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The 32 Best Horror Movies to Keep You Up at Night

By Matthew Jacobs

The best horror movies tend to be trendsetters, whether by launching a subgenre, introducing new visual techniques, reinventing familiar tropes, or employing clever marketing schemes. Everyone has a different favorite, but it's the rare genre where people—even those who prefer their Halloween films on the cozy side—tend to agree on a handful of paragons. You'll find grisly slasher flicks, eerie ghost stories, creature features, and psychological freakouts in equal measure here, making this a guide to the best horror movies of all time for beginners and repeat viewers alike.

32. The Wicker Man (1973)

Long before Midsommar came about, The Wicker Man supplied pitch-black horror set in broad daylight. A religious police sergeant (Edward Woodward) travels to a rural Scottish island to investigate a young girl's disappearance, but the locals' culty Pagan practices prove equally concerning. His eerie interactions play like fish-out-of-water social comedy, but any sense of security disappears in the lead-up to an electrifying finale that involves a folk hymn, a human sacrifice, and a lot of eccentric Scandinavian dancing.

31. The Others (2001)

The Sixth Sense is often hailed as horror's greatest twist ending, but what if The Others ' is even better? A Gothic ghost story starring an immaculate Nicole Kidman as a pious mother who moves her two strange children to a remote mansion they quickly suspect is haunted, this is a chilling exercise in atmospheric tension. Like so many horror film narratives, it's about grief—but the titanic payoff is what sticks with you. Two decades later, it's worthy of canonization.

30. Cat People (1942)

By David Canfield

By Hillary Busis

It may be mellow by today's standards, but Cat People has ascended from popular B-movie to respected classic. A Serbian fashion illustrator (Simone Simon) engaged to a thoughtful engineer (Kent Smith) believes an ancient curse will turn her into a panther upon arousal, which is a pretty solid metaphor for the shame that accompanied sex in the censhorship-heavy '40s. Using noirish shades and a couple of well-placed jump scares that influenced future horror editors, Cat People is a relic rich enough to earn a bloated Paul Schrader remake in 1982.

29. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Wes Craven began his career as a gonzo provocateur (see: The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes ) and eventually became a master of commercial crowd-pleasers. A Nightmare on Elm Street brought much-needed humor to the slasher craze, establishing Freddy Kruger as a fedora-wearing jokester who doubles as literal nightmare fuel.

28. The Omen (1976)

Hollywood spent the '70s trying to replicate the success of The Exorcist . Nothing came as close as The Omen , which summoned a demon by way of a 5-year-old Antichrist named Damien ( Harvey Spencer Stephens ). This was 1976's biggest summer hit, withstanding the critics who unjustly dismissed it.

27. Misery (1990)

Before there were stans, there was Annie Wilkes (a disconcertingly sweet Kathy Bates ). She's one of those villains you know by name, shorthand for an overzealous admirer who'll stop at nothing to get what she wants from her favorite entertainer, romance novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan). When Annie learns Paul has killed off her favorite literary protagonist, she wages warfare in an icy remote cabin where no captive's ankles are safe.

26. Eraserhead (1977)

Many of David Lynch 's films borrow horror elements, namely Blue Velvet , Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me , Lost Highway , and Mulholland Drive. But his debut, Eraserhead , is the director's most straightforward genre piece, which is a weird thing to say about a surreal freakout that rose to prominence as a go-to midnight movie. The highlight is the unnerving sound design, a fizzy collection of static, mewling, and urban oddities that heighten the story of a misfit (Jack Nance) caring for an unseemly baby in a dank apartment.

25. Don't Look Now (1973)

Grief and the passage of time are two of horror's consistent preoccupations, and Don't Look Now turns them into a spectral saga about a couple ( Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland ) who travel to Venice while mourning the death of their daughter. There, they see apparitions of a young girl in a striking red coat who evokes the child they've lost, leading them down an occult rabbit hole.

24. Wait Until Dark (1967)

Audrey Hepburn weaponized her sweet persona in this terrifying home-invasion thriller, playing a blind housewife who has to ward off criminals inside her Manhattan apartment. You're not sure she'll pull it off, which turns Wait Until Dark into a pins-and-needles wallop that uses dim, angular corners to sustain suspense.

23. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Call it hagsploitation if you want, but What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? remains one of the most delicious psychodramas ever made. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford milked their on-and-off rivalry to play sisters living out their troubled history as bitter adults. One is an unbalanced alcoholic (Davis) obsessed with her past as vaudeville's "Baby Jane" Hudson, the other a paraplegic (Crawford) whose own success came to a halt after a mysterious car accident. Together, they trudge through middle age in a mansion where Jane enacts various forms of phsychological terrorism. The pacing is a bit inconsistent, but the movie's demented kicks haven't dissipated.

22. The Fly (1986)

Several David Cronenberg movies could grace this list: Videodrome is his smartest, The Brood his most visceral, and Dead Ringers his most chilling. But The Fly is the ideal sweet spot between Cronenberg's potentially alienating outlandishness and his ability to craft a mainstream horror movie. The director's biggest hit brought what the schlocky 1958 original was missing: sophisticated effects and a giddy Jeff Goldblum . Chronicling an unconventional scientist whose teleportation experiment accidentally infuses him with the DNA of a housefly, the movie poignantly explores disease while never losing its verve.

21. The Blair Witch Project (1999)

No one would fault you for censuring the found-footage fever The Blair Witch Project induced. Most of the movie's imitators are mere gimmicks, whereas the OG was an ingenious feat of both filmmaking and marketing. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez took a Hi8 camcorder into the woods of Maryland, gave their actors limited instructions, and made off with an all-timer. It's also one of the most profitable movies in history: Shot and edited for less than $1 million, Myrick and Sánchez recouped their budget on a Sundance acquisition deal alone. Then came the gargantuan worldwide grosses ($248.6 million), buoyed by a PR campaign that left the public unsure whether what they were seeing was real or fictional. No found footage will top this once-in-a-lifetime achievement or its chilling final scene.

20. Carrie (1976)

The pig's blood. The hand popping up from the gravesite. "Breasts, Mama. They're called breasts." Carrie is famous for its enduring imagery, so it's easy to forget how both profound and humorous the Stephen King movie adaptation can be. Sissy Spacek earned her first Oscar nomination for the title role, playing a lonesome high schooler whose physical awakening sparks further extremism from her hyper-religious mother ( Piper Laurie , also Oscar-nommed). Beneath the mayhem is a story about a girl coming into her own and the terror that inspires in others. Brian de Palma has flirted with horror on other occasions ( Sisters , Blow Out , Body Double ), but this is the director's purest genre exercise.

19. Candyman (1992)

A precursor to Get Out , this supernatural slasher showpiece dared to tackle race in America mere months after Los Angeles erupted into riots over the brutality police inflicted on an unarmed Rodney King. Candyman links inner-city racism to 1800s slavery, following a graduate student ( Virginia Madsen ) as she investigates an urban legend about a Black ghoul ( Tony Todd ) who stalks the Chicago housing project where he was killed by a savage lynch mob. It's a tour de force that peppers its entertaining menace with a dose of intellectualism.

18. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

George Romero established the zombie-movie template with this scrappy black-and-white independent sleeper that's often considered an allegory about the atrocities of the Vietnam War. Influenced by the novel I Am Legend , Romero and co-writer John Russo made Night of the Living Dead for approximately $880,000 in today's money. The grainy aesthetics make it feel unsettlingly real. Even without sophisticated special effects, some spectators likened Living Dead 's violence to pornography, proving the film had hit a nerve.

17. Frankenstein (1931)

In the 1930s and '40s, Universal Pictures was Hollywood's signature horror house. Starting with 1931's Dracula and spanning The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Black Cat , and The Wolf Man , the studio invented creature features as we know them. The best of the bunch is Frankenstein , a Gothic adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel that cemented how we would forever imagine the titular scientist's laboratory monster (Boris Karloff). Many sequels, spin-offs, remakes, and parodies have followed, but none would shock like the sight of Dr. Frankenstein's ogre chucking a trusting young girl into a lake .

16. Peeping Tom (1960)

By the late '70s, everyone knew what a slasher movie was. But when Peeping Tom arrived in 1960, audiences weren't yet conditioned to expect the bloodthirst that would define the subgenre. People were shocked to see a movie told from the perspective of a voyeuristic serial killer (Carl Boehm) who records his murders with a hidden camera so he can watch them in the comfort of his London apartment. He's as much protagonist as he is antagonist, if only because he's such a detailed character, elevated by the gorgeous Eastmancolor—a single-strip alternative to laborious Technicolor—that director Michael Powell used.

15. Audition (1999)

Japanese horror traveled westward in the '90s and early 2000s, prompting American diehards to look beyond their own country for the genre's gutsiest work. Cure, Ringu, and Kairu are great, but Audition is the J-horror pinnacle, a deceptive slow burn with one of the most disturbing final acts committed to film. What starts as a simple premise about entitlement—with the help of his producer friend ( Jun Kunimura ), a widower ( Ryo Ishibashi ) stages mock movie-casting trials to find a new wife—turns into a revenge saga as meaningful as it is gnarly. When his chosen sweetheart ( Eihi Shiina ) flips the script using a syringe and a wire saw, Takashi Miike 's film becomes a disquisition on wounds of all kinds.

14. Suspiria (1977)

Four decades before Luca Guadagnino turned it into a slice of art-house philosophizing , Suspiria was a phantasmagoric caffeine drip. It's part slasher movie, part supernatural thriller, part body-horror whatsit about witches at a German dance academy. Directed by the outré Dario Argento , the unclassifiable gem is suffused in blood-red palettes and a pulsating score that prog-rock band Goblin recorded before cameras even rolled. Argento's original 35mm print was lost for many years before being mysteriously discovered at an abandoned Italian cinema in 2017, at which point the cult favorite enjoyed a renaissance, right in time for Gudagnino's update.

