Summary
- Indian horror movies leverage rich mythologies, producing unique and inventive stories for film enthusiasts globally.
- From demonic possession to haunted houses, India boasts a strong pedigree of horror films that showcase thrilling narratives and emotional depth.
- Films like Stree, Pari, and Tumbbad exemplify India’s mastery in blending humor, scares, and cultural elements to create captivating horror experiences.
The best Indian horror movies present big scares with an emphasis on myths from that part of the world. The horror genre transcends borders and languages, and each distinct society worldwide has its own mythologies and horror stories, many of which often revolve around their respective belief systems and cultures. While America and the United Kingdom have created some of the greatest horror movies ever made, India also has a strong pedigree of horror titles that can stand toe-to-toe with anything from Western culture.
India is known for its massive movie industry which turns out big products rivaling Hollywood productions and great international hits like RRR. So it is not surprising that they have also produced many notable horror movies as well, using many of the same concepts seen in Hollywood, like demonic possession and ghost stories. India knows how to craft a solid horror film, and there are many great ones out there for movie buffs willing to find them.
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11 Stree (2018)
A Horror Comedy About An Urban Legend Of A Witch Who Abducts Men
The mix of horror and comedy can be a lot of fun when done effectively and Stree is one such movie that nails the blend. This Indian horror movie is based on a popular urban legend called Nale Ba (which stands for Come Tomorrow). The legend has people painting this word on the walls of their homes to keep out evil spirits. Stree features a village where a witch has been haunting it for years while abducting men, while the film’s main story follows a young man who falls for a girl only to begin suspecting she might be the witch herself.
The movie provides an ideal balance of laughs and scares while also providing a lot of heart to the unique and inventive story, helping it to stand out in a crowded pack. Stree received mostly positive reviews, with praise for its direction, screenplay, the social message at the tale’s core, and for its quirky humor. Director Amar Kaushik won Best Debut Director at the Filmfare Awards and at the Zee Cine Awards.
10 Pari (2018)
A Movie About A Girl With Demonic Blood Who Becomes Pregnant
A great directorial debut from Kolkata-born Prosit Roy, Pari is a supernatural horror movie about a strange woman named Rukhsana, who may not be of this world. Containing elements of demonic horror, Pari concerns a satanic cult called Auladhchakra that sexually assaults and impregnates kidnapped women with the offspring of an Islamic mythological demon named Ifrit. Even more disturbingly, there is a group that seeks out the impregnated women and holds them captive until the baby is born, so they can kill them, decapitate them, and seal them in glass jars.
The story then follows the daughter of a woman who escaped the group’s clutches and is now pregnant herself. It’s certainly a bizarre and troubling storyline, but a unique one in the horror genre, and the movie also features an excellent lead performance from Anushka Sharma as Rukhsana. The Ifrit is a real myth in Islamic culture, compared with the jinn as demons of the underworld, bringing some real mythology into the tale. It’s worth watching for anyone looking for a good demon-based horror movie.
9 9 (2019)
A Father & Son Encounter Horrors During The Passing Of A Comet
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A fun mix of science fiction and horror, 9 also contains some touching elements regarding father-son relationships. The “9” title refers to the number of days that a passing comet will disrupt all forms of modern technology, including electricity and phone service. The movie follows Dr. Albert Lewis, a widowed astrophysicist, and his eight-year-old son Adam, whom he has a distant relationship with because he blames the boy for his wife’s death during childbirth. Albert’s brother-in-law also hates Adam, believing the child is evil.
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While the father and son are investigating the oncoming comet, a woman named Ava arrives and begins to torment Adam, but not everything is as it seems, as Albert realizes his son’s life might be in danger. The movie is well shot and filled with some good visual effects work, but the real heart of the story lies in the father-son relationship. It’s an inventive sci-fi horror movie with some affecting personal drama that is well-acted by leads Prithviraj Sukumaran and Master Alok.
8 1920 (2008)
A New Couple Moves Into An Old Manor Only To Find It Haunted
Some of the best period horror movies include haunted houses, and 1920 belongs to this subgenre. Released in 2008, the movie concerns a married couple who live inside a haunted house. Arjun is a Hindu man who marries a half-caste British Indian woman and his family tries to kill her to stop the marriage. Arjun abandons his religious beliefs and his family before taking a job as an architect remodeling a stately old manor home. While there, they learn it is haunted and something in it wants his wife.
The film runs at a long 140 minutes, which is more than enough time to squeeze in a lot of great supernatural-based scares and some interesting character dynamics revolving around marriage. 1920 was a huge success in its native India and spawned a franchise that now encompasses four movies, speaking to its palatability as a mainstream horror film.
7 The House Next Door (2017)
A Troubled Teenage Moves In Next Door To A Struggling Married Couple
The House Next Door is an Indian horror film with many effective scares that can both startle and unsettle. The story follows Krish and Lakshmi, a brain surgeon and his wife, who grow troubled once a rebellious teenager and her stepmother move in next door. A series of disturbing paranormal events accost the teenager, resulting in a battle between good and evil as Krish and Lakshmi attempt to rid their house of the spirits.
Siddharth not only starred in the movie as the brain surgeon, but he co-wrote the script with the intention of working with Andrea Jeremiah (who played his wife) in a horror movie directed by Milind Rau (Kadhal 2 Kalyanam). The House Next Door received positive reviews with praise going to its use of horror in the Kollywood movie scene. It’s an engrossing old-fashioned ghost story, and it’s sure to thrill anyone who enjoys good paranormal-based horror.
