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It should be no surprise that, as another year winds to a close, horror continued to dominate in 2024. Terrifier 3, for example, became the highest-grossing Unrated movie in box office history, throwing all the indie cinema rules out the window in the process. Longlegs caught everyone off guard, becoming Neon‘s highest-grossing film upon release in July, and streaming service Mubi smartly acquired the body horror movie The Substance, where it became the platform’s highest-grossing film at the box office.
That doesn’t even touch on the huge studio earners like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, or Alien: Romulus. Yet the surprises extend well beyond how well horror performed at the box office; 2024 horror is defined by the way it refused to stay within its tidy genre bounds.
This is reflected in the way that 2024 horror found new angles to push franchises forward through prequels and sequels, with films like The First Omen finding new ways to expand a franchise through stunning artistry and delicate yet dark subject matter. It’s reflected in new shifts in true crime-inspired thrillers like Red Rooms, a cold, clinical depiction of true crime obsession. Slashers like In a Violent Nature got experimental with a familiar formula to an exciting albeit divisive degree, while Exhuma shook up the tired exorcism horror subgenre.
It’s also a year where horror got deeply personal, featuring no shortage of films framed from a singular perspective, including I Saw the TV Glow or Stopmotion. In short, 2024 pushed the genre forward in exciting ways, introducing new voices while finding fresh fertile ground in even some of the more well-trodden corners of the genre.
Without further ado, here are the top fifteen best horror movies of 2024.
15. Oddity
Writer/Director Damian Mc Carthy‘s sophomore effort feels like a narrative and thematic extension of Caveat. Aside from the brief return of at least one familiar face and a nightmare bunny, Oddity continues the filmmaker’s exploration of supernatural karma and retribution with offbeat characters and a unique vision for scares. Playing like a whimsical Irish folk tale with expertly crafted scares that send icy shivers down your spine, Oddity relies on pared-back storytelling that lets its horror elements and dual performances from Carolyn Bracken shine. While simple in setup, there’s a more assured tone and polished plotting to Oddity that makes it easy to hope Mc Carthy continues his exploration of this strange, frequently haunting cinematic universe.
14. The Coffee Table
A jaw-dropping inciting event transforms the film into a relentless pressure cooker that never gives its audience a moment to breathe in Caye Casas’s grim dark horror comedy- emphasis on dark. The gallows humor here might warrant a trigger warning for its boundary-pushing horror that serves as the catalyst. The filmmaker mines horror from a freak tragedy to a degree that often leaves those on board with the insanity torn between laughter and edge-of-the-seat suspense. A mundane task turns into an unspeakable nightmare that somehow only escalates the insanity until a doozy of a finale. It’s audacious in plot but even more impressive for the way it shreds your nerves with glee.
13. Woman of the Hour
Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut shakes up the true crime format with this stranger-than-fiction tale of serial killer and rapist Rodney Alcala and his bizarre appearance as a bachelor on the TV game show “The Dating Game.” Screenwriter Ian MacAllister McDonald and Kendrick tell this harrowing story nonlinearly, methodically painting a stark picture of Alcala’s tactics as he targets vulnerable women across the country throughout the ’70s. It’s not horror in the traditional sense, but Kendrick wrings abject terror through nail-biting, suspenseful sequences and one bone-chilling performance by Daniel Zovatto as real-life killer Rodney Alcala. An unsettling killer and centerpiece suspense sequences ensure Kendrick’s debut rattles. But it’s the unwavering empathy for Alcala’s victims and a powerful final gasp that earns this stunner a spot on our list.
12. Stopmotion
Horror is filled with stories exploring the lengths an artist will go to for the sake of their art, but BAFTA-nominated filmmaker/animator Robert Morgan fuses Stopmotion with tactile, squelchy stop-motion animation that sets it apart. The film’s deft blending of live-action and stop-motion animation is utterly captivating, grounded by Aisling Franciosi’s portrayal of a woman coming undone by her ambition. It’s not just the animation that stuns while simultaneously inducing revulsion but the unnerving sound design. Open wounds and puppets alike often come with discomforting, squelching sounds and wet noises that ensure an immersive experience.
11. The Devil’s Bath
The latest from Austrian filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala happens to be their most despairing yet, making a powerful show that history is horror sometimes. A grueling depiction of a harsh life in 18th-century Austria, the film follows a dreamer too fragile for this unforgiving world. The Devil’s Bath saturates itself so thoroughly in her misery and psychological distress that it’s difficult not to be affected by Agnes’ plight. It’s a gorgeously made film, shot on 35mm, with an impressive lead performance from Anja Plaschg. The Devil’s Bath isn’t horror in the conventional sense, but Agnes’ journey becomes so despairing that it careens straight into violent, grim horror territory with ease. It’s such an emotional gauntlet that it’s one that you won’t want to revisit anytime soon.
