The best horror documentaries

Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror is a groundbreaking documentary that explores the history of the American Black experience alongside the evolution of the horror film genre. Going all the way back to the late 1890s, the doc unpacks and examines the various roles that Black actors, filmmakers, and various industry affiliates have played or been subjected to throughout a century-plus of genre filmmaking, with excellent talking-head segments from the likes of Keith David, Jordan Peele, Tony Todd, and more, and plenty of archival footage to round out the feature.

You thought that A Nightmare on Elm Street was a tough watch? Well, get ready for the all-too-real examination of a phenomenon called sleep paralysis. In director Rodney Ascher’s The Nightmare, sleep paralysis is explored through the many eyewitness experiences of individuals suffering from the debilitating condition — a sleep-induced state of hallucinatory terrors, where the human body is rendered immobile, to the point where some sufferers even find it hard to breathe. Through detailed reenactments that feature some impressive costume, makeup, and VFX work, Ascher creates a pulse-pounding world of scares that will keep you wide awake at night.

’80s horror will forever hold a special place in our hearts. In Search of Darkness: A Journey into Iconic 80s Horror is a documentary love letter from director David A. Weiner, perhaps the biggest fan of ‘80s horror the world has ever known. With a runtime of over five hours, Weiner’s film breaks down some of the best genre films of the camp-infested decade while exploring the evolution of special effects, poster art, and the prolific home video surge of the era. There are talking heads aplenty, and while we highly recommend breaking the film into multiple viewings, we promise you’ll walk away from this masterpiece with a major education on a very special part of ‘80s cinema history.

Have your children been misbehaving? Well, you could always call Wrinkles. The 2019 horror doc Wrinkles the Clown sheds some light on a rather scary and bizarre subject. For “a few hundred dollars,” Florida residents were able to hire Wrinkles, the titular horrifically-garbed clown, to prank family and friends, keep kids in line, and make party appearances. But it turns out there’s far more to the Wrinkles mythos than meets the eye, and writer-director Michael Beach Nichols is the one to break the case. We won’t give any spoilers, but let’s just say that it’s worth sticking with this one for its surprising third-act reveal.