10 Most Terrifying Horror Movie Setups You Would Never Want to Be In

10. IT (1990)

The story that gladly launched coulrophobia rates in the world off the charts, Stephen King ’s IT is haunting and unsettling. You definitely wouldn’t want to be a child when this demonic clown is clowning around: even if you somehow survived, you’d be mentally scarred for life. But you could always just move from the town he's in. You can watch IT on Apple TV and Prime Video.

9. House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

One glance at Rob Zombie is enough to picture the kind of horror movies this man makes, and House of 1000 Corpses, his directorial debut, started off strong. Ending up in the Firefly family’s abode is a terrible, terrible idea… But at least, you’d know there’s no hope of escaping, so that’s kind of a nice bonus compared to later entries.

You can watch House of 1000 Corpses on Prime Video.

8. Jeepers Creepers (2001)

As cliched as it is, Jeepers Creepers perfectly captures the terror of being hunted by an indestructible and unstoppable force that’s both gross to look at and wants to consume your flash in an unsavory manner. Being hunted by the Creeper should naturally be very low on your priority list as the run would only exhaust you, not him.

You can watch Jeepers Creepers on Apple TV and Prime Video.

7. Misery (1990)

But humans can be scarier and more violent than the most sinister supernatural forces. Misery’s Annie quickly proves to be the unfortunate author’s worst nightmare, and we’d never want to be in his place: being in complete power of someone twisted and abusive and being forced to ruin your life’s work at their whim sounds horrible.

You can watch Misery on Apple TV and Prime Video.

6. The Ring (2002)

Everyone understands fighting for their own life. Every parent understands the dire desire to protect their child. The Ring would have forced you to experience both and thrown the feeling of impending terrible doom into the mix to create the worst week of your life, and that’s not how you would want to spend seven days, or even one.

You can watch The Ring on Apple TV and Prime Video.

5. The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Being the prey of cannibalistic mutated humans while stuck in their territory just feels like a rough couple of days, doesn’t it? When you’re trailed by not one, but a whole tribe of them, and can witness their atrocities, the sheer terror and disgust are enough to just give up — and that’s why we’d never want to be part of that story.

You can watch The Hills Have Eyes on Prime Video.

4. Final Destination (2000)

We often watch Final Destination as almost a comedy film, but realistically, nothing is more terrifying than being chased by death itself. When everything, everywhere, all at once is rigged to kill you, you have nowhere to run. It’s pure desperation, and such levels of stress can’t be healthy — so we’d rather opt out of messing with death.

You can watch Final Destination on Netflix and Prime Video.

3. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A Nightmare on Elm Street tells a pretty similar story but with a twist that’s arguably even worse. You don’t typically have control over your dreams, so when there’s a murderous guy shaping your subconscious reality to kill you, that has to be exhausting — especially since you’d be gravely scared of falling asleep again.

You can watch A Nightmare on Elm Street on Netflix and Prime Video.

2. Saw (2004)

Few things beat the twisted mind of Jigsaw. Whichever part of this story could be our reality, we’d very much rather not be part of it. Being a plaything of a sadistic monster and going through its puzzles to get to live another minute is horrifying, but watching helplessly as your loved ones are forced to do that would be even worse.

You can watch Saw on Netflix and Prime Video.

1. The Human Centipede (2009)

Out of all the movies on this list, The Human Centipede really doesn’t need to be explained further, does it? People can enjoy different weird things, but being forcibly stitched mouth-to-rectum with other unfortunate “centipede parts” is not the experience anyone’s looking to get, so we rate this setup as the least… Preferable.

You can watch The Human Centipede on Apple TV and Prime Video.