What is it that makes horror films such a popular genre? Why is it that people continue to watch films whose sole purpose is to scare them? Is it the shocking deaths, like Charlie’s in Hereditary, or movies based on true events, like The Strangers, that make people almost addicted to the thrill that comes from watching a scary movie?

For some, its gore-filled scenes and the use of special effects that help make a scary movie too scary, while for others, low-budget horror films like Terrifier and Lights Out, can incite enough fear. Others appreciate an impactful final scene like in TheBlair Witch Project. Whether you like seeing your phobias played out on screen or you just enjoy a good scare, here are 10 of the scariest films that people have dubbed too scary to watch more than once.

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10 Sinister

     Summit Entertainment / Momentum Pictures

For some, Sinister was considered a breakout role in horror for Ethan Hawke. The 2012 horror film placed Hawke as a true crime writer who moves his family into a new home where the previous owners were murdered. He finds a box of Super 8 tapes in the attic that depict murders that date back to the 1960s. He becomes obsessed with the tapes and with solving the murders, which brings him unknowingly face to face with a sinister force that uses children to murder their families. Thanks to the nature of children committing murders, this film is often considered too scary to watch more than once.

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9 The Descent

     Pathé Distribution

The Descent is a 2005 horror film with an almost entirely female cast. The group of women goes on a caving expedition a year after Sarah’s, played by Shauna Macdonald, husband and daughter are killed in a tragic accident. The semi-professional group is used to caving, but when they get stuck in a new cave, without a map, they find that they are not the only ones down there. Between the creatures stalking them and the secrets that are shared between friends, The Descent is often called one of the scariest films of the 2000s.

8 The Strangers

     Universal Pictures

The Strangers is famously based on true events, which helps add to its overall scare factor. The 2008 film takes place in an isolated summer vacation home where a young couple is stalked by three assailants in masks simply, “because they were home.” As the film progresses, the masked individuals become increasingly more violent, and knocks on the front door turn deadly. This progression of thrill and the limited dialogue by the stalkers makes The Strangers one of the most terrifying films ever created.

7 Hereditary

     A24

Hereditary is another film that uses the supernatural as its backing to create a scary movie that is hard to watch more than once. The film follows a family who has ties to a sinister presence that threatens to tear the family apart after the passing of a grandmother. As they discover more about the grandmother’s beliefs and after the accidental death of their daughter Charlie, the Graham family finds themselves fighting to keep their sanity.

6 Terrifier

     Epic Pictures Group

The Terrifier franchise, which recently saw its success grow after an even more terrifying second film, uses a murderous clown to create a scary film. The use of clowns, a known phobia of many people, in film is not a new concept, but what helps the Terrifier franchise stand apart from the other horror films is the completely sadistic and gore-filled plot. Art the Clown not only enacts horrific deaths, but his overall demeanor is enough to make the clown’s picture hard enough to look at let alone being able to watch the film more than once.

5 Smile

     Paramount Pictures

Smile is one of the most recent horror films on this list. While the film received mixed reviews, they all concluded that the sinister use of a spiritual entity and an unsettling grin plastered on the faces of those who are forced to end their lives is downright haunting. This entity attacks those who have witnessed trauma, another unsettling feeling that most people can relate to.

4 Insidious

     FilmDistrict

As pictured above, Insidious has one of the best jump scares in horror film history. Just when you think the film is about to reach its end, it goes one step further and allows the viewers to get an up-close look at the entity that is plaguing Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) while also foreshadowing the plot of the next film. The film has since gone on to spawn a popular franchise though the first film is often regarded as the best and the scariest of the films.

3 The Ring

     DreamWorks Pictures

During the height of VHS tapes, The Ring uses the popular recreational item as a portal for a sinister entity to stalk its victims for a week before killing them. When the tape falls into the hands of an investigative journalist, she has one week to uncover the truth behind the urban legend if she wants to save her son, who also watched the tape. The 2002 film is a remake of the 1998 Japanese horror film, but with a bigger focus on the horror aspect, while the Japanese film is considered more of a mystery.

2 Lights Out

Lights Out is another lower-budget film that did not expect to gain such a large following. The 2016 film stars Teresa Palmer as Rebecca who has been tasked with taking care of her brother after he is terrorized by an entity attached to their mother, the same one who used to scare Rebecca. This film uses people’s fear of the dark to entice its thrilling experience. The spirit, named Diana, uses the dark to haunt its victims as it is not visible in the light.

1 The Blair Witch Project

     Summit Entertainment

The Blair Witch Project is an example of found footage, where it appears like the character’s film their own movie. Since its release in 1999, the film, which is shot as a sort of documentary, uses the urban legend of a Maryland town’s local Blair Witch as its backdrop. You know the students who filmed the footage have been missing for a year from the start, which seems like a spoiler, but instead, it allows the viewers to watch the events unfold as to why the students went missing and if there is any hope of them ever being found alive.