good fun that precious few films are able to attain, let alone those in the horror genre. The director previously compared this movie to The Three Stooges with viscera standing in for custard pies, and that’s the precise vibe one feels upon viewing. There’s nothing offensive or off-putting in Evil Dead II, only a merry sense of the possibilities paranormal filmmaking presents.

Where to watch Evil Dead II: Plex

1. The Exorcist (1973)

William Friedkin’s seminal exploration of faith and good vs. evil stars Linda Blair as possessed pre-teen Regan and Ellen Burstyn as her tormented mother, famous actress Chris MacNeill. At a loss, a local priest (Jason Miller) calls in an expert exorcist (Max von Sydow) to rid the young girl of her demonic evil.

Decades have done nothing to degrade the startling force and sheer spectacle of Friedkin’s terrifically unsettling paranormal horror film. It goes to show that there are few things more frightening than losing our very bodily autonomy — or a head spinning on a spine’s axis, or a demented crabwalk down the stairs.

Where to watch The Exorcist: Max

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