13. Jaws (1975)

Jaws has a lot of firsts to its name: the first proper summer blockbuster, Steven Spielberg 's first big hit, the first major movie shot on the ocean, and the first movie to cross $100 million at the box office. The ostinato that begins John Williams ' score—a long, ominous *daaaaah-dah—*still strikes fear into hearts everywhere, and sharks have been in desperate need of a rebranding ever since.

12. Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele has grown more ambitious with his later features, Us and Nope , but Get Out remains his crowning achievement. The sketch writer capitalized on his intuitive understanding of comedy to make a horror movie that's as funny as it is scary and as exciting as it is socially resonant. Few directors balance those poles seamlessly, and few in recent memory have added so much to our cultural vernacular (the Sunken Place, "I would have voted for Obama for a third term if I could"). In Daniel Kaluuya , Peele found a pitch-perfect proxy for his twisty tale about a Brooklyn photographer who tries to ignore many, many red flags while accompanying his white girlfriend ( Allison Williams ) on a trip to visit her wealthy family. Everybody wants to make their own Get Out , but no one has come close.

11. Poltergeist (1982)

Two years after Jack Torrance's " heeeere's Johnny ," little Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O'Rourke) turned away from her staticky television set and gave her own spring-chilling warning: "They're here." But who? Uncertainty made it frightening. The "who" turned out to be phantoms that move objects and bring trees to life, sucking Carol Anne into a portal requiring paranormal intervention. Directed by Tobe Hooper (with a crucial assist from Steven Spielberg ), Poltergeist —with its Oscar-nominated visual effects and affecting performances from JoBeth Williams , Craig T. Nelson , and Zelda Rubinstein—is an exemplar about the demons of suburbia.

10. Diabolique (1955)

This master class in suspense isn't based on a true story, but you can feel its DNA all over today's crime obsession, true and otherwise: the domestic discord, the vengeance scheme gone wrong, the what-did-they-get-themselves-into fallout. Hitchcock desperately wanted to make Diabolique , which is based on a novel by the French duo Boileau-Narcejac. Henri-Georges Clouzot got there first, casting his wife, Véra Clouzot, as a boarding-school proprietor who plots to kill her domineering husband (Paul Meurisse) with the help of his mistress (Simone Signoret). The movie's ghostly interiors foster a dread that builds toward a thrilling, unpredictable climax.

9. Scream (1996)

After a glorious run in the '70s and '80s, horror hit something of a downward slope in the '90s. Tropes had grown too shopworn, and narrative preoccupations too familiar for an era that let all sorts of mid-budget adult genres thrive. Leave it to Wes Craven to resuscitate what we'd lost. In Scream , he and writer Kevin Williamson dissected slasher clichés while serving them up wholesale. They created another indelible protagonist in Sidney Prescott ( Neve Campbell ), who took the reins after Drew Barrymore ’s bravura "do you like scary movies?" opening and—until a recent pay discrepancy —long ruled the still-effective Scream franchise.

8. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre transcended the exploitation at its core by being about something: a family whose working-class slaughterhouse jobs were rendered obsolete by industrialization. They just so happen to be murderous cannibals who gleefully hack away at a group of teenagers who stumble upon their remote farmhouse. Tobe Hooper ’s visceral movie, partly inspired by real-life serial killer Ed Gein, captured the chaotic ethos of the mid-'70s, all the way to the unforgettable image of bloody Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) hysterically laughing as she flees Leatherface’s rampage.

7. Psycho (1960)

Both the slasher genre and the crime-thriller genre are indebted to Psycho , the defining work of Alfred Hitchcock’s career. In committing Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel to film, Hitch made the villain his film’s most complex figure. Norman Bates (the ever-underrated Anthony Perkins) is a dissociative loner with mommy issues that are every bit as shocking as the early muder of marquee star Janet Leigh. Psycho changed moviegoing forever: Breaking with the era’s norms, audiences had to arrive on time, lest they miss crucial details. Beyond that, the movie mainlined violence and sexuality in ways that would influence Hollywood for decades.

6. Alien (1979)

Whether Ridley Scott ’s Alien should be classified as science fiction or horror feels irrelevant when the movie is so damn scary. Long hallways and clinical white interiors turn the Nostromo spacecraft into a haunted house, substituting ghosts for H.R. Giger-designed xenomorphs. The genre wasn’t known for fearless heroines before Sigourney Weaver showed up as Ellen Ripley, a generation-defining lion who outlived all the fussy men around her.

5. The Shining (1980)

The lore surrounding The Shining is as memorable as the movie itself. Stephen King didn’t think Stanley Kubrick successfully adapted his novel, nor did many critics when it first opened. Kubrick asked so much of Shelley Duvall on the set that she became overwhelmed and physically ill. And the plot itself prompted enough interpretations to merit an entire documentary that interpreted the interpretations. Altogether, that mythology only amplifies the film’s impact, making it even more layered. A hair-raising masterpiece about a hotel caretaker ( Jack Nicholson ) losing his mind over the course of one frigid winter, The Shining is a Rorschach test in horror form.

4. Halloween (1978)

Halloween ’s opening scene alone makes it immortal. In five resourceful minutes, John Carpenter crafts what could be a standalone short, using a seemingly unbroken first-person perspective shot filtered through the eyes of a 6-year-old boy who puts on a mask and kills his teenage sister. That boy, of course, was Michael Myers. Carpenter never intended for him to become a decades-spanning franchise baddie laden with overblown mythology. Halloween was a shoestring independent project: Everything feels and looks organic, creeping through fictional Haddonfield, Illinois, in ways that startled viewers anew. Horror continues to strive for the same unbridled pleasure—and for scores as influential—but few boogeymen live up. 

3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The Silence of the Lambs is the only horror movie that has won the Oscar for Best Picture, in part because it can't be confined to one label. In a sense, cannibalistic serial killers Hannibal Lecter ( Anthony Hopkins) and Buffalo Bill ( Ted Levine ) are window dressing for a psychological drama about an FBI trainee ( Jodie Foster ) wrestling with the demons of her childhood. But the artful complexities don't make those slithery scoundrels any less scary. In Jonathan Demme’s gifted hands, every character is a fully-formed human being—something that can’t be said of many horror villains. Everything builds toward the harrowing night-vision climax in which a breathy Clarice Starling confronts her fears in pitch black.

2. The Exorcist (1973)

Often hailed as the scariest movie ever made, The Exorcist is the rare auteur-driven hit whose datedness hasn’t dulled its shock. Part of that is owed to William Friedkin ’s chilly atmospherics, and part is because, at its core, this is a sympathetic story about a mother ( Ellen Burstyn ) fighting desperately to protect her daughter ( Linda Blair ). In addition to inspiring umpteen copycats that couldn’t measure up, The Exorcist prefigured the so-called Satanic panic that gripped America in the 1980s and '90s.

1. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

A landmark of feminist horror was made by a man who later confessed to raping a 13-year-old girl. Somehow, that contradiction doesn't dampen Rosemary’s Baby , a movie that continues to influence droves of horror filmmakers. Its story comes from an Ira Levin novel, and its effectiveness is owed as much to Mia Farrow ’s stirring performance as it is to Roman Polanski ’s slick direction. This is arty horror at its most mainstream, a studio movie full of odd idiosyncrasies unlikely to see a wide release today. But it’s every bit as perfect as it was in 1968, turning the story of a chic Manhattinite who rightfully suspects her neighbors (Sidney Blackmer and the great Ruth Gordon) are running a Satanic cult with the help of her husband (John Cassavetes) into a deep statement on womanhood.

Next up, browse our guide to the best Halloween movies on Netflix .

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Matthew Jacobs

By Savannah Walsh

By Chris Murphy

By Hadley Hall Meares

By Eric Lutz

By Joy Press

The 30 best horror movies that will haunt you long after the credits roll

From monsters and slashers to haunted hotels, here are the best horror movies to watch right now

The best horror movies of all time have gone on to influence the genre throughout the decades and right up to the present day, with legacies that span franchises, sequels, remakes, reboots, TV shows, and beyond. Enduring properties continue to spawn new material for horror fans old and new (sometimes whether we want it or not).

While many of the best horror movies in our list below have engendered plenty of spin-offs, there are certain titles that seem to be reaching their creepily long fingers into current pop culture more than others.

The prequel story to 1976’s The Omen is currently in cinemas with The First Omen , adding to the saga of Damien Thorn’s antichrist beyond its original three sequels and the 2006 remake. Alien is returning to our big screens too, continuing the ongoing world-building of the franchise with Alien: Romulus headed our way to fill a gap in the action between the first two movies. Halloween is still slashing its way through the ages as well; after becoming one of the most successful franchises in horror, a Rob Zombie remake double in the late noughties, and Blumhouse’s reboot trilogy, we’ve recently had announced a new TV show that will once again follow the murderous exploits of Michael Myers. 

The Jigsaw killer is still terrorizing his unsuspecting victims following the tenth installment of the Saw franchise released last year, and Saw XI upcoming in 2025. Slasher phenomenon Scream is also keeping the iconic killers in business, back on track after controversies and a stall in production, with a seventh movie on the horizon. The Necronomicon and its deadites aren’t taking a rest either; following an initial trilogy, the 2003 remake, the Ash vs Evil Dead TV show, and the recent smash hit Evil Dead Rise, there are now rumblings of yet another new movie joining the canon. Currently in pre-production is the latest film in the viral zombie series that follows 2002’s game-changing 28 Days Later; after its initial sequel 28 Weeks Later hit screens in 2007, this will be a long-awaited return from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland. We’ve been teased with a sequel to 2014’s indy hit It Follows, with David Robert Mitchell and Maika Monroe both returning, and a remake of 1999 break-out found footage classic The Blair Witch Project coming from Blumhouse and Lionsgate .

