There's something ironic about going to a movie theatre, sitting in a pitch-black room, and being surrounded by dozens of strangers to watch a horror movie. Very few horror movies are set during the daytime, but there are some that take advantage of darkness and the nighttime in a way that's the driving force of the terror.
Between found footage movies set in complete darkness and slasher flicks that defy the tropes of the genre, there are tons of movies where darkness is the real horror. If audiences didn't already have nyctophobia—the extreme fear of darkness—before watching these movies, they will afterward.
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (2010)
It's almost as if the title of Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark is challenging audiences to sit through the movie, which is one of the most overlooked of the 21st century. The atmosphere alone is enough to make audiences feel anxious.
However, ironically enough, the final half of the movie comes off, maybe unintentionally, a little light-hearted, especially when the creatures are revealed. The tooth fairy-like creatures are no more than one foot tall, and it's almost humorous to think that the creature that had been terrifying viewers for the past hour could have literally been shooed away.
Lights Out (2016)
The title is a clear signifier that the film is going to instill fear into viewers through the use of darkness. Lights Out brings out nyctophobia in people that didn't even know they had it. The movie is skin-crawlingly creepy, focused on a woman who is pursued by the silhouette of another woman with long claws whenever she turns off the lights.
As scary as the 2016 film is, the 2013 short movie of the same name on which the film is based is even scarier. It is raw terror and plays on being afraid of the dark. Though the film is only three minutes long and simply sees a woman flicking a light on and off, it shows how powerful simplicity can be, especially when it comes to horror movies.
Slender Man (2018)
Slender Man started out as an online game that took the world by storm, and it was such a phenomenon that the titular character became a meme. Slender: The Eight Pages sees players attempting to search for eight pages of a book in a totally dark forest. Friends challenged each other to play the game, and it was something of a viral sensation in the early 2010s.
Not only is the game near enough impossible to complete, but it leaves players terrified as they turn every corner worried that they'll run into the faceless creature. The movie adaptation leans into more of the backstory of the character abducting children, making it more disturbing than the games. However, though 2018's Slender Man isn't quite as terrifying as the source material, it'll still keep viewers from wandering through the woods for quite some time.
Silent Hill (2006)
When it comes to the video game series, Silent Hill's narrative is better than what's seen in most horror movies. The movie adaptation thrives on darkness, as one thing it did well to adapt from the video games was the actual town of Silent Hill.
The town is covered in mist, and characters can't see more than five feet in front of them, making for one of the most isolated and intense psychological horrors of the 2000s. Though the iconic villain Pyramid Head didn't appear until the second game in the video game series, he features in the movie in all of his angular, gory glory.
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Everybody always hears things that go bump in the night that aren't immediately explainable. Paranormal Activity plays on that idea, and the series has spun six movies out of it. The Paranormal Activity movies have gotten worse with each consecutive release, but the first film was like lightning in a bottle.
It had audiences throwing popcorn in the air screaming at the smallest movements in found footage time-lapses. Even though the film is supernatural, the first entry in the series is the ultimate monsters under the bed-feeling movie. The series isn't done frightening audiences afraid of the dark, either, as a seventh movie is in production and will be released next year.
Insidious (2010)
There's a lot going on in Insidious, and, out of all of the movies that use darkness to scare audiences, the 2010 movie has the highest concept. A husband and wife take desperate measures when they believe their new home is haunted, and that leads to characters exploring the astral realm.
When they enter the realm, it's pitch black, and the only things to peer out of the darkness are weird demonic figures. Even before the characters enter the astral realm, The Red Face Demon can be spotted in certain corners of the house. As it takes viewers a while to adjust to the darkness, the demon isn't spotted immediately, and it makes it that much more terrifying knowing that he's been there the whole time.
Scream (1996)
Movies that are based on the dark and play on audiences' nyctophobia commonly involve ghouls or monsters of some sort, but Scream is a self-aware slasher movie. It's impressive how scary Scream can be, as it's essentially a satire movie as much as it is a horror movie. The film continuously makes fun of slasher movie tropes while simultaneously playing into them.
Few other movies can be both terrifying and funny at the same time, but not only is it one of the scariest slasher movies of the 90s, but it's also a home invasion movie, as the Ghostface Killer lurks outside. The movie makes viewers want to run home and crawl into bed with all the lights on.
The Descent (2005)
As The Descent takes place almost entirely underground, it plays on viewers' innate fears of isolation. The movie follows a group of female cave divers who get more than they bargain for when they get trapped in a network of tunnels with demonic creatures.
It's so claustrophobic and so pitch black that it makes viewers squint to try to see what's going on. As viewers are focusing so hard, it makes the jump scares scream-inducing. Between that, the character development, and the practical effects, The Descent is one of the best horror movie of the 2000s, and it does its job of leaving viewers completely traumatized.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Just like movies like Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project was a phenomenon, as the supernatural horror movie was one of the first of its kind. Though the found footage film technique had been done before, it was the 1999 movie that popularized it and brought it into the mainstream.
The film technique was so new to audiences that, as remembered by Esquire, many viewers believed that it was actually real. The movie was also marketed in a way that made people believe it was a documentary. The marketing began a year before the movie's theatrical release by posting missing people posters around the US. All of that, along with the fact that it's shot partially in black-and-white in the dead of night in a forest, surely had thousands of viewers ordering night lights.
The Babadook (2015)
Many believe that The Babadook is the most terrifying film of the 21st century, as it combines strong storytelling with one of the most creative creatures in a horror movie ever.
The movie follows a mother who struggles with her son's fear of the mysterious Babadook while grieving her husband's death. The Babadook in the film will terrify audiences as he lurks around in the dark, and the film doesn't rely on jump scares, as it instead uses real horror that disturbs viewers.