These films may have slipped under the radar, but they still have the power to scare anyone silly.
1. The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014) The story starts off with a documentary crew looking to shed light on Alzheimer's disease by focusing on Deborah Logan, an elderly woman in the early stages of the condition.
Everything seems typical — memory lapses, mood swings — until the weird stuff kicks in: levitating, snake-like tongues, and unholy rituals. Turns out, Deborah is possessed by a demonic entity that needs to complete a ritual involving the sacrifice of a little girl.
2. The Last Exorcism (2010) The whole "last job before I retire" trope takes a dark turn in this one. Reverend Cotton Marcus, a seasoned exorcist, decides to expose exorcism as a scam and picks the Sweetzer family as his last case. But this ain't no hoax. Their daughter Nell is really possessed and bad things happen. Think contorting limbs, upside-down writing, and killing livestock.
Even Cotton starts to believe in demonic possession after this.
3. The Possession (2012) This one is inspired by a true story — or so they say. Clyde, a dad who's recently separated from his wife, buys an antique box for his daughter, Em, at a yard sale.
The box is a dibbuk box, a vessel for trapping evil spirits in Jewish folklore. Em opens it, releasing the dibbuk, and undergoes a total 180 in personality. She stabs her dad with a fork, attacks her teacher, and becomes increasingly detached.
4. Lovely Molly (2011) Molly is a young woman who moves back into her childhood home after getting married. Life should be all sunshine and rainbows, but Molly starts hearing voices and seeing shadowy figures. She's being haunted by the spirit of her abusive father. The possession escalates to the point where Molly delves into dark rituals, kills her husband, and even takes her own life.
5. Case 39 (2009) Renée Zellweger plays Emily, a social worker who rescues a young girl, Lilith, from abusive parents. Good deed for the day done? Not even close. Lilith isn't just a troubled child; she's a demon that can manifest people's worst fears. Those so-called "abusive" parents were actually trying to kill her to save themselves.
The body count rises as Lilith starts offing people, making them see nightmarish visions that drive them to death.
6. Session 9 (2001) In "Session 9," a group of asbestos removal guys take on a job at an abandoned mental hospital. Leader Gordon starts listening to archived therapy sessions of a patient with multiple personalities, and that's when things go south. One by one, the crew members go missing or end up dead, and it's eventually revealed that one of their own is the culprit. But who exactly?
7. The Pact (2012) When her sister mysteriously disappears, Annie reluctantly returns to her childhood home, a place she'd rather forget. She starts experiencing unexplained phenomena — objects moving, strange apparitions, and the feeling that someone else is there. Spoiler alert: there is. She discovers that her home was once owned by a killer who used the place for his gruesome acts.
8. The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) Part court drama, part horror movie. Loosely based on a true story, the film follows the court case of a priest accused of negligent homicide after performing an exorcism on Emily Rose.
Through flashbacks, we see Emily go from a normal college girl to a disturbingly possessed young woman, writhing, contorting, and speaking in tongues. Despite the priest's efforts to save her soul, she dies, leaving the court to decide whether it was possession or medical neglect.
9. Sinister (2012) Ellison Oswalt, a true-crime writer, learns "Don't mess with things you don't understand" the hard way. He moves his family into a new home and finds a box of old home movies in the attic. These aren't your average home videos; they depict the murders of several families. Ellison digs deeper and uncovers the demonic entity behind it all — a pagan deity that consumes the souls of children.
10. Oculus (2013) Got a sibling? Ever blamed them for breaking Mom's favorite vase? Imagine if that vase was actually a cursed mirror that caused the death of your parents. That's the premise of "Oculus," where siblings Tim and Kaylie reunite to destroy a mirror they believe is responsible for their family's demise.
They go all scientific, setting up cameras and timers to document the mirror's manipulations, which include hallucinations and altered perceptions.
_15612.webp)
