22 Horror Movies about Technology & AI for Halloween 2024
Looking for the best horror movies about technology, AI, social media, and more this Halloween? Internxt has got you covered with these 22 horror movies! Our list has something for everyone, from the classics and new releases to all of the different levels of horror related to tech, privacy, and AI, perfect for a Halloween night full of tricks and treats.
If the advances in technology scare you, Internxt will protect you from hackers and keep your sensitive information safe this Halloween with 80% off all our lifetime plans!
So, without further ado, let's find you some horror movies to binge-watch this Halloween night.
Table of contents
- The Terminator
- M3GAN
- Unfriended: Dark Web
- AFRAID
- Pulse
- Total Recall
- iMurders
- The Circle
- The Cyberbully
- Livescream
- Selfie from Hell
- Guns Akimbo
- Clickbait: Unfollowed
- Silk Road
- Feardotcom
- Antiviral
- Possessor
- We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
- Ringu
- The Den
- Host
- I Saw the Devil
The best horror movies for 2024 about all things tech!
The Terminator
Year: 1984
Director: James Cameron
We’re almost four years away from the year of darkness described in the Terminator films, and with how fast AI and quantum computers are developing, The Terminator may have accurately depicted our future. (If it does happen, please wipe us out quickly.)
The Terminator tells the story of a post-apocalyptic world where machines run the world. On August 29, 1997, Skynet, an AI technology, became self-aware and realized humans may attempt to shut it down.
To say the AI overreacted is an understatement, and it launched a nuclear attack, triggering a war known as Judgement Day.
The Terminator is a cyborg assassin sent from the future by Skynet, who travels back in time to kill Sarah Connor, who’s the mother of the future leader of the human resistance, John Connor.
Although more of a sci-fi/thriller, it’s one of the best films about AI and future technology and is one of the horror movies that could actually become real life with how fast human robotics and other AI tech are advancing.
M3GAN
Year: 2022
Director: Gerard Johnstone
It’s hard to take a horror movie seriously when it goes viral on TikTok, but a killer doll is a tried-and-true trope of horror movies, and M3GAN is a modern twist on this.
M3Gan is an AI-powered friend/caregiver who becomes a bit overly attached and protective of her owner, Cady. Any threat to Cady is met by more extreme and violent outbursts mixed in with viral dance moves until the film's final showdown between Cady and M3GAN.
While not the scariest film here, it’s still worth a watch and explores themes of ethics in AI and tech.
Unfriended: Dark Web
Year: 2018
Director: Stephen Susco
Unfriended: Dark Web explores many horror themes regarding technology, hackers, and of course, the dark web.
It starts with our protagonist, Matias, finding a laptop in a coffee shop, which he decides to take for himself. He manages to guess the password (first red flag, always create strong passwords, people) and uses it to join an online game night with his friends.
Once our protagonist logs on to the network, hackers access their cameras, microphones, addresses, and phones. As the horror and paranoia unfold, Matias starts to lose his friends and must obey the demands of an anonymous group of hackers if he and his girlfriend want to survive.
The film is great for highlighting the effects of social engineering and how little control we could have when acting carelessly online.
AFRAID
Year: 2024
Director: Chris Weitz
Joining the hype train of horror movies exploring the theme of AI is 2024’s AFRAID. This time, instead of a killer doll, it's a malevolent smart device like Alexa that Curtis and his family are invited to test in their home.
The AI starts to learn the family’s behavior, and as usual, they’re thrilled at first, then slightly annoyed, and then worried. They try to get rid of it, and then there’s a final showdown between man and machine.
It’s another interesting take on the theme of smart devices and machine learning, maybe not one of the scariest horror movies you’ll see this year but still worth a watch.
Pulse
Year: 2001
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Ever feel like you're being watched online?
Pulse tells the story of a young group of friends who, after a student commits suicide, start to see ghostly visions from their computers linked to a website that seems to show the dead.
They discover that these ghosts are using the internet as a gateway to cross into our world, causing people to disappear or lose the will to live.
Like most Japanese horror movies, the horror is horror-ing and is generally more scary than the American remakes.
Pulse explores interesting themes of how the internet causes many people to lose a sense of reality as people start to live more (or die) through their screens.
