From Raaz to The Conjuring, readers confess the one horror movie that truly traumatised them and reveal the unusual methods they used to finally fall asleep
Representational Image
The eerie atmosphere of Halloween is creeping up on us, and the only thing missing is that perfect horror flick to end your night—or ruin your next few weeks. While classic monsters, gory slashers, and mysterious murders rank high in popularity, the films that end up terrorising us are often the ones that weaponize psychological dread and the fear of the unknown.
From the atmospheric terror of a Bollywood ghost story to the chilling realism of an unsolved serial killer case, our readers confessed the movies that haunted their most vulnerable moments. These confessions prove that the movies that stay with us aren't about what we see, but what we become convinced is waiting just out of sight.
'I kept thinking, that the killer is still out there'
"When people ask me which horror movie terrorised me, they expect me to say something like The Exorcist or maybe a good old slasher, but the movie that traumatized me was David Fincher's Zodiac” reveals Shikhar Vishnoi.
The issue wasn't the blood or the violence, it was the crushing, suffocating fear of a truly, maddeningly unresolved case, the marketing professional tells us. “The film isn't about the sudden scares, it's about the deep, psychological horror of three grown men—a cartoonist, a reporter, and a detective—obsessing over a puzzle that has no final piece. I spent the entire two-and-a-half hours watching them destroy their lives trying to catch a ghost.” The idea that chaos can win and justice can fail is what bothered Vishnoi the most, “That night, my mind was racing with all the little details: the sound of the pencil sketching suspects, the cryptic cipher that was never fully broken, and the final chilling implication that he was right there. I kept thinking, that the killer is still out there, possibly just an old man now, who got away with it.”
After the adrenaline rush the movie provided, the 34-year-old ended up watching more thrilling content but the ones where murders are caught. “I had to force my brain to stop obsessing over the details. I ended up pulling an all-nighter watching documentaries about forensic science and cold case resolutions. I watched the specials where they solve a 50-year-old murder with a single strand of hair and a new database. I needed to convince myself that in real life, the police always eventually get their man. I finally passed out from sheer exhaustion around 6:00 AM, but only after watching three different segments on the history of fingerprinting," he shares.
‘I had to make sure every single door in my house was locked’
The movie that destroyed her sleep schedule for a solid week was Raaz, admits Jayantika Khanna. Although the lawyer was quite young when she first saw the iconic movie starring Dino Morea and Bipasha Basu, the sensory memory is etched in Khanna’s mind. “It wasn't just the jump scares, it was the whole atmosphere of that desolate hotel in Ooty and the idea of a ghost being completely integrated into your life without you knowing. The sound design was very eerie and amplified the sense of impending dread. I remember checking all the windows, convinced a pale figure was staring in. But the worst part was that famous scene where the bedroom door keeps slamming shut on its own—that sound was stuck in my head for days. Every creak in my apartment felt like a dramatic, supernatural entrance," she recalls.
When asked what helped her sleep at night, Khanna shares, "My coping mechanism was a little obsessive. I had to make sure every single door in my house, including the cupboard doors, was locked and jammed shut with a chair. Then, I would ask my younger sibling to talk to me until I fell asleep. I needed a constant, human voice to remind me I wasn't alone in that creepy hotel."
‘I was convinced something was hiding behind the main door’
“What I can never really forget is the ‘Hide and Clap’ scene from The Conjuring,” says Shinjini Sharma. Hailed by many as the scariest movie to have hit theatres, 'The Conjuring' tormented fans across the globe. “I watched it with friends, and the moment that light goes out and you hear the 'clap... clap...' coming closer, followed by the demon Bathsheba appearing on top of the wardrobe, I nearly jumped out of my skin,” Sharma remembers. When asked if that scene haunted her for days to come, the financial consultant shares, “But the lingering effect was the belief that any sudden noise in the dark was a sign of demonic infestation. For days, I was convinced something was hiding behind the main door of my flat, just waiting to be clapped out."
Since the Mumbai resident is not a big fan of the genre, she relied to the tried and tested strategy of keeping as many lights on as possible. Sharma recollects, “This is embarrassing, but my solution was a full-on prayer and light protocol. I bought a set of those cheap, brightly coloured LED fairy lights and placed them on every surface in my room. I’d sleep with the lights on, not because the light itself was protective, but because the constant, shimmering, tacky colour made the room feel too cheerful and utterly un-demonic. You just can't summon an ancient evil in a room that looks like a cheap wedding reception.”
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
