10 Scary Movies With The Truly Disturbing Family Dynamics

Speaking of unstable families, Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker is a version of the Oedipus story as an exploitation horror movie that really works. Billy Lynch lives with his aunt, Cheryl Roberts after his parents are lost in a car crash. Billy's aunt seems suspiciously fond and possessive of Billy. Aunt Cheryl also tries to sabotage his attempts to attend college, move out, and have a relationship with another high school student, Julie. That's all I can say about the movie without spoiling what happens, but it's creepy. The film was directed by William Asher and an uncredited Michael Miller and stars Jimmy McNichol, Susan Tyrrell, Bo Svenson, Marcia Lewis, and Bill Paxton.

The Meiks family is a father, Dad (Bill Paxton), who tells his sons an incredible story. He tells them that he can see demons in the guise of humans, and his mission is to rid the world of these demons. One of the sons, Adam, comes to the FBI and tells an agent what has happened and that his brother is the "God's Hand" serial killer. This chilling film was Bill Paxton's directorial debut, and it's great. When your dad starts kidnapping people and telling you that he has to kill them because they are demons, there's something wrong. It also stars Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe, Luke Askew, and Jeremy Sumpter.

Cobweb is a film with lots of family dysfunction. Peter, a young boy, has parents who control him but cut him off emotionally and won't let him go trick or treating. He starts hearing tapping and starts talking to a girl named Sarah, who tells him his parents have trapped her in the walls. His parents react badly to this and lock Peter in a pit. Maybe there's some truth to what Sarah has told him? You'll have to watch the film to find out. Samuel Bodin directed the film, which stars Lizzy Caplan, Woody Norman, Cleopatra Coleman, and Antony Starr. Fangoria has a look at the Cobweb trailer and the film, which was released earlier this summer, and read our list of creepy television series that includes Samuel Bodin's cult television series on Netflix, Marianne.

Martin Mathias has problems. Not only does he feel it necessary to attack others for their blood, but his only family is a Lithuanian Catholic uncle, Tateh Cuda, who calls him a vampire. To make matters worse, he is forced to stay with Cuda, who only grudgingly gives him a place to stay. Some of us can relate to this, maybe not the ageless vampire thing, but definitely the uncle or aunt who doesn't like you and thinks you are evil. Martin is one of George Romero's other horror films and is an excellent study of what it would be like to be a vampire in this day and age. It's beautiful and horrifying in a lyrical way and stars John Amplas, Lincoln Maazel, and Christine Forrest. The archive of Fangoria Issue #37 is alive and has an article that you can read about Martin.

There is an American remake, but the original We Are What We Are, or Somos Lo Que Hay, is a film from Mexico about a family of cannibals who ritualistically kill other humans to eat them. When the family's father suddenly dies, they are left without a provider, not only the money with which to live but also the particular food they need to eat. It's never really explained why, but the entire family's belief is so strong that the family members go out to lure some unlucky person home to be used for the ritual. We Are What We Are was directed by Jorge Michel Grau and stars Carmen Beato, Daniel Giménez Cacho, and Paulina Gaitán.

David Cronenberg's body horror film of a family with a history of trauma, The Brood, is horrifying and shows how bad parenting can harm the next generation. A father, Frank Carveth, is trying to deal with his disturbed wife, Nola, who is in an experimental treatment with psychiatrist Hal Raglan at the Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmics. When their daughter Candice starts showing signs of abuse and people in their lives start turning up dead, Frank realizes that the problem is much bigger than he realized. Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle, and Nuala Fitzgerald do great work in the intense film that introduces an idea that I don't think has ever been used in horror.

Frank Henenlotter wrote and directed Basket Case, which is the story of a man who keeps his co-joined twin locked in a wicker basket. I would say that there is definitely an unstable family dynamic in this case. What's worse is that his twin Belial is telepathic and tends to attack anyone who has a relationship with his brother Duane or angers him. Basket Case is a cult horror movie that has fascinated horror fans for decades and stars Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, and Beverly Bonner. It's really something strange.

Andrzej Żuławski's cult classic of a marriage in trouble that has issues that couples usually don't have has experienced a resurgence of popularity in recent years. A couple with a young child seems to be on the verge of breaking up, with infidelity being a big problem in the marriage or a symptom of more significant issues. The film's treatment of marital woes soon spins into Lovecraftian body horror and becomes wilder with each passing moment. One of the biggest questions in this surreal film is what is real and what isn't. It stars Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, who give some of horror's most impressive and bewildering performances.

Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala's film Goodnight Mommy features a family dynamic full of paranoia. Two twin boys start to believe that their mother is not their mother after she returns home from having facial surgery. Her face is completely bandaged, and she seems only to acknowledge one of the twins, which feeds the growing suspicion the children have. In the film, the children are the scariest characters. It stars Susanne Wuest, Elias Schwarz, and Lukas Schwarz.

Adam Wingard's film of a family reunion gone terribly wrong after home invaders attack is underrated as a horror film based on a family gone awry. In the slasher film, The Animals attack the family dinner; supposedly, no one knows why. The family's parents seem supportive, and the siblings seem normal, but something is lurking beneath the surface. As it turns out, the danger is much closer to home, and the random attack is not what it seems. But the plotters have a surprise from one of the visitors outside the family, too. The film stars Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, A. J. Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, and Barbara Crampton.