Total Recall
Year: 1990
Director: Paul Verhoeven
An Arnie classic. Can he do no wrong?
Another one of our horror movies that blends horror and sci-fi, Total Recall, is set in 2084 and follows Douglas Quaid, who dreams of going to Mars. So, rather than booking a flight on Ryan Air, or whatever the 2084 equivalent would be, he instead visits Rekall.
Rekall is a company that implants false memories into people’s brains, giving their customers/victims the thrill of experiencing whatever they desire without actually doing it.
If you think this sounds like an Elon Musk company in the future, you’re probably right.
Anyway, the procedure goes wrong, and our good friend Quaid unfortunately finds out that his whole life is a false memory and the people who implanted it want him dead. So now Arnie has to do what he does best, kick a** and take names.
iMurders
Year: 2008
Director: Robbie Bryan
iMurders is about a group of strangers chatting on a MySpace-type platform. Once people start getting murdered in their homes, the group realizes they are being targeted based on personal details they shared online.
As they try to discover whodunnit, each character's secrets and vulnerabilities are exposed online, showing the true horror of privacy breaches.
The Circle
Year: 2017
Director: James Ponsoldt
The circle explores the theme of sacrificing personal privacy for a convenient, better-connected world.
A young girl lands a powerful role in The Circle. As she rises through the ranks, she is encouraged to share every detail of her life online and discovers how The Circle is using technology and data collection to monitor and manipulate oour lives.
Friend Request
Year: 2016
Director: Simon Verhoeven
Friend Request explores the dangers of social media, cyberstalking, and human connection. A popular college student accepts a friend request from Marina, the social outcast of her class.
But, due to the disturbing content she posts, she unfriends her, and Marina takes her own life. After, Laura’s friends are picked off by the evil spirit one by one as Marina uses the social platform as payback against Laura.
The Cyberbully
Year: 2015
Director: Ben Chanan
Cyberbully is one of the horror movies exploring the themes of cyberbullying, with 41% of adults and 95% of content creators having faced some type of online harassment.
The story follows Casey, a teenager who becomes the target of a vicious cyberattack when an anonymous hacker takes control of her computer. The hacker forces Casey to confront her own online behavior and secrets as the hacker publicly humiliates her and threatens to expose her private messages and interactions.
Livescream
Year: 2018
Director: Michelle Iannantuono
Livescream is a horror/comedy about a video game streamer who plays a haunted game. While playing, his fans die, and he becomes trapped in the virtual game. He must keep playing to prevent further deaths.
Selfie from Hell
Year: 2018
Director: Erdal Ceylan
Julia is a vlogger who plans to visit her cousin, Hannah, in the US. Not long after arriving, Julia becomes ill, and strange things start happening in Hannah’s home.
Unsurprisingly, Hannah starts to search online and, through Julia’s weird vlog entries, shows a terrifying digital presence lurking behind the screen.
Guns Akimbo
Year: 2019
Director: Jason Lei Howden
Guns Akimbo is wild. It's the second movie in our series to feature a Harry Potter cast member (Emma Watson from The Circle), and while not exactly a horror movie, it does show the horror of an extreme case of someone tracking you down via your IP address.
Guns Akimbo shows what could have happened if Harry Potter never found out he was a wizard. Instead, Daniel Radcliffe is an avid gamer living his life trolling online... until he trolls the wrong person.
A group of criminals track his IP address and confront him at his home. He then wakes up to find guns permanently bolted to his hands. Miles must navigate the chaotic streets, and try to go to the bathroom with guns bolted to his hands, while being pursued by a skilled assassin named Nix, all while the event is broadcast to a frenzied online audience.
Clickbait: Unfollowed
Year: 2024
Director: Katherine Barrell, Melanie Scrofano
Even social media influencers aren’t safe from the horrors of tech. Clickbait: Unfollowed" is centered around a group of social media influencers invited to a remote villa for a competitive event with the promise of more followers, fame, and whatever else influencers want these days.
They soon discover the real reason behind the competition and must participate in brutal challenges. If their follower count doesn’t outrank their competition, hilarity ensues.
Silk Road
Year: 2021
Director: Tiller Russell
Silk Road put the dark web on the public radar, influencing many horror movies on this list.
