Yella(2007)
2007 · Christian Petzold · 90 min
A young East German woman leaves her controlling husband/business partner and relocates to a West German city to start anew as an accountant, but he soon catches up with her.
Drama · Thriller · Horror · Fantasy
6.2112 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
0/5
Gore
4/5
Stays with you
How Yella scares
Yella is less a horror movie than a quiet drama that slowly fills with an odd, uneasy feeling you can't quite name. The pace is calm and deliberate, following a woman's new job and new life, but small strange moments and repetitions start to nag at you underneath the surface. There's no blood, no chasing, no monster to point at, just a growing sense that something about her reality is off. It lingers more than it scares, and it's best for people who like unease and ambiguity over jolts or gore.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Yella rates psychological 4/5, visceral 2/5, gore 0/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 4 of 5
- Visceral: 2 of 5
- Gore: 0 of 5
- Lingering: 4 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 10 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 55 of 100 — balanced
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 65 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A quiet, unsettling drama that opens with a jolt of danger, settles into a hypnotic hum of unease, and slowly tightens toward a haunting final stretch.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5.
How scary is Yella?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, Yella rates 3/5 — solidly scary, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. The fear is mostly in your head — it unsettles far more than it assaults. Expect it to be restrained with gore and genuinely disturbing. Expect it to stay with you for days.
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