In celebration of the blog hitting 420 views (I make my own milestones), I've decided to do this list of scary films not many people will have heard of. The list begins gently with a film that'll make you ruin a few pairs of pants, and ends with a film that will make life not seem worth the effort it takes to breathe.


5. [REC] 2007

This is a film a lot of you may already be familiar with, and are probably now feeling misled as to the obscure nature the list promised. Oh well. [REC] is a Spanish zombie film, shot in the handycam style made popular by The Blair Witch Project. And it sure does it well. It follows a TV camera crew trapped inside a quarantined block of flats, as each of the residents slowly becomes infected by the rabies-like disease. The film ends with a really creepy scene and a truly creepy monster, that looks kind of like a spitter off Left 4 Dead.

PRO TIP: Avoid the American remake Quarantine. It's awful. It's the same story but it's just not done well. It's like your mum copying a Delia Smith recipe off the telly. She can't be arsed leaving it to rest in the fridge over night, and she doesn't have a herb garden.


4. Funny Games 2007



Now, I've only seen the American remake of Funny Games because the original German version seems to be quite elusive. It's directed by the same guy though and it's bloody good. BLOODY good. See what I did there. Though there isn't much gore in the film so I don't know why I made that pun. Funny Games follows the story of a family who go to their secluded holiday home, and then bump into a pair of lads who are sick in the head and torture them for fun. The film is particularly effective due to the passive-aggressive nature of the boys, and the way it does some really bizarre stuff at times.


3. Possession 1981



Possession is a mindfuck of a film by Ukrainian director Andrzej Zulawski. It stars Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, and is about the messed up relationship between the two. I don't want to ruin it for you, but when Sam finds out who she's cheating on him with, it's an insane twist. It also features one of the most disturbing breakdown scenes (Pictured above) that I can think of.


2. Audition 1999



I recently reviewed this film, so go read that for my full thoughts on it here, but in summary, this is one really messed up film. It's so disorienting that you won't know what's going on, and it has a torture scene that will go through you. For my money, Takashi Miike's finest work.


1. Irréversible 2002



This film isn't strictly horror, but it will leave more of a scar in your mind than any other film. It begins at the end of the story and goes backwards, starting with the most realistically brutal violence I've ever seen, through one of the scariest and most drawn-out rape scenes on film, to an ending that will just make you hate life. If you want to be disturbed by a film, give this a go. But seriously, don't watch this if you have stuff to do, because it will leave you staring at the wall, pondering the futility of existence, while stroking the spot where your cat was 20 minutes ago.