Ten Horror Films to Make You Permanently Suspicious of the Great Outdoors (Tor.com)

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, spring is finally hitting its stride. April’s showers are starting to give way to warmer, sunnier weather; the days are getting longer, and everyone’s excited to spend more time outside!

Well, most people, anyway. I don’t like to go outside because when I was nine years old, I watched Jaws and have been terrified of sharks—and by extension, the natural world—ever since. Never mind the fact that I lived in the decidedly freshwater state of Michigan until my mid-twenties and didn’t even see the ocean until moving to North Carolina. Jaws taught me that nature can’t be trusted, and that The Outdoors wasn’t so much great as it was eerie.

So as the weather turns warm and the birds begin to sing, my friends and neighbors don shorts and t-shirts and head outside. But personally, I prefer to sit indoors and watch these movies, each of which reminds me that I’ve made the right decision.

If you’d like to join me in *not joining* the outdoor kids, here are some of the best movies about the dangers that lurk in the eerie outdoors. But before I get into the list, I need to make a few clarifications. I’ve left Jaws off the list because you’ve all probably already seen Jaws (and if you haven’t, you’re very lucky because that means you get to watch Jaws for the first time!). I’ve also tried to limit myself to movies about the outdoors itself—animals, plants, etc.—being scary, which means no witches, demons, or serial killers lurking in the forest (but The Witch, Evil Dead 2, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are all amazing films!). I’ve also kept off movies about absurdly mutated creatures, so there’s no Godzilla or The Prophecy here.

Even with those restrictions, I still had a hard time limiting myself to just ten movies. Do you know why? Because the outdoors is scary, and we movie fans know it!

READ THE FULL LIST AT TOR.COM