Who knows what out of our list of the best horror movies of all time will be picked up next to re-haunt our screens, but until we find out let’s take a look at where it all began…

Read more: New horror movies | Best Netflix horror movies | Best witch movies | Best haunted house movies | Best horror movie remakes | Best horror movie sequels | Best vampire movies | Best horror comedies | Best horror movies for scaredy cats | Best zombie movies | Cheap tricks horror movies use to scare you | Best Shudder movies | The best movie drinking games

• Want more horror movies? Try a free trial at Shudder today

30. Near Dark (1987)

The movie: Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s Southern Gothic vampire flick follows Caleb (Adrian Pasdar), a young man forced to join a travelling band of bloodsuckers after he’s bitten by one of their crew - his beautiful and brutal love interest, Mae (Jenny Wright). Bill Paxton, Lance Henrickson, and Jenette Goldstein add to the fray, with stellar performances across the board bringing the neck-tearing terror to life. It’s a tale of vampires as family, told in a neo-Western style that breathes fresh life (or death) into the ubiquitous subgenre and which has garnered a cult following over the years thanks to its striking visuals and set pieces.

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Why it’s scary: The unpredictability and savagery of the vampires in Near Dark leaves a lasting impression. These are blood-soaked killers on the rampage, killing to feed but also apparently for fun, and the group includes not only unhinged immortals as you’d expect them but also an unsettling vampire child in Joshua Miller’s Homer. It’s made very, terrifyingly clear that once the sun goes down there’s no escape, so you had better pray for daylight. 

29. Saw (2004)

The movie: It might have reignited the so-called torture porn genre with its (mostly) truly disgusting sequels but - and this is a huge 'but' - the original Saw is nowhere near as gross-gusting as you think it is and happens to be brilliant horror. Yes, the title is about an implement that a depraved killer suggests someone takes their leg off with rather than use a key to unlock a cuff, but Saw is actually remarkably restrained. The ideas at work here are significantly more grisly in your own mind than what you see on screen. Made on a shoestring budget by Leigh Whannell and James Wan, this tale of two men waking up in a bathroom, a corpse between them, is twisted but constantly intriguing. 

Why it’s scary: Put simply, we all play Jigsaw’s game along with our heroes. What would we be willing to do to save our own miserable lives? Would we be Amanda, ready to go into a stomach to find a key, or would we sit and wait for an ultra gruesome fate? Throw in the genuine terror of ‘Billy’, Jigsaw’s painted cycling doll, and one of the most terrifying extended jump-scare sequences potentially ever, and Saw still manages to pack a barbed-wire-covered punch. 

Read more: Here's how Saw became one of the biggest names in horror

28. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The movie: Just like a certain dungaree-clad possessed doll, Freddy Krueger fell firmly into killer clown territory as the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise evolved over the years. Sure, he’ll spray your organs all over the walls but you’ll die laughing, right? Look back at Wes Craven’s original movie, though, and Freddy isn’t to be trifled with. Our selective memories mean we often forget that this serial child killer’s burns come from him being incinerated by an angry mob of parents. Living eternally through their fear and guilt, Freddy becomes the ultimate boogeyman when he dons his favorite murder glove and goes after a whole new generation of Springwood spawn while they slumber.    

Why it’s scary: Bed is meant to be safe. Secure. Free of razor-sharp blades ready to plunge through your chest at any given moment... Robert Englund’s Freddy might be horrible to look at but it’s the very idea of falling asleep and never waking up again that’s the true terrifying kicker here. The desperation of Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy and her friends as they strive to stay awake to stay alive. No amount of caffeine or loud music can save you now, dreams are waiting and that’s where a maniac lurks menacingly in the dark to end your life. Yes, the whole movie is worth it alone for Johnny Depp’s spectacularly splattery death scene, but A Nightmare on Elm Street isn’t one to press the snooze button on. 

27. Evil Dead 2 (1987)

The movie: So many Evil Dead 2 questions, so little time. Is it a remake? Is it a sequel? Would it actually be physically possible to switch out your missing (presumed possessed) hand for a chainsaw with relative ease? Well, thankfully, Bruce Campbell himself has answered the first two and explained that Sam Raimi’s cabin-based comedy horror is, in fact, a 'requel.' Whereas the original Evil Dead followed a group of twenty-somethings to a holiday house from hell, the sequel revolves exclusively around Campbell’s Ash and his girlfriend Linda as they attempt to survive after playing a reading of the Necronomicon aloud. I'd be remiss if I didn't warn you about someone being beheaded with a garden tool post-reading.

Why it’s scary: Evil Dead 2 is perfect comedy horror. While it might not send you shrieking away from your screen, there’s a delightfully depraved viscerality to proceedings. Eyes in mouths, wall to wall gore, chainsaws feeling like the only option. It’s worth noting here, too, that if you do want something a little less punctuated with the word ‘groovy,’ then the Evil Dead remake from Fede Alvarez is truly something that can get under your skin. Where Evil Dead 2’s grim is played for much-appreciated laughs and you’ll embrace the physical effects, Alvarez’s reboot errs distinctly on the unnerving side, making them a perfect double bill. 

26. The Babadook (2014) 

The movie: On release, Jennifer Kent’s haunted pop-up book became a whole generation’s boogeyman seemingly overnight. "Have you seen The Babadook? I didn’t sleep all night," was hissed gleefully across offices and pubs. And for good reason. The Babadook is scary. The tale of a young grieving widow trying to look after her young son, this is a movie that sneaks under your skin and stays there. It also makes you ask yourself a lot of questions. What would you do with a pop-up book about a creepy black-clad figure in a top hat? Would you read it to your already traumatized young son? What if he begged? And how would you deal with the ‘haunting’ that follows…?  

Why it’s scary: Like the best horror movies on this list, the Babadook isn’t just about scaring its audience. The parallels between grief and depression are no accident and it’s interesting to note that one of the most disturbing sequences in the movie has nothing to do with a monster, but everything to do with a young mother losing control of her son while she tries to drive. On the surface, you might mistake The Babadook for something from The Conjuring universe but delve in and this is an intelligent, grueling fright-fest with a knowledge of exactly what you’re afraid of. Even if you didn’t know it when you sat down to watch. 

25. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

The movie: By 2011, we were having a self-referential horror crisis. Scream 4 was out and had an intro multiple layers deep, smashing the fourth wall into pieces with horror-ception as character after character quipped about the masked slasher genre. But where could comedy horror go next? How many times could a leading actress say “I saw this in a movie once” without us wanting to remove our own eyes and never watch horror again? Well, it turns out that there was still some life in the reanimated corpse yet.  The Cabin in the Woods manages to pin not just one horror trope but every single one, like someone armed with a laser sight and Final Destination 3’s nail gun. When this lot of attractive twenty-somethings head to the titular spot, they get significantly more than they bargained for. Oh, and Chris Hemsworth is one of them. Now you’re interested…  

Why it’s scary: Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s creation is no mere comedy escapade. I’m staying spoiler-free here because it’s too good, but just like the It movie and its monster’s multiple faces, The Cabin in the Woods will tackle plenty of your phobias. This is a creature feature like you’ve never seen before with gallons of gore and every monster you could ever imagine lurking in the dark. Like Buffy before it, this has the ability to make you laugh one minute and scream the next. Go in blind and this trip to the forest is a delightfully gory surprise. 

24. Paranormal Activity (2007)

The movie: While The Blair Witch Project revved found footage horror back into action like a haunted motorbike back in 1999, Paranormal Activity is where things got, err, dead serious. The first movie from now horror staple Oren Peli, it introduces us to Katie and Micah who have been experiencing some odd goings-on in their LA home. Ever the keen filmmaker, Micah sets up a camera at the foot of their bed to keep an eye on things while they sleep. The bumps in the night that follow are enough to make you never want to see another bed again, let alone lie on one.    

Why it's scary: The reason why Paranormal Activity is so nerve-janglingly effective is simple. Regardless of your favorite snoozing position or habits, we all lie down in a dark room, switch off, and become perfect prey for whatever lurks in the gloom. The now infamous shot from the bottom of Katie and Micah’s bed is a masterclass in slow-burn terror. Every simple extended shot as the clock ticks forward becomes an agonizingly tense eye test. What’s going to move? Was that a shadow? Lingering footage of nothing actually happening has never been this nail-biting as the days and nights roll on. The sequels have been relentless and a mixed bag in terms of scares but, like a slamming door in the middle of the night, the pure terror of the original Paranormal Activity just can’t be ignored.

23. Suspiria (1977)

The movie: Less a movie and more an assault on your senses, not to mention your stomach, Dario Argento’s Suspiria follows young dancer Suzy as she arrives at a famous ballet school. Unfortunately, she doesn’t heed the girl running in the other direction and finds herself surrounded by horrific murder as young women are picked off artfully one by one. Still a gory cut above the remake, Argento’s original faced multiple cuts around violence on release and was one of the films at the bloody center of the 1980s video nasty panic. It doesn’t take long to see why.    

Why it’s scary: Nothing about Suspiria is easy to experience. Every color forcing its way into your eyeballs like technicolor violence, every murder intent on you watching each moment in agonizing detail from angles only a madman would select, and a soundtrack so disturbing that you’ll feel like you might have accidentally found Hell’s playlist on Spotify. Depraved, stylish, and beautiful, Suspiria is an experience not to be missed. You don’t have to like it, but even after all these years, this is a true nightmare of a horror movie waiting patiently to sneak into your brain.  

