The lights are out, and the popcorn is popped.
A spinning chair appears on the screen, suspended in mid-air.
A door slams and a book flies across the room.
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The camera pans to a ghostly girl pacing as a light bulb swings into the frame.
All of these strange occurrences can mean only one thing: You’re about to watch aBlumhousefilm.
As founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions,Jason Blumhas arguably changed the landscape of horror movies.
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FromParanormal ActivitytoThe Purge, Blumhouse has mastered the art of scaring the bejesus out of us.
Think you’re the ultimate horror fan?
This list isn’t for the timid.
Ethan Hawke in ‘Sinister’.Phil Caruso/Summit Entertainment
Check out our top picks, in chronological order, for the best Blumhouse horror movies if you dare.
What could go wrong?
I had come off of a very bad experience shooting a big-budget film [2008’sThe DaytheEarth Stood Still].
Kate Siegel as the specter of Marisol Chavez in ‘Oculus’.Relativity Media
At 131 BPM,Sinisterproduced the highest spike (though Rob Savage’sHostdethroned it in 2021).
“It’s all becoming incredibly convoluted, really connected,” Flanagan said.
“That’s our goal.
Universal
When the two meet at a remote cabin in the woods, things start innocently enough.
We were led to this concept of a Craigslist adventure gone awry.”
But the real star is Wilson, who pulls out all the punches as a possessed little girl.
Blumhouse Productions
She screams, levitates, and emanates evil with a flair all her own.
But her concentration is soon broken when a mysterious man appears outside her window, hellbent on getting inside.
Siegel co-wrote the script for this indie film with her then-boyfriend andHushdirector Mike Flanagan.
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“I wasn’t being taken seriously in my life and just felt like I’d lost my voice.
Ironically, there’s no arguing that she found her voice inHush.
Hushis not available to watch or rent.
Universal
Hungover and confused, she bolts, and by the end of the day, she’s brutally murdered.
The laughs can be uncomfortable, which only makes this movie more of a timely masterpiece.
Provocative and poignant,Get Outuses discomfort to ultimate cinematic effect especially through the chilling performances byCatherine KeenerandBradley Whitford.
Kate Siegel as deaf author Maddie in ‘Hush’.Netflix
and makes viewers squirm in their seats in the process.
Cars are driverless, homes are smart, and technology is king.
Upgradeis a sci-fi thriller written and directed byLeigh Whannell, the mastermind scribe behind theSawandInsidiousfranchises.
Jessica Rothe in ‘Happy Death Day’.Patti Perret/Universal Pictures
The imagined steampunk world makes a perfect backdrop for the movie’s graphic fight scenes.
If violence and computers are your thing, then this is the film for you.
He’s been stabbed, burned, and shot.
Universal Pictures
Yet, somehow evil always finds a way to return.
There are sequels, reboots, and resurrections, but oneHalloweenstands out from the rest.
A family vacation gone wrong?
Universal Pictures
Check.Uscovers all the bases and does it better than most.
Go seeUson its own terms: two hours of blood-spraying, body-snatching multiplex fun.”
Blumhouse teamed up again here with writer-director Leigh Whannell to produce this reality-bending film.
Ben King/Universal
Luckily, Blumhouse doesn’t shy away from social thrillers.
For directorCraig Zobel(Mare of Easttown), no political topic seems off-limits.
From climate change to online conspiracy theories,The Huntroasts hot-button issues from a post-2016 world.
Ryan Green/Universal Pictures
Hawke embodies the Grabber with eerie precision, appearing in a creepy mask and taunting poor Finney to tears.
And God help anyone who gets in her way.
Kevin Jacobsen
Where to watchM3GAN: Amazon Prime Video
Related content:
Claudette Barius/Universal
Mark Rogers/Universal
Patti Perret/Universal
The Black Phone.Universal Pictures
‘M3GAN’.Geoffrey Short/Universal Pictures
