10 best Wikipedia horror plot summaries of all time

Sometimes you want to feel out a horror movie before you see it, and other times, we’re just too busy to watch. These amazingly scary Wikipedia movie summaries should help you out.

A good friend of mine and I were discussing horror movies, and the Jordan Peele film Get Out came up as a topic. We were having a great conversation — talking at length about the plot and the meaning behind the film — and we were amazed that Jordan Peele, long known for his comedy, could make such a gem of a horror film.

Afterward, I asked my friend when did he see the movie, because the conversation happened about a day after I saw the film.

He never saw the film.

He told me that he read the Wikipedia summary of Get Out, and that’s how he familiarized himself with the plot. My mind was instantly blown. How could this guy know so much about a film that was all of four days old from a plot summary on Wikipedia? Slightly irritated but fascinated at the same time, I went to the Wikipedia page for Get Out, and lo and behold, it had the entire plot summary of the movie, down to every morsel of detail.

Reading the plot summary to Get Out was actually like watching the movie in my mind. And there’s no doubt that other Wikipedia horror summaries are just as detailed and informative as Get Out’s.

So without further ado, for those too scared to watch these horror flicks or too busy to catch them all, here are the 10 best horror Wikipedia summaries. Some of these will be cheesy; others will be works of writing art. You’ll never know which is which, so read it all the way through and dare to be entertained.

WARNING: This story will contain spoilers. 

10. The Exorcist (1973)

The Exorcist was one of those movies that felt longer than it was. It was only 121 minutes long, but I could have sworn it lasted three-plus hours. You get the same feeling when you’re reading the plot summary for The Exorcist. For a rather legendary horror film, the summary is rather short and gets straight to the point, leaving out or consolidating some rather juicy and key moments from the film.

Example:

"Both priests witness Regan perform a series of bizarre, vulgar acts. They attempt to exorcise the demon, but the stubborn entity toys with them, especially Karras."

Look, I know it’s text, but could have expected something a bit more intriguing from this one, fellow writer. They turned a pivotal and gut-churning moment into a water-down version that’s (somewhat) safe for 10-year-olds.

9. IT (1990)

The first thing you’ll notice when reading the summary for the 1990 version of IT is that it’s long, really long. Like, the writer took some time to make sure they covered all the bases with this one. If you’re one of those folks that get an unnerving feeling while reading plot summaries, then the summary for IT (remember, the 1990 version!) is not for you.

"They reach IT’s inner sanctum, find the cantatonic Audrta, and discover It’s true form of a gigantic, otherwordly spider."

Holy freakin’ crap! A spider that can take on the form of a demonic clown? How twisted is that? The summary for IT comes off as super weird and creepy, which is what the writer was getting at, I guess.

8. The Hunger (1983)

One of the cooler aspects of reading Wikipedia articles for old horror films is seeing the poster — which brings me to The Hunger, the 1983 erotic horror movie that starred David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, and Catherine Deneuve. The poster kind of acts as the set up for the summery, which launches you into a dark tale about the vampire couple who falls in love with a sleep specialist, and all sorts of freaky things commence. From the summary, you can visualize what the movie should have been about, making the summary a thousand times better than the actual movie, which was a complete bore-fest.

"Sarah comes looking for John at his home but only finds Miriam, who now feels alone after losing both John and Alice. The two have a sexual encounter, during which Miriam bites her arm and some of Miriam’s blood enters Sarah’s body. Miriam attempts to intitiate Sarah in the necessities of life as a vampire, but Sarah is repulsed by the thought of subsisting on human blood."

See what I mean? Visualizing that part of the film was 100 times better than how it actually played out. That’s The Hunger in a nutshell.

7. Hereditary (2018)

I never saw Hereditary, but I got a sense of what I could have been in for while reading the summary. The writer of the Hereditary plot summary did an amazing job shrinking 127 minutes worth of film into a bite-sized, 4 minutes worth of reading. And all of it is worth it, especially the ending, which, I’ll let you read it for yourself:

"Peter awakens to find his father’s charred body and encounters a nude man. He is then chased by a now-possessed Annie into the attic. Levitating, Annie beheads herself with the piano wire as naked coven members and a shocked Peter watch."

Scary… that’s a lot of naked people Peter is around.

6. Us (2019)

There’s a really funny story behind this one.