Read more: The Suspiria remake is beautiful, brutal, and shocking

22. The Descent (2005)

The movie: If there was a dip in caving and bouldering trip attendance back in the mid-noughties, it’s probably the fault of Neil Marshall’s truly terrifying claustrophobic creature feature. Sarah’s friends want to make her feel better after the tragic death of her family so, instead of y’know, buying her some gin , they take her on a caving trip. Unfortunately, the movie wouldn’t be on this list if the six women were there to have a heartwarming, gently comedic adventure where they all grow as people. From the moment this lot lower themselves into the darkness below the Appalachian mountains, it’s very clear that getting back out into the light again isn’t going to be likely. 

Why it’s scary: The claustrophobia of The Descent is horribly real. Before you even discover what’s lurking down there - with a night vision reveal so spectacular that it goes down in jump scare history - this cave system is stone horror. The women are experienced explorers but every shot of squeezing through tiny spaces as rubble gently falls, every huge cavern only lit in one tiny corner by their flares, and every step they take further into the abyss is heart-racing stuff. And this isn’t an unlikable crew of barely fleshed out American teens, pun intended, these characters and their complex relationships truly matter. This is beautifully grueling, not to mention empowering, filmmaking. Witness the UK ending of this cult classic and you’ll need more than a cheeky G&T to cheer you up afterward. 

21. It Follows (2015) 

The movie: Infection in horror movies is spread in many ways. A bite here, an injection of a transformational virus there. Hell, we’ve even had watching a video tape and having a ghost in real need of some conditioner come and get you seven days later. To add a new spin to things, the grim plodding nasty of It Follows comes to get you if you literally, well, do the nasty. While a 21st Century horror about a sexually transmitted horrific curse sounds like it should be driven off a cliff, It Follows is a truly terrifying experience. The horror is real as teenager Jay is plagued by ghosts no one else can see, slowly, endlessly walking towards her unless she ‘passes it on’. Proving just how good Jay’s friends are, they club together to take on the supernatural entity. 

Why it’s scary: It Follows isn’t just scary. It’s chilling with jump scares that might mean you’ll need to remove yourself from your ceiling with a spatula. With an unsettlingly brilliant synth score from Disasterpiece - seriously, let’s put that in your headphones all day and see how it feels - Jay’s battle against those following her is shot in a way that never feels like you can settle. Like Jay, we can never relax, and while a scene might look peaceful, it never is. The most effective scares come from the relentlessness of these pursuers, dead-eyed, and unblinking with one mission.  It Follows is a modern masterpiece.

20. An American Werewolf in London (1981)

The movie: Comedy horror is nothing new. The best horror movies have been walking that bloodied tightrope between making us laugh and making us scream for decades. An American Werewolf in London, from legendary comedy director John Landis, is a masterclass in this particular circus trick. David and Jack, two American backpackers - don’t worry, it’ll be one in a minute - find themselves wandering the Yorkshire moors after dark, and instead of staying safe in The Slaughtered Lamb pub, decide to continue their journey. The locals even tell them they’ll be fine if they just stick to the path… 

Why it’s scary: When two become one and Jack brutally falls to a mysterious lupine predator on the moors, a bitten David is taken to hospital in London. Regardless of what this says about the NHS’s ability to deal with werewolf wounds, it means that when David sheds his human skin to become a creature of the night, there are plenty of iconic places for him to gorily slaughter his way through. Once you get over the first transformation sequence - a true CGI-free agonizing marvel of lengthening bones, hewing muscle, and popping joints - this human canine’s tensely directed jaunt through the London Underground will absolutely ruin your late-night travel plans. And, while you’ll get to stop to laugh at Jack’s zombified ghost repeatedly rocking up to tell David to end his own life, the horror here is very real as his relationship with his nurse girlfriend threatens to have the heart, quite literally, ripped out of it. A masterwork.

19. The Witch (2015)

The movie: Self-described as a 'New England folk tale' – although it’s more like a fairy tale from hell - Robert Eggers’ terrifying period drama follows a Puritan family after they are ejected from their colony. Screaming 'don’t do it' at the screen just doesn’t work as William (Ralph Ineson) takes his wife Katherine (Kate Dickie) and his five children into the deep, dark woods to survive alone on a farm. It’s not spoiling anything to say that it doesn’t go particularly well. Following Thomasin, the eldest daughter of the family played by Anya Taylor-Joy in her first credited role, we witness the tense unraveling of a dysfunctional family faced with the horrific prospect of an outside force staring out at them from the trees. 

Why it’s scary: It’s love or hate time with this divisive movie, but lose yourself to The Witch and suddenly everything is scary and you can’t put your shaking finger on exactly why. Every perfectly constructed shot of the family attempting to survive in the wilderness is cranked into fear-ville with a constantly surprising hellish score of strings and vocals. This means that when true horror eventually does hit after a torturous slow burn of tension, it’s like Eggers has masterfully wired you in for shocks and you didn’t notice. From the unnerving skip and shrill voices of the young twins to the monstrous goat known only as Black Phillip, there is unique horror lurking in The Witch that just doesn't go away. 

18. 28 Days Later (2002)

The movie: Let’s get the undead elephant out of the room first. Danny Boyle’s horror is a zombie movie. Yes, they can run, but it’s important to think of this horrible lot as part of the same family tree as Romero’s finest. Maybe they wouldn’t have Christmas dinner together but they’d at least send cards and maybe some gift cards for the necrotic kids. The important thing is, regardless of their speed, these zombies are still the destroyers of worlds. When Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up in a hospital bed - a lot like our friend Rick in The Walking Dead - he staggers out into an apocalyptic London that will never be the same again. 

Why it’s scary: 28 Days Later feels like a nightmare. Complete with a quite often heartbreaking as well as heart-pounding soundtrack, this feels like the truest glimpse at the modern British apocalypse as Jim and his fellow survivors quest for safety in Scotland. The Infected are truly horrifying, survivors are suspicious, and the fallen British landscape is an impressive feat of cinematography. Throw in excellent performances from everyone involved and 28 Days Later is a gory feast for the eyes and the heart. 

17. Candyman (1992)

The movie: The original Candyman film, based on horror writer Clive Barker’s short story The Forbidden, was a success upon release and subsequently gained a loyal following throughout the '90s thanks to its regular appearance at teen sleepovers as a VHS rental. Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) and her study buddy Bernadette Walsh (Kasi Lemmons) are researching folk tales and urban myths in Chicago, and land themselves in the midst of the Candyman legend - the only-too-real tale of a murdered enslaved man who haunts and terrorises the residents of a housing project with his hooked hand. Helen’s tenacity, slight white-saviour complex and likeness to Candyman’s old love see her become his new obsession… and then his victim.

Why it’s scary: Tony Todd’s titular Candyman lurks in the shadows and the subconscious of the project Cabrini-Green, and his imposing stature and deep lyrical voice catapulted him into modern horror monster cult status. The film is renowned for its beauty and its brutality, with evocative direction from Bernard Rose, a stunning score from Philip Glass, and visceral kills from its central character. Candyman is scary in all the best ways: it delivers gore and jump scares to test the most seasoned of horror fans, and the kind of tension that comes from a feeling of grim relentlessness and inevitability. In short, dare to say his name five times into a mirror and you and the people you love are doomed to die a horrible hooky death.

16. Get Out (2017)

The movie:  Mid-20's photographer Chris is driving out to rural New York to meet his girlfriend's parents for the first time, but he's a little nervous. "Do they know I'm Black?" he tentatively asks Rose, but she's having none of it: "My Dad would have voted for Obama a third time if he could have!". Phew! What could possibly go wrong? Everything. Everything can go wrong, Chris. Turn back now. This isn't just going to be slightly socially awkward. 

Why it's scary: Bubbling with resonant social commentary, layered with hard-hitting goosebumps, and sprinkled with uncompromising humor, Get Out is a modern horror masterpiece in every sense of the word. Not content with scaring you just for its 90-minute run-time, director Jordan Peele wants to draw your attention to the real frightening truths rooted deep in the identity politics of contemporary America, and his grand reveal is more horrific than any jump scare could ever hope to be. 

15. The Wicker Man (1973)

The movie: If the above image doesn’t strike a sense of menace into your heart, it’s time to mainline Robin Hardy’s folk horror directly into your eyes. No, The Wicker Man isn’t just about reaction gifs and mocking the bee-packed Nicolas Cage remake. If nothing else, watching Edward Woodward’s journey to Summerisle is essential background reading for the 21st Century spate of rural scary movies. The ideal accompaniment for the modern nastiness of Ari Aster’s Midsommar or Ben Wheatley’s Kill List, The Wickerman’s appeal is in its sheer terrifying simplicity. Policeman goes to island on the hunt for a missing girl. Policeman discovers all is not what it seems. Oh, and indeed, dear.  

Why it’s scary: It’s a horror message that we’re all quite used to by now but humans being the real monsters never seems to get old. The inhabitants of Summerisle might seem somewhat comedic and there are more than a few moments of genuine humor in here, but The Wicker Man is fuel for your trust issues. Why should you truly believe what anyone says?  How can you actually go to sleep in a world full of human beings? The fear of the unknown is potent as Woodward’s Neil Howie blunders into a world with its own set of rules and beliefs. And, if you have managed to somehow not know how it ends, the reveal is still absolutely devastating.  

