The 15 Scariest Horror Movies That Have Little To No Gore

It can be challenging if you can’t stomach blood and guts but still enjoy being scared. Those who don’t enjoy being bathed in blood can often feel neglected in the genre that sometimes feels like it is constantly trying to outdo the vomit factor of the films that came before. Tons of movies are genuinely terrifying but gore-free if you know where to look. Unsettling, disturbing, and affecting psychological thrillers and potboilers scare with atmosphere and tension. Dread can be a powerful tool if used right. Here are The Scariest Horror Movies That Have No Gore. If you prefer something with more teeth, check out our 20 Most Extreme Horror Movies Of All Time.

Don’t Look Now

This one is a bit of a buried treasure. It doesn’t scare with jumps or violence but with slow-burning dread. It builds tension layer upon layer until the end, which releases it in a woosh of shock and repulsion. Julie Christie and the incomparable Donald Sutherland are on point as grieving parents who recently lost their daughter. A chance encounter with a stranger claiming to be a psychic sets Sutherland’s John on a crash course with a haunting ending.

The Changeling

This ghost story is the granddaddy of haunted house films. When a man loses his wife and child in an accident, he moves to a secluded mansion to grieve. Shortly after moving in, the ghost of a drowned boy starts haunting him. He gets dragged into a decades-old mystery. A fantastic performance by George C. Scott bolsters the atmospheric movie. Director Peter Medak gets the absolute most out of the giant old house. This film stands up to time and belongs on top of the list of The Scariest Horror Movies No Gore.

Wait Until Dark

I love a good suspenseful film that features a final girl for the ages. Audrey Hepburn is a blind woman who finds herself in a cat-and-mouse game when her apartment is broken into by thieves who get more than they bargained for. Hepburn turns the tables on the men who think she will be an easy mark, and her fight for survival is both clever and harrowing. It’s an oldie but a goodie and demands to be on every Best Horror Movies With Little To No Gore list.

Rosemary’s Baby

A young pregnant wife suspects her husband and her new apartment neighbors are more than they appear. It doesn’t help that her nights are consumed with terrifying nightmares. Rosemary’s Baby keeps the pressure applied on the viewer by making us feel the rising panic Rosemary is feeling. Paranoia and dread drip from every moment of this film. Mia Farrow sells her confusion and fear, and the dream sequences will stick with you.

The Exorcism Of Emily Rose

A college student begins to have visions and suspects she is being possessed by a demon. Her profoundly religious family calls a priest to perform an exorcist, and things quickly spiral out of control. The film is intercut with the criminal trial of Emily Rose’s parents and the priests who let her die and her plight against her demons, inner or otherwise. Aside from Jennifer Carpeenter’s excellent performance, this film is memorable for the horrific true story. Whether this poor girl was possessed by a demon or mentally ill and criminally neglected by the many adults who could have stepped in, it is all terrifying, and there is no blood beyond some scratched knees.

The Orphanage

A woman takes her family, including a young son, to live at her former childhood home. The large house used to be an orphanage, and her son claims he is communicating with five different ghosts. His mother is convinced it is all the byproduct of an active imagination, but this is not your average Drop Dead Fred. J.A. Bayona’s film is fraught with dread. Although I found this film more sad than scary at times, it is beautifully done and packs enough punches to be memorable.

Diabolique 1955

A woman whom her husband abuses teams up with a friend to kill him. The murder goes off without a hitch, but when his body turns up, and the police investigate, the women turn on one another. What can you say about a classic? The French Psychological thriller is nearly perfect in every way. It isn’t scary in the traditional sense but full of mystery and chills. The well-laid-out construction keeps you guessing until the climactic end. It’s an ever-evolving who did it that makes you question what you think you know about what happened and who did it. This classic deserves a place on the Best Horror Movies With No Gore list.

The Ring

Both the original Japanese version as well as the 2002 American version are genuinely terrifying. After watching this movie, I had trouble looking at the television in my bedroom for months. Naomi Watts plays a mother who has to figure out why a videotape seems to be killing people seven days after they watch it. The video is nothing short of horrifying, and Samara will forever be one of the scariest horror villains of all time. Although the imagery is unforgettable, the kills are completely blood-free.

