9. The Conjuring (2013)
This movie has a lot of classic elements of a haunting/possession story. It’s also one of those movies that makes the best use of sound. There are sounds in this movie that give me the chills. I don’t know exactly how it’s done, but there are some definite frequencies embedded in the sounds of this movie that are designed to give you a physical response even when there is nothing visually scary at the moment. The best haunting/possession movies make great use of the house or building the story takes place, and the house in this movie is definitely used to great effect. The scenes when the mother becomes possessed are very intense. When you first see her peeking through under the sheets she looked a lot like Marilyn Manson circa “Anti-Christ SuperStar.” I kind of joked about it at the time I first saw the movie, singing “The Beautiful People” when she peeked through but it was still very intense.