14. Psycho (1960)

The movie: Alfred Hitchcock’s proto-slasher classic is now over 60 years old and still packs the sort of punch that elevates horror films into the realms of cinematic legend. In case you don’t know, Psycho follows Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) as she goes on the run after stealing a shedload of money from her boss, ending up at a motel run by the unassuming Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and his domineering mother. What unfolds is a shocking story of identity and murder, with some of the most iconic sequences in film history playing out in beautiful black and white under Hitchcock’s inspired watchful eye.

Why it’s scary: Well… there’s that shower scene for starters. Not to mention the sort of tension only Alfred Hitchcock - the Master of Suspense - can conjure in that certain way he did, making it look so easy but which was actually the kind of illusive genius that made him a household name. Scenes of voyeurism are characteristically played out for both Norman and the audience, creating an atmosphere of impending doom, and genuinely chilling moments of frenzied stabbing from the movie’s killer (no spoilers here, no matter how long it’s been around) make the blood run cold... especially down a certain famous plughole. Set all this to Bernard Herrmann’s sublime score of screeching strings, and you’ve got something truly special that’s not to be missed by any fan of horror or cinema. 

13. Halloween (1978)

The movie: Who'd have thought an old Star Trek mask could be so terrifying? Director John Carpenter created a modern classic when he gave his villain a blank William Shatner mask to wear while he stalks babysitters around the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois. The movie created another icon, too, in Jamie-Leigh Curtis, who'd become both a scream queen in her own right, and the template for all final girls to follow. Who cares if the first scene makes no sense? This is a movie that starts with a child-murdering his sister while wearing a clown mask and if that's not scary, you need your horror fan status revoked immediately.

Why it's scary: Pretty much the original stalk-and-slash, Halloween set standards that have rarely been matched. Carpenter composes his shots to keep you constantly guessing, blending both claustrophobia and fearful exposure, often at the same time, to create a deeply uneasy sense of vulnerability wherever you are and whatever is happening. Also, that soundtrack. Composed by Carpenter himself. There is a reason that pounding doom-synth is still the soundtrack for oppressive horror. As a great follow up too, get the 2018 sequel into your eyes. The new Halloween removes all those messy other sequels and does a perfect job of showing the real trauma of growing up as a victim of The Shape himself. 

Read more: The best Halloween movies rewatched, reviewed, and ranked

12. Alien (1979)

The movie: Arguably one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made also just happens to be one of the greatest horror movies too. It doesn't seem fair, does it? The original Alien from Ridley Scott sends the crew of the Nostromo to investigate a distress call from an abandoned alien spaceship as innocently as any gang of hormonal teenagers headed off to a remote cabin in the woods. And, just like those teenagers, not many of them are going to survive to tell the tale. Sigourney Weaver makes for the ultimate Final Girl here. 

Why it's scary: There's nowhere more horribly isolated than a spaceship light years away from home and Giger's alien is as terrifying a monster as you could wish for. The dread goes much deeper than teeth and claws though. This creature represents a multilayered, bottomless pit of psychosexual horror, its very form praying on a raft of primal terrors. Plus, the visual ambiguity of Scott's direction during the final act is an absolute masterclass in 'What's that in the shadows?' tension. Ignore the recent xenomorph-packed movies, turn off the lights and watch this and Aliens to reignite your passion for the true horror of Scott's vision. 

11. The Omen (1976)

The movie: At the sixth hour of the sixth day of the sixth month (get it?), a certain baby was born who would change the world forever. And not just within the world of The Omen. Damian is the ultimate evil kid - the spawn of Satan himself - and he’s here to wreak havoc on the lives of his ‘adoptive’ parents, the Thorns (played masterfully by Gregory Peck and Lee Remick) and everyone around them, including David Warner’s photographer-cum-buddy-cop Jennings. So exemplary is this creepy child that he has become the go-to reference for all little “Damians” going forward. 

Why it’s scary: Richard Donner’s The Omen is a masterclass in quality horror filmmaking but don’t let that put you off, horror fans - there’s plenty of shock and schlock to be had here too. As Damian unleashes his dastardly plans on the world around him, people are hanged, shot, decapitated, defenestrated, impaled, savaged by rottweilers and a sinister nanny - the lot. But perhaps what is most scary about this occult offering is the sense of inescapability that runs through the frightening deaths that pepper the film - if Damian has you in his sights, there’s very little you can do to outrun your fate.

10. Hereditary (2018)

The movie: Home is where the heart is. It’s also where the worst horror lives, hiding just beneath the surface of the perfect family life. A harrowed Toni Collette leads Ari Aster’s very first (!) feature film as the mother of a grieving family. The death of her own mother has sent shockwaves through their home and, to keep this review spoiler-free, the future isn’t looking exactly, errr, bright either. 

Why it’s scary: It’s fair to say that at no point does Hereditary feel safe. Nowhere during its two-hour run time do you feel like you can stop and take a breath, or even make a guess as to what’s coming next. Is this a supernatural movie? Is this an exercise in grief, similar to the Babadook? Is there even a difference between these two ideas? Every shot of Collette’s artist painstakingly creating miniature dioramas feels like a threat and every awkward conversation between the two teenagers of the family leaves a sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach. Why? There's no putting your finger on the exact reason. It might have split cinema audiences but Hereditary is a tour de force of modern horror that will leave you reeling long after its grueling third act. We’re just not going to tell you why .

Read more: Intelligent, emotional, and terrifying, Hereditary is near-perfect horror.

9. Scream (1996)

The movie: By the late '90s, horror was looking a little tired. The masked slasher trope was staggering along in a dire need of a cup of very strong espresso. What it got instead was Wes Craven’s Scream which, despite being parodied into Inception levels of postmodern irony since, reinvigorated the genre with its perfect blend of knowing comedy and scares. Neve Campbell, Rose McGowan, and Drew Barrymore as teenagers talking fluent horror movie while being picked off by a genre-obsessed serial killer? Oh, go on… Add in Courtney Cox - at the giddy heights of Friends fame - as intrepid news reporter Gale Weathers and Scream is a modern horror classic.

Why it’s scary: Just because something is self-referential doesn’t mean it can’t be truly terrifying. The Scream mask, based on Munch’s painting, might have been twisted into stoned bliss by Scary Movie , but it still manages to unsettle and thrill. Scream’s scares remain unpredictable too. Victims fall to this slasher’s knife with disturbing regularity and as we grow attached to our genuinely likable quipping heroes, the end game becomes all the more stressful as we wonder who will survive to the credits. Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street scare talents guarantee terror all the way to the end. Why don't you, liver alone , eh?

8. Jaws (1975)

The movie: Before Jurassic Park , before ET , and an eternity before the majority of the cast of Ready Player One were brought screaming into existence, there was Jaws, Steven Spielberg’s toothy horror. And yes, this is a horror movie. Jaws, one of the original blockbusters on account of the number of people literally queuing round the block only to flee the cinema in terror, is horrifying. It doesn’t matter that the shark looks a little ropey now when he gets up close and personal, the story of Amity Island’s gory summer season as Chief Brody desperately tries to keep swimmers out of the water is the stuff of horror legend. And, let’s face it, you’re already humming the score.    

Why it’s scary: The reason that Jaws haunts you long after the credits roll is simple. One viewing and this particularly vindictive shark can potentially ruin every trip to the seaside. Every gentle paddle as waves lap at your toes. Every skinny dip. Every precarious trip out onto the ocean wave on anything smaller than the Titanic. Spielberg doesn’t pull any punches either. Dogs die, children die, heads float out of sunken boats. No one is guaranteed to see the credits here, especially not the three men who head out to sea to slay the beast. With legendary performances and a monster that will never leave you, Jaws is the ultimate creature feature. 

Read more: 11 big dumb shark movies to guarantee you'll never go swimming again

7. Ringu (1998)

The movie: In the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, a rash of J-horror films came out of Japan to scare the bejeezus out of audiences, and perhaps none so notable or influential as Hideo Nakata’s Ringu. Journalist Reiko Asakawa and her ex-husband Ryuji investigate the mysterious death of Reiko’s niece, a highschooler who died one week after watching a notorious video tape linked to an urban legend that appears to be petrifyingly true and now threatens the couple’s son. They uncover the story of Sadako, a young girl with deadly psychic powers and her unfortunate demise, and seek to bring peace to her memory before it’s too late. The VHS technology may seem a little dated in the age of digital streaming, but there’s nothing out-of-touch about the fear generated by Nakata’s incendiary horror filmmaking.

Why it’s scary: Oh we don’t know. Maybe there’s nothing scary about the relentless ringing of a telephone that means you’ve only got seven days to live, haunted video tapes showing surreal footage that leads to people being literally terrified to death, the idea that you have to pass on the curse to someone else or die, or lank black haired ghost girls crawling their way out of deserted wells… maybe it’s just us.  

6. The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The movie: Ever wondered why no one’s out camping in the woods these days? It’s not that millennials really need to be within one hundred feet of a charging point at all times, it’s just the fact that a full generation of us saw The Blair Witch Project in our early teens and we just really like to sleep inside now. This now almost mythical, found footage horror follows three young documentary makers as they journey to Burkittsville in Maryland. Heather, Mike, and Josh start off interviewing the locals about the local legend of The Blair Witch, a particularly nasty tale you’d hope was just to keep children eating their veggies, before heading into the woods where the witch apparently resides. Given that all that’s ever been found are these tapes, there's not exactly a happy ending. 

Why it’s scary: What’s waiting for Heather and co in the woods is terrifying enough, as strange noises drift through the trees and they descend into a directionless spiral of madness and anger, but what’s equally scary about The Blair Witch Project is the perfect blurring of reality and fiction. This is Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, and Joshua Leonard. These actors were sent out into the woods and their horrifying ordeal is thanks to the filmmaker's insistence on mentally torturing them every night. Released in 1999 and reigniting the popularity of the now horror staple found footage genre, the movie’s marketing even touted it as real. Every wobbly shot, every scream, and every stick figure that the three find are there to tell your brain that these people really went into the woods and never came back. Oh, and the ending is like being punched in the gut by nightmares. 

