Horror fans are constantly searching for a horror movie that will scare them. Predictability is one of the major culprits of the dilution of horror in horror films. Many of us feel it has already been done and then gets redone ad infinitum. There tends to be a format that scary movies follow, making it so that even new films don’t feel new. And those that try to differ from this pit of repetition tend to find themselves so far on the fringes that the work doesn’t translate well to general audiences.

The film Terrified on Shudder is widely regarded as one of the best that the horror platform offers, and with good reason. With its continuous sequences of pure nightmare fuel, there is no telling what will happen from one minute to the next. As the mystery unfolds, the terror only rises until reaching a crescendo of full-on calamity. Through the perspectives of numerous characters, Terrified tells a chilling story that doesn’t let up, even after it’s over. If you want a scary movie to watch, Terrified is objectively it.

A Unique Story Structure Created a Great Horror Film

The way the movie opens immediately lets viewers know something otherworldly is happening. The story follows the paranormal experiences of different people in a small place in Buenos Aires and the ensuing investigation into these experiences.

The way Terrified tells its tale is one thing that makes it stand out among other horror movies. The story unravels in a way that makes it feels like everyone is the main character, thus making all their experiences feel much more personal and horrific. It’s difficult to know whom we’re supposed to be paying the closest attention to, so we pay more attention to everyone, magnifying the horror. Additionally, numerous storylines take place all at once, causing a total onslaught of tragedy and horror sequences in a way that makes complete sense. The storyline also stood out for the fluid timeline as frequent time jumps occur.

Time Flies When You’re Terrified

Just as a character remarks in the film, time moves differently here. The constant action-packed sequence of events that unfolds creates a sense of time distortion where minutes fly by. This is because viewers’ brains are working overtime to process everything they’ve just seen – the ramifications of what they’ve witnessed while simultaneously being thrust into a new scenario, a new horror, another tragedy. The way everything is presented, one gruesome moment after another, it’s like your brain doesn’t even have time to fully process the last haunting images you saw before you’re grappling with another three. The haunting imagery in this film is unrelenting.

What Makes This Scary Movie Worth the Watch

What’s a scary motion picture without some haunting imagery? When it comes to Terrified, take your pick. A monster under the bed, footprints that travel up walls, and head-turning corpses are only some of this film’s spooky visuals.

The movie uses some gore but does not lean on it to be scary. Likewise, the film doesn’t rely on jump scares, but they are sweat-inducingly effective when they inevitably do happen.‘

Yet, all of this is not where the true terror of Terrified lies.

Maybe it’s because your brain doesn’t have time to process every event before another happens. Perhaps it’s the strange event sequencing, how time jumps back and forth. Maybe it’s the way that everyone is the main character, so the thought of anyone being safe from the events about to unfold feels dismal. Perhaps it’s the onslaught of horrific imagery. Whatever the case, Terrified excels as a horror movie because it sticks with you after it’s over.

Given the depiction of back-to-back tragedies, the film is immediately rewatchable because it all happens quickly. The way this film can balance so much going on at once without ever feeling sloppy, cluttered, or difficult to follow is an impressive feat. Doubly impressive are the nightmarish images that leave a lasting impact. However, it cannot go without saying that these same images may have been washed out in a lesser horror film had it followed the typical storyline format. Director Demián Rugna’s unique approach to storytelling created an action-packed unpredictable tale that makes this movie so recommendable. If you haven’t seen this film before, it’s time. If you have seen it, you’re probably due for a rewatch.

Stream Terrified on Shudder today!

The Deep House is a 2021 French supernatural horror film written and directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo. One night, I saw the aquatic cover deep within Hulu’s horror section and decided to give it a shot. The water always freaked me out because you don’t know what lies beneath. My brain always jumps to Lovecraftian monsters, so when I saw a haunted-looking house on the cover beneath two descending divers, I knew I had to take this plunge.

To my pleasant surprise, conceptually, it was really cool. The plot centers around a social media influencer called Ben (James Jagger) and his girlfriend Tina (Camille Rowe) in their travels seeking fresh content to serve up to their loyal audience. The couple is traveling from New York to France specifically looking for a submerged asylum which upon their discovery turns out to be the site of a populated recreational area and thus is not very cool for the influencers. They cross paths with a grizzly-looking local man named Pierre (Eric Savin), who informs them of a completely intact, submerged house far away from those pesky, uncool families. Our beloved couple, hungry for views, cannot resist the allure of such a perfectly magnificent adventure, despite the many obvious red flags.

The Deep House has elements of a found-footage style film, except here the audience is given many extra angles thanks to an underwater drone that follows the main characters around on their damp adventures. Found footage films, to me, give off a very claustrophobic vibe, which holds true for the duration of this movie. This complements the idea that they’re underwater in cramped scuba suits with only a given amount of oxygen, all before actually encountering the ghouls. They build this atmosphere well throughout its entirety.

So as the movie progresses, it’s a scary and atmospheric romp around this house and everything is going well, and it’s pretty frightening. The ambiance is there, the feeling of isolation is there, the feeling of impending suffocation is there; they’re ticking most of my fright boxes. And then, just as my enjoyment of this movie begins to solidify, we’re presented with the ghouls. Without going into specifics, they floated around the screen like a chunk of lava in a lava lamp or like a candy bar in a swimming pool waiting to be fished out with one of those blue nets on a stick. They did not scare me in the slightest, which is my only real gripe with this movie.

So, the last third of the movie involves a lot of ghoul cat and mouse games, which were hard for me to swallow because I couldn’t get over how nonthreatening they were. I shouldn’t feel like I’d easily be able to overcome some supernatural-type entity. That idea distracted me for the remaining portion of the film, and honestly the interesting concepts driving the plot forward became lame to me, because these ghouls seemed like such weaklings. However, the film’s ending redeemed itself for its transgressions against universally accepted horror movie ghoul guidelines and standards.

The Deep House does do a lot right though, and it is an entertaining movie. The underwater sets and acting brought a fresh feel to the supernatural horror genre. The social commentary they deliver regarding content creators is always a relatable topic. They did a good job showing how eager content creators can become so fixated on their work that they fail to realize what may be going on around them, leading to otherwise avoidable trouble.

Ultimately, after all is said and done, and the credits begin to roll, I’m left with an inclination not to dive into a foreign lake containing a perfectly intact submerged old house. However, if I were to do the opposite and indeed dive into said ghost house lake, I would probably not fret and gently push the ghouls aside with ease and continue on with my scuba business.

You can watch The Deep House on Paramount+