Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
books on brown wooden shelf
books on brown wooden shelf
Susan Yin/Unsplash

Horror Movies That May be Scarier than Finals Week

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CMU chapter.

For the past few months, my roommates and I have been watching horror movies regularly because for some reason we like being scared. It’s not Halloween anymore, but it is almost finals week. If you’re looking for something (potentially) scarier than your grades to get your mind off of things, here’s a list of some of our favorite horror movies that we recommend!

1. Lights Out

 This was the first horror movie we watched together and while I personally thought it wasn’t super scary, my roommates thought it was the best one we’ve watched. There are a bunch of jump scares so if you’re looking for that, you’ll probably enjoy this! It’s loosely based off of a short film of the same name, and I thought that was also pretty scary.

2. Get Out

 Everyone who’s watched this movie has said that it was wild and amazing. It isn’t just a mindless horror movie, but rather comments on the real-life issue of racism in America. I’d definitely recommend watching it!

3. It

​​ Whether it’s the original or the remake, everybody knows that this movie based off of Stephen King’s novel is a good watch.

4. Oculus

This movie was trippy AF. It’s about two siblings investigating a mirror they believe was behind the tragedy of their parents’ deaths. Honestly, I was just as confused as the characters, and maybe that’s what made me like it so much.

5. The Babadook

 Okay, so this one is controversial between me and my roommates. We all didn’t think it was insanely scary, so if you’re looking for jump scares this isn’t the movie for you. I did feel like it was deep and a good movie to watch though, just maybe don’t go into it hoping to be scared.

6. Hush

 This Netflix movie is about a deaf writer who is trying to escape a killer in her house. It’s really well made and super scary, and also one of those realistic things that you could see happening to you.

7. Orphan

Orphan isn’t really a horror movie, it’s more of a thriller, but it does give you chills and make you feel uneasy.

Of course, this list is very short and not all encompassing, and I didn’t list basically any classic horrors (like The Shining, The Exorcist, Cabin in the Woods, etc.) or any movies that we didn’t watch together. While we really enjoyed the movies on this list, there are hundreds of other scary movies out there. All you really need is the right setting and the right horror movie! 

I'm a lover of writing, art and music. I'm always down for a chat, and love listening to people tell their stories.