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The best Indian horror movies present big scares with an emphasis on on the nation's traditional myths, legends, and ghost stories. 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 spectacles rivaling Hollywood blockbuster productions with great international hits like RRR. So it is not surprising that they have also produced many notable horror films as well, using many of the same concepts seen in Hollywood, like demonic possession and ghost stories. Indian cinema has produced some incredibly solid horror films, and there are a ton of excellent titles out there for movie buffs willing to find them.
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25 Bulbbul (2020)
The Indian horror movie Bulbbul comes from director Anvita Dutt, who also wrote the screenplay. The period movie is set in the 19th century in a village of the Benal Presidency, and - like many horror movies from India - explores several social issues alongside its supernatural scares. The story focuses on Bulbbul (Tipti Dimri), who is married off to a local noble at the age of 5. By the time she is an adult, Bulbbul has come to gain a keen understanding of how women are mistreated not only in her village, but in the region as a whole.
After learning about several injustices towards the female population of her community and surviving a violent sexual assault, Bulbbul gains supernatural abilities which she uses to terrorize men who abuse or harm local women and girls. Bulbbul received no shortage of praise for its strong feminist message, and currently sits with an 88% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. Alongside its core message, the performance of Tipti Dimri in particular was celebrated, as was the quality of Anvita Dutt's script.
24 Ghost Stories (2020)
A Spine-Chilling Anthology Horror From Bollywood
2020's Ghost Stories stands out among the best Indian horror movies, as it's an anthology film covering four individual tales rather than being a singular narrative. Each of the segments in Ghost Stories has a different director, with Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Anurag Kashyap each lending their filmmaking skills to the project. Karan Johar's segment focuses on a man who still communicates with his long-dead grandmother, Banerjee's features a cannibal who has consumed an entire town, Kashyap's deals with a paranoid pregnant woman losing her sanity, and Akhtar's delves into a careworker who finds the person they've been looking after may have passed away days ago.
Ghost Stories is especially recommended for those new to Indian horror movies, as its four segments are excellent appetisers that give a taste of everything that makes Bollywood scares so unique.
While not the most critically acclaimed Indian horror movie out there, audiences fell in love with Ghost Stories. Each of the individual segments delivers something different, while they all share common themes that tie them both to one-another and the wider canon of supernatural Indian cinema. For this reason, Ghost Stories is especially recommended for those new to Indian horror movies, as its four segments are excellent appetisers that give a taste of everything that makes Bollywood scares so unique.
23 Lupt (2018)
A Perfectly Executed Supernatural Scare-Fest
From director Prabhuraj, 2018's Lupt is a harrowing supernatural horror that stars Indian comedia Javed Jaffrey alongside Niki Aneja Walia and Vijay Raaz. The plot focuses on Harsh (Jaffrey), his daughter, Shalini (Walia), and the author, Dev (Raaz), who find themselves tormented by a vengeful spirit tied to the deaths of Harsh's wife and son.
In many ways, Lupt is a textbook supernatural horror that does little to reinvent the wheel. However, this isn't to the films detriment. If anything, it's a strength. Director Prabhuraj shows a keen insight into all the ingredients of the very best ghost and haunting movies, using them all near-flawlessly to ensure that Lupt is a gripping and edge-of-your-seat viewing experience from start to finish. What's more, as is the case with several of the best Indian horror movies, Lupt contains some great original musical numbers too.
22 Manichitrathazhu (1993)
A Foundation Of Modern Indian Horror Cinema
Directed by famed Malayalam filmmaker Fazil, 1993's Manichitrathazhu is considered by many to be a classic Indian horror movie, and helped define the modern era for the genre in the nation. Like many of the best Indian horror movies, Manichitrathazhu was inspired by local legends which spawned from a true story. Following the murder of both the inheritor of an expensive area of land and one of his staff, it soon became a piece of local folklore as rumors and hearsay about the crime superceded the facts about the tragic incident.
