Hollywood Horror films to see ahead of Conjuring: Last Rites release

The Exorcist (1973)
The Exorcist is acclaimed as one of the most horror films to be ever made. The movie follows with a desperate mother who seeked help from two priest after her young daughter expresses a violoent behaviour that even the doctors couldn’t explain. The film’s portrayal of devil possession is unsettling having a mix of drama and emotional scares. The film has a theme of faith, good versus evil and sensitivity of human body and soul.

Hereditary (2018)
Hereditary is a psychological horror movie, it delves into a family’s generational trauma. After the death of a silent grandmother, Annie Graham a miniature artist and her family are tortured by a series of baleful occurrence. The family later uncover a dark ancestral secret which ties them to a evil force. The films build an atmosphere by building nightmarish climax that will last in viewer’s mind after watching the movie.

The Babadook (2014)
This Australian movie has a unsettling and emotional storyline. The movie is about a mother who is struggling with her son who is sacred of monsters roaming in their house after he find an book titled ‘Mister Babadook’. As the mother’s mental health deteriroated made it difficult to distinguish a real supernatural presence from her psychological collapse. With its nightmarish climax the film makes an environment which will last in the viewer’s mind.

Insidious (2010)
Composed by the creators of The Conjuring universe, it is a classic horror film with a twist. It is about a family which moves into a new home, only for their son named ‘Dalton’ who fell in coma. Soon the family is invaded with evil spirits.  They soon learn that their son’s unconscious body has become a beacon for ghosts due to his innate ability to astral project into a sinister spirit realm called "The Further." The film is filled with a lot of jumps cares, the film established a rich supernatural mythology that paved the way for a successful franchise.

Sinister (2012)
This film targets a particular kind of fear and builds an atmosphere of real dread. True-crime writer Ellison Oswalt moves his family into a house where the previous residents were brutally murdered. In the attic, he finds a box of Super 8 films showing the murders of different families, all apparently done by the same unknown being. As he digs further into the mystery, he discovers that the being, a pagan god named Bughuul, is a child-eating demon that captures the souls of its victims.

A Quiet Place (2018)
While not being a typical horror movie, A Quite Place is an exercise of intense tension. In a post-apocalyptic world, a family must have to be completely silent to avoid getting huntes by a blind strange creature with an incredible sense of hearing. The use of sound in the film makes the audience go crazy while watching the film.

It Follows (2014)
The film has a unique yet terrifying concept, a sexually transmitted curse. The film explores into a story where a young woman named Jay after a romantic encounter is traced by a supernatural power that can take the form of any person. It is only through sexual intercourse that one can get rid of the curse. The movie masterfully taps into deep-seated fears surrounding intimacy, vulnerability, and the inescapable nature of death.

Lights Out (2016)
Based on a viral short film, Lights Out focuses on a harmful entity that can only exist in darkness. It follows Rebecca and her younger half-brother, Martin, who suffer from a dark figure tied to their mother's past. The spirit, named Diana, attacks those who are weak. The film uses its straightforward but effective idea to deliver several jump scares and tense moments as the family fights to stay in the light to survive.

Veronica (2017) 
Verónica is a Spanish horror film from 2017 that is loosely based on a well-known police report from Madrid in 1991, often referred to as the "Vallecas Case," which registered paranormal activity. The film centers on a teenage girl, Verónica, who, in a desperate attempt to contact her recently deceased father, uses a Ouija board with her friends during a solar eclipse. The séance goes horribly wrong when a malevolent entity is summoned instead. The evil spirit that now haunts their home terrorizes Verónica and her family, forcing them to fight for their lives as she takes on the role of sole caregiver for her younger siblings.

Quija (2014)
The movie is a supernatural thriller based on a board game.  The plot of the movie is about a group of teenagers who after their friend mysterious death, uses the board names Quija to try and contact her friend’s spirit. During the process to call their friend they accidently tend awake an evil spirit form the house’s past and soon finds themselves to ger killed one by one. The friend’s group must uncover the house’s history and the spirit and find certain ways to stop it before they could find themselves in the same miserable end.