10. Azrael
The latest from director E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills) and writer Simon Barrett (The Guest, You’re Next) makes for a fascinating experiment in dialogue-free horror, with a text card establishing the post-Rapture setup behind this apocalyptic horror movie. It’s so devoid of dialogue that modern horror stalwart Samara Weaving can’t even rely on her trademark scream; her character had her voice box severed prior to the film’s events. All of which is to say that Azrael potentially makes for a tough sell on paper. Instead, Katz makes you forget almost entirely that Azrael is devoid of speaking parts. Its nonstop barrage of horror violence gets doled out over the course of 24 hours, making for a gory survival thriller that doesn’t have time to dwell on the story specifics. Weaving’s capable performance and the visceral siege horror ensure this experiment succeeds right up to its memorable final moments.
9. A Quiet Place: Day One
The prequel to 2018’s A Quiet Place merely uses the initial alien invasion that plunges the world into a silent apocalypse as a thrilling backdrop for a soulful, poignant portrait of human connection. A mundane day in New York City gets shattered by a sudden invasion that leaves the city destroyed with a devastating death toll, an easy genre allegory for 9/11, no doubt, but writer/director Michael Sarnoski is more interested in exploring the human triumphs that rise in the face of brutal adversity. Day One ensures the requisite genre thrills and creature feature chase sequences are aplenty, but it’s the tender, unlikely friendship forged between Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn’s characters, along with a scene-stealing cat, that elevate this prequel into something remarkable. It’s the type of deeply stirring storytelling that makes you want a hug and a slice of pizza. Most of all, following a woman determined to meet life and death on her terms fills you with hope.
8. Infested
Director Sébastien Vaniček delivered a shot of adrenaline with his feature debut, ensuring that spiders haven’t lost their touch when it comes to inducing paralyzing fear, even in those not prone to arachnophobia. The simple setup that sees a rare venomous spider loose in a ramshackle apartment building, free to breed and wreak lethal destruction, becomes anything but thanks to class commentary and a terrifying escalation of horror. Vaniček keeps his characters and their conflicts grounded in realism, letting him cut loose with the increasingly intense spider horror. It’s not just that Infested employs real spiders for many of the close, squirmy encounters with the eight-legged beasts, but the filmmaker wrings extreme tension even from the quiet moments. Infested isn’t afraid to kill its characters in excruciating ways, either, making it easy to see why Vaniček was immediately snatched up to helm an upcoming Evil Dead movie.
7. I Saw the TV Glow
A deeply personal examination of identity and dysphoria told with a singular vision. Few films match the striking imagery found within writer/director Jane Schoenbrun’s latest, genre or otherwise. I Saw the TV Glow captures the viscerally jarring, existential horror of ignoring all warnings until you no longer recognize yourself, framed around two outcasts who bond over a ’90s tv show. It’s that specificity and dreamlike vision that mines horror from a relatable touchstone of youth– a period where we often form our identities based on our pop culture obsessions and cling to them like lifeboats in tempestuous waters. It’s a somber, meditative allegory that emotionally devastates, even as its potent visuals cast a haunting spell. More than just an assured piece of arthouse horror surrealism, it’s a stunning and bittersweet cautionary tale to be true to yourself.
6. The First Omen
Richard Donner’s 1976 horror classic centered around the Antichrist spawned three sequels, a 2006 remake, and a direct sequel TV series to diminishing results. When a prequel to the original film was announced, it’s not surprising that it didn’t exactly set the internet on fire; The Omen laid out the details behind Damien Thorn’s birth well enough, after all. What sounded like a typical, uninspired cash grab to extend the life of a fairly dormant horror franchise transformed into a compelling surprise in the hands of director Arkasha Stevenson. Stevenson helms her feature debut with impressive confidence, delivering an exquisitely crafted piece of horror that lends a tactile quality and atmosphere with a piercing score from Mark Korven that also serves a narrative purpose. It’s a breathtaking film befitting of its period setting, anchored by star Nell Tiger Free’s audacious performance. The First Omen finds inventive ways to breathe new life into the franchise while operating within the confines of established IP lore, shifting its focus to bodily autonomy while pushing boundaries with bold subject matter and shocking horror imagery.