It was this tale that inspired director Fazil, alongside screenwriter Madhu Muttam, when creating Manichitrathazhu. The 1993 film is a solid ghost story, and won the National Film Awar for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. It's gone on to enjoy a cult following in the decades since its release, and is still considered by many to be one of the best examples of supernatural psychological thrillers in Indian cinema, and one of the best Malayalam-language movies ever made.
21 Laxmii (2020)
The Horror Comedy That Tackles Gender Issues In India
2020's Laxmii is the Hindi-language remake of 2011's Tamil movie Kanchana, both of which come from director Raghava Lawrence (Laxmii marks his debut in the world of Hindi cinema). Like many of the best Indian horror movies, the horror-comedy Laxmii is deeper than it appears on the surface, as it's also an exploration of how transgender individuals are treated in the nation. The plot focuses on Asif (Akshay Kumar), a supernatural skeptic who firmly denies the existence of ghosts, spirits, or the occult.
However, this all changes when he's possessed by the ghost of Laxmi Sharma (Sharad Kelkar), along with the Muslim man who took her in, Abdul Chacha (Mir Sarwar), and the spirit of Abdul's disabled son. The trio of spirits initially cause problems for Asif, but he soon learns he needs to work with them rather than against them. More filled with laughs than scares, Laxmii stands out not only as a horror-comedy, but also because of how it dissects the treatment not only of transender people in Indian, but also cultural divides between Muslims and Hindus.
20 Bees Saal Baad (1962)
A Vengeful Spirit Seeks Out The Men In A Family
Bees Saal Baad loosely adapts the Bengali movie Jighansa from a decade earlier for a Hindi-speaking audience. That movie was also an adaptation though, combining elements of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, one of the most popular Sherlock Holmes stories, with Nishithini Bivishika, a novel by Hemendra Kumar Roy.
The movie’s story sees a wealthy man sexually assault a girl in the local village. After dying by suicide, her spirit returns for vengeance on the man and his entire family line. Each generation, her spirit kills the men in his family, and when the wealthy man’s grandson falls in love and inherits the property, he has to decide whether to move in and risk his own life or try to make a new life far away. The psychological thriller was incredibly popular, nominated for seven Filmfare Awards and winning four.
Bees Saal Baad was the highest-grossing Indian movie of 1962.
The Filmfare Awards recognize excellence in Hindi-language movies in India.
19 Raaz (2002)
A Woman Must Save Her Marriage From A Supernatural Mystery
Like a lot of Indian horror movies, Raaz takes a more supernatural approach to its story. Though it’s not officially an adaptation of the American movie, it shares a lot of commonalities with What Lies Beneath.
The movie sees a married couple hoping a move to a brand new home will help them start over and repair their crumbling relationship. When the house they move into appears to be haunted, however, the wife has to figure out just what secrets her husband has been hiding to save them from the malicious spirit.
The movie was nominated for six Filmfare Awards. Raaz helped to establish Bipasha Basu as Bollywood’s resident scream queen. She later starred in several more horror films, like Aatma, Creature 3D, and Alone. The movie also spawned three sequels, which, at the time, was rare for Indian horror movies.
18 Kohraa (1964)
A Hindi-Language Adaptation Of A Classic
Kohraa adapts the Daphne Du Maurier novel, Rebecca, written in 1938, but also gives some supernatural elements to the story. While the novel has been adapted in many forms, it doesn’t always feature the supernatural.
Here, a newlywed discovers that the ghost of her husband’s first wife still haunts their home. Of course, she only discovers this after they have moved into his mansion, and he leaves for a business trip. When she is haunted, she decides to begin her own investigation into how his first wife died, and she begins to uncover several secrets about those around her.
Though the movie is initially slow-moving, that’s not unlike Rebecca or every adaptation of it since. It takes a little time to settle into the story and get the viewer to the secrets. Kohraa was nominated for two Filmfare Awards with Lalita Pawar, who plays the housekeeper, winning one of those for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
Taylor Swift’s “Tolerate It” is also inspired by Rebecca.
17 Darna Mana Hai (2003)
A Roadtrip With Scary Tales
It was initially met with a negative response from critics, but it’s since become a cult classic among Indian horror fans.
