Terror and technology: combined, these two create unforgettable scares. As technology has advanced in recent decades, it has given rise to a new age in the horror genre in the form of techno-horror, a subgenre unshackled by restraints or a single formula. It can feature anything from parts of sci-fi action to body horror. It’s where our deepest fears and insecurities of rising technologies and losing control run rampant; where horror is within every machine or monitor, and the realm of sci-fi feels frighteningly real.
The following films best demonstrate that fear. The entries on this list are the ten scariest techno-horror films that are still terrorizing audiences today. They frighteningly show the dangers of these rising powers, and fill us with endless paranoia about our everyday lives. From screen-life terrors to the supernatural hijacking our internet, the following will make you think twice about turning on a screen.
10
‘Unfriended: Dark Web’ (2018)
Unfriended: Dark Web warns us never to go poking around some of the darkest corners of the internet. Who knows what kind of terrible secrets may be found? As a loose sequel to 2014’s Unfriended, it’s a chilling screen-life nightmare flick that follows a group of friends on a Skype call who become the targets of a shadowy internet hacker group after one of them finds a lost laptop full of horrible snuff films.
Though it’s not perfect, nor the most accurate depiction of the internet, and, of course, requires a lot of the audience’s suspended disbelief, Unfriended: Dark Web is a great thriller with some tense, hair-raising suspense and shocking kills. It preys upon people’s long-running dread of finding dangerous people on the internet. It’s a fear that’s as old as the internet itself, but here it’s amplified to the max and will constantly keep people paranoid.
9
‘Possessor’ (2020)
From the one-of-a-kind imagination of director Brandon Cronenberg comes his magnum opus of body horror and technological terrors, Possessor, released in 2020. Offering a bleak, eerily possible look into a dark future, it’s a tense sci-fi thriller about a proficient assassin (Andrea Riseborough) who kills her targets by hijacking the minds of innocent victims. But her latest assignment goes horribly wrong when her latest host (Christopher Abbott) becomes aware of her takeover.
It’s a mind-bending nightmare full of unimaginable and bizarre scares and striking visuals that are certainly too intense to forget. Cronenberg’s creative vision, plus its unique concept, has made Possessor an unforgettable techo-horror cult classic in recent years. It shocks viewers to their very core about the fear of someone else taking over their body, and it keeps feeling deeply unsettling, right up until the end credits.
8
‘The Ring’ (2002)
Proving that the 2000s ushered in a new era of intense terror, Gore Verbinski‘s thrilling supernatural mystery film The Ring is one of the decade’s most horrifying standouts. An American remake of the 1998 Japanese original, it follows a dedicated reporter (Naomi Watts) who, after the violent death of her niece, tracks the source of what killed her to an alleged cursed videotape that murders anyone who sees it after seven days.
The Ring is one of our current era’s most frightening modern classics. Its atmosphere is dark and always present, palpably suspenseful and never letting up. And most notably, its scenes, particularly those pertaining to the ghost, Samara (Daveigh Chase), are among some of the scariest moments of the 21st century. It’s a hair-raising thrill ride that, while perhaps not as legendary as its Japanese predecessor, is still quite memorable.
7
‘Upgrade’ (2018)
With the rise of AI, how long before it changes us, both physically and mentally? That’s a dark question horrifyingly explored in 2018’s Upgrade. Helmed by Saw and Insidious writer Leigh Whannell, it follows the tragedy of Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green), a widowed mechanic whose life spirals out of control when he’s fitted with an advanced chip implant in his brain that amplifies his darkest desire to seek revenge on those responsible for his wife’s death.
This cyberpunk thriller is a skin-crawling body horror nightmare, full of action and bloody violence, and a haunting message about how technology can go too far. It intensifies some of our greatest fears about losing control of our minds and actions, and can make anyone more paranoid about the growing use of artificial intelligence in our daily lives. Like how 2001: A Space Odyssey showed how machines can be cold, efficient killers, Upgrade shows it even further and with a brain-invading twist.
6
‘One Missed Call’ (2003)
Techno-horror and the supernatural are a match made in horror heaven. Just experience some of the many classics of this combination from J-horror cinema, a collection of some of the unique and scariest chillers ever. Among them, 2003’s One Missed Call is such a pulse-pounding nightmare. It follows a young woman as she fights for her life when she and those around her receive disturbing, ghostly voice mails foreshadowing their impending deaths.
