It's normal after watching a slasher film or a paranormal thriller to fear things like masked murderers and evil spirits, but sometimes, horror movies take it up a notch and make you fear things that aren't even sentient.
From killer cars to not-so-sunny weather to everyday household appliances, it's not an unusual trope in horror films to use inanimate objects as their primary scare tactic, making viewers fear things that aren't always living and breathing.
10 Cars ('Christine')
Between Herbie, Lightning McQueen and Optimus Prime, there are plenty of beloved, sentient vehicles in film, but one that will make you second guess that wish for your car to personify and befriend you is Stephen King's Christine.
Christine is one of the scariest Stephen King characters for the way she goes from lifeless car to rampaging beast throughout the film, vowing to end anyone who damages her, including her owner's bullies.
9 VHS Tapes ('The Ring')
Samara gave a whole new meaning to home movies in the supernatural horror The Ring. In this film, when someone watches the cursed VHS tape, they're told they only have seven days to live until Samara comes for them through their TV screen.
This terrifying concept of haunted video footage isn't new, considering Halloween III: Season of the Witch and The Blair Witch Project, and Paranormal Activity may make you never want to use any kind of home security cameras, but The Ring will always leave a special, horrifying place in people's minds for the good, old-fashioned VHS tape.
8 Animatronics ('Spirit Halloween')
Sometime between Chuck E. Cheese's downfall and the worldwide phenomenon that is the video game Five Nights at Freddy's, it was the chain of costume stores Spirit Halloween scared people with animatronics.
Now, the 2022 film based on the Halloweentime popup shop takes the terror to the big screen in Spirit Halloween, about a ghostly presence who takes over popular animatronics like Nightcrawler, Mr. Dark and Buzzsaw, maybe making you think twice when you tap their Try Me buttons at the store.
7 Candy ('Trick 'R Treat')
Granted, it's a pretty general rule of thumb to always check your candy on Halloween, and if the little boy from Halloween II who wound up in the ER on Halloween night with a razor blade cut through his mouth didn't scare you away from the sweets, Sam's weapons of choice in Trick 'r Treat might.
Sam is the demonic alien pumpkin who acts as one of the film's villains, and because he's disguised as a trick-or-treater, it gives him the perfect opportunity to kill with candy, using a razor-infused candy bar and a jagged-edged lollipop to his advantage during his attacks.
6 Rollercoasters ('Final Destination')
There were dozens of simultaneously memorable and horrific deaths in the Final Destination franchise, but the one no one can forget is the rollercoaster massacre in Final Destination 3 that left people with more than a thrill during rollercoaster rides.
When the rollercoaster malfunctions in the film, it causes the safety bars to start lifting and the wheels to pop off, ending in a group of teens flying off the ride to their deaths, becoming an image impossible to get out of your head every time you go to Six Flags.
5 Inclement Weather ('The Fog,' 'Twister')
It's typical for a horror movie to take place on a dark and stormy night, but some films take inclement weather to the next level. In 1996's Twister, the film graphically demonstrates the devastation that can occur during a tornado.
Then there's 1980's The Fog, which - as if fog wasn't creepy enough - tells the story of a literal killer fog that sweeps a small town and causes deaths throughout the film. Needless to say, horror movies have a way of making people fear any day that isn't humid and sunny.
4 Beds ('Death Bed: The Bed That Eats')
It's understandable to be afraid of sleep thanks to Freddy Krueger, but there's one little-known slasher out there that left viewers will a fear of beds. Death Bed: The Bed That Eats tells the tale of a possessed bed that devours any lovers who occupy it.
So, if watching Glen's bloody bed explosion in A Nightmare on Elm Street wasn't enough to make you fear hitting the hay, watching as couples get eaten by an evil, velvet-lined four-poster may do the trick.
3 Televisions ('Poltergeist,' 'The Ring')
A television erupting with static and white noise will never not be scary, but some films took it a step further with paranormal entities bursting from the screens. In Poltergeist, ghosts fly out of the staticky television to haunt the house of The Freelings.
In The Ring, televisions are used as the same sort of portal for Samara to come out of, but in her case, she creepily drags herself through the screen with intentions of killing her victims who watched her cursed video.
2 Dolls ('Child's Play,' 'Annabelle')
Dolls are definitely a scary phenomenon, whether or not they're personified. But throw some sentience and murderous intentions in and you've got yourself some of the scariest dolls in horror. Annabelle from The Conjuring and Jigsaw from Saw are some notably creepy dolls of the genre.
But the award for the most feared doll in horror goes to Chucky of Child's Play. This Good Guy-turned-bad guy doll haunts the lives of anyone who crosses his path, and has certainly haunted the dreams of plenty of the film's viewers.
1 Showers And Baths ('Psycho,' 'A Nightmare On Elm Street')
Showers and baths: what are typically ways of relaxing and destressing turned into fearful - and sometimes deadly - acts for some horror movie victims. For A Nightmare on Elm Street's final girl Nancy Thompson, a calming bubble bath almost cost her life when she fell asleep in the tub, allowing Freddy's razor hand to rise from the water.
But nothing made people fear showers more than the famous shower scene from Psycho. When Norman Bates murders Marion in the shower, not only did it become a legendary horror movie moment, but a terrifying thought any time people turned on their shower heads.