It is well known that reality often surpasses fiction, and this is also true in the case of audiovisual works based on the oldest emotion of all: fear.

Just as in the best horror stories what we should fear is suggested rather than taught directly, the power of horror documentaries with disturbing themes consists in intuiting that somewhere in the world something has happened or is happening that we would only like to approach from the other side of the screen.

The most interesting horror documentaries

Below you will find a selection with several of the most remarkable scary documentaries , works that cause terror and often do so without meaning to.

1. The Japanese Cannibal (2007)

This documentary tells the story of Issei Sagawa, a Japanese man obsessed with Western women who, in the early 1980s, after being rejected by a student of Dutch origin, shot his victim, dismembered her and ate several parts of her body. This, which is already shocking in itself, is made worse by the fact that Sagawa was released from prison due to a legal loophole. Today, he is still free and openly admits that he is seduced by the idea of eating human flesh.

2. Cropsey (2009)

Documentary about one of the most shocking legends in recent American history. It all started with a legend that Staten Islanders created so that children would not go out on the streets alone. In this context, someone decided to make the horror story a reality, and they started disappearing small. This is a case of self-fulfilling prophecy with a fatal outcome.

3. The nightmare (2015)

This documentary is scary not because it tells a specific story, but because the phenomenon it describes makes your hair stand on end. It is about the paralysis of sleep, a disturbance that sometimes occurs and consists of staying in a limbo between nightmare and reality, neither sleeping nor fully awake.

People who experience sleep paralysis if they are immobile, unable to do anything but move their eyes, and often suffer hallucinations that are truly frightening.

4. The Children of Anger (1990)

This is a documentary that shows an example of how traumatic experiences in childhood can make us think in an aberrant way. It talks about the case of Beth, who transcended to the media as “the psychopathic girl” for wanting to kill her family and even doing it to several animals because of a precedent of sexual abuse.

On the other hand, today Beth is a totally rehabilitated woman, which shows that in many occasions the deepest psychological problems can disappear because of the influence of learning.

5. The Imposter (2012)

A 13-year-old boy disappears without a trace and, after years and months of searching, they manage to find him and bring him back into their lives. However, something very disturbing happens when the adults in the house realize that their child’s habits have changed so much that they question his identity.

6. The bridgewater triangle (2013)

We know that neither ghosts nor monstrous animals with mythical roots really exist, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get lost in the horror stories they leave in their wake. Because the mystery of nature and the disturbing territories, added to the suggestion, do a lot. This documentary talks about a territory in the Massachusetts area that is famous for the number of sightings of strange creatures that take place there.

7. Room 237 (2012)

There are many theories surrounding the film The Shining , and this one addresses those that have to do with the most iconic room in the hotel: room 237.

8. Beware of Slenderman (2016)

One of the most notorious crime documentaries produced by HBO . It deals with a true story related to mental disorders in childhood, and the way certain delusions can lead to death. In this case, the way in which the crime is carried out has to do with the legend of Slenderman, a creature with the appearance of a faceless man with long arms and legs.

9. The Mothman of Point Pleasant (2010)

In the late 1960s, people in several locations in Virginia began to be frightened by several sightings of a giant mothlike creature coming out at dusk or at night. Stories of the “moth man” only stopped after an accident caused one of the large bridges in the area to collapse.