This story keeps the viewers constantly on edge, with the suspense and tension coming from knowing something absolutely terrible is about to happen to these characters, and without warning. One Missed Call takes supernatural horror and elevates it to an intense extreme with a technological twist. The thought that ghosts can spread out and evolve with machines is an eerily brilliant concept that yields plenty of terrors.
5
‘Videodrome’ (1983)
The king of body horror, David Cronenberg, contributed significantly to the techno-horror subgenre in the early days of its inception. A powerfully unique and disgustingly captivating cult classic, 1983’s Videodrome is one of his most remarkable achievements. It follows James Woods as a sleazy Toronto TV producer who goes on a mind-bending descent into madness when he discovers a mysterious broadcast that’s airing bizarre snuff footage.
There’s nothing else quite like Videodrome. It shows the creative potential of the techno-horror subgenre and how absurd and spectacular it can get. Both visually disturbing and oddly brilliant, it’s a bizarre and grotesque masterpiece that also has a strong message about the dangers of consuming too much media and how people can be so desensitized by it. Videodrome truly only gets better with age.
4
‘Demon Seed’ (1977)
A spine-chilling, monumentally disturbing body horror classic, 1977’s Demon Seed might make you paranoid about AI completely taking over your home. Based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz, it sees Oscar-winner Julie Christie star as the wife of a brilliant inventor who becomes trapped and terrorized in her home by her husband’s highly intelligent invention, which has become obsessed with her.
It’s an eerie sci-fi thriller where the evils of technology and advanced systems have invaded every private area of living. Demon Seed doesn’t hold back from showing some truly unsettling, shocking horror, from sexually explicit moments to gruesome deaths. It’s a shame it’s not talked about as much when mentioning the subgenre these days, as it’s worth watching, and it only gets more horrifying every time.
3
‘Host’ (2020)
Hailed as one of the most shocking horror movies of the 2020s so far, the 2020 screen-life thriller Host is for all those looking for nonstop and intense jump scares. Directed by Rob Savage and starring a cast of mostly unknowns, it follows a friend group on Zoom, passing the time of being stuck inside during a lockdown, chatting and even conducting a seance for fun. But terror strikes when their seance conjures an unfriendly spirit that slowly kills them one by one.
Shot and released during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Host explores the fears and frustrations of this time, supported by its claustrophobic feel and oppressive tone. It’s also full of some of the most hair-raising and unexpected jump scares in recent memory, and each moment constantly feels nail-biting and relentlessly intense. It does its job scaring the pants off of viewers and is truly a standout of modern horror.
2
‘Pulse’ (2001)
There’s much more to fear on the World Wide Web than you think. Who truly knows what kind of evil is lurking within it? That’s an ominous question frighteningly answered in 2001’s Pulse, a dark and dreadful J-horror masterpiece about two people in Tokyo as they slowly make the horrifying discovery that sinister supernatural forces are spreading across the internet, causing death and misery around the globe.
It’s a never-ending nightmare right from start to finish, featuring dream-like visuals, haunting imagery, and moments so epically suspenseful that one could easily hear a pin drop. Pulse is truly a one-and-done experience as it’s too intense to witness again. It’ll shock and stun you to your seat with its terror, but most importantly, after watching it, you’ll never look at a computer monitor the same way again.
1
‘Ringu’ (1998)
At number one is no surprise, as it’s not only the scariest techno-horror movie, but it’s genuinely regarded as one of the most horrifying films in cinematic history. Indeed, the 1998 classic Ringu stands as the greatest and most eerie standout of this subgenre. Like its 2002 American adaptation, this one follows similar events of a woman who struggles to save herself and her child after they’ve become cursed by a video containing a vengeful spirit.
Ringu‘s influence on the horror genre over the years has only gotten more noticeable as technology has evolved. Not only did it spawn two successful franchises in two separate countries, but it also popularized the concept of ghosts using machines to harm others, officially bringing horror into the 21st century. Add in that iconic moment when the spirit of Sadako (Rie Ino) rises out from the TV set, and Ringu is the definitive techno-horror masterpiece.
Ringu
- Release Date
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January 31, 1998
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