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- It's spooky season, and Halloween is right around the corner. Celebrating the occasion, it's the perfect time to expand one's horizons by looking at outstanding horror movies made outside Hollywood. The best foreign horror films may not follow the kinds of norms and tropes most people are used to, but they're all the more special because of that.
The horror genre is one of the most successful and widely consumed forms of media. Horror films (of varying qualities, even) always manage to bring in crowds and gain a big sense of popularity. Hollywood manages to pump dozens of successful horror films each year, but it's also important to recognize some unique and unconventional horror films that come from all over the world.
Whether it's the surreal mind-bending visionaries from France with films like Raw or the deeply gritty and harrowing features from Korea like Train to Busan, there are plenty of haunting, weird, and distinctive horror films from the past decade that the whole globe has to offer.
Updated on October 20, 2023, by Diego Pineda Pacheco:
It's spooky season, and Halloween is right around the corner. Celebrating the occasion, it's the perfect time to expand one's horizons by looking at outstanding horror movies made outside Hollywood. The best foreign horror films may not follow the kinds of norms and tropes most people are used to, but they're all the more special because of that.
10 'The Lure' (2015)
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Combining the words "mermaid," "horror," and "musical" sounds like a weird fever dream, but that is exactly what the Polish The Lure is. The must-see horror musical film tells the story of two mermaid sisters who find themselves in a vicious love triangle when one of them falls in love with a young man.
The film has a unique aesthetic that makes its bizarre atmosphere deeply memorable. Even if this is a film you only ever end up watching once, it is something you will forever remember experiencing. It's a wild, energetic picture that feels like a twisted, wild, and modern retelling of The Little Mermaid.
9 'Climax' (2018)
Climax stands out as being one of the most disturbing and distressing films from recent years, perhaps too gut-wrenching to watch twice. This French cinematic extravaganza follows a group of dancers as they all start to suffer from a nightmarish drug trip after collectively consuming a spiked party drink.
Gaspar Noé really has an eye for making harrowing, yet impactful filmmaking. Even if he isn't directly making a horror film, there are still many haunting aspects to the stories he tells. However, Climax feels like the closest thing he's made to genuine horror. The more you think about it, the more frightening it gets. It's quite an evocative experience as you watch these dancers lose control over their minds.
8 'One Cut of the Dead' (2017)
While the Japanese One Cut of the Dead isn't one of the scariest horror movies out there, it certainly is one of the funniest. This is a film that is best experienced by knowing as little as possible before going into it. All you need to know is that it's a complete one-take zombie film that you should continue to watch past the credits.
The film is a highly amusing roller-coaster filled to the brim with fantastic performances and choreography. It has a truly unique concept unlike anything done before, making it a wild and original experience that's easy to call one of the best foreign horror movies of recent years.
7 'The Wailing' (2016)
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South Korea has a ton of great films aside from those offered by more mainstream directors like Park Chan-wook or Bong Joon-ho, and The Wailing is certainly one of them. The film tells the story of a policeman who investigates a case of a mysterious sickness that begins to spread within a small village after the visit of a peculiar stranger.
The film acts as a very compelling mystery that slowly devolves into genuine horror. It does a great job of reeling you into the atmosphere of this small town, and keeps you hooked to its characters as you simultaneously try to uncover the puzzles the story expresses.
6 'Train to Busan' (2016)
With the zombie genre seeming to fade away, it's films like Train to Busan that prove you can still tell a serious and unique story with the undead. A top-tier South Korean horror film, it quite fittingly takes place on a train heading to Busan and follows the crew as they find out that they are in the mists of a zombie outbreak.
The film is tense and gripping specifically due to its setting. The confined compartments of the train add a lot to the fear factor, especially considering the limited space to escape or hide from the bloodthirsty zombies.
5 'Goodnight Mommy' (2014)
Austrian horror doesn't have very many representatives in the parthenon of the most popular horror movies ever, but Goodnight Mommy certainly deserves to be up there. In it, two twin brothers move to a new house with their mom, who has recently undergone cosmetic surgery. Under the bandages, however, is someone the boys don't recognize.
The movie builds its chilling atmosphere slowly, and if you're patient with it, it's guaranteed to make your skin crawl. One of the scariest foreign movies made in recent years, it's a terrific example of elevated horror that all fans of slow-burn horror ought to watch at least once.
4 'Raw' (2016)
Julia Ducournau's Raw explores themes that will definitely crawl under most people's skin. The chilling teen horror movie tells the story of a young woman who attends her first year at veterinary school and develops an unusual craving for flesh after she tries out meat for the first time.
The film is highly unsettling and doesn't shy away from showing some truly grotesque imagery. It almost feels like it's set in a slightly fantasized reality due to the equally modern but also bizarre nature of the setting and characters. Raw is a truly weird blend of many ideas that will leave you disgusted, scared, and even mesmerized.
3 'Titane' (2021)
Julia Ducournau's second film, Titane is her highly surreal follow-up to her outstanding debut. While Raw is weird enough, this film takes it even further. It tells the very atypical story of a woman that goes down a spiraling sequence of events after being in a lethal car accident when she was younger.
Despite being a very bizarre and messed up film that may seem like a blend of nonsensical events, Titane has a lot of underlying themes to be explored. It is a highly fascinating commentary on sex, family, gender, and acceptance wrapped up together in a brutal, punk, and deranged bow.
2 'Huesera: The Bone Woman' (2022)
After watching the Mexican horror drama Huesera: The Bone Woman, you'll never think of cracking your knuckles the same way again. Brilliantly directed and with haunting sound design, it's the eerie story of Valeria, who has always dreamed of motherhood; but after learning she's pregnant, something feels off.
Huesera is a harrowing portrayal of postpartum depression and the way the pressures of domesticity force queer people to repress their identity. Thoughtful, genuinely terrifying, and with a commendable performance by Natalia Solián, it's one of the best foreign scary movies, an underrated gem that deserves more praise.
1 'A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night' (2014)
When it comes to scary foreign movies, it rarely gets any better than A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. Promoted as the first Iranian vampire Western, it's about a ghost town that reeks of death and loneliness, whose townspeople are unaware that a lonesome vampire stalks them at night.
Brilliantly original and and aesthetically stunning, the film transcends its genre to tell a very unique kind of vampire romance that's very hard to not fall in love with. With slick style and artistic deftness, director Ana Lily Amirpour proves that non-Hollywood horror has a voice that's just as strong, and just as many interesting stories to tell.