Editorials
Dive Down the Rabbit Hole With 6 of the Best Conspiracy Horror Films
Conspiracy theories can be dangerous when taken at face value, especially now that the internet has made it hard for some folks to tell the difference between legitimate information and paranoid rambling. However, when used as a storytelling tool, conspiratorial thinking can also serve as a reminder about the merits of questioning authority and fighting back against an unfair status quo.
This rebellious spirit is likely the reason why these theories have inspired so many great movies. From alien abductions to secret societies manipulating world events from behind the scenes, paranoid narratives often lead to great storytelling, and that’s why we’ve decided to come up with a list of 6 of the best conspiracy horror movies. After all, it can occasionally be fun to put on the proverbial tin-foil hat and dive down a conspiratorial rabbit hole.
Naturally, there are several great movies that didn’t quite make the cut (everything from William Friedkin’s Bug to John Carpenter’s They Live), so don’t forget to share your own favorites with us in the comments below. And remember the weirder, the better!
Now, onto the list…
6. Pi (1998)
Math is already terrifying enough depending on how well you did in High School, but Darren Aronofsky’s Pi is notable for turning one of humanity’s most rational concepts into the basis for a thrilling descent into madness. Featuring a down-on-his-luck mathematician who discovers a mystical sequence of numbers, audiences are soon thrown into a mysterious world of stock market manipulation, divine inspiration and Jewish prophecies.
My personal favorite of Aronofsky’s mind-bending thrillers, Pi is a must-watch for psychological-horror fans with a taste for religious conspiracy. Actual mathematicians may take issue with the film’s loose interpretation of real-world concepts like the Fibonacci sequence and the titular Pi, but this is still one hell of a compelling ride with a shockingly memorable finale.
5. The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)
You can’t talk about conspiracies without bringing up The X-Files, so it’s no surprise that the show’s big-screen spin-off made it onto the list. Fight the Future may technically be a bridge between the series’ fifth and sixth seasons, but it also works as a standalone investigation where Mulder and Scully attempt to expose a plot between extraterrestrials and a secret society hell-bent on subjugating humanity.
You’ll probably enjoy the movie a lot more if you’re already familiar with the source material, but casual viewers will still likely appreciate the film’s dedication to using nearly all of the best conspiracy tropes in a single story. From Black Helicopters to UFOs and top-secret biological weapons, I’d recommend the film as both an introduction to these iconic characters and a paranoid sci-fi thriller.
4. The Vast of Night (2019)
With post-war paranoia and secretive government investigations like Project Bluebook, the 1950s were a golden age for conspiracy theories. That’s why Andrew Patterson’s slow-burn mystery film The Vast of Night works so well as a lovingly retro period piece. Telling the story of a DJ and switchboard operator who stumble on an unexplainable audio frequency in New Mexico, the film takes us on a surprisingly intimate ride through classic Sci-Fi tropes.
Some audiences may be put off by the film’s deliberate pacing and subtle approach to science fiction, but I think that Patterson’s restraint in revealing the true nature of the forces behind the mysterious signal is precisely what makes this such a compelling thriller.
3. Operation Avalanche (2016)
Being one of the most important events in human history, it’s not surprising that the Moon Landing also became the source of countless conspiracy theories. While a number of books and movies have suggested that Armstrong’s giant leap for mankind was part of an elaborate hoax, Matt Johnson’s Found-Footage oddity Operation Avalanche is by far the most convincing and entertaining of these conspiratorial yarns.
Chronicling the misadventures of a group of CIA agents attempting to convince their bosses that they can fake the moon landing if the real project doesn’t get off the ground, Operation Avalanche is the most believable Found-Footage period-piece out there. It may not be particularly scary, but the film is even more impressive when you consider that Johnson and his crew managed to convince NASA that they were producing a legitimate documentary, allowing for several scenes shot within their real facilities. Now that’s commitment to realism!
2. The Conspiracy (2012)
Another Found-Footage flick, Christopher MacBride’s The Conspiracy is inspired by the “real” Bohemian Grove footage that leaked back in 2000. For those who don’t remember, the amateur video sparked rumors that world leaders routinely gather in a private club to participate in occult rituals and plan a new world order (while possibly conducting human sacrifice).
The details of this particular conspiracy theory obviously sound a bit absurd when you say them out loud, but they do make for a fun scary movie dealing with secret societies and the horrors of human sacrifice. It’s not a perfect experience, but I’d recommend The Conspiracy to both conspiracy nuts and casual horror fans looking for some paranoid thrills.
1. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
Influencing everything from Silent Hill to The X-Files and even Rick and Morty episodes, Jacob’s Ladder is one of the most important horror films to come out of the 90s. Naturally, this chilling tale about a Vietnam veteran being haunted by demonic visions as he leads a double life was itself inspired by real stories of unethical military projects like the infamous MK Ultra experiments and the use of illegal chemicals like Agent Orange.
While the film is supposedly missing over twenty minutes of horrific footage that the director cut due to negative test audience reactions, it’s still one hell of a scary ride through the terrors of grief and post-traumatic stress, all culminating in some of the most disturbingly memorable visuals ever put in a horror film. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, but this is one scary movie that no horror hound should miss.
Some movies are just so beloved that you can experience them through cultural osmosis without ever sitting down to actually watch them. From loving parodies to meticulous recreations of iconic scenes, memorable filmmaking lives on even after the curtains close on the silver screen. And when it comes to horror, few films can compete with the massive impact that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining had on popular culture as a whole.
Whether or not you think the flick is a good adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal novel, 1980’s The Shining slowly but surely grew into one of the most influential genre movies ever made, inspiring everything from surprisingly heartfelt sequels to classic episodes of The Simpsons. However, not all The Shining references are created equal, and today I’d like to shine a light on six unexpected homages to Kubrick’s iconic film.
In this list, we’ll be focusing on references and Easter eggs that either came out of the blue or came from creators that you wouldn’t expect to be fans of this classic ghost story. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite references to the Torrance family and the Overlook Hotel if you think we missed a particularly memorable one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. A Nightmare on FaceTime – South Park (2012)
Regardless of the brand’s iffy reputation among former employees, the death of Blockbuster Video was a serious blow to fans of physical media. Of course, some folks were more affected by this than others, and South Park’s Randy Marsh definitely took things a little too far in the twelfth episode of the show’s sixteenth season.
Titled A Nightmare on FaceTime, the main plot of this 2012 story is a surprisingly faithful recreation of The Shining where Randy purchases an empty Blockbuster store and begins to go mad once he realizes that his investment may not have been a very good idea due to the rise of streaming and the now-defunct RedBox storefronts.
4. The Overlook Hotel Level – Ready Player One (2018)
I was never really a fan of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, so I viewed Stephen Spielberg’s divisive adaptation of the novel as an improvement over the source material despite having its own narrative issues. In fact, I actually prefer how Spielberg changed the story by removing several references to his own work and replacing a lengthy Blade Runner detour with an over-the-top homage to The Shining.
A CGI-heavy recreation of the film’s most iconic moments that feels like a big-budget ghost train ride set within the Overlook Hotel, this intense sequence is more of a recreation of the freaky aesthetics of The Shining rather than its mind-bending narrative. However, it’s still fun to see Spielberg make a heartfelt tribute to a filmmaker that was once his close personal friend.
3. IKEA Singapore Halloween Ad (2014)
It makes sense that commercials don’t typically borrow from the horror genre, as it might be a bad idea to scare away potential customers, but some references are just too much fun to pass up.
That’s probably why the publicists behind this Ikea ad from Singapore were allowed to turn their commercial into a genuinely unsettling recreation of Danny’s tricycle scene from The Shining. After all, nobody cares if your store is haunted so long as it offers late-night shopping hours and a large selection of merchandise that you can become lost in forever and ever…
2. The End of ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’ – Community (2014)
Community is no stranger to recreating iconic movie moments within the show, and the series had previously tackled horror tropes in episodes like the fan-favorite Epidemiology. However, the most laugh-out-loud moment on this particular list comes from a brief gag towards the end of the season five episode ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’.
The majority of this episode has nothing to do with scary movies, but there’s a brief subplot involving supporting character Chang and a possible encounter with ghosts that leads him to question his own existence. This subplot culminates in the episode’s hilarious ending where the camera zooms in on a black-and-white photograph of Chang in period clothing at some kind of celebration, just like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining.
However, the picture’s subtitle eventually reveals that it’s merely a conveniently placed keepsake from the ‘Old Timey Photo Club’.
1. The Overlook Hedge Maze Sequence – Zootopia 2 (2025)
Disney movies are pretty far removed from both the gruesome horror of Stephen King and the heady filmmaking of Stanley Kubrick, so I don’t think anyone was expecting the climax of last year’s Zootopia sequel to take place in an animated version of the snowy hedge maze from The Shining.
In this unexpectedly intense sequence, friend-turned-villain Pawbert Lynxley (an unhinged lynx cat played by Andy Samberg) chases our protagonists through a creepy labyrinth in a loving recreation of Jack Nicholson’s icy demise outside the Overlook Hotel. The actual ending here might be a little more child-friendly than what’s being referenced, but it’s amazing that the filmmakers were able to push the horror elements as far as they did – especially since the scene doesn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the movie.
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