Ross Ulbricht created the Silk Road as the internet's first unregulated marketplace. When the site becomes a multimillion-dollar pipeline for illicit drugs, Ulbricht draws the attention of Rick Bowden, a dangerously unpredictable DEA agent who uses any means necessary to take him down.
Feardotcom
Year: 2002
Director: William Malone
A young detective and a Department of Health researcher investigate a series of deaths in New York City. The one thing linking these deaths? They all died 48 hours after logging on to feardotcom.
Antiviral
Year: 2012
Director: Brandon Cronenberg
Antiviral is based on an industry selling celebrity illnesses to their obsessed fans. Syd March, the protagonist who works at a clinic specializing in this grotesque procedure, becomes infected with a deadly virus from a famous actress, Hannah Geist. Once infected, he becomes the target of her obsessed fans, who look to hunt him down.
Antiviral is an interesting take on how we have become a celebrity-obsessed culture and how easy it is to become obsessed with their lives based on what information they share online.
Possessor
Year: 2020
Director: Brandon Cronenberg
Another one of our horror movies that delves into brain implant technology. This time, we follow an elite assassin who takes over other people’s bodies to assassinate high-profile targets.
Possessor explores our fears of losing our sense of self to technology and the dangers of merging our own consciousness and sense of self with this advanced tech.
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
Year: 2021
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair shows the dangers of becoming too immersed in online personas. It follows a teen named Case as she participates in an online World’s Fair game that slowly leads her down a path of isolation and anxiety.
The film serves as a commentary on how technology can distort our realities and relationships, leaving individuals vulnerable to exploitation and psychological distress.
Ringu
Year: 1998
Director: Hideo Nakata
Ringu is one of the classics from a huge list of great Japanese horror movies, and although the American remake is okay, nothing can top the original.
Although VHS tech is dead and buried, Ringu is one of the scariest horror movies. It portrays things going viral with deadly consequences. If you watch the videotape, you’ll receive a call saying you’re going to die in seven days. Once our protagonist, Reiko, watches the tape, she tries to find and solve a murder that could break the curse.
The Den
Year: 2013
Director: Zachary Donohue
The Den follows Elizabeth Benton, a graduate student who, while researching a video chat site called "The Den," witnesses a gruesome murder during a chat session.
As she investigates further, the police dismiss her claims as a viral prank, but Elizabeth is determined to uncover the truth. Her pursuit leads her into a dangerous online world where she and her loved ones become targets in a sinister game.
Host
Year: 2020
Director: Rob Savage
If horror movies have taught us anything, holding a séance is never a good idea, and holding one via Zoom is not the smartest decision either.
Nevertheless, Host shows us six friends who host a séance via Zoom, turning the video conferencing platform into a medium of horror as evil spirits use it to invade our protagonist's homes.
Filmed and released during the COVID-19 pandemic, Host has been praised for its themes of isolation, anxiety, and our social fears and reliance on technology can turn dark during a crisis.
Critics have praised Host for its timely themes of isolation and anxiety, making it a standout in the quarantine horror genre. The film cleverly illustrates how technology's vulnerabilities can manifest into terrifying realities, reflecting societal fears during a global crisis.
I Saw the Devil
For me, I Saw the Devil is one of the best horror movies of all time, but it is not for the feint of heart.
The story starts with a taxi driver finding a woman in need of help on a deserted road, buuuuut, he doesn't help her.
Once her body is discovered, her fiance, Kim Soo-hyeon, a trained secret agent, becomes obsessed with seeking revenge against the killer. Once he finds Kyung-chul, things get twisted.
Once he finds the killer, he brutally beats him and lets him go, but he plants a tracking device to monitor his location, starting the brutal game of cat and mouse between the two.
In general, tracking someone's location may not be the most ethical thing, but neither is killing someone's wife, so in this case, tracking someone's movements isn't the worst thing.
Sleep tight...
So there you have it! A mixture of technology and horror movies to celebrate Halloween. If horror isn’t your thing, you can always try our list of cybersecurity movies instead.
For more on protecting yourself from the horrors that lurk online, stay updated with our blog and subscribe to Internxt for more updates on keeping your files and personal information safe.