Films that scare you under 90 minutes
Films that scare you, under 90 minutes: 24 titles. Mood and the time you have, crossed. Updated 25 September 2026
Michael Jackson's Thriller leads with 8.2 out of 10, ahead of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (7.9). Ratings range from 6.8 to 8.2. The oldest, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, goes back to 1920.
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Michael Jackson's Thriller
A night at the movies turns terrifying when Michael and his date are attacked by zombies. Released at the height of Thriller’s success, the short film redefined the music video, broke racial barriers, and became the first inducted into the U.S. National Film Registry.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep.
Eyes Without a Face
Dr. Génessier is riddled with guilt after an accident that he caused disfigures the face of his daughter, the once beautiful Christiane, who outsiders believe is dead. Dr. Génessier, along with accomplice and laboratory assistant Louise, kidnaps young women and brings them to the Génessier mansion. After rendering his victims unconscious, Dr. Génessier removes their faces and attempts to graft them on to Christiane's.
Halloween
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Thesis
While working on a thesis about audiovisual violence, film student Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that she was a former student in her university, and that the authors of the video are not very far either.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
Un Chien Andalou
Un Chien Andalou is an European avant-garde surrealist film, a collaboration between director Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.
Run
Chloe, a teenager who is confined to a wheelchair, is homeschooled by her mother, Diane. Chloe soon becomes suspicious of her mother and begins to suspect that she may be harboring a dark secret.
As the Gods Will
High school student Shun Takahata is bored. Bored with the day-to-day monotony of school and life, he prays for change, for something exciting. Suddenly, he and his classmates are forced to play deadly children's games and facing terrifying creatures from a talking Daruma doll to a sharp-clawed lucky cat.
Angst
A killer is released from prison and breaks into a remote home to kill a woman, her handicapped son and her pretty daughter.
Saw
David, an orderly at a hospital, tells his horrific story of being kidnapped and forced to play a vile game of survival.
Don't Breathe
A group of teens break into a blind man's home thinking they'll get away with the perfect crime. They're wrong.
The Witch
In 1630, a farmer relocates his family to a remote plot of land on the edge of a forest where strange, unsettling things happen. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, each family member's faith, loyalty and love are tested in shocking ways.
Don't Breathe 2
The Blind Man has been hiding out for several years in an isolated cabin and has taken in and raised a young girl orphaned from a devastating house fire. Their quiet life together is shattered when a group of criminals kidnap the girl, forcing the Blind Man to leave his safe haven to save her.
Hidden
A family takes refuge in a fallout shelter to avoid a dangerous outbreak.
The Hitcher
On a stormy night, young Jim, who transports a luxury car from Chicago to California to deliver it to its owner, feeling tired and sleepy, picks up a mysterious hitchhiker, who has appeared out of nowhere, thinking that a good conversation will help him not to fall asleep. He will have enough time to deeply regret such an unmeditated decision.
Don't Let Go
A detective suffering from a personal loss receives a call from his recently deceased niece. Being able to communicate across time, the two work together to try and stop the crime before it occurs.
Hellraiser
A hedonistic man finds a mysterious puzzle box that summons a group of gruesome beings known as the Cenobites. These otherworldly entities open the doors to a dominion where pain and pleasure are indivisible.
The Blob
In Arborville, California, three high school students try to protect their hometown from a gelatinous alien life form that engulfs everything it touches.
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight
Ex-soldier Frank Brayker is the guardian of an ancient key that can unlock tremendous evil; the sinister Collector is a demon who wants the key so he can initiate the apocalypse. On the run from wicked mercenaries for almost 90 years, Brayker finally stops in at a boarding house in New Mexico where — with the help of its residents — he plans to face off against the Collector and his band of ghouls, preventing them from ever seizing the key.
Prey for the Devil
In response to a global rise in demonic possessions, the Catholic Church reopens exorcism schools to train priests in the Rite of Exorcism. On this spiritual battlefield, an unlikely warrior rises: a young nun, Sister Ann. Thrust onto the spiritual frontline with fellow student Father Dante, Sister Ann finds herself in a battle for the soul of a young girl and soon realizes the Devil has her right where he wants her.
Eden Lake
When a young couple goes to a remote wooded lake for a romantic getaway, their quiet weekend is shattered by an aggressive group of local kids. Rowdiness quickly turns to rage as the teens terrorize the couple in unimaginable ways, and a weekend outing becomes a bloody battle for survival.
Pretty Lethal
A troupe of ballerinas find themselves fighting for survival as they attempt to escape from a remote inn after their bus breaks down on the way to a dance competition.
High Tension
Best friends Marie and Alexia decide to spend a quiet weekend at Alexia's parents' secluded farmhouse. But on the night of their arrival, the girls' idyllic getaway turns into an endless night of horror.
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.
A film under ninety minutes is not a failed film someone cut down: it is a form, and often the hardest one. It has to set up, develop and resolve in the time an ordinary film spends on its opening act alone. The genres that excel at it are not the obvious ones — animation, documentary and comedy hold this length far better than drama, which needs time to be believed. This is the selection to open on a weeknight, when there is an hour and a half left and not one more.
Frequently asked questions
How were these 24 films chosen?
They come from the TMDB catalogue, filtered on audience rating and on a minimum number of votes — without that second filter, a film rated 9 out of 10 by eleven people would outrank a classic. No place is for sale: no platform, distributor or studio can enter this list other than by being well rated.
Which film in this list is rated highest?
Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983), with 8.2 out of 10 from 802 audience votes.
Where can I watch these films?
Taro eira shows, film by film, which platforms carry it in the UK and at what price — subscription, rental or purchase. The per-platform lists are further down this page.
Are there any recent releases in this selection?
3 of the 24 films came out since 2021. The rest are older, which is expected: a film needs a few years to gather enough votes to be judged at all.
Do I need an account?
No. Taro eira is free, asks for no account and no subscription, and the two-or-three-question flow works without installing anything.
See also
- Films that scare you
- Films under 90 minutes
- Films that scare you over 2.5 hours
- Films to make you laugh under 90 minutes
- Films that make you cry under 90 minutes
- Films that make you think under 90 minutes
- Films to escape into under 90 minutes
- Films to watch as a family under 90 minutes
- Films to watch with friends under 90 minutes
- Films full of adrenaline under 90 minutes
- 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 that scare you on HBO Max
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.