It’s not often that Indian horror movies take an anthology approach. In fact, it almost never happens. Darna Mana Hai is one of the first movies in India to take the anthology approach as well as actually cast different actors for all of the stories. In all, there are six different stories told in this movie.
That’s because Darna Mana Hai centers on a group of friends telling one another scary stories. Seven friends go on a roadtrip together, but when their car breaks down in the middle of the night, the group decides to tell one another scary stories to keep one another entertained. It’s inspired by the American movie Campfire Tales, which uses the same idea, but only features three stories. It was initially met with a negative response from critics, but it’s since become a cult classic among Indian horror fans.
Despite being considered a box office failure, the movie got a sequel of sorts three years later, Darna Zaroori Hai. The movie features a whole new cast, new cinematographers for each segment, and new directors.
16 Kaun? (1999)
A Suspense Thriller About A Serial Killer On The Loose
Kaun?
Release Date February 26, 1999
Runtime 90 Minutes
Director Ram Gopal Varma
Writers Anurag Kashyap
Cast
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Manoj Bajpayee
Sameer A. Purnavale
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-
Kaun? is a 1999 horror movie that is as much a psychological suspense thriller as it is a horror flick. The film stars Urmila Matondkar as an unnamed woman who is watching TV and seeing reports of a serial killer on the loose. That same day, she talks to her mother on the phone before a stranger comes to her home looking for the homeowner, whom she claims doesn't live there. Soon, a second man shows up and says he is a police inspector, which leaves her alone with the two strangers.
Director Ram Gopal Verma plays a fun game of misdirection for much of the movie.
Kaun? has plenty of twists and turns, and director Ram Gopal Verma plays a fun game of misdirection for much of the movie. The film received mostly positive reviews, with critics praising its experimental nature, which draws viewers in and makes them question everything. It also delivers a powerful climax but leaves things open-ended and offers no answers for the purpose of the crimes. It has since gained cult classic status and stands the test of time.
15 Raat (1992)
A Hindi Demonic Possession Movie
Raat
Release Date February 7, 1992
Runtime 127 Minutes
Director Ram Gopal Varma
Writers Vinay Shukla, Uttej, Ram Gopal Varma
Cast
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Rohini Hattangadi
Shalini
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Raat is a demonic possession movie, but the art here is how the director, Ram Gopal Varma, doesn't reveal this until halfway through the picture. Instead, it starts out almost as a family drama when the Sharma family moves into an old house with a reputation for being haunted. There are three clues early on, especially when a neighbor freaks out after meeting the daughter Mini. Soon, strange things start to happen, such as the death of their family cat, which leads to a duplicate cat showing up.
When the deaths start to occur, there's no doubt something is very wrong, and the scene where Mini's friend Deepak sees her eyes turn blood-red remains a perfect horror moment. From this point on, the mystery is solved, and the exorcism is all that remains. Raat received critical praise, with pundits pointing out its technical proficiency as well as its success in ticking all the boxes horror fans would want from a movie. With great acting and plenty of scares, Raat remains a true classic.
14 Ek Thi Daayan (2013)
A Supernatural Thriller About A Vengeful Daayan
Ek Thi Daayan is a Hindi-language supernatural thriller based on the short story "Mobius Trips" by Mukul Sharma. The story follows Bejoy "Bobo" Charan Mathur, a successful magician in India who has been having hallucinations about his dead little sister, Misha. When he finally goes to a psychiatrist for help, he is put into regression hypnosis to go back to when he and Misha were children. It is here that he remembers that a daayan arrived in his life, sacrificed his little sister, and killed his father before he defeated it.
This leads to the present day when the daayan returns for vengeance against Bobo and his wife and child. Ek Thi Daayan was a box office success and received positive critical reviews. Critics praised the acting and imagination of the story, and it finished with an 80% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also recognized during award season, with Konkona Sen Sharma earning a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 59th Filmfare Awards.