So, before I went to the movie theater to see Jordan Peele’s latest horror masterpiece, Us, I read the plot summary before I went to the theater. The summary left no stone unturned, and it gave me somewhat of a feeling of what I would be in for when I stepped into the theater:

"That night, a family of four dressed in red appears in the Wilsons’ driveway. They break into the Wilsons’ home and attack them. The Wilsons quickly realize the four intruders are doppelgangers of themselves, led by Adelaide’s double, Red."

Look me in the eyes and tell me that doesn’t get your blood-curling.

Thinking that the movie would feel predictable, I was pleasantly surprised to have still enjoyed this movie, even despite reading the Wikipedia summary. The moral of this story? Reading the summary before seeing the actual movie isn’t always a bad thing.

5. It Follows (2014)

Do you want to see what a plot summary was written by a person who probably could have cared less about the film looks like? Feast your eyes on this gem for the 2014 psych-horror film It Follows:

"Greg drives Jay, Kelly, Yara, and Paul to his family’s lake house and teaches Jay to shoot with a revolver. The entity arrives in the form of Yara and attacks Jay on the lakefront. Jay’s friends ward it off by breaking a chair over its body, and Jay shoots it in the head, but it recovers unhardmed and pursues Jay again, taking the form of a boy who lives next door to Jay."

Someone could read a phonebook with more passion and vigor than what was written here, but that’s also what makes this summary so fascinating at the same time. It leaves you with a lot of questions. “Who is this ‘It’ dude?” “How can they kill this demon, or whatever it is?” “Can it cook meatloaf?”

So many questions that can only be answered by reading the summary.

4. Truth or Dare (2018)

When I saw the trailer for Truth or Dare, I wasn’t in the mood to see the film, but I was intrigued by it. So, what did I do? I “Wiki-ed” it, of course! The summary gave me everything I needed in the course of the plot, and it came off just as simplistic as the actual film did, but with more intrigue.

Here’s an example:

"When the group prepares to leave, Giselle takes out a gun and attempts to shoot Olivia, which the game dares her to do. However, Penelope jumps in front of Olivia and dies instead. An invisible force causes Giselle to shoot herself in the head."

Reading that was far better than what was executed in the movie, which left me all sorts of disappointed. By reading that, you would have thought that this would be a crazy moment in the film, but when you watch it, you’ll get a sad reminder that reality doesn’t always imitate fantasy.

I guess when you’re reading the summary, you can imagine what the film could be, which makes the summary a heck of a lot more interesting than a film itself. That was the same case for Truth or Dare, which made me happy I didn’t waste money on it in the theater and is an example of why we Wiki before we watch.

3. Clown (2014)

Remember earlier when I said that the movie poster to the film’s Wiki page had to lure me in? Well, the one for 2014’s Clown did that and then some. Just by looking at the poster, you get the feeling that this supernatural horror show is going to be a mindfreak, and reading the plot summary, it certainly is.

"Kent, now under the complete control of the demon, sneaks into the house and kills Meg’s father, Walt, ripping off his jaw right in front of her."

Crazy, right?

Like Us, I don’t think reading the Wiki summary will be adjacent to watching the actual film, but you sure do get a mental image about how it all goes down, and you’ll be awake for days.

2. The Witch (2015)

Before I saw this movie, I was already pretty freaked out about The Witch, and modern-day horror movies don’t freak me out too often. This was another movie that I Wiki-ed before I watched, and the summary for this film was downright insane.

Exhibit A:

"Alone, Thomasin enters the stable and urges Black Phillip to speak to her. The goat responds by asking if Thomasin would like to “live delciously” and materialized into a tall, black-clad man."

In just that one paragraph, we have a talking goat that is asking Black Phillip if he wanted to “live deliciously,” and a goat that transforms into a man. Like, seriously, stuff like that plays with your mind, and the plot summary for The Witch is tantalizing, riddled with them.

1. The Human Centipede (2009)

I have no clue about where to start with The Human Centipede.

In all of my years watching horror movies, never before had I have to stop a film before it was over, just because it grossed me out. The Human Centipede was that rare movie that I just couldn’t see to the end, and I tried to watch it three times!

Having a hard time watching the film, I decided to Wiki the summary to see how the film ended, and, I couldn’t get through the plot summary, either. Props to the person who wrote this summary:

"Back in the house, Jenny and Lindsay hold hands as Jenny dies. Lindsay sobs as she is left along in the house, trapped between her deceased fellow captives. Her fate is left unknown."

That is super depressing to read, so you can imagine what seeing the actual ending would have been like if you make it that far.

What are some of your favorite horror movie summaries on Wikipedia? Let us know in the comments.