Insidious (2010)

At first, Insidious feels familiar, another story about a married couple (Rose Byrne and scream king Patrick Wilson) and their young children moving into a new home, only to experience unusual, supernatural occurrences—randomly blaring alarms, bloody handprints on the children’s bed, and eerie noises. James Wan meticulously crafts his horror scenes with subtlety. In one memorable scene, the camera follows Renai as she goes about the house doing mundane chores, like taking out the garbage, while the unsettling children’s song “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” warbles on a record player.

Through the window from a distance, she catches a barely noticeable shadow of a little boy in period clothing, dancing to the song. It’s little moments like these that make Insidious so frightening. There’s plenty of jump scares, as well, like the sudden appearance of a red-faced demon that will leave your heart in your throat. The most inventive and chilling part of Insidious is The Further, a dark, foggy dimension where lost souls and demonic entities wait for the living.