10 Horror Movies To Watch If You Loved Sinister

Released in 2012, Scott Derrickson’s horror movie Sinister follows a writer who discovers a box of old home movies in the attic of his new house and quickly discovers that they’re snuff films, depicting gruesome murders of multiple families involving a mysterious and supernatural figure.

The macabre story introduced audiences to Derrickson’s otherworldly ‘Bughuul’ figure and they’ve since become a famous movie monster, spawning a sequel released in 2015. Aside from that though, fans of the movie may think that there’s not much else out there that can hit the same spot as Sinister, but this list of similar horror movies should, hopefully, disprove that.

10 The Blair Witch Project

This classic found footage movie is still considered to be the epitome of the genre and achieves a great deal through relatively minimalistic means.

Following a small film crew, as they attempt to document a local legend in the woods surrounding a small town in Maryland, the movie uses improvisational acting and cinematography (with the cameras left in the hands of the actors) to terrifying effect as the audience is forced to imagine the malevolent force that stalks the characters in the dark.

9 Insidious

Director James Wan is notable for birthing several highly-profitable and widely-loved horror movie franchises, one of which is the ghostly Insidious series which he made with creative collaborator Leigh Whannell.

The first movie in the series blended together haunted house and possession tropes to create something uniquely memorable and the demonic ghouls that terrorize the movie’s unsuspecting family are enough to make any seasoned horror fan jump.

8 The Conjuring

Another massive success from James Wan which started an even bigger and more far-reaching horror movie franchise, The Conjuring contains a number of similar elements to Insidious but funnels them for a period setting to a story based on real-life accounts of paranormal goings-on at a family home in Rhode Island.

Full of plenty of classic frights, it was the pedigree of the acting from the ensemble that elevated The Conjuring above being just another ghost or possession movie, and fans of Sinister will appreciate its mixture of slow-burning tension and startling scares.

7 Hereditary

In terms of excellent performances in modern horror movies, there are few that surpass Ari Aster’s feature-length movie debut, Hereditary, particularly in regards to Toni Collette’s lead turn as a bereaved mother struggling with her mental health and her relationship with her son.

Though full of supernatural elements, the movie is more of a nightmarish mood piece but will fully satisfy a Sinister fan’s desire for unforgettably creative kills.

6 The Canal

A smaller Irish ghost story from writer and director Ivan Kavanagh, The Canal is mostly about the uneasy sense of impending dread felt by a man who becomes increasingly obsessed with the history of a grisly murder committed in the home of him and his young family.

Sharing Sinister‘s love for the creepiness of old film stocks, the movie also extracts a lot of fear out of a relatively small set up with the isolation of the main character making the horror all the more intimate.

5 The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Fans who enjoyed the steady sense of foreboding brought on by the unraveling of Sinister‘s dark plot will have a lot of fun with André Øvredal’s scary campfire tale about a father and son coroner team who get more than they bargained for when trying to ascertain the cause of death of a strangely-perfect corpse.

Whilst being set in what is probably the most limited location of any movie on this list, The Autopsy of Jane Doe feels no less huge as a result.

4 The Ring

Gore Verbinski’s American remake of Hideo Nakata’s iconic J-horror movie is a masterpiece in its own right, extracting the best elements of the original movie and adding the director’s own striking visual flair.

Following a journalist, as they attempt to uncover the origins of a kind of modern folk tale about a videotape that kills you 7 days after you watch it, The Ring‘s levels of inexplicable horrifying imagery are off the charts.

3 The Grudge (2004)

Another American entry into a classic J-horror series, this time helmed by original series director Takashi Shimizu, the 2004 version of The Grudge is a good place to start for a fan that’s unfamiliar with the distinct qualities of Japanese horror movies in general.

Tackling a seemingly-simple ghost story from a non-linear perspective, the movie constantly throws out all kinds of shocks from every dark corner of the frame and it keeps the audience on their toes throughout.

2 Oculus

Next to The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Mike Flanagan’s classically American gothic tale of a haunted mirror is one of the most minutely scaled horror hits of recent years but tells a rich story full of well-rounded characters nonetheless.

Produced, like Sinister, by low-budget horror king Jason Blum, Oculus sticks to the traditions of the genre but, also like Sinister, that just serves to make the story all the more effective.

1 The Devil’s Candy

A young family gets more than they bargained for when they move into what is, unbeknownst to them, the former home of a serial killer who begins to periodically show up on their doorstep.

Just about as ferociously intense as even the most seasoned horror movie veterans can withstand, Sean Byrne’s visceral thriller has razor-sharp tension and a monstrous villain that’s made all the scarier by how real they feel.

About The Author