The Ultimate Guide to Horror Subgenres: 40+ Film Types & Examples

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Learn about different types of horror—from gore to sci-fi
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Horror films are super entertaining, but have you ever stopped to wonder just how many horror genres there are? Save your scares for watching your favorite horror movies—we’ve compiled a complete list that includes 40 horror genres and subgenres like psychological horror , killers , gore , monster movies , sci-fi films , the paranormal , and more . You’ll also find a definition of horror and its characteristics, along with answers to your questions about different types of horror 👻👀🔪🩸

Popular Types of Horror Films

  • Killer: A villain stalks the characters. Halloween (1978).
  • Monster: A monster is the main antagonist. Frankenstein (1931).
  • Paranormal: Includes ghosts and demonic possessions. Insidious (2010).
  • Psychological: Explores the characters' mental state. Vertigo (1958).
  • Sci-Fi: Stories that take place in space. The Endless (2017).
Section 1 of 10:

Types of Psychological Horror Films

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  1. 1
    Phobia Phobia horror films focus on specific fears of the main character(s), like claustrophobia or agoraphobia. The point of the film is to find out whether the main character(s) can overcome the fears they’re facing.
    • Film Examples: The Descent (2005), Cujo (1983), Vertigo (1958).
    • Key Elements: Fear or phobia in central character(s).

    Psychological horror films focus on characters who have gone crazy due to certain specific circumstances or end up totally isolated. The viewer is often left with the idea that what happened to the characters could happen to anybody.

  2. 2
    Madness These psychological films are based on the madness or paranoia of the main characters. It’s never usually clear whether the main characters can or will overcome the madness they’re facing.
    • Film Examples: The Shining (1980, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Jacob’s Ladder (1990).
    • Key Elements: Psychological madness or mental illness is present in the main characters.
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  3. 3
    Home invasion These movies feature a home invasion focused on violent assailants who have targeted a home. Whether they survive or not is the ultimate goal for characters in home invasion horror stories.
    • Film Examples: The Strangers (2008), You’re Next (2011), The Purge (2013).
    • Key Elements: Villain, assailants, or “other” force invading the main character’s home.
  4. 4
    Arthouse Arthouse horror films sometimes include psychological aspects, but are most focused on atmosphere, character development, and philosophical ideas. Oftentimes, the environment is just as important as the plot, which is sometimes not as straightforward or clear. [1]
    • Film Examples: Eraserhead (1977), Eyes Without a Face (1960), Neon Demon (2016).
    • Key Elements: Strong sense of design and atmosphere, psychological character development, and philosophical themes.
  5. 5
    Elevated horror Elevated horror is usually psychological, but not always in the arthouse category. These films include creative aesthetics and thought-provoking themes in a more obvious way.
    • Film Examples: Babadook (2014), Get Out (2017), Hereditary (2018).
    • Key Elements: Strong aesthetic elements, thought-provoking themes.
  6. 6
    Erotic horror Erotic horror pushes boundaries and focuses on complex themes, including sexuality and the body. They often reflect the psychological aspects of what changes or challenges the main character(s) are facing.
    • Film Examples: Under the Skin (2013), The Hunger (1983), Cat People (1982).
    • Key Elements: Has themes based on sexuality and personal identity.
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Section 2 of 10:

Types of Killer Horror Films

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  1. 1
    Slasher These films peaked in the 1970s with John Carpenter’s Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre . The ultimate parody of slasher movies came with the 90s film franchise Scream (1996), where the characters acknowledge the “rules” of a slasher horror film from a self-aware perspective.
    • Film Examples: Scream (1996), Psycho (1960), Halloween (1978).
    • Key Elements: Stalker, high body count, survival themes, gore (optional).

    Films focused on a killer usually involve a group of teenagers who fall victim to the ultimate bad guy in horror. Killer horror films can be based on a human killer or a supernatural one.

