There are many different tricks and techniques a filmmaker can use in horror movies to try to scare or build fear within the audience, whether it's through the use of creepy music, jump-scares, or visual scenes that can twist a stomach in knots and keep fans on the edge of their seats.
One interesting technique utilized by a few horror films to set the tone or atmosphere is to use minimal amounts of dialogue (if any) throughout the film, allowing viewers to feel and experience the terror on the screen instead of listening to descriptions and exposition. It's not easy to sell a film without much dialogue, but these following horrors managed to impress with very few words.
Nosferatu (1922)
It's impossible to discuss quiet or silent horror movies without diving into the past to explore F.W. Murnau's iconic 1922 German Expressionist masterpiece Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, which was unofficially based on Bram Stoker's Dracula novel.
While the film changed many details including renaming the titular vampire as Count Orlock, the silent film followed a similar premise as Orlock sought out a new home and stalked a new victim of his romanticly deadly desires.
Eraserhead (1977)
David Lynch's first cinematic film was the surreal body horror Eraserhead in 1977, which followed the odd and quiet John Nance in an industrialized fever dream that explored dark themes of sexuality and parenthood.
Eraserhead is anything but quiet, as the score features a constant grating industrial noise that permeates through the entire film. However, it features very minimal dialogue with over 10 minutes passing before a line of dialogue is ever spoken.
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)
2014's A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night was Ana Lily Amirpour's directorial debut, and the film wowed audiences with its unique take on the vampire horror film that subverted the genre while homaging others as the 'first Iranian vampire spaghetti western'.
While there is a fair amount of dialogue in the film, it is also filled with emotionally charged moments without that are carried by the exceptional score and an amazing soundtrack that tells the stories of Bad City as well as the various characters that interact with the vampiric Girl, played by Sheila Vand.
Silent House (2011)
Elizabeth Olsen starred in 2011's Silent House, which was a remake of the Uruguayan film La casa muda that was allegedly based on a true story. The film followed a young woman as she returned to a childhood home alongside her father and uncle to help fix it up for resale.
However, she soon finds herself alone in the house and under attack by a mysterious intruder that forces her to uncover hidden truths about the house and herself. The real-time film is shot as if it was one fluid take and while it features some initial dialogue, Silent House lives up to its title in a number of ways.
Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)
2010's Canadian horror Beyond the Black Rainbow was writer/director Panos Cosmatos feature film debut, and it took place in the mysterious Arboria Institue which aimed to bridge the gap between science and spirituality.
Unfortunately, the doctor in charge of the institute is revealed as an inhuman psychopath who has taken a young girl captive in order to study her telepathic abilities. The film features a few key scenes of dialogue, though the '80s-influenced sci-fi horror definitely focuses more on its synthesized score.
The Innkeepers (2011)
Ti West's 2011 supernatural horror The Innkeepers follows a couple of employees/amateur ghost hunters played by Sara Paxton and Pat Healy as they shut down a supposedly haunted hotel for the season.
The film isn't known for overused jump-scares or forced musical cues and instead focuses more on the characters as they experience a series of paranormal events in the hotel. Paxton's character quietly explores the inn with technical paranormal equipment and very little dialogue, with the ending of the film leaving fans searching for words as well.
Under the Skin (2013)
While Jonathan Glazer's 2013 sci-fi film Under the Skin isn't technically categorized as a horror, it definitely features a number of genre elements that are sure to unconventionally terrify and unnerve some viewers.
Scarlett Johansson stars as an inquisitive extraterrestrial who impersonates a human female in order to lure various men into her clutches, where she traps them in an otherworldly place that literally drains them dry. She learns through them more about humanity and her place in the world all without the use of much dialogue.
High Tension (2003)
2003's High Tension is a French extreme horror from director Alexandre Aja that starts with dialogue to establish the relationship between traveling friends Alex and Marie that soon turns into a gory home invasion that shocked audiences.
The film is filled with gut-wrenching kills and bloody scenes that were heavily censored for the American release of the film. The lack of dialogue in the last half of the film only adds to the increasingly frantic tension of the aptly-named film.
Hush (2016)
Kate Siegel co-wrote and starred in 2016's Hush from co-writer/director Mike Flanagan, which followed a deaf author who lived alone in the woods and becomes the next chosen victim of a masked, crossbow-wielding slasher, played by John Gallagher Jr.
The masked killer takes a sick pleasure in attempting to prey on her hearing loss as she battles to survive in her own home. While there are a few instances of dialogue and text communications throughout the film, the unique home invasion horror is strengthened by the minimalistic approach.
A Quiet Place (2018)
It's not entirely fair to say that 2018's A Quiet Place from director John Krasinski has little dialogue, as the film is filled with conversations using American Sign Language (ASL) given the nature of the aliens that have invaded Earth in the post-apocalyptic film.
The film focused on a family whose daughter is deaf in a world where survivors are forced to live in silence to avoid the blind but dangerously quick alien beings that hunt by sound. A Quiet Place might be the most silent but tense modern movie-going experience theaters had ever seen.