5. The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

The movie: Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins star in this horror - yes horror - film about a young FBI agent hunting serial killer Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) and the incarcerated cannibal brought on to assist her. Jonathan Demme’s film won ‘the big five’ prizes at that year’s Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay, and gave licence to an audience who wouldn’t normally gravitate towards horror movies to delve into the scary underbelly of cinema’s darker side. In turn, novelist Robert Harris’ character of Hannibal Lector became one of film’s most recognisable villains under the assured - and deliciously camp - steer of Hopkins’ teeth-gnashing performance, and we were given one of our strongest and most compelling female leads with Foster’s Clarice Starling.

Why it’s scary: Moments of sickening violence intersperse with strong procedural storytelling to create a truly nail biting experience. Lector is a man beyond us - a genius who can outthink, outfight and outrun those entrusted with keeping us safe. Add in Levine’s Buffalo Bill, a beast of a man intent on making himself a human suit, and characters we care about not becoming bloated corpses with their skin flayed off, and you’ve got a serial killer shocker for the ages. Not to mention that to this day, a denouement in a pitch black basement, soundtracked by the desperate cries of a kidnapped woman, is one of the most terror-stricken - and cathartic - sequences in horror cinema. 

4. The Shining (1980)

The movie: Even if you haven’t watched Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, you’ll know of The Shining. You’ll know Jack Nicholson’s (apparently ad-libbed) "Heeeeeeeere’s Johnny" and you might even be aware that if you’re handed the keys to room 237 in a hotel, you might want to switch it for another suite. But what if you haven’t? What if you have been snowed up in a mysterious hotel with only hedge animals for company? Well, The Shining follows a man and his family as he takes on the role of winter caretaker at a resort hotel known as The Overlook. Given that this is a Stephen King adaptation (albeit one that that horror author hates so much that he made his own movie), the winter months don’t go well. The Overlook Hotel, it turns out, doesn’t really like people.

Why it’s scary: There's a reason that this is the top of this veritable pile of screams. The Shining feels evil. From Jack Nicholson’s deranged performance as a man descending into murderous insanity to Kubrick’s relentless direction as we hypnotically follow Danny navigating the hotel corridors on his trike, this is a movie that never lets you feel safe. Like Hereditary earlier in this list, The Shining is like being driven by a drunk mad man. What’s coming next? Lifts of blood? Chopped up little girls? The terror that lurks in the bath of room 237? This is not a horror movie made of boo scares or cheap tricks, Kubrick’s film is a lurking, dangerous beast that stays with you long after your TV has gone dark. 

3. The Thing (1982)

The movie: Perhaps you’ve been buried in snow and have missed John Carpenter’s ultimate creature feature. Entirely understandable. Why don’t you come closer to the fire and defrost? The title might sound hokey but The Thing remains one of the most gloriously splattery and tense horrors of all time as a group of Americans at an Antarctic research station - including Kurt Russell’s R.J MacReady - take on an alien, well, thing that infects blood . It might start off taking out the canine companions,  but it really doesn’t stop there.

Why it’s scary: The Thing is a movie of physicality. There’s intense paranoia and horror sprinkled in as the party begins to fall apart as the infection spreads but it’s the very real, oh-so-touchable nature of the nasties at work here that’s so disturbing. The practical effects - the responsibility of a young Rob Bottin and uncredited Stan Winston - are the true stars as arms are eaten by chests, decapitated heads sprout legs, and bodies are elongated and stretched. The macabre vision of these murderous monsters at work is never anything less than true nightmare fuel.

2. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

The movie: Some movie titles are vague, letting you gradually work out their meaning as the narrative slowly unfurls in front of your eyes like a delicate flower in tea. Then there’s Tobe Hooper’s grim, sweaty horror movie. There is nothing delicate here. Its titular weapon needs to be sharp but The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a blunt instrument of horror. This is a tour de force of violence as five young people leave the safety of the world behind and journey into dusty Americana. What they find in one house when they innocently enter looking for gas is such death and depravity that the movie is still, decades on, a disturbing endurance test. 

Why it’s scary: The funny - and there is humor here, it’s just not there on the first watch - thing about the Texas Chain Saw Massacre is that there’s actually very little blood. There’s the iconic Leatherface, inspired by Ed Gein in his fleshy face covering, and a death scene involving a hook that will make you look down and check your body is still there, but very little viscera. Gore is something that your brain mentally splashes everywhere to try and deal with the horror on screen here, to cope with the screams of pure terror and iconic disturbing soundtrack. It’s suffered plenty of clones over the years, not to mention a Michael Bay-produced glossy cash cow remake, but nothing can replicate the sheer desperation and violent honesty of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It would almost be dangerous to try.  

Read more: The real Texas Chain Saw Massacre – how a '50s grave-robber inspired a horror classic

1. The Exorcist (1973)

The movie: And here we are. It almost feels predictable that William Friedkin’s masterpiece, now in its 50th year, is still looming near the top of so many horror features. But watch The Exorcist and you’ll understand why. This is the tale of Regan, the daughter of a successful movie actress who one day occupies herself in the basement by playing with an ouija board. If you have ever wondered why your parents don’t want you playing with this innocuous-looking toy, a young Linda Blair probably has something to do with it. Using the ouija board as gateway, an unwelcome guest takes root in the little girl and the rest, as the titular exorcist arrives, is cinema history. 

Why it’s scary: Much like The Shining, The Exorcist is not safe. Unpredictable, visceral, and primeval, this is a movie based on the simplest of premises but even in its happiest moments, is absolutely anxiety-inducing. With a now near-mythical production, William Friedkin’s relentlessness for ‘authenticity’ meant his actors were frozen in a refrigerated bedroom, physically pulled across sets to replicate the demon’s physical prowess, and, of course, splattered with warm pea soup. The result is a horror movie that you’ll probably never say you actively enjoy, but will find yourself rewatching, just to feel the sheer terror of Friedkin’s battle of good vs evil in all its disturbing glory once again.

Louise Blain is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in gaming, technology, and entertainment. She is the presenter of BBC Radio 3’s monthly Sound of Gaming show and has a weekly consumer tech slot on BBC Radio Scotland. She can also be found on BBC Radio 4, BBC Five Live, Netflix UK's YouTube Channel, and on The Evolution of Horror podcast. As well as her work on GamesRadar, Louise writes for NME, T3, and TechRadar. When she’s not working, you can probably find her watching horror movies or playing an Assassin’s Creed game and getting distracted by Photo Mode. 

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Best Horror Movies

To make it easier for all you horror fans, when you want to find the best horror movies and series, we’ve created a guide sorted by our reviews. Enjoy! 

Obviously, we want to highlight the best horror movies and series. However, sometimes you’ve seen them all or you want something more laid-back.

Here’s how to find your next movie or show based on Heaven of Horror’s reviews:

5 or 4 stars review (or rather, blood spatters) is a  definite  recommendation to watch.

3 stars usually mean it’s very entertaining, but once is probably enough. It’s a safe bet if you want to be entertained and need nothing more.

2 stars are for titles that show definite potential and have some winning qualities, which should suit some viewers but might not be for everyone.

1 star isn’t something we recommend*.

Click on the number of stars below  and find out which horror movie or series to watch…

Best Horror Titles:

Decent horror titles:, worst horror titles:.

*We do have to admit that any movie or series receiving just 1 star  might be worth watching. But for different reasons. As in; You will not enjoy this as a horror title, but you’ll be inspired that they managed to even make a movie or show. You might even be left wondering if you shouldn’t make your own movie.

Who knows, maybe you’ll end up making one of the best horror movies and find it here on our list.

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“Pretty Little Liars: Summer School” Review – A Hot Girl Summer Turned Final Girl Summer

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‘Infested’ Review – One of the Best Spiders Attack Horror Movies in Years

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Stephen king offers praise for skin-crawling horror movie with 96% rt score.

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Every Horror Movie Releasing In 2024

10 famous directors who dislike movies that everyone else loves, 10 harsh realities of rewatching the back to the future trilogy.

• Stephen King praises Infested for being " scary, gross, well made " in a glowing review on X.
• Infested received overwhelmingly positive reviews for delivering compelling thrills and developing human characters.
• The spider-centric horror film has a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Stephen King offers praise for Infested , a new skin-crawling horror movie with a near-perfect 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics. Directed by Sébastien Vaniček in his feature debut, with a script he co-wrote with Florent Bernard, the French-language horror film (originally titled Vermines ) follows the residents of an apartment building as they battle against an army of deadly, rapidly reproducing spiders . The cast includes Théo Christine ( Suprêmes ), Finnegan Oldfield ( Final Cut ), Jérôme Niel ( Smoking Causes Coughing ), Sofia Lesaffre ( Les Misérables ), and Lisa Nyarko.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, King shared a glowing review for Infested , calling it " scary, gross " and " well made ." Read his full post below:

King's full post reads, " INFESTED (Shudder): Spiders, some as big as puppies, overrun a French apartment building. Scary, gross, well made. (French, with English subtitles) ."

Infested in streaming on Shudder and AMC+.

Why Infested Reviews Are So Positive

It's an effective creature feature with well-developed characters.

Critics are calling it a compelling creature feature that not only delivers skin-crawling thrills, but also captivates audiences with its sleek presentation and thought-provoking elements...

