Horror movies always feel right at home in the deep, dark woods. Stranding protagonists in the middle of a forest of trees has always been a fear tactic, and for many people, it is a more relatable fear than being in a dark cave or lost at sea. Relatable, because those viewers like to go camping.
Now, obviously in a horror movie, they ask for your last words when you arrive at summer camp, and staying in an isolated cabin is basically staying in a coffin, but this list isn’t about all that. This is about grabbing a sleeping bag, pitching a tent, and then being scared of what might be on the other side of that thin nylon wall. These are the 10 horror films that will definitely make you reconsider your next camping trip.
Killing Ground (2016)
A couple goes on a romantic New Year’s Eve camping trip, complete with all the camping staples like fires, waterfalls, finding a bloody baby, and protecting that baby from the savage human hunters that are trying to kill it. The movie’s premise of “hunters hunting people for sport” has been done in a lot of ways, but the approach here of campers being thrust into it by pure proximity is fairly interesting. Fair warning, the movie is meaner than others on the list and has a cruelty that makes much of it intensely violent.
Body At Brighton Rock (2019)
This festival gem from last year follows a young park ranger as she is tasked with staying next to a dead body until back-up arrives. Forced to spend the entire night alone in the woods with the body, she has to summon bravery she didn’t know she had.
Body At Brighton Rock is spooky in an adolescent way that almost feels like gateway horror for fans of the genre that don’t want to be terrified. It truly captures that feeling of something only being scary because you are alone and your mind is a bully. The film concludes with a pretty intense final act to cap everything off.
The Ranger (2018)
This punk-rock slasher film made a splash at festivals before finding its current home on Shudder. Teens on the run from the police hide in a national park, but they are in more trouble than they were before when they are attacked by the deranged park ranger who guards the area.
While not a traditional “camping goes wrong” narrative, The Ranger still has that survivalist quality that many of the films on the list have. More than that, it brings in the creepy idea that the people who are there to protect campers could be the real danger.
Backcountry (2014)
While this list is filled with supernatural entities, what makes this entry so scary is that it is dealing with a very real threat to campers — bears. When two hikers get lost on their camping trip, they find themselves in a territory marked by a massive black bear. The two end up in a fight for their lives as the bear sets its sights on them.
Backcountry spends enough time setting the scene that things start to feel familiar to anyone who has been to a nature park or on a hiking trip, then it switches gears into survival horror. The film is well-acted and incredibly tense throughout, and it will make you at least a little scared of bears if you weren’t already.
Deliverance (1972)
Maybe the most well-known film on the list, this controversial 1972 film isn’t about camping per se, but it will make you question going to rural areas for leisure. When four city men decide to take a canoe trip, they find themselves stalked and tortured by the locals.
Still as unnerving, and at times disturbing, as it was when released, the whole movie just has a looming sense of dread, and despite an entertaining action-hero performance from Burt Reynolds, it will leave you with an uneasy feeling for sometime after you finish it.
The Strangers: Prey At Night (2018)
Okay, forget tents for one movie. This film targets a completely different type of camping, and for that, it deserves a mention. RVs, while they seem like the path to camping in safe luxury, aren’t safe in this sequel to the 2008 hit horror. A dysfunctional family spends the weekend in their camper trailer at a busy campground, but their trip is ruined by some pesky masked killers.
What makes the movie work for this list is a scene after the chaos starts where it is revealed that other campers have already fell victim before our protagonists even arrived. The film capitalizes on the feeling that in the dead of night you’re in danger, even with other people only a few yards away. Plus, the soundtrack absolutely rules.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
The 1999 cult classic about a group of friends that go in the woods looking for an urban legend was at one point the ultimate found-footage film. While the genre has become oversaturated since, this movie still captures the feeling of being in the woods and sensing something terrifying.
The real camping terror is the middle portion of the film. It’s a slow build of these young adults just moving through the woods and camping, but there is always the feeling that someone — or something — else is there with them. Eerie things occur during the night and day, and the whole film highlights that the woods can hide things away from the human eye.
Willow Creek (2013)
The second found-footage movie on the list, and the only one to tackle the king of woods himself — Bigfoot. This movie feels like a spiritual successor to The Blair Witch Project in many ways. A team heads out in search of the urban legend and deals with strange occurrences the whole way through.
The difference between the films is that where Blair Witch intentionally feels rough around the edges, Willow Creek, made by comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, is finely crafted down to the shots and seconds. It’s a crisp, tight, creepy film that, of course, shows camping in the woods to be a very dangerous recreational activity.
Wolf Creek (2005)
What is it with camping-centric horror films and creeks? This Australian made thriller about backpackers who are terrorized and killed by a local has spawned multiple sequels and even a television series. The backpackers find that their car won’t start, and just in time to the rescue is local Mick Taylor. Taylor takes the group back to his campsite, where his true colors are quickly revealed. The thing that makes Wolf Creek place so high on the list is how tangible the fear of what happens is
While creatures are of course scary, and a massive bear could be out there, the likelihood of either ruining a camping trip is minuscule. That’s where this movie steps in to implant a new idea — that the other campers around, even if they seemed overly friendly, might be up to no good.
The Ritual (2017)
If there was a Venn diagram of terrifying, well-made, and camping-centric, this Netflix original from the UK would be sitting firmly in the middle circle. When four friends decide to backpack across the Scandinavian wilderness, they find themselves being stalked by something very big and very evil.
The film is perfectly paced and plotted, with a slow build of both the characters and the creature. Then, the film dials things up to 100 and has one of the most satisfying finales of any monster movie ever. Worth noting to justify its inclusion on this list, this movie gives the viewer a dire reminder of how trapped it feels to be inside a tent at night, with the feeling that something is outside.
