The best Indian horror movies present big scares with an emphasis on on the nation's traditional myths, legends, and ghost stories. The horror genre transcends borders and languages, and each distinct society worldwide has its own mythologies and horror stories, many of which often revolve around their respective belief systems and cultures. While America and the United Kingdom have created some of the greatest horror movies ever made, India also has a strong pedigree of horror titles that can stand toe-to-toe with anything from Western culture.

India is known for its massive movie industry which turns out big spectacles rivaling Hollywood blockbuster productions with great international hits like RRR. So it is not surprising that they have also produced many notable horror films as well, using many of the same concepts seen in Hollywood, like demonic possession and ghost stories. Indian cinema has produced some incredibly solid horror films, and there are a ton of excellent titles out there for movie buffs willing to find them.

25 Bulbbul (2020)

The Chilling Period Horror Hiding A Cutting Commentary On Femicide

The Indian horror movie Bulbbul comes from director Anvita Dutt, who also wrote the screenplay. The period movie is set in the 19th century in a village of the Benal Presidency, and - like many horror movies from India - explores several social issues alongside its supernatural scares. The story focuses on Bulbbul (Tipti Dimri), who is married off to a local noble at the age of 5. By the time she is an adult, Bulbbul has come to gain a keen understanding of how women are mistreated not only in her village, but in the region as a whole.

After learning about several injustices towards the female population of her community and surviving a violent sexual assault, Bulbbul gains supernatural abilities which she uses to terrorize men who abuse or harm local women and girls. Bulbbul received no shortage of praise for its strong feminist message, and currently sits with an 88% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. Alongside its core message, the performance of Tipti Dimri in particular was celebrated, as was the quality of Anvita Dutt's script.

24 Ghost Stories (2020)

A Spine-Chilling Anthology Horror From Bollywood

2020's Ghost Stories stands out among the best Indian horror movies, as it's an anthology film covering four individual tales rather than being a singular narrative. Each of the segments in Ghost Stories has a different director, with Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Anurag Kashyap each lending their filmmaking skills to the project. Karan Johar's segment focuses on a man who still communicates with his long-dead grandmother, Banerjee's features a cannibal who has consumed an entire town, Kashyap's deals with a paranoid pregnant woman losing her sanity, and Akhtar's delves into a careworker who finds the person they've been looking after may have ed away days ago.

Ghost Stories is especially recommended for those new to Indian horror movies, as its four segments are excellent appetisers that give a taste of everything that makes Bollywood scares so unique.

While not the most critically acclaimed Indian horror movie out there, audiences fell in love with Ghost Stories. Each of the individual segments delivers something different, while they all share common themes that tie them both to one-another and the wider canon of supernatural Indian cinema. For this reason, Ghost Stories is especially recommended for those new to Indian horror movies, as its four segments are excellent appetisers that give a taste of everything that makes Bollywood scares so unique.

23 Lupt (2018)

A Perfectly Executed Supernatural Scare-Fest

From director Prabhuraj, 2018's Lupt is a harrowing supernatural horror that stars Indian comedia Javed Jaffrey alongside Niki Aneja Walia and Vijay Raaz. The plot focuses on Harsh (Jaffrey), his daughter, Shalini (Walia), and the author, Dev (Raaz), who find themselves tormented by a vengeful spirit tied to the deaths of Harsh's wife and son.

In many ways, Lupt is a textbook supernatural horror that does little to reinvent the wheel. However, this isn't to the films detriment. If anything, it's a strength. Director Prabhuraj shows a keen insight into all the ingredients of the very best ghost and haunting movies, using them all near-flawlessly to ensure that Lupt is a gripping and edge-of-your-seat viewing experience from start to finish. What's more, as is the case with several of the best Indian horror movies, Lupt contains some great original musical numbers too.

22 Manichitrathazhu (1993)

A Foundation Of Modern Indian Horror Cinema

Directed by famed Malayalam filmmaker Fazil, 1993's Manichitrathazhu is considered by many to be a classic Indian horror movie, and helped define the modern era for the genre in the nation. Like many of the best Indian horror movies, Manichitrathazhu was inspired by local legends which spawned from a true story. Following the murder of both the inheritor of an expensive area of land and one of his staff, it soon became a piece of local folklore as rumors and hearsay about the crime superceded the facts about the tragic incident.

It was this tale that inspired director Fazil, alongside screenwriter Madhu Muttam, when creating Manichitrathazhu. The 1993 film is a solid ghost story, and won the National Film Awar for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. It's gone on to enjoy a cult following in the decades since its release, and is still considered by many to be one of the best examples of supernatural psychological thrillers in Indian cinema, and one of the best Malayalam-language movies ever made.

21 Laxmii (2020)

The Horror Comedy That Tackles Gender Issues In India

2020's Laxmii is the Hindi-language remake of 2011's Tamil movie Kanchana, both of which come from director Raghava Lawrence (Laxmii marks his debut in the world of Hindi cinema). Like many of the best Indian horror movies, the horror-comedy Laxmii is deeper than it appears on the surface, as it's also an exploration of how transgender individuals are treated in the nation. The plot focuses on Asif (Akshay Kumar), a supernatural skeptic who firmly denies the existence of ghosts, spirits, or the occult.