5. Smile 2
As someone who found Smile a solid film bogged down by its familiar horror influences, Smile 2 caught me off guard. In true sequel fashion, the scale is expanded, and the scares are far more visceral and violent this round. But writer/director Parker Finn’s exponential growth between films is what really excites about this sequel; this filmmaker has only honed his scare-crafting chops to the sharpest of edges and is having a blast doing it. This is a filmmaker with mounting confidence, and Finn finds no shortage of ways to keep the lengthy runtime moving at a rapid clip without ever diminishing the oppressive, inescapable horror and tension it yields. It certainly helps that Naomi Scott delivers a career-defining performance, tackling so many layers of her character’s traumas with seemingly effortless ease. It’s not just the sequel’s razor-sharp and inventive, gory scares that surpass its predecessor, but a profoundly complicated heroine shaping the edgier style of horror.
4. Exhuma
Exorcism horror, for the most part, remains beholden to tired tropes and outdated ideas on faith and religion that make it a tough sell these days. One surefire way to break from convention is by framing exorcisms through a different cultural lens. Writer/Director Jae-hyun Jang (Svaha: The Sixth Finger, The Priests) combines introspective cultural and historical themes with creepy, atmospheric horror told through a yin-and-yang style narrative structure. Exhuma uses a cursed grave to unleash supernatural terror and a potent folkloric examination of the dark history between Japan and Korea. The two distinct story halves highlight the stark contrast between cultures, modern society, and ancient customs without sacrificing the genre’s fun or scares in the process. It’s the type of horror movie that brings cultural depth and worldbuilding while featuring a behemoth samurai oni rampaging through a pig farm. This isn’t your typical exorcism horror movie; its gonzo physical manifestation of past historical trauma makes for one of the year’s biggest horror surprises.
3. Longlegs
It’s safe to say that few films captured the curiosity and attention of audiences this year quite like Oz Perkins’ latest, thanks to the enigmatic marketing behind it. The refusal to reveal much at all ahead of the film’s release also extends to Longlegs’ storytelling, which keeps things close to the vest as it centers on young FBI recruit Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) and her bid to uncover the identity of an elusive serial killer. Longlegs injects a true crime story with putrid Satanism and refuses to handhold, serving as a visceral rebuttal to society’s compulsive need to find logic in the most heinous of crimes. Nicolas Cage’s minimal screentime, combined with his shocking transformation as the eponymous killer, only fuels the film’s elusive, existentially horrifying quality. But it’s the way that evil is a constant, voyeuristic presence in Longlegs that unnerves most; a beastly Satan watches on from nearly every shadowed corner throughout. Yet, as foreboding and palpably evil as Longlegs is, it’s not without a sense of humor. It makes for Perkins’ most accessible horror film yet as well as his most downright unsettling.
2. The Substance
There’s something remarkable about the way that writer/director Coralie Fargeat’s latest somehow surpasses her debut film Revenge in terms of gory carnage while racking up the accolades, garnering award nominations and a spot on the Oscars shortlist. Fargeat can barely contain her venom as she lambasts Hollywood’s unrealistic beauty standards that fester and, in turn, create vicious cycles of self-loathing. Yet it’s not without humor; there’s an almost whimsy to the insanity that plunges Demi Moore’s Elisabeth Sparkle into a destructive pattern of monstrous body horror in her attempts to stave off aging and forced retirement. The Substance exists in a heightened sense of reality that’s as hypnotic as off-putting, with a protracted finale that unleashes buckets of flesh and gore in Grand Guignol fashion, the precise type of gooey climax that would make Brian Yuzna proud. Fargeat helms with assured confidence, delivering a tactile visual feast for the senses and creating one of the year’s sharpest, most wickedly entertaining entries in horror.
1. Nosferatu
There’s not a single facet of Nosferatu that doesn’t impress for the sheer artistry on display. Night scenes in Robert Eggers’ macabre masterpiece are re-envisioned as monochromatic nightmares, evocative of black and white gothic horror classics like F.W. Murnau’s seminal vampire tale. Craig Lathrop’s exquisite production design whisks audiences on a tactile, immersive journey filled with dread-inducing decrepit castles, a city torn asunder by plague, gypsy camps, and beyond. Robin Carolan’s triumphant score, combined with Damian Volpe’s unsettling sound design, ensures the twisted love triangle at the heart of this gothic horror movie repulses and delights in equal measure. Bill Skarsgård’s unrecognizable transformation as Count Orlok startles, but it’s Lily-Rose Depp’s mesmeric performance as Ellen, the outcast trapped on society’s margins and forced to become both victim and hero, that stuns. Productions on this scale are rare in horror, and Nosferatu is operatic and dramatic, bold and revolting, with a powerful final shot for the ages.