13 Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007)
A Horror-Comedy About A Ghost Exorcist
Bhool Bhulaiyaa
Release Date October 12, 2007
Runtime 159 Minutes
Director Priyadarshan
Writers Neeraj Vora, Manisha Korde, Madhu Muttam, Ram Patil
Cast
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Akshay Kumar
Dr. Aditya Shrivastav
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Vidya Balan
Avni Chaturvedi
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Shiney Ahuja
Siddharth Chaturvedi
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Bhool Bhulaiyaa is a horror-comedy starring Akshay Kumar about a psychologist named Dr. Aditya "Adi" Shrivastav. When married couple Avni S. Chaturvedi (Vidya Balan) and Siddharth Chaturvedi (Shiney Ahuja)) move into their new home, they learn it is haunted. That is when they call Dr. Adi to come and help them remove the spirits. The film takes a surprising turn when he decides to use psychiatry to exorcise the ghost from the home, with shocking results.
Much of the praise goes to Kumar's performance as Dr. Adi.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa was a massive success at the box office, and one of the highest-grossing Indian movies in 2007. The film went on to develop into a cult classic in the years since its initial release. Much of the praise goes to Kumar's performance as Dr. Adi thanks to his comic timing. Vidya Balan also received praise, winning Best Actress at the Anandalok Awards. Bhool Bhulaiyaa has become a cult classic since its release and even got a sequel that came out five years later with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2.
12 Pizza (2012)
A Pizza Delivery Driver Encounters A Haunted Bungalow
Pizza
Release Date October 19, 2012
Runtime 127 Minutes
Director Karthik Subbaraj
Writers Prasath Ramar, Karthik Subbaraj
Cast
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Vijay Sethupathi
Michael Karthikeyan
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Aadukalam Naren
Shanmugam
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Released in 2012, Pizza is a Tamil-language horror thriller featuring a pizza delivery driver named Michael (Vijay Sethupathi) who doesn't believe in the supernatural but is scared of anything paranormal. This doesn't work out well for him since his girlfriend, an author named Anu, tells him he will soon realize the supernatural is real. Everything goes bad when he delivers pizza to a bungalow and comes across several dead bodies, with a slice of the pizza disappearing with each discovery.
The film plays games with the viewer, marking Michael as an unreliable narrator and with the story only playing out as he is telling it. However, even when the truth unfolds, there is a twist at the end that leaves no bad deed unpunished. Thanks to its low budget, the film was a huge box office success and received mostly positive reviews, with praise going to Karthik Subbaraj as a first-time filmmaker. It won several awards, including Best Story at the 7th Vijay Awards.
11 Stree (2018)
A Horror Comedy About An Urban Legend Of A Witch Who Abducts Men
Stree
Release Date August 31, 2018
Runtime 128 Minutes
Director Amar Kaushik
Writers Raj Nidimoru, Krishna D.K., Sumit Arora, Pawan Sony
Horror and comedy is a fun mix when done effectively, and Stree is one 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 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 disturbing, 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 tale, 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 film.
9 9 (2019)
A Father & Son Encounter Horrors During The Passing Of A Comet
9
Release Date February 7, 2019
Runtime 159 Minutes
Director Januse Mohammed
Writers Januse Mohammed
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. 9 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
1920
Release Date September 12, 2008
Runtime 143 Minutes
Director Vikram Bhatt
Writers Vikram Bhatt, Dheeraj Rattan
Some of the best period horror movies include haunted houses, and 1920 belongs to this subgenre. Released in 2008, the film 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 Teenager Moves In Next Door To A Struggling Married Couple
The House Next Door
Release Date October 30, 2006
Runtime 86 minutes
Director Jeff Woolnough
Cast
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Colin Ferguson
Walker Kennedy
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Lara Flynn Boyle
Col Kennedy
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Mark-Paul Gosselaar
Kim Dougherty
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Stream
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 House Next Door 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 film 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 is sure to thrill anyone who enjoys good paranormal-based horror.
6 Kothanodi (2015)
A Story Of Mothers & Children Based On Indigenous Folk Tales
Kothanodi
Release Date October 10, 2015
Runtime 120 Minutes
Director Bhaskar Hazarika
Writers Bhaskar Hazarika
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.
English (US) ·