King isn't the only one praising the new spider-centric horror film, as Infested 's reviews have been overwhelmingly positive . Critics are calling it a compelling creature feature that not only delivers skin-crawling thrills, but also captivates audiences with its sleek presentation and thought-provoking elements, inviting them into its intricately woven web full of suspense and intrigue. A few of the reviews also praise how well the human characters are developed, which makes for a compelling human narrative at its core.

Due to the overwhelmingly positive reception from critics, Infested has a near-perfect 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes with 47 reviews tallied. On the review-aggregation site, the film's Critics Consensus calls it " a chillingly effective creature feature with more on its mind than simple creepy-crawlies " that " draws viewers into its web with stylish efficiency ." The site's users also consider it to be an effective creature feature, with an 89% audience score, albeit on fewer than 50 ratings.

2024's horror movies include sequels like Beetlejuice 2 and MaXXXine and new movies by Jordan Peele and M. Night Shyamalan. Here's when they release.

For those looking for similar creature features, Infested comes at a time when the spider-centric horror film is seeing a bit of a resurgence with Sting and other titles. Released in theaters on April 12, Sting follows a 12-year-old girl whose pet spider rapidly transforms into a giant flesh-eating monster. Sting 's reviews have been similarly positive, praising it as an effective creature feature, though it may not linger in the memory for as long as Infested . Nevertheless, the spider-centric horror film is alive and well, and King and critics are loving it.

Sting is showing in select theaters.

What Else Has Stephen King Recently Recommended?

Baby reindeer, civil war & more.

Around the same time he offered praise for Infested , King wrote a lengthy review of Baby Reindeer calling it " one of the best things [he's] ever seen ."

On Twitter/X, King frequently recommends and reviews films and TV shows, many of which are horror, though some also fall outside his preferred genre. Around the same time he offered praise for Infested , King wrote a lengthy review of Baby Reindeer, calling it " one of the best things [he's] ever seen ." Though Netflix's latest hit series may not be categorized as horror, it certainly contains elements of a psychological thriller.

Another one of King's recent recommendations is Alex Garland's Civil War , which is also not technically horror, though it certainly depicts a horrifying vision of what a modern civil war would look like in the United States. Shortly before its release in theaters, King shared a glowing Civil War review , calling it a " fantastic movie " with " terrific pacing " and " all muscle and no fat ." Considering Civil War was designed to be divisive and unsettling, it has received slightly mixed, but still strong reviews, achieving an 81% score on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics.

On X, King has shared positive reviews for a few recent TV shows – Netflix's The Tourist and Apple TV's Constellation . In his review of The Tourist , King called the first episode " flat-out terrific, exciting, suspenseful " and " mysterious ." In his Constellation review , King called the first two episodes " just about perfect--nail-biting and believable ," though he questioned " whether or not it can stick the landing ."

For those interested in his recent horror recommendations, King " loved " Night Swim , even though the film was eviscerated by critics, resulting in an abysmal 22% score on Rotten Tomatoes. For a Blumhouse horror movie, its box office was also deemed a disappointment. In his Night Swim review , King said it was " like a lost, low-budget Steven Spielberg film from Spielberg's early period, after DUEL but before JAWS ."

Night Swim is streaming in Peacock.

In September 2023, King sang the praises of the sci-fi horror film No One Will Save You , calling it " brilliant, daring, involving, scary " and " truly unique. " In his No One Will Save You review , King said one would " have to go back over 60 years, to a TWILIGHT ZONE episode called 'The Invaders,' to find anything remotely like it ." No One Will Save You was sent straight to streaming on Hulu, though it did receive positive reviews from critics. King frequently recommends movies and TV shows on X, many of which have often been overlooked, so there's no telling what he might watch and review next after Infested .

Source: Stephen King /X/Twitter

• Infested (2024)

Director Sébastien Vanicek makes his feature film debut with a story that follows Kaleb, who is about to turn 30 and has never been lonelier. He’s fighting with his sister over a matter of inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a bazaar and brings it back to his flat. It only takes a moment for it to escape and reproduce, turning the whole place into a dreadful web trap. Starring Théo Christine ( Suprêmes ), Finnegan Oldfield ( Final Cut ), Jérôme Niel ( Smoking Causes Coughing ), Sofia Lesaffre ( Les Misérables ) and Lisa Nyarko.

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Critic’s Pick

‘I Saw the TV Glow’ Review: How We Used to Escape

An outstanding not-quite-horror film about being a fan just before the internet took over.

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By Alissa Wilkinson

We’ve forgotten how hard being a fan used to be. You had to labor at it in multiple media: scouring listings and keeping tabs on schedules, reading books of lore and compiling episode recaps. Pop culture was built around presence, real physical presence: To see the latest episode of “The X-Files” or “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” you had to show up at your TV when it aired. If you missed a key episode, you were out of luck, unless someone remembered to tape it for you, at least until it went into reruns or syndication. And if your taste ran to the niche, discovering that someone else loved the same thing you loved felt revelatory, like you’d stumbled upon a person who spoke a language only you could understand.

The social internet, algorithms and streaming blew most of this up, shoving our favorites at us and making them available all the time. Some of the magic disappeared as well, the uncanny immersive quality. You can bury yourself in a binge-watch for a day or a week, but then it’s over, no long in-between stretches to hash out each episode. Sustaining a relationship with the world a show built is still possible; connecting with others over your shared love is preposterously easy. Something, however, has been lost.

“I Saw the TV Glow” captures this obsessive, anticipatory submersion in a long-form weekly TV show, to the point where it ignites the same feeling. A lot of movies tell you stories, but the films of the writer and director Jane Schoenbrun evoke them; to borrow a term, they’re a vibe. Like “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair,” Schoenbrun’s previous film, this one isn’t quite horror, but it gives you the same kind of scalp crawl. In this case I think it’s the mark of recognition, of feeling a tug at your subconscious. It’s oddly hard to put into words.

“We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” was the tale of a lonely teenager living in the oddness of our internet era, where intimacy is free and plentiful and confusing and could be dangerous, or could be banal. “I Saw the TV Glow” dials that same tone back a generation, centering on a couple of lonely teenagers who find one another through a show called “The Pink Opaque.” It’s a mash-up show, instantly recognizable in its own way: It airs on something called the Young Adult Network (clearly a stand-in for The WB, the teen-focused TV network that turned into The CW) at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday nights, a time reserved for shows barely hanging on by a thread. The opening credits we glimpse suggest the show is “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”-adjacent (it even uses the same typeface), but with elements reminiscent of “The X-Files” and “Twin Peaks” — in all these cases, not exactly horror, but not quite anything else. (There’s also a band in the show, one that apparently performs a song in every episode, which plays expertly tuned mid-90s teen-show music; the musicians are Phoebe Bridgers and Haley Dahl.)

“I Saw the TV Glow” is set in 1996, right at the moment when entertainment was about to dive over the cliff and become what media theorists sometimes refer to as convergence culture . Back then, TV was still a few years away from being participatory for most youthful viewers. The internet wasn’t mature enough yet for the majority of teens to really haunt it, and those who did were posting on the kinds of message boards and websites that would eventually come to define both the TV and the fan-driven internet of the early aughts. (“The X-Files,” for instance, which premiered in 1993, was one of the first shows with a developed online fandom; they communicated through a Usenet newsgroup.) If you knew how to find message boards and chat rooms, you might have bonded with other fans. But if you were just a kid at home in the suburbs, you were most likely planning your schedule around episodes.

The story of “I Saw the TV Glow” mostly belongs to Owen (played as a seventh grader by Ian Foreman, and then from high school up by Justice Smith). He is nervous and anxious and sheltered, but he catches an ad for an episode of “The Pink Opaque.” He doesn’t know what it is, but he’s obsessed. One day, waiting for his parents to finish voting in the school cafeteria, he wanders into a room and finds Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) reading a book that recaps episodes of the show. Maddy explains the show to Owen: It’s about two girls, Tara (Lindsey Jordan, the musician Snail Mail) and Isabel (Helena Howard), who meet at camp and discover they share a connection that enables them to fight that most stalwart trope of ’90s TV dramas: the Monster of the Week. There’s a Big Bad in their world, too — the mysterious Man in the Moon named Mr. Melancholy. Owen is even more consumed.

Owen’s father won’t let him stay up to watch the show, but Maddy and Owen concoct a way to make it happen. This is where “I Saw the TV Glow” starts to leave the realm of straightforward plot and slip-slide into some nether region at the intersection of fantasy, nostalgia, fear and longing. Escapism has always belonged to children’s literature, fantastical other worlds into which we might leave the ordinary behind and discover ourselves special. Owen and Maddy are trapped in their own worlds, but “The Pink Opaque” gives them the sense that a parallel dimension might be where they really belong.

There’s a heartbreak at the center of this film that made me gasp to see it, an acknowledgment that sometimes it’s better not to go back to what we once loved because now, in the cold light of adulthood, it all looks very different. There are other layers, too: implications that awakenings around gender dysphoria and sexuality are tied up in the teens’ obsession with the show, though they barely understand. Even more broadly, the immense pain of pushing down your true self, and the brittle breaking of that shell, is woven throughout.

But what’s most effective, and staggering, is Schoenbrun’s storytelling, which weaves together half-remembered childhood elements in the way they might turn up in a nightmare, weaving in sounds and lights and colors and the gloriously inexplicable. Teenage malaise, untreated, can sour into an adult psychic prison; the TV is just one way that we escape.

I Saw the TV Glow Rated PG-13 for some really trippy stuff. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. In theaters.

Alissa Wilkinson is a Times movie critic. She’s been writing about movies since 2005. More about Alissa Wilkinson

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Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, scary movie.