  2. 2
    Crime and giallo Italian crime films called giallo centered on combining gruesome murders, mystery, and horror. Common tropes in giallo include stylish female characters, a masked killer, and a red herring (or a misleading clue).
    • Film Examples: Blood & Black Lace (1964), Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972), Tenebrae (1982).
    • Key Elements: Killer/slasher, elaborate deaths, stylish design, misleading plot points.
  3. 3
    Backwoods horror This subgenre focuses on rural families who include a killer or killers in the brood. They can cross over into other subgenres, like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre did for cannibalism and slasher.
    • Film Examples: Wolf Creek (2005), Wrong Turn (2003), The Hills Have Eyes (2006).
    • Key Elements: Rural setting, psychotic country family, slasher/killer.
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Section 3 of 10:

Types of Gore Horror Films

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  1. 1
    Torture These types of gore films focus on inflicting violence against the main characters in the form of torture. The main idea is to make the audience squirm while setting up characters who need to escape the torturous elements.
    • Film Examples: Saw (2004), Hostel (2005), Audition (1999).
    • Key Elements: Torture or extreme violence inflicted on the main characters.

    Gore films depict the many ways the human body is vulnerable to violence and attack. Though often seen as overly gratuitous, gore movies often have social commentary linked with them, and most famously have achieved popularity through franchises like the Saw films.

  2. 2
    Body horror Body horror deals with the destruction or disfigurement of the human body through disease, deformity, and human mutation. The violence in a body horror can come from a villain or monster, or from within the main characters themselves.
    • Film Examples: The Fly (1986), Videodrome (1983), The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016).
    • Key Elements: Disease, deformity, or deterioration of the characters’ bodies.
  3. 3
    Splatter Like gore, splatter films focus on graphic depictions of violence. The focus in splatter is solely on depicting the violence shown instead of the plot or character reactions.
    • Film Examples: Maniac (1980), Demons (1985), Cabin Fever (2002).
    • Key Elements: Graphic violent depictions intended to gross out the audience.
  4. 4
    Cannibal Some gore films exclusively focus on cannibal activity. These can infer the violence or show it graphically, depending on the film itself. [2]
    • Film Examples: Ravenous (1999), Delicatessen (1991), The Green Inferno (2013).
    • Key Elements: Includes cannibal activity by one or more of the characters.
  5. 5
    Extreme Extreme gore films are also called exploitation films as they feature extreme examples of other gore subgenres like cannibal, torture, and body horror. Extreme films take the most graphic elements of these films and turn them up all the way.
    • Film Examples: Faces of Death (1978), Martyrs (2008), Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986).
    • Key Elements: Highest level of gore and/or graphic depiction of violence and disturbing material.
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Section 4 of 10:

Types of Monster Horror Films

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  1. 1
    Zombies Zombie movies are often considered their own genre, but technically fall under the monster movie genre. Zombies are called the “undead” and are formed because of a bite from another zombie or an infection (another sub-genre).
    • Film Examples: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Zombie (1979), Day of the Dead (1985).
    • Key Elements: Zombies or undead creatures try to kill and eat the living.

    Monster movies feature a creature as the villain; a vampire, zombie, or werewolf all count toward horror movie monsters. These films came of age between the 1930s and the 1950s.

  2. 2
    Virus Virus movies feel similar to zombie flicks, but use a virus as the catalyst. The virus may end up killing multiple characters or cause zombies, which become a virus all their own.
    • Film Examples: 2 8 Days Later (2002), Contagion (2011), World War Z (2013).
    • Key Elements: A virus or infection affects the main characters through sickness, disease, or death.
  3. 3
    Vampire Most vampire horror films date back to Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula (1897). They range from monstrous vampires to elegant, handsome ones found in more recent films. Many of these movies deal with Dracula himself or just a group of vampires on their own.
    • Film Examples: Twilight (2008), Let the Right One In (2008), The Lost Boys (1987).
    • Key Elements: Vampire-like characters that bite characters’ necks, suck their blood, and/or turn them into vampires themselves.
  4. 4
    Werewolf Werewolf movies center around the lore of a person who is bitten by a werewolf and turns into a werewolf themselves. Some approach the sub-genre in a classic way, while others emphasize the comedy aspects of becoming a werewolf.
    • Film Examples: The Howling (1981), Ginger Snaps (2000), The Wolf Man (1941).
    • Key Elements: Werewolves who bite others to kill them or make them into werewolves.
  5. 5
    Classic and mythological Classical mythological horror films have some of the scariest creatures , like Godzilla, giants, or monsters from cultural folktales. Characters have to face these beings to see if they can be victorious over them.
    • Film Examples: Cloverfield (2008), The Ritual (2017), La Llorona (2019).
    • Key Elements: Monsters from mythology, folktales, or classic legends.
  6. 6
    Neo-monsters Neo-monsters are any other monsters in the genre that can’t be defined. They include extraterrestrials, mutations, and mythical creatures often spoken of in scary urban legends .
    • Film Examples: A Quiet Place (2018), It Follows (2015), Malignant (2021).
    • Key Elements: A monster that doesn’t fit into the classical or mythological categories.
  7. 7
    Giant creatures Giant creature films are rooted in classics like Godzilla monster movies. They focus on being so huge that they present a real threat to the main characters of the film.
    • Film Examples: King Kong (1933), The Blob (1958), Pacific Rim (2013).
    • Key Elements: Oversized giants or huge creatures as monsters.
  8. 8
    Small creatures Films with small creatures play on the idea of smaller movie monsters you can’t always see coming. From children’s toys to small creatures that appear cute, these movie monsters scare with equal measure.
    • Film Examples: Critters (1986), Gremlins (1984), Child’s Play (1988).
    • Key Elements: Small, undersized creatures or objects that threaten the characters’ safety.
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Section 5 of 10:

Types of Paranormal Horror Films

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  1. 1
    Ghosts and spirits Ghost subgenres focus on non-living entities, like ghosts, spirits, and poltergeists. They can take place in a haunted house or location, or simply involve ghosts and spirits in any scenario.
    • Film Examples: Poltergeist (1982), House on Haunted Hill (1959), The Others (2001).
    • Key Elements: Includes ghosts, spirits, or poltergeists as the main antagonist.

    The paranormal genre is one of the most far-reaching ones in the horror genre. It includes everything from haunted houses with ghosts to demonic possession, witches, and folk horror.

  2. 2
    Haunted house These films center around ghostly activity in one house. The storyline may switch from being about ghosts to being a possession or demonic story, but the house is always a huge part of the plot that the characters experience.
    • Film Examples: The Amityville Horror (1979), The Changeling (1980), The Conjuring (2013).
    • Key Elements: Set in a haunted house or habitation where ghosts, spirits, or demons are present.
  3. 3
    Possession Many films start as a ghost story and end up being due to a possession by demons or the devil himself. Possession stories are typically based on Catholic exorcisms, but can also include other religious exorcist themes.
    • Film Examples: The Exorcist (1973), Insidious (2010), Jennifer’s Body (2009).
    • Key Elements: A character is possessed by a demon or by the devil.
  4. 4
    Devils, demons, and hell These films involve supernatural terror, ethics, and suspense. The main focus isn’t on possession, but on the presence of demons or the devil himself. They can take place in otherworldly settings or everyday life on Earth.
    • Film Examples: Prince of Darkness (1987), Hellraiser (1987), The Omen (1976).
    • Key Elements: The presence of demons, the devil, or hellscapes that challenge the main characters.
  5. 5
    Witches These films specifically explore the supernatural power of witchcraft. They can take place anytime from the Middle Ages to the modern world. The witches can be portrayed as good, bad, or complex characters.
    • Film Examples: The Witch (2015), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Häxan (1922).
    • Key Elements: The elements of witches and/or witchcraft are central to the plot.
  6. 6
    Supernatural power These films feature supernatural powers and paranormal entities without specifically being about witches, the devil, or a spirit. There is usually some malevolent force that the characters have to battle against in some form.
    • Film Examples: The Shining (1980), The Sixth Sense (1999), The Ring (2002).
    • Key Elements: Paranormal or supernatural elements are present and not defined as ghosts, demons, or witches.
  7. 7
    Folk horror Folk horror explores unknown terror in natural and rural environments that is usually focused around an ancient, pagan religion. Main characters typically come into conflict with the pagan religion and have to either overcome it or embrace it to be victorious.
    • Film Examples: The Wicker Man (1973), Children of the Corn (1984), Midsommar (2019).
    • Key Elements: Pagan religion is present in the film through protagonists or antagonists.
    • Are you a fan of paranormal horror films? Try taking our What Ghost Are You? demonology quiz to find out which ghost you are.
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Section 6 of 10:

Types of Sci-Fi Horror Films

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  1. 1
    Cosmic When sci-fi combines with horror, it creates a specific type of subgenre known as cosmic horror. Elements of societal norms and scientific explorations are also explored through plotlines surrounding space travel. The villain here isn’t just aliens, but some other force in space. [3]
    • Film Examples: The Endless (2017), The Void (2016), Event Horizon (1997)
    • Key Elements: The plot focuses on human insignificance and the vastness of space.
  2. 2
    Aliens Most cosmic horror films are centered around an alien life form. The life form can look familiar or not, or appear as a being who enters into others as a host.
    • Film Examples: Alien (1979), The Thing (1942), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978).
    • Key Elements: Alien life forms are the main antagonists in a story taking place in or around space travel.
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Section 7 of 10:

Other Types of Horror Films

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  1. 1
    Horror comedy All the frights of traditional horror combine with laughs in the horror comedy genre. Whether the comedy is aimed at sarcasm or slapstick, horror comedies focus on inverting horror tropes and elements to make the audience laugh. [4]
    • Film Examples: Shaun of the Dead (2004), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Army of Darkness (1922).
    • Key Elements: Comedic elements and horror elements are brought together in the plot.
  2. 2
    Parody horror Parody horror specifically centers on poking fun at a particular horror trope or genre. They’re often based on actual horror films and like to laugh at horror tropes like the damsel in distress or the slasher who won’t die.
    • Film Examples: Young Frankenstein (1974), Zombieland (2009), Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010).
    • Key Elements: Horror comedy that makes fun of a particular film or subgenre of films.
  3. 3
    Gothic horror Gothic horror is influenced by the literary movement of the same name. They often include mystery, suspense, and supernatural elements in the plot, character development, and themes. [5]
    • Film Examples: Dracula (1931), Interview With a Vampire (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999).
    • Key Elements: Supernatural occurrences, gloomy characters or settings, and themes of isolation.
  4. 4
    Lovecraftian Also called cosmic horror, Lovecraftian horror includes stories by H.P. Lovecraft that focus on the unknown, along with a sense of existential dread. They can directly take from the Lovecraft story they’re patterned after, or simply find inspiration from the themes and plots.
    • Film Examples: Annihilation (2018), The Color Out of Space (2020), From Beyond (1986).
    • Key Elements: These films are based directly or indirectly on H.P. Lovecraft stories.
  5. 5
    Dark Fantasy This subgenre of horror blends both fantasy and horror elements to affect its audience. The stories often portray a twisted reality with ambiguous characters and fantastical elements that aren’t always seen as either simply good or bad.
    • Film Examples: Pan's Labyrinth (2006), The Shape of Water (2017), Marrowbone (2017).
    • Key Elements: Fantastical elements/creatures, twisted reality, ambiguous characters.
  6. 6
    Found footage Found footage horror films have become a very popular genre in horror filmmaking and involve a perceived DIY filmmaking style. Often, the characters are stuck in an increasingly horrific situation and are filming it as it happens. [6]
    • Film Examples: The Blair Witch Project (1999), V /H/S (2012), Creep (2014).
    • Key Elements: The film is visually shot from the POV of one of the characters and is typically hand-held.
  7. 7
    Post-apocalyptic These films combine some ideas present in science fiction films with the horror genre. They tell a story of a character or group of characters who try and survive a doomsday scenario. Post-apocalyptic films sometimes crossover into zombie movies and found footage films. [7]
    • Film Examples: Children of Men (2006), The Road (2009), I Am Legend (2007).
    • Key Elements: Told in a world where a catastrophic event has taken place and left a ruined landscape.
  8. 8
    Survival horror Survival horror can sometimes cross roads with the home invasion subgenre, but on its own, survival is less about killers breaking into a house as it is about the main characters surviving the challenge they’re facing. The idea is to write a horror story that audiences can foresee happening in the future. [8]
    • Film Examples: 127 Hours (2010), The Revenant (2015), Frozen (2010).
    • Key Elements: Focused on characters’ vulnerability and their ability to think quickly and survive a situation based on their wits.
    • See how well you would survive a horror movie by taking our fun quiz!
  9. 9
    Holiday horror This type of horror genre is all about the holidays—whether Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or Halloween. The films use traditional horror themes like killers, supernatural, or psychologically-based stories, or branch out into something unique. [9]
    • Film Examples: Better Watch Out (2019), Black Christmas (1974), My Bloody Valentine (1981).
    • Key Elements: Has a plot that is based around a holiday or birthday.
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Section 8 of 10:

What is the horror film genre?

