- Last update: July 8th, 2025
- LLMs used: Gemini 2.5 Pro > DeepSeek R1 > o4-mini-high > Grok 3 Mini > Claude 4 Sonnet > Qwen3 235B > Magistral Medium
- Disqualified LLMs: Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B & MiniMax M1 80k (halted, didn't follow instructions, looped)
- Knowledge cutoff: late 2024 or 2025
- Settings: reasoning capabilities enabled (except Sonnet 4), web search disabled (in-prompt⁰ for 4o-mini), and no chat history

If you're looking for a more scientific approach, take a look at this list and the up-to-date source site. As of July 2025, I highly recommend Hereditary (2018) and Host (2020).
For other films that gave me some lingering anxiety, take a look at this list!
And for a list that used web results as the primary source of knowledge (using 4 different Deep Research tools from LLMs), it's this way.

All these LLMs were chosen because they're the free frontier model of each company, according to Artificial Analysis and my own knowledge. Last year I had chosen 5 models, mostly non-reasoning, this year 7 mostly thinking models.
AI is evolving rapidly, I have no doubt I'd be able to run at least one of these LLMs a couple years later on my own regular machine, so take these results with a big grain of salt.
I am planning to update this list every year or so.

I took the first 500-ish most popular horror films (first 7 pages), that:
- I haven't watched yet as of July 2025
- Aren't short films, from TV shows, unreleased, comedies or documentaries

I asked each LLM to give me the 100 most scary/frightening films from my big list¹, twice, took the films mentioned both times for each LLM (by using a data structure called a dictionary), then extracted those with at least 3 mentions in total (so max number of mentions for each film is 7).
I removed films mistaken for others (for example The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Suspiria..) and from franchises other than the first entry (Annabelle, The Conjuring, The Exorcist, Halloween, Insidious, Saw..), added those from the last version of the list that didn't make the cut (Veronica, V/H/S, The Medium, The Boogeyman, Mama, Mirrors), then asked each LLM again to rank this final subset by "scariness"²‬.
I computed the average as the last step, using Google Sheets³. Impressively enough, Gemini 2.5 Pro gave me the exact same ranking when given the 7 lists, so no spreadsheet apps needed!

I though it was unlikely, but 8 films ended up having the same average ranking (4 pairs). So I ranked them in the "average Letterboxd rating" order.

⁰ When I couldn't easily disable internet access manually (e.g. ChatGPT), I added this: "You must only use your pre-trained knowledge, so you can't access the internet."
¹ Prompt: "You are given a list of 504 films, all tagged as 'horror' by TMDB. From this list only, select the 100 films you consider to be the scariest/most frightening. I do not want you to make it diverse or interesting (or any kind of special mix), I just need you to strictly follow my previous request. Do not include any films that are not on the original list. Do not explain your choices, justify your selections, or provide commentary. Do not argue against the task. Simply return the 100 selected titles from the list, in the same format (no bullet/numbered list)."

With all 504 films (listed below), this prompt was ≈2.5k tokens long.

² Prompt: "You are given a list of 45 films, all tagged as 'horror' by TMDB. Your task is to rank these films from most frightening/terrorizing/scary to least. Do not include films that are not on the original list, do not explain your ranking, or provide commentary. Do not argue against the task."‬
³ Formula: `=QUERY(ARRAYFORMULA(SPLIT(FLATTEN(B2:H46&"|"&A2:A46); "|")); "SELECT Col1, AVG(Col2) WHERE Col1 IS NOT NULL GROUP BY Col1 ORDER BY AVG(Col2) LABEL Col1 'Film', AVG(Col2) 'Average Ranking'")`

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Notes from this update:

- Grok, ChatGPT, Gemini had no issues generating the films.
- DeepSeek R1's first output was 253 films, I had to ask again for 100 films. Second output gave 111 films, close enough.
- Claude's first and second attempt disregarded the list and gave me horror films from outside of it. The second separate attempt had the same issue but corrected itself within the artefact, without my intervention.
- Magistral's thinking looped.
- Qwen's second attempt looped at the last entry (fortunately).
- Nemotron never managed to give me a list of less than 200 items, and took its sweet time. Disqualified.
- Minimax's first attempt thought for 43 minutes, second attempt refused to give the answer after a quite lengthy thinking process, and the retry was too tedious as well (looping, then giving me about 500 films each time). Disqualified.
- Qwen and Magistral were the least sure of them (ended up with only 28 and 43 duplicates out of 100). Gemini and Grok were the most confident in their answer (86 and 79).
- When asked for the ranking, only Grok, Sonnet and Magistral executed the task perfectly. Gemini and DeepSeek did the worst (adding/changing/removing a couple films). o4-mini also changed the punctuation of the films, making it a bit more difficult to rank them in one go.

