The horror genre encompasses many tropes and character types that have become inextricably linked with the genre, such as the final girl. Depending on the specific type of horror movie, each subgenre usually has a characteristic or two that defines it. Slashers almost always have a masked killer, paranormal movies with religious themes usually involve possession, psychological horror films typically feature an unexplained entity, and so on. Though it is refreshing when horror films break away from some of these characteristics, horror subgenres are recognizable because of these defining qualities. Horror films obviously create their fear factor from the person or thing that is upending the lives of the characters trying to survive, so the antagonist has to effectively convey terror for that to work.
Many horror movies center around disturbing children that make your skin crawl. Kids in horror movies can frankly be quite unsettling, and there aren't many people out there more unnerving than creepy kids. Perhaps except for creepy old people. Forget kids, older people in horror movies can be absolutely ruthless and unforgiving. Usually, their horrific tendencies are masked by an innocent persona that almost makes it more frightening than those that are outright off-putting. The age-old saying goes that you should always be weary of the quiet ones, and that sentiment can certainly be applied to seemingly innocent older people. Whether they are seemingly innocent or outwardly unnerving, here are ten of the scariest horror movies featuring creepy old people:
10 Rosemary's Baby (1968)
The '60s horror classic has a plethora of horror tropes woven into its story. A disturbing kid, demonic occurrences, and a creepy older couple all appear in Rosemary's Baby. The film follows a young couple looking to start a family as they move into a Manhattan apartment building known for its odd happenings. Shortly after moving in, Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy (John Cassavetes) befriend their eccentric neighbors Roman and Minnie Castevet and the younger couple becomes pregnant soon after. It doesn't take long for the new mother to start experiencing strange phenomena and a horrific pregnancy at the hands of the Devil himself. Still, two of the most horrifying characters in the film are the elderly Castevets. The aging couple is instrumental in allowing the Devil's sickening plan to work, as they belong to a satanic cult that worships the awful things he orchestrates. It's a dark movie that will leave viewers questioning every peculiar interaction they have ever had with a neighbor.
9 The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)
Millennium Entertainment
Getting older and becoming sickly are two things that most people dread throughout their lives. The thought of losing control of your motor and cognitive functions as you near closer to the end is a morbid one that unfortunately most of us have had the displeasure of thinking about. The Taking of Deborah Logan deals with these themes to an extent as it follows the titular elderly woman through her struggle with Alzheimer's as she allows a film crew to document the disease's progression. It starts out as a poignant documentary of Deborah's (Jill Larson) losing battle with the disease but quickly turns into something else entirely as the crew realizes there is something more sinister at play. The found footage style of filming adds to the tension the movie creates as you feel like you are watching the traumatizing events caused by Deborah unfold in real-time. The twists are actually surprising and the Alzheimer's angle adds a dose of reality that grounds the movie.
8 Drag Me to Hell (2009)
No one masters campy and gory quite like Sam Raimi does. From his original Evil Dead film to Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Raimi has managed to curate a very specific filmmaking style that is immediately recognizable. His 2009 horror thriller Drag Me to Hell centers around a young loan officer named Christine (Alison Lohman) who has a seemingly perfect life. She has a good job, a caring boyfriend, and a bright future ahead of her. When she decides to deny an older woman the loan she needs to keep her house in order to show her boss she's capable of making tough decisions, her life quickly takes a turn for the worse. Convinced she's been cursed by a Gypsy, her only hope at lifting the curse rests with a psychic who claims he can prevent her soul from being dragged straight to hell.
Raimi's return to the horror genre after directing his Spider-Man trilogy comes in swinging and pulls no punches. Everyone can be subjected to the horrific curse of the old Gypsy woman no matter who they are or where they come from. It relies more on the horror elements than his signature campy elements, but Raimi still manages to blend terror with laughter. The old woman, Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver), is just as terrifying as she is grotesque, and she is relentless in her pursuit to ruin Christine's life and let her soul be damned to hell.
7 Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Starring two of the Hollywood Golden Age's biggest stars, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, Robert Aldrich's Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? is a horror thriller about two aging sisters who despise each other. It follows fading Hollywood actresses Blanche (Crawford) and her sister 'Baby' Jane (Davis) who live together in their old mansion. Jane was the most famous of the two during their younger days in vaudeville, but Blanche became the better actress as they got older, which Jane always resented. With Blanche now confined to a wheelchair, Jane is in complete control and continuously torments her sister. The two women aren't necessarily creepy, but they are certainly not people you would want to mess with. Driven by jealousy and isolation, these two elderly sisters go out of their way to make each other's lives a living nightmare, especially Jane. The sister's reclusive way of living drives them to madness and their decades-old envy of one another's success blinds them of any rational sense.