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  1. Horror movies scare and shock their audience by evoking fear and dread. Using dark subjects like depression, suicide, and murder, horror film themes force audience members who are watching a horror movie to think about their own fears and consider how they might act in the characters’ shoes. There is usually a central villain in the form of a killer, creature, or supernatural force. [10]
    • The idea of an “other” in a horror story is the reason why the characters have to face their fear, or die trying. Whatever is happening in a particular culture at the time often informs what the “other” is in a horror film, like invasion or disease.
    • Horror films are also known for hero-like characters, like the “final girl” character who triumphs over the killer.
    • Test your horror movie knowledge by taking our horror movie quiz .
Section 9 of 10:

The History of Horror

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  1. 1
    The first horror film was Le Manoir du Diable in 1896. Also known as The Haunted Castle or The House of the Devil , it was directed by French filmmaker Georges Méliès and focused on the supernatural. Others consider the German expressionist The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) as the first horror film in the genre. [11]
    • Le Manoir du Diable is about various encounters with demonic spirits and the devil.
  2. 2
    Horror films first rose in popularity during the 1920s and 1930s. This era—which became known as the Golden Age of horror—boasted classics like Frankenstein and Dracula that laid the groundwork for 1950s and 1960s monster movies, from The Blob (1958) to It Conquered the World (1956). Common themes in horror during the 1950s and 1960s included science fiction, alien invasion, and supernatural elements like ghosts and haunted houses.
  3. 3
    Modern horror films became more extreme as years went by. Top 1970s horror classics like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre combined the idea of a slasher film with blackwoods horror. Many consider the 1980s as horror’s modern golden age with hit slasher franchises like Friday the 13th and the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. From the 1990s to now, horror movie themes have gotten more complex, creative, and psychological, with films like Hereditary (2018) and Get Out (2017) paving the way. [12]
    • Horror movies are the 4th-highest grossing genre of filmmaking in 2025, with a box office of over $54 million. [13]
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Section 10 of 10:

Types of Horror FAQs

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  1. 1
    What are the 10 elements of horror? The first half of the 10 elements of horror includes a menacing villain, a set of rules, disposable characters, the element of surprise, and atmosphere, which includes things like lighting, mood, and environment. The bottom 5 elements are a backstory that informs the villain’s purpose, theme music, a final showdown, a trademark murder weapon, and the possibility of a sequel. [14]
  2. 2
    What are the three tiers of horror? Horror author Stephen King talks about 3 tiers of horror, which describe 3 different types of scares. The first is “the gross out,” a creatively gory or obscene image that makes you say “ewww” or “ick.” The second is “the horror,” the jump scare moment when a villain or monster grabs the character. The last is “terror,” which is the panic characters feel before the big scare. [15]
  3. 3
    What is the scariest form of horror? Many agree that psychological or paranormal horror genres are the most frightening to audiences. Psychological horror taps into aspects of your personality that bother you or cause you fear. Paranormal stories connect to the fear of the unknown that includes ghosts, poltergeists, and demons. Body horror reminds audiences about how uncomfortable they might be with their bodies, while post-apocalyptic horror is focused on our fear of the future. [16]
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      References

      1. ↑ https://darklongbox.com/sub-genres-of-horror-2/
      2. ↑ https://gamerant.com/best-cannibal-horror-movies/
      3. ↑ https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-horror-definition/
      4. ↑ https://simplyshocked.com/horror-comedy-slaughter-and-laughter-at-the-movies/
      5. ↑ https://hcspire.com/2024/03/01/gothic-horror-a-genre-in-need-of-a-comeback/
      6. ↑ https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/genre-breakdown-horror-films/
      7. ↑ https://darklongbox.com/sub-genres-of-horror-2/
      8. ↑ https://darklongbox.com/sub-genres-of-horror-2/
      9. ↑ https://nofspodcast.com/15-christmas-horror-movies-to-sleigh-the-holiday-season
      1. ↑ https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-horror-definition/
      2. ↑ https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-horror-movies-have-changed-since-their-beginning/
      3. ↑ https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-horror-movies-have-changed-since-their-beginning/
      4. ↑ https://thehilltoponline.com/2025/02/24/a-look-into-the-rise-of-horror-films-in-2025/
      5. ↑ https://www.amctheatres.com/amc-scene/10-elements-every-horror-film-needs
      6. ↑ https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/2/7/14492124/stephen-king-rings-horror-movie-scares
      7. ↑ https://storytellerkim.com/index.php/2022/10/24/what-is-the-scariest-type-of-horror-story/

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