Films that scare you on HBO Max
10 films worth watching on HBO Max right now, with audience ratings and exactly where to watch them. Updated 25 September 2026
The Shining leads with 8.2 out of 10, ahead of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (7.9). Ratings range from 6.8 to 8.2. The oldest, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, goes back to 1962. The selection leans towards films from the 2020s, 5 of 10. 5 films came out since 2021.
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The Shining
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
A former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
The Conjuring
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse. Forced to confront a powerful entity, the Warrens find themselves caught in the most terrifying case of their lives.
Sinners
Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren encounter what would become one of the most sensational cases from their files. The fight for the soul of a young boy takes them beyond anything they'd ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defense.
It
In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.
Companion
During a weekend getaway at a secluded lakeside estate, a group of friends finds themselves entangled in a web of secrets, deception, and advanced technology. As tensions rise and loyalties are tested, they uncover unsettling truths about themselves and the world around them.
They Will Kill You
A woman answers a help wanted ad to be a housekeeper in a mysterious New York City high-rise, unaware that she is entering a community that has seen a number of disappearances over the years and may be under the grip of a Satanic cult.
It Chapter Two
27 years after overcoming the malevolent supernatural entity Pennywise, the former members of the Losers' Club, who have grown up and moved away from Derry, are brought back together by a devastating phone call.
Don't Worry Darling
Alice and Jack are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why.
What to know before choosing
Wanting a scare is not wanting to be terrified. The difference is the ratio of anticipation to shock: a tension film distils, a horror film strikes. This list favours the first family — the one you can sleep after — and deliberately mixes horror and thriller, two labels that mean the same thing for this particular mood.
HBO Max carries two catalogues with nothing in common: the Warner library, very wide and very old, and the in-house productions, few and much noticed. A by-genre list almost always leans to the Warner side, which gives an unusually spread-out distribution across decades. It is one of the rare catalogues where looking for a 1970s film genuinely makes sense.
See also
- Films that scare you
- HBO Max
- Films that scare you on Netflix
- Films that scare you on Prime Video
- Films that scare you on Disney+
- Films that scare you on Apple TV+
- Films to make you laugh
- Films that make you cry
- Films that make you think
- Films to escape into
- Films to watch as a family
- Films to watch with friends
- Films full of adrenaline
How this list is built
Films come from the TMDB catalogue, filtered on audience rating and vote count, then cross-checked against real availability in the country. No paid placement, no partnerships. How we choose the films.
Film data and posters: TMDB. This app uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.