The Others

I love a movie with a good twist; this one has one of the best. A family is haunted by a house full of spirits in this paranormal slow burn. It’s a truly chilling ghost story that holds its secrets close until it rolls them out with ghoulish delight. The cinematography is gorgeous, and Nichole Kidman is excellent. It’s better to go into this blind, but even if you have seen it before, it is the kind of film that still will creep you out, and you will watch with new eyes, looking for clues. If you know, you know.

It Follows

The highly anticipated sequel is finally coming out in 2024, although no official date has been set yet. Until then, see the original. Maika Monroe is a young girl who is relentlessly pursued by a supernatural entity after having a sexual encounter. This indy film is genius and way worse than a raging case of crabs. It takes one of the horror rules(Don’t have sex) and applies a sexually transmitted disease demon to it. It sounds goofy, but this is one film that packs a punch.

The Vanishing 1988

A young man’s wife goes missing from a gas station while on vacation. Three years later, he gets letters from a person who claims to be her abductor. He has to risk everything to find out what happened to her. Although the American remake starring Kiefer Sutherland is good, it doesn’t match the fear of the 1988 version. The Vanishing is real horror of the commonplace variety, which is why it is so scary. The killer is a bad person who gets off on tormenting others. It’s the kind of film that is depressing and powerful. There is hardly any shown violence, and yet it remains one of the most horrifying because of what you could easily imagine happening to a loved one.

Ju-On

A haunted house curses anyone who enters. They are pursued by two angry ghosts who are as relentless as they are frightening. There is something about the sound design and the look of Japanese horror that seeps into your bones and doesn’t let go. The clicking of the ghosts combined with their jerking motions creeps me out as nothing else can. I can still hear the noises of the ghost in this story of abuse and revenge.

The Blair Witch Project

One of the original found footage films, The Blair Witch, made millions out of practically nothing. A film crew enters the woods in Burkittsville, MD, looking for a rumored witch. They find her. I just recently watched this film again, expecting to walk away unscathed. The scares are so well done, and the film is so well-paced that I still was on the edge of my seat. A brilliant marketing strategy and some unsettling effects warrant it a spot on the 20 Best Horror Movies With No Gore list. The children in the woods scene is scary, but the final act in the dilapidated house in the woods is impactful no matter how many times you have seen it. There isn’t any gore, but you do get a close-up of a tongue and some teeth.

Funny Games 1997

Writer and director Michael Haneke created one of the most influential horror movies ever. Its influence can be found in almost any home invasion and anti-audience movie that came after it. A family is tortured by two well-dressed and polite young men when their vacation home is invaded. They are forced to play sadistic games for the pleasure of the men. The best part of this film is the men have zero motivation other than simple boredom. It is utterly terrifying and is guaranteed to scare you. Almost all of the violence in this film is implied. Through sound and reaction to events just off camera Funny Games manages to be one of the most disturbing and extreme films on any list without spilling intestines or visually slicing off body parts.

Halloween

It’s Haddonfield on Halloween, and an escaped mental patient is out to take the last of his family out. Anyone who gets in his way is fair game. Unsuspecting Carrie Strode, final girl queen Jamie Lee Curtis must fight to save herself when he comes calling at the house she is babysitting. Michael Myers continues to be one of the scariest slashers of all time. However, a ton of blood is spilled in the myriad of sequels to come; the original features very little. Most of the violence is in the periphery, out of shot, or in the shadows.

Special mention to The Fog(1980), Woman in Black, 1408, and The Mothman Prophecies, all of which provide plenty of chills in different ways. 1408 is outstanding for the source material and John Cusack’s nearly one-man story. Woman in Black is great in every form, and The Mothman Prophecies scares me in the same way that analog horror or urban legends do. There is a nugget of realism in the stories that bleed into the film. Although it isn’t the scariest, a few moments make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The original The Fog features probably the best example of suspense in the film’s last fifteen minutes as Adrienne Barbeau tries to lead survivors to safety from inside a lighthouse-turned-radio station.

The Conjuring and Insidious both deserve a mention as they take the haunted idea and elevate it. Visually, I prefer the world of Insidious in terms of creep factor, but there is no denying the power of The Conjuring Universe. Both arguably deserve a place on the Best Horror Movies With No Gore list. The Conjuring takes a real story from the demon-hunting couple, the Warrens, and makes it truly scary from beginning to end. Insidious gives us an explanation for sleep paralysis that includes an entire other world full of demons, ghosts, and monsters. It’s pure nightmare fuel.