6 Hereditary (2018)
Hereditary is quite possibly one of the best and most disturbing psychological horror movies of the 21st century. The collaboration between Ari Aster and independent studio A24 created an utterly disturbing and completely unsettling film that sticks with you long after the credits roll. The film follows a mother of two named Annie (Toni Collette) who starts to experience unexplainable things after her mentally ill mom passes away. Annie, her kids Charlie (Milly Shapiro) and Peter (Alex Wolff), and her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) all mourn her loss in different ways. However, Annie and Charlie experience things that flirt with the supernatural and begin to unravel a series of sinister secrets and trauma that has been passed down through the family for generations. The movie is much more introspective and unpredictable than the description makes it sound and Annie's deceased mother plays a much bigger role than one would assume. She's not the only older person that provides a thoroughly creepy presence to the film either.
5 Don't Breathe (2016)
The director of the 2013 remake of Evil Dead Fede Alvarez brought us one of the most sinister elderly characters in horror history in 2016 with Don't Breathe. The horror/crime thriller revolves around a group of young people looking to earn some much-needed extra cash. They decide to rob the house of an old blind man (Stephen Lang) who seems like an easy target. The group of three thinks it will be an easy acquisition of $300K until they discover what is truly inside.
The blind man ends up being a brutal, ruthless, skilled man who is easily capable of taking down the three friends. He is more menacing than an old man has any right to be and utilizes the element of surprise better than any seeing person. Not only is he smarter and more capable than the young people invading his home, but he is also harboring a truly disgusting secret in the basement of the house.
4 Barbarian (2022)
It's somewhat difficult to discuss Zach Cregger's 2022 horror masterpiece Barbarian without spoiling the best moments, and it is definitely not a movie to be spoiled. It is best to go into this movie completely blind to get the full effect. A brief synopsis is all that's needed for this movie. The quick description is that a woman named Tess (Georgina Campbell) is in town for a job interview and discovers that the Airbnb she booked has been double-booked. Against her better judgment, she decides to spend the night there with the strange man who is already occupying the rental house.
Whichever direction you think this film is going to go, it won't. It is unpredictable and completely shocking, and to say anything more that there are absolutely wildly creepy old people featured would do the film a massive disservice. Again, watch this film knowing no more than the very brief synopsis detailed here.
3 The House of the Devil (2009)
Behind X and Pearl, The House of the Devil is horror director Ti West's most popular film. Set in 1983, the film follows a struggling college student named Samantha Hughes (Jocelin Donahue) who decides to take an anonymous babysitting job posted on her campus job board. The babysitting gig happens to coincide with the lunar eclipse and Samantha learns that she won't be babysitting a child, but rather an older man's even older mother in their enormous mansion. This is a slow-burning horror flick that preys on the subtle anxiety that grows as Samantha explores this gargantuan house by herself. There's always a feeling that something is entirely off about the house and the elderly couple that lives in it, but it doesn't manifest until an unexpected moment with the elderly couple that drastically changes the atmosphere of the film. It is also shot to look like it was actually filmed in the '80s which gives it a nostalgic feel that horror fans will appreciate.
2 The Visit (2015)
After a series of mostly unimpressive movies after his critically acclaimed psychological horror film The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan came back with a horror film about one of the world's worst pair of grandparents. The Visit follows siblings Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) as they are dropped off at their estranged grandparents' house for the weekend, so their single mother can enjoy a relaxing vacation with her boyfriend. Becca decides to film a documentary to help her mom reconnect with her parents, and so she and Tyler can learn more about their own parents. As the weekend continues on, Becca and Tyler become increasingly frightened by their grandparents' disturbing behavior. What's supposed to be a nice visit turns into a nightmare for the kids as the grandparents torment them. In typical Shyamalan fashion, there are twists and turns to explain the grandparents' horrible behavior, but it doesn't lessen the fact that the kids were put through hell with people who are supposed to love them.
1 X (2022)
The villains in Ti West's incredible slasher film X may be the most gruesome elderly people in film. Pearl and her husband Howard (Stephen Ure) are grotesque to the point that it's hard to look at them, and their actions are just as horrendous. When Maxxine (Mia Goth) and her crew of adult filmmakers arrive at Pearl's massive farmhouse property to shoot their explicit film "The Farmer's Daughters", it is immediately evident that there is something not right about the elderly couple or their property. If you have seen the prequel to this film, Pearl, then you understand why she and her husband are the way they are. They are relentless in their mission to teach these youngsters a lesson that is driven by their own jealous rage stemming from not being young and beautiful anymore. They show no remorse for their behavior and actually feel that these young strangers owe them something simply because they are young and able to do things Pearl and Howard no longer can.
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