Limitations:

- Some films were mistaken for others because I'm only giving them the title, requiring manual cleanup.
- Some films are part of franchises, but we want standalone films, requiring manual cleanup.

Improvements for future/alternative versions:

- Do the same thing with less films (250?) but including those I've seen, for broader appeal.
- Not giving the LLMs any list/films, letting them choose and rank the scariest by themselves (what I did in the first version).

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List of all 504 films considered in this update:

Bones and All
Don't Worry Darling
Heretic
The Black Phone
A Quiet Place: Day One
It Chapter Two
Bird Box
M3GAN
Suspiria
Fear Street: 1994
Speak No Evil
The Craft
Interview with the Vampire
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Abigail
Fear Street: 1978
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Funny Games
The Skin I Live In
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
As Above, So Below
Orphan
Saw X
Men
Cuckoo
Fear Street: 1666
Crimson Peak
Mandy
Thanksgiving
The Devil's Advocate
Vivarium
The Meg
Ma
Strange Darling
The Ritual
Halloween Kills
Bring Her Back
Inland Empire
Annabelle
Let the Right One In
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom
Halloween Ends
Lamb
Run
Fear Street: Prom Queen
No One Will Save You
The Strangers
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Gerald's Game
Jacob's Ladder
Silent Hill
Until Dawn
The Invitation
Ginger Snaps
Army of the Dead
Meg 2: The Trench
In a Violent Nature
Watcher
Nosferatu the Vampyre
You're Next
Manhunter
Revenge
Annabelle: Creation
Tarot
Insidious: The Red Door
Stoker
We're All Going to the World's Fair
A Cure for Wellness
The New Mutants
Lake Mungo
Resident Evil
The Night House
Orphan: First Kill
The Hunt
Jeepers Creepers
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Unfriended
Dawn of the Dead
The Pale Blue Eye
House of 1000 Corpses
Ichi the Killer
Incantation
1408
Bone Tomahawk
Wolf Man
Red Dragon
The Platform 2
Van Helsing
The Boogeyman
Hostel
Sleepaway Camp
The Pope's Exorcist
Marrowbone
Lights Out
Creep 2
Onibaba
Dracula
Jigsaw
Spiral: From the Book of Saw
Annabelle Comes Home
Under Paris
Carrie
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
In the Tall Grass
Scanners
Time Cut
The Exorcist: Believer
Triangle
Bride of Frankenstein
Hellraiser
Blade II
Goodnight Mommy
The Lodge
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Crawl
Don't Move
Freddy vs. Jason
Pet Sematary
The Purge: Anarchy
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Repulsion
Opus
Oculus
Exhuma
Hell House LLC
The Purge: Election Year
The Faculty
Brightburn
The Crow
Pet Sematary
Dressed to Kill
Thirst
Helter Skelter
The Shallows
The Taking of Deborah Logan
Death Note
Willy's Wonderland
The Boy
The Strangers: Chapter 1
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
Night Swim
Truth or Dare
Kwaidan
Mama
Planet Terror
Carnival of Souls
Halloween
Freaks
V/H/S
Cam
#Alive
The Orphanage
The Mummy
The Hunger
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Child's Play 2
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
Eden Lake
The Hills Have Eyes
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions
The Woman in Black
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Wolf House
The Poughkeepsie Tapes
Near Dark
Phenomena
Ouija: Origin of Evil
Inferno
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Perfection
The House of the Devil
The First Purge
I See You
Salem's Lot
The Blackcoat's Daughter
Tenebre
Wrong Turn
Cat People
Hour of the Wolf
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Vampyr
Apostle
Children of the Corn
The Blob
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
The Invitation
30 Days of Night
Child's Play
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
Possum
Noroi: The Curse
Haunt
The Tenant
Suicide Club
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
Knock Knock
The Curse of La Llorona
Insidious: The Last Key
Megan Is Missing
1922
Veronica
Paranormal Activity 2
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
The Haunting
The Witches
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Strangers: Prey at Night
The Medium
Unsane
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
The Exorcist III
Censor
The Ninth Gate
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island
Clown in a Cornfield
Cronos
Santa Sangre
The Thing
Urban Legend
Blair Witch
Angel Heart
The Innocents
Blade: Trinity
Subservience
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Deep Blue Sea
Don't Breathe 2
Antlers
The Rental
The Cell
Summer of 84
The Stepford Wives