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I recently published a book about movies I hated, and people have been asking me which reviews are harder to write--those about great movies, or those about terrible ones. The answer is neither. The most unreviewable movies are those belonging to the spoof genre--movies like " Airplane! " and " The Naked Gun " and all the countless spin-offs and retreads of the same basic idea.

"Scary Movie" is a film in that tradition: A raucous, satirical attack on slasher movies, teenage horror movies and " The Matrix ." I saw the movie, I laughed, I took notes, and now I am at a loss to write the review. All of the usual critical categories and strategies collapse in the face of a film like this.

Shall I discuss the plot? There is none, really--only a flimsy clothesline to link some of the gags. The characters? They are all types or targets, not people. The dialogue? You can't review the dialogue in the original movies (like " I Know What You Did Last Summer ") because it is mindlessly functional, serving only to advance the plot. How can you discuss the satire, except to observe it is more mindless? (Some of the dialogue, indeed, seems lifted bodily from the earlier films and rotated slightly in the direction of satire.) Faced with a dilemma like this, the experienced critic falls back on a reliable ploy. He gives away some of the best jokes and punch lines. He's like a buddy who has just walked out of a movie and tells you the funny stuff before you walk in.

I am tempted. I fight the impulse to tell you that when a character is asked for the name of a favorite scary movie, the answer is " Kazaam ." That some of the scenes take place at B. A. Corpse High School. That the teenagers in the movie are played mostly by actors in their late 20s and 30s--and that the movie comments on this. That the movie's virgin has a certificate to prove it. That the invaluable Carmen Electra plays a character not coincidentally named Drew.

The movie takes a shotgun approach to horror and slasher movies, but if it has a single target, that would be Kevin Williamson , screenwriter of " Scream " and co-inventor of the self-aware slasher subgenre. There is a sense in which "Scary Movie" is doing the same sort of self-referential humor as "Scream," since it is not only directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans , co-written by Shawn and Marlon Wayans (among others), and starring several Wayanses, but makes fun of various Wayans trademarks, especially the obligatory homophobic jokes. (There's a scene involving a closeted jock who can make love to his girlfriend only when she's wearing football shoulderpads.) The movie also features the wild exaggeration of stereotypical African-American behavior, which is another Wayans specialty. Consider the scene where Regina Hall plays a black woman at " Shakespeare in Love ," who shouts "That ain't no man!" when Gwyneth Paltrow is on the screen, videotapes the movie from her seat and carries on a cell phone conversation. Funny, though; now that I've written about it, I realize this is not intended to be a satire of African-American behavior, but an attack on the behavior of countless moviegoers, and Wayans has simply used Regina Hall as an example of non-traditional casting. Or maybe not.

The bottom line in reviewing a movie like this is, does it work? Is it funny? Yes, it is. Not funny with the shocking impact of "Airplane!," which had the advantage of breaking new ground. But also not a tired wheeze like some of the lesser and later Leslie Nielsen films. To get your money's worth, you need to be familiar with the various teenage horror franchises, and if you are, "Scary Movie" delivers the goods.

Note: The original title of "Scary Movie" was "Scream If You Know What I Did Last Halloween." The original title of "Scream" was "Scary Movie." Still available: "I Still Know What You Did the Summer Before Last."

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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‘Tarot’ Review: A Cursed Card Game Leaves No Horror Cliché Unturned

Co-directors Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg deliver a 'Final Destination' knockoff neutered of its intensity — and its creativity.

By Todd Gilchrist

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Set in a world where every door creaks and there isn’t a single well-lit location, “ Tarot ” is little more than a clearinghouse of horror clichés.

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Grief-stricken, the remaining survivors gather to make sense of the loss, but after a second friend passes away, Haley, Paxton and the rest begin to suspect that the deaths aren’t pure coincidence. When they cross-reference the events that led their friends to their doom, Haley identifies that the tarot readings she gave directly delineated their fates — which tells her that the rest of them will also die in the near future. As they attempt to decode the cryptic sequences she described, ghostly figures begin to appear, threatening and chasing them into life-threatening situations. They eventually enlist the help of an occult expert, Ms. Astryn (Olwen Fouéré), who informs the quickly-shrinking group that they must find a way to break the curse that’s been placed on them.

The explanation for the cursed deck, and for these teens to fall victim to it, makes basic (if cinematic) sense: an astrologer (Suncica Milanovic) exacts revenge for a personal betrayal over centuries, and the present-day kids are too young and dumb not to pay attention to an actual warning sign. But other than “the Catskills” as the site of the haunted mansion, where do these college students live? Not only are their supposed dorms completely empty of other people (roommates are spoken about but never seen, and background extras are nonexistent), but they’re all creaky, dark and run-down.

The traditional visual language of horror movies has long since become boilerplate, but what the better of the genre’s filmmakers know, or hopefully learn, is that creating an uninterrupted dour and “scary” atmosphere exerts a flattening effect on the audience. Here, there’s no relief from the ambient menace of supernatural forces, and as a result, watching these characters walk yet again into a shadow-filled hallway becomes not increasingly suspenseful but tedious.

The other particularly overused tool in Cohen and Halberg’s arsenal is the extremely loud and sudden noise — about half of the most intense moments in the film pay off because the audience is startled, not frightened. Jump scares can be effective if they’re deployed sparingly, but here, they feel too often like a Band-Aid for lackluster storytelling or camera angles, the latter of which too frequently feature mysterious figures rushing around in the space between the characters and the camera.

It would be easy to blame the film’s teen-friendly rating for its underwhelming impact, especially when each character’s death feels neutered of viscera; even hit by a subway train or sawed into pieces, the blood and violence is always disembodied. But last year’s “The Boogeyman” was also PG-13, and even if it didn’t quite have the oomph of some of its more grown-up counterparts, it never made viewers feel like the film was wearing training wheels.

Despite the film’s stylistic limitations, a freshly scrubbed young adult cast sells more of its ideas than would otherwise work. Playing the film’s resident astrology aficionado, Slater is saddled with some truly howl-worthy dialogue, but she almost makes viewers believe that Haley is as haunted as her loss-filled backstory suggests. And Adain Bradley, playing Haley’s recent ex-boyfriend Grant, makes a meal out of his character’s hunky, well-meaning obliviousness. Batalon, meanwhile, probably needs to find a role a bit further away from his “Spider-Man” sidekick Ned Leeds (maybe something non-comedic) than the motor-mouthed nerd, Paxton, but he exudes a similar charm as the film’s provider of comic relief.

Reviewed at Sony Pictures Studios, Los Angeles, May 2, 2024. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 92 MIN.

• Production: A Screen Gems release and presentation of an Alloy Entertainment production, in association with Ground Control. Producers: Leslie Morgenstein, Elysa Koplovitz Dutton, Scott Glassgold. Executive producers: Andrew Pfeffer, Scott Strauss, Anna Halberg, Spenser Cohen
• Crew: Directors: Spenser Cohen, Anna Halburg. Screenplay: Spenser Cohen, Anna Halburg, based on "Horrorscope" by Nicholas Adams. Camera: Elie Smolkin. Editor: Tom Elkins. Music: Joseph Bishara.
• With: Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley, Avantika, Wolfgang Novogratz, Humberly González, Larsen Thompson, Jacob Batalon.
• Music By: Joseph Bishara

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‘I Saw the TV Glow’ Review: Moody, Interesting, No Fun

This movie is clever, cool, and a slog. its world is nightmarish not in the way that most horror movies are but in a way that resembles an actual nightmare..

Sometimes calling a film “challenging” is code for “I don’t like it, but I don’t want to sound stupid or uncool for not liking it.” My challenge with I Saw the TV Glow is that almost everything I dislike about it is done on purpose, and effectively. As a piece of art, I can’t deny that it works. Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun transported me to a realm of deep, humming, ambient despair, and I did not enjoy my time there. I Saw the TV Glow is a “mood,” an atmospheric journey with loads of bixsexual neon lighting and a very hip soundtrack. It’s received loads of praise from other critics, which I will not directly contradict. But I found I Saw the TV Glow to be an unforgiving slog, a film that occasionally piqued my interest but ultimately left me disappointed.

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This horror-infused coming of age story opens in the mid-1990s when quiet kid Owen ( Ian Foreman as a preteen, Justice Smith as a teenager and adult) meets gloomy older kid Maddie ( Brigette Lundy-Paine ). Maddie is a die-hard fan of The Pink Opaque , a horror-adventure show about a pair of telepathically-linked suburban teens who help each other fight demons. But The Pink Opaque seems to be more than just an escape from their dreary home lives and abusive fathers. There’s a strange connection between the show and its viewers. Is the show becoming a part of them, or are they part of the show?

The Pink Opaque is two parts Buffy the Vampire Slayer , one part Are You Afraid of the Dark? and one part Twin Peaks , a show with a clever conceptual hook presented in an unnerving lo-fi idiom. This is also a fair description of the film it’s nested in. I Saw the TV Glow could definitely have fit into a more mainstream mold, had that been filmmaker Jane Shoenbrun’s aim. There’s a version of this film that’s built like a more typical Buffy installment, with a faster pace, a more physical menace to combat, and a cleaner resolution. As it stands, it most closely resembles “Restless,” an episode of Buffy made up almost entirely of surreal dream sequences. It’s slow, eerie, deliberate, and really wants to be taken seriously.

The world of I Saw the TV Glow is nightmarish, not in the way that most horror movies are but in a way that resembles an actual nightmare. The pace of each scene is drawn out to maximize discomfort. There are long spaces between each line of dialogue, and every word out of Owen’s mouth is a struggle. Watching anyone try to communicate in this film is agony, and while that’s certