Daylight horror: 12 movies that are still scary with the lights on
For those who keep spooky season in our hearts all year round, here are some scary movies for the warmer months
Film Features Daylight
There’s an old adage in horror: The less you show a monster, the scarier it is. Horror filmmakers are, by necessity, skilled at using darkness and shadows to creep out audiences. Working with a small budget and limited resources, you learn quickly how to make a little go a long way. But some creators relish a challenge. And for those who prefer to do things on hard mode, setting a horror film in broad daylight defies expectations and conventional wisdom. In the light, there’s nowhere for the characters, or bad filmmaking techniques, to hide. These kinds of films can make you feel exposed and vulnerable. You may encounter disturbing images you can’t look away from or situations that inflict psychological distress. Horror doesn’t have to be dark and spooky to be terrifying.
Last week we marked the totally made-up yet handy “halfway to Halloween” milestone, which got us thinking about movies that are especially suited to spring and summer viewing. So here’s a list of our favorite examples of daylight horror films. Yes, we included the obvious ones like Midsommar and Jaws, but there are many more to dive into, including one of the most infamous shock films ever made. This isn’t intended to be a comprehensive list, so feel free to leave some of your own in the comments (not that you needed an invitation, oh faithful A.V. Club reader).
31 Comments
Nope was just dumb.
I was surprised to see it on this list, as I didn’t think it was scary.
The best movie ever (Jaws) and best horror movie ever (TCM) are both in the day and man are they so great. Bruce and leatherface didn’t need the dark to scare people!
Bruce had the ocean to hide in, though.
shhhhhhhhhhh! Damn it! 😉
The Irish journalist and critic Fintan O’Toole made an interesting comment in a review of a new production of Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People” (a 19th century play about a physician who uses the then new science of germ theory and finds that the famous spa waters of his town are contaminated with bacteria and wants to shut them down. The mayor rejects this on the grounds that it would destroy the town’s economy). O’Toole claimed that Jaws (at least up to the point where Quint, Brody, and Hooper go out to hunt the shark and it turns into the last part of Moby Dick) is basically a version of “Enemy of the People”. He’s right, but I never thought of it that way.
Oh, wow that is so true.
The part where the two guys try to catch the germs with a holiday roast is epic.
I love the scene where they compare the scars from their various poxes and agues.
Midsommar would have to be the most overrated horror movie of the past few decades. Great start that pisses everything away.
I would describe Nope the same way, and feel that might be more overrated than Midsommar.
Yeah, I liked Nope but I feel like a lot of its praise has just been coasting on the Jordan Peele love since Get Out (to a lesser extent you could say the same for Us)
I didn’t think Nope got the same praise that Get Out and Us got. I liked it a lot though. It’s less scary and impactful than the others (though the “interior” scenes are terrifying to me. Whenever that happens to someone in a movie, I think about how awful it must be, and it has rarely been depicted) but it’s the most enjoyable of them.
That’s not a bad description, honestly. It feels a lot more like Jaws than Get Out.
Nope is the correct answer. Midsommar being overrated is just flat out wrong, though.
Nah they’re both great.
Nah. The first 15 minutes shows you exactly what the next 2 hours and 15 are going to be like: artificially drawn out “suspense” before revealing exactly what you know is already coming. YMMV, obviously, and I have friends that found that dreadful (in a good way, this is horror, after all), but it didn’t work for me.
and then the absolute scariest moment in Jaws is at night, and [spoilers follow………………doesn’t even involve the shark.]
You know which daylight movie still terrifies me more than 30 years since it’s release? “Bob Roberts”, especially in the current political clime.
Good list! I’d just like to point out that all of the awesome deaths in the best Final Destination movie, happens during the day.
I consider that scene one of the peaks of cinema history. And I say it with a straight face. The stunts, sound editing and visual editing are absolutely spotless, incredible, Return Of The Jedi final battle level.
Midsommar was also scary prescient re: last week’s Man or Bear debate. The solution (SPOILER)Man INSIDE Bear. Problem solved.
I watched Nope again last night after reading this article and have to say that I enjoyed it much more my second viewing. It was just a fun movie.
I had the almost exact same experience with it. I don’t think it was marketed quite right, as I thought it had much more a Jaws “adventure movie” than a straight horror movie.
I agree. I went in the first time expecting a horror movie. It has the elements but much more.
It’s a masterpiece that blossoms on second viewing.
It Follows is laughably bad. It’s one of the dumbest movies I’ve ever sat through.
It’s not technically a horror movie, but I would put Deliverance on this list. No film has ever had such a lasting, terrifying effect on me.
I don’t know if I’d call is “scary,” but The Visit takes place mostly during the day and is extremely creepy throughout.
Yes, historically sunny Bodega Bay. Famously very very sunny and not cloudy and windy AF at all. Man, I grew up In Northern California but even I know most broad stroke East Coast stereotypes. Y’all are getting lazy,
About 30 years ago I was at one of the Florida theme parks and they had a 5-minute clip of The Birds in the original 3D format. The theater had a setup where they could blow air in your face, so a giant bird flapping right at you was absolutely terrifying.Apparently it never got the full 3D release, because despite being filmed that way, the 3D craze ended before the movie was released so they converted it to 2D.