The Horror Movie Jenna Ortega Says Left Her Traumatized

Jenna Ortega has quickly become the undisputed face of modern horror, but even the genre’s reigning queen has movies that she finds difficult to watch. From her breakout performance in the relaunch of Scream to her role in the eerie X, Ortega has spent much of her career surrounded by the macabre. However, during a conversation with Rotten Tomatoes, she admitted that one specific supernatural thriller left her feeling genuinely shaken.

The actor revealed that James Wan’s 2010 film Insidious had a profound and lasting effect on her psyche. She explained that she first viewed the movie when she was only 12 years old, an age that made the jump scares and demonic imagery feel all too real. There are some shots in that film that stay with me, where I feel like I can still see the red-faced demon guy wherever I go, Ortega shared, highlighting the lasting power of the film’s most famous antagonist.

Despite the fear it caused, Ortega was quick to praise the craftsmanship behind the production and its director. She noted that while the experience was intense for a child, she has developed a deep respect for the way the story was told. James Wan obviously knows what he’s doing in the horror department, but watching that as a 12-year-old was traumatising, she added, though she now looks back on the experience with a sense of professional admiration.

While Insidious remains her most “traumatising” watch, it isn’t the only horror film Ortega holds in high regard. She also expressed a great deal of love for Robert Eggers’ folk-horror masterpiece The Witch, praising everything from the performances to the cinematography. It’s so high quality and so beautifully done, she noted, explaining that the film’s haunting atmosphere stayed with her for several weeks after her first viewing.

As of January 2026, Jenna Ortega is keeping incredibly busy with a slate of projects that expand well beyond the horror genre. She recently appeared at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of The Gallerist, a dark satire directed by Cathy Yan. In the film, she stars alongside Natalie Portman and Charli XCX as an assistant to a desperate art dealer who gets caught up in a bizarre scheme involving a dead body at an art fair.

Later this year, Ortega will star in the sci-fi drama Klara and the Sun, directed by Taika Waititi and based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. In this project, she plays a specialized robot known as an “Artificial Friend” who is designed to prevent loneliness in humans. She is also set to feature in J.J. Abrams’ highly secretive upcoming film, The Great Beyond, which is currently slated for a November 2026 release and co-stars Glen Powell and Samuel L. Jackson.

Do you think that being “traumatized” by horror movies as a kid actually helped Jenna Ortega become a better scream queen in her adult roles? Share your thoughts in the comments.