6 Kothanodi (2015)
A Story Of Mothers & Children Based On Indigenous Folk Tales
2015’s Kothanodi is based on Grand Mother’s Tales, a very popular piece of Assamese literature that has been enjoyed since its publication in 1911. The book is a collection of folklore stories written by Assamese poet, Lakshminath Bezbaroa. It would have proved quite difficult to adapt the book, given its legendary status in Assam. But through some good filmmaking and inventive re-imaginings of the classic stories, Kothanodi proves an enticing watch. The movie’s story is based on four of the book’s fables (Tejimola, Champawati, Ou Kuwori, and Tawoir Xadhu).
The four fables are told in interconnected stories. A woman wants to kill her stepdaughter while her husband is on a trip, and he encounters a mysterious woman who gives birth to an outenga. Another woman in a different village plans her daughter’s wedding with disastrous results and a final mother wants to protect her child from her murderous husband. While not a straightforward horror film, Kothanodi nevertheless contains some very difficult subject matter that is sure to disturb and unsettle.
5 Aamis (Ravening) (2019)
A Couple Soon Develops A Taste For Human Flesh
Aamis, whose English title is Ravening, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019, garnering some very strong reviews. The story follows a content pediatrician named Nirmali, who meets a Ph.D. student studying Indian eating habits. The two quickly form a bond and soon begin experimenting with different types of meat. Before long, Nirmali develops an obsession with trying human meat, which leads to a horrifying conclusion as their secret desires soon become public.
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It’s a grotesque storyline that will satiate even the most critical horror fan, drawing inspiration from the extreme movies of the ’80s that were banned for their violence and depraved content matter. While the ending left something to be desired for some critics, it still received mostly positive reviews for the disturbing story and the movie’s direction. Bhaskar Hazarika won the Best Director Award at the Singapore South Asian International Film Festival.
4 Mahal (1949)
Bollywood’s First Horror Movie
Often credited as Bollywood’s first horror movie, Mahal is worth watching simply for its historical importance. Released in 1949, the movie stars Ashok Kumar as Hari Shankar, a man who experiences visions and bizarre occurrences inside his new, abandoned palace. He begins to see visions of a mysterious woman who claims that she was his lover in a precious life. The movie draws on themes of reincarnation while presenting a tantalizing mystery that is filled with both scares and tempting questions.
Mahal was enormously popular in its native India, turning gothic horror into a popular genre and making Madhubala a Hindi cinema icon. It ended up as a national hit when it was released, proving that suspenseful horror movies had a place in India, and the critical reaction was overwhelmingly positive as the years wore on, improving as years passed and it became a cult classic. The movie remained Madhubala’s highest-grossing movie for six years after its release as he continued to rise up the ranks of stardom.
3 Bhoot (2003)
A Demonic Possession Movie
Taking enormous influence from The Exorcist, Bhoot is a worthwhile addition to the malevolent demonic possession subgenre. This movie is about a married couple — Vishal and Swati — who move into a haunted apartment and begin to experience severe repercussions in the form of Swati’s possession. Bhoot contains some solid possession-based scares and is led by a great performance from Urmila Matondkar (playing Swati), who won a Bollywood Movie Award and Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Her unnerving performance is bound to give any viewer chills.
Bhoot also won the Bollywood Movie Award for Best Director (Ram Gopal Varma). The movie was also so popular that it received a sequel called Bhoot Returns in 2012. There have been new Bhoot films coming out since 2020, but these are not part of the original franchise as Dharma Productions purchased the rights to the name to tell some new stories.
2 13B: Fear Has A New Address (2009)
A Man Watches His Family’s Future On A Telenovela
Aside from the rather silly name, 13B: Fear Has a New Address is a fun little low-budget Indian film. The film looks fantastic despite its obvious lack of money, working wonders with inventive camera angles and beautiful framing. Madhavan also proves a capable leading actor, portraying a man who watches the future of his family through a telenovela that is playing exclusively on his television set. He soon learns the terrifying secret that a family was butchered in his new apartment years before.
It mixes elements of J-horror with a unique storyline, resulting in an original horror film that is both horrifying and intellectually challenging, as the twist ending proves that things rarely end well in these supernatural stories. 13B: Fear Has a New Address, which was also known as Yavarum Nalam, received mixed reviews, but it was a huge success at the box office when released as the Tamil version, but it was a commercial failure when released as the Hindi version.
1 Tumbbad (2018)
A Village Goes Against The Goddess Of Prosperity & Suffer For It
Tumbbad received its premiere at the 75th Venice International Film Festival, making it the first Indian movie to show at that particular festival. It speaks not only to the quality of the film but also to the emergence of Indian horror as a popular genre of film outside the continent. The mythical story concerns the residents of Tumbbad, Maharashtra, who go against the orders of the Goddess of Prosperity and suffer a devastating curse. It went on to achieve critical success, with eight nominations and three wins at the Filmfare Awards.
The movie also wasn’t an easy film shoot, as director Rahi Anil Barve made it in 2012, but he wasn’t happy with what he saw after editing it. He went back and re-wrote and re-shot it in 2015, and that is the movie that fans can see today. It’s a great Indian film with its roots in the country’s tradition that shows off some truly exceptional cinematography and bone-chilling scares, and it’s one of the country’s greatest horror exports.
