Horses played a very important role in our history, and without them, we wouldn’t be able to reach this level of advancement. The close relationship between humans and horses inspired a lot of movie directors to use them in the plot.
Apart from adding an aesthetic element to the movie, these majestic beasts can also symbolize many things. For example, including a horse in a movie can symbolize endurance, valor, determination, freedom, majesty, and spirit.
All of these elements make horses perfect for scary movies, and some directors already noticed this trend and tried to include these majestic beasts in their work. This inspired us to look for the best scary movies with many horse elements to the story. So, besides betting on the fastest horses in the Preakness Stakes results, you might enjoy some of these movies.
Melancholia (2011)
This is a Science Fiction movie that tells us the story through the perspective of two sisters while living under the threat of a mysterious planet colliding with Earth. Even though this movie doesn’t center around horses, the two sisters share extraordinary love for their companions.
In fact, some of the most important scenes include horses. For example, when Claire confirms that the planet is now Approaching earth she finds John dead in the stables and sets her horse on to run just to create an alibi to say that John’s gone riding.
After Claire’s son sees the horse along quickly realizes that there is something wrong. It is a very interesting movie to watch that won’t scare you to death but will keep to tense constantly.
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
This is one of the most impressive horror/thriller/fantasy movies with an IMDb rating of 7.3. This is a rather creepy crime/investigating movie that involves a New York detective sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of mysterious deaths, in which all the victims were found beheaded.
The locals quickly start talking about spotting a ghost without a head that is running on a horse looking for its next victim. They seem to believe that the ghost is looking for his head, which is why he is leaving all his victims beheaded.
It is a tense horror movie with many horse elements to the story.
Hannibal Rising (2007)
Here we have a popular psychological horror film that marks the fifth version of the Hannibal Lester franchise. This movie is a prequel to Red Dragon and the Silence of the Lambs and is based on Thomas Harris’ novel of the same name.
The movie is about Hannibal Lecter that lives in Lithuania, and the German Invasion of the Soviet Union turns the entire region into a bloodbath. Later in the movie, an explosion of a tank kills everyone but Lecter and his sister Mischa.
With that said, his sister didn’t have the same luck all the time as he was later killed and eaten by starving looters during World War II. Hannibal turns into a medical student and seeks terrible revenge on the looters which turns him into a serial murderer.
He finds a unique way of killing his victims. There was a scene where Hannibal tied one of his victims to a three and used a horse to tighten the rope and strangle them. Even though the movie doesn’t focus on the horse, it is still an important companion to Hannibal.
High-Rise (2015)
High Rise is a British dystopian film directed by Ben Wheatley and based on the 1975 novel of the same name by British writer J. G. Ballard.
The story of an inexplicable breakdown of social order within a huge apartment building outside London, which was designed for a community called “High Rise” was speculative fiction at the time of writing, but turns out to be much closer to home.
As we mentioned before, horses in movies are also used as symbolism, just like in this movie. There is a horse in this movie that The Architect’s wife keeps on the roof, which is a symbol of the upper floor’s dominance, as well as power.
With that said, the situation doesn’t have a happy end since the horse is later killed and eaten.
It is an interesting horror movie that involves a lot of animals, including horses, and they are the main focus of High Rise.