However, this all changes when he's possessed by the ghost of Laxmi Sharma (Sharad Kelkar), along with the Muslim man who took her in, Abdul Chacha (Mir Sarwar), and the spirit of Abdul's disabled son. The trio of spirits initially cause problems for Asif, but he soon learns he needs to work with them rather than against them. More filled with laughs than scares, Laxmii stands out not only as a horror-comedy, but also because of how it dissects the treatment not only of transender people in Indian, but also cultural divides between Muslims and Hindus.

20 Bees Saal Baad (1962)

A Vengeful Spirit Seeks Out The Men In A Family

Bees Saal Baad loosely adapts the Bengali movie Jighansa from a decade earlier for a Hindi-speaking audience. That movie was also an adaptation though, combining elements of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, one of the most popular Sherlock Holmes stories, with Nishithini Bivishika, a novel by Hemendra Kumar Roy.

The movie’s story sees a wealthy man sexually assault a girl in the local village. After dying by suicide, her spirit returns for vengeance on the man and his entire family line. Each generation, her spirit kills the men in his family, and when the wealthy man’s grandson falls in love and inherits the property, he has to decide whether to move in and risk his own life or try to make a new life far away. The psychological thriller was incredibly popular, nominated for seven Filmfare Awards and winning four.

Bees Saal Baad was the highest-grossing Indian movie of 1962.

The Filmfare Awards recognize excellence in Hindi-language movies in India.

19 Raaz (2002)

A Woman Must Save Her Marriage From A Supernatural Mystery

Like a lot of Indian horror movies, Raaz takes a more supernatural approach to its story. Though it’s not officially an adaptation of the American movie, it shares a lot of commonalities with What Lies Beneath.

The movie sees a married couple hoping a move to a brand new home will help them start over and repair their crumbling relationship. When the house they move into appears to be haunted, however, the wife has to figure out just what secrets her husband has been hiding to save them from the malicious spirit.

The movie was nominated for six Filmfare Awards. Raaz helped to establish Bipasha Basu as Bollywood’s resident scream queen. She later starred in several more horror films, like Aatma, Creature 3D, and Alone. The movie also spawned three sequels, which, at the time, was rare for Indian horror movies.

18 Kohraa (1964)

A Hindi-Language Adaptation Of A Classic

Kohraa adapts the Daphne Du Maurier novel, Rebecca, written in 1938, but also gives some supernatural elements to the story. While the novel has been adapted in many forms, it doesn’t always feature the supernatural.

Here, a newlywed discovers that the ghost of her husband’s first wife still haunts their home. Of course, she only discovers this after they have moved into his mansion, and he leaves for a business trip. When she is haunted, she decides to begin her own investigation into how his first wife died, and she begins to uncover several secrets about those around her.

Though the movie is initially slow-moving, that’s not unlike Rebecca or every adaptation of it since. It takes a little time to settle into the story and get the viewer to the secrets. Kohraa was nominated for two Filmfare Awards with Lalita Pawar, who plays the housekeeper, winning one of those for Best Actress in a ing Role.

Taylor Swift’s “Tolerate It” is also inspired by Rebecca.

17 Darna Mana Hai (2003)

A Roadtrip With Scary Tales

It was initially met with a negative response from critics, but it’s since become a cult classic among Indian horror fans.

It’s not often that Indian horror movies take an anthology approach. In fact, it almost never happens. Darna Mana Hai is one of the first movies in India to take the anthology approach as well as actually cast different actors for all of the stories. In all, there are six different stories told in this movie.

That’s because Darna Mana Hai centers on a group of friends telling one another scary stories. Seven friends go on a roadtrip together, but when their car breaks down in the middle of the night, the group decides to tell one another scary stories to keep one another entertained. It’s inspired by the American movie Campfire Tales, which uses the same idea, but only features three stories. It was initially met with a negative response from critics, but it’s since become a cult classic among Indian horror fans.

Despite being considered a box office failure, the movie got a sequel of sorts three years later, Darna Zaroori Hai. The movie features a whole new cast, new cinematographers for each segment, and new directors.

16 Kaun? (1999)

A Suspense Thriller About A Serial Killer On The Loose

Kaun? is a 1999 horror movie that is as much a psychological suspense thriller as it is a horror flick. The film stars Urmila Matondkar as an unnamed woman who is watching TV and seeing reports of a serial killer on the loose. That same day, she talks to her mother on the phone before a stranger comes to her home looking for the homeowner, whom she claims doesn't live there. Soon, a second man shows up and says he is a police inspector, which leaves her alone with the two strangers.

Director Ram Gopal Verma plays a fun game of misdirection for much of the movie.

Kaun? has plenty of twists and turns, and director Ram Gopal Verma plays a fun game of misdirection for much of the movie. The film received mostly positive reviews, with critics praising its experimental nature, which draws viewers in and makes them question everything. It also delivers a powerful climax but leaves things open-ended and offers no answers for the purpose of the crimes. It has since gained cult classic status and stands the test of time.