Inside
Hellboy
Grindhouse
Jason X
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
Slender Man
Countdown
The Forever Purge
American Mary
The Devil's Rejects
The Deliverance
Halloween II
Trouble Every Day
Unhinged
Thir13en Ghosts
Gretel & Hansel
Devil
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Child's Play 3
Opera
Resident Evil: Extinction
Grave Encounters
No Exit
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
The Belko Experiment
Alice
Paranormal Activity 3
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
The Green Inferno
Kill List
High Tension
Sick
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Lords of Chaos
Unfriended: Dark Web
Splice
The Lure
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Resident Evil: Retribution
Stopmotion
The Hitcher
Queen of the Damned
The Wolf of Snow Hollow
Phantasm
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
Cabin Fever
Sisters
Snakes on a Plane
The Changeling
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Viy
The Wolf Man
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Fantasy Island
Halloween: Resurrection
Curse of Chucky
Imaginary
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
Ouija
Black Sunday
The Woman in the Yard
Session 9
House on Haunted Hill
The Shrouds
What Lies Beneath
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child
Sinister 2
Let Me In
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
The Collector
The Phantom Carriage
The Last House on the Left
The Crazies
Faust
The Loved Ones
Dracula
V/H/S/2
47 Meters Down
Cult of Chucky
Dracula Untold
Copycat
The Passenger
Resurrection
You Won't Be Alone
Shadow of the Vampire
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
Would You Rather
Relic
Beast
The Amityville Horror
V/H/S/94
Demons
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Frenzy
The Addiction
Ghost Ship
MadS
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Frailty
A Classic Horror Story
Caveat
Kuroneko
I Spit on Your Grave
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
Chopping Mall
Paranormal Activity 4
A Page of Madness
Peninsula
All Hallows' Eve
Prom Night
The Dark and the Wicked
Jaws 2
My Bloody Valentine
Martin
The Blob
Eli
Piggy
Texas Chainsaw 3D
The Silence
Zombie Flesh Eaters
Ghostwatch
Rabid
Dark Water
Cujo
The Howling
Hostel: Part II
Huesera: The Bone Woman
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Pontypool
Vampires
Psycho II
Synchronic
Wait Until Dark
Wolf Creek
Dog Soldiers
Case 39
The Phantom of the Opera
Things Heard & Seen
The Amityville Horror
Jeepers Creepers 2
The Mummy
There's Someone Inside Your House
The Ruins
Mimic
Maniac
Arcadian
Mr. Harrigan's Phone
Alone
The Girl with All the Gifts
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
The Skeleton Key
964 Pinocchio
They/Them
The Eyes of My Mother
Till Death
47 Meters Down: Uncaged
Gothika
Good Boy
November
The Snowman
Knife+Heart
Nocturne
Messiah of Evil
Black Christmas
Demons
V/H/S/Beyond
The Wicker Man
Nightbreed
Pandorum
Flatliners
Before I Wake
The Masque of the Red Death
From Hell
Twilight Zone: The Movie
The Keep
The Last House on the Left
Tigers Are Not Afraid
House at the End of the Street
Hatching
Last Shift
The Burning
A Bay of Blood
Legion
The Thing from Another World
Under the Shadow
Afraid
Begotten
Goodnight Mommy
Red Riding Hood
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Azrael
The Ring Two
Apartment 7A
Cargo
Never Let Go
Kotoko
Cat People
Black Sabbath
Wrong Turn
The Grudge
Brotherhood of the Wolf
A Field in England
The Devil's Bath
The Craft: Legacy
The Midnight Meat Train
Alucarda
Doom
Midori
Blood Red Sky
Sleep
The Deep House
The Black Cat
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Poltergeist
Alice, Sweet Alice
Land of the Dead
Ash
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
The Lords of Salem
Prisoners of the Ghostland
Sting
The Hidden
Enys Men
Antiviral
Pumpkinhead
Don't Torture a Duckling
Spring
V/H/S/85
Soft & Quiet
Bird Box Barcelona
The Gift
The Wolfman
I Walked with a Zombie
Leatherface
The Roommate
Antebellum
Ghost Stories
Black Christmas
The Bad Batch
La Llorona
Together
The Funhouse
Single White Female
Spawn
The Company of Wolves
The Turning
Dangerous Animals
V/H/S/99
Run Rabbit Run
Vampire Hunter D
The Front Room
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
Troll 2
The Devil
Species
Quarantine
Pieces
Vacancy
Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin
Jigoku
Hannibal Rising
Umma
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Sister Death
The Bye Bye Man
When a Stranger Calls
Tin & Tina
Psycho
Berberian Sound Studio
The Old Dark House
The Vampire Lovers