Supernatural Horror

The Exorcist to The Shining to Hereditary. The horror sub-genre that locates the threat outside the natural order.

Supernatural horror is the sub-genre whose threat is, by definition, outside the natural order. Ghosts, demons, possession, witchcraft, the dead returning. The form's specific dramatic engine is that the protagonist cannot use ordinary means to confront the threat — the situation operates under rules the protagonist does not control.

The canonical entries

  • The Exorcist (1973) — William Friedkin. The most-disturbing studio horror release ever made.
  • The Shining (1980) — Stanley Kubrick. Adapted from Stephen King. The Overlook Hotel.
  • Rosemary's Baby (1968) — Roman Polanski. Paranoia that turns out to be correct.
  • Don't Look Now (1973) — Nicolas Roeg. Venice in winter. The red coat.
  • Hereditary (2018) — Ari Aster. Grief as supernatural threat.
  • The Babadook (2014) — Jennifer Kent. Single motherhood as horror.
  • The Witch (2015) — Robert Eggers. New England Puritan supernatural horror.
  • Pan's Labyrinth (2006) — Guillermo del Toro. Spanish-Civil-War fairy tale that earns its category.
  • The Sixth Sense (1999) — M. Night Shyamalan. The supernatural horror that crossed into mainstream prestige.
  • The Haunting (1963) — Robert Wise. Classical-era supernatural horror.

The Stephen King adaptations

Stephen King has been adapted to film more times than almost any other author. His supernatural-horror catalogue produces several of the form's defining entries. The Shining (1980), Carrie (1976), Salem's Lot (1979 TV miniseries, multiple film adaptations), The Dead Zone (1983), Pet Sematary (1989, 2019), It (1990 TV / 2017-2019 film). The success rate is uneven — King himself has criticised The Shining and praised the 1997 TV miniseries that he scripted himself. Most working critical opinion treats Kubrick's version as the superior work, even with its distance from King's text.

The recent A24 wave

The 2010s and 2020s have seen a significant revival of serious supernatural horror, much of it distributed by A24. The Witch (2015), Hereditary (2018), Midsommar (2019, partly supernatural), The Lighthouse (2019), Saint Maud (2019), Talk to Me (2022). The films are typically marked by slower pacing, more-elaborate cinematography, and a willingness to refuse the conventional jump-scare grammar that mainstream supernatural horror relies on. See our essay on the A24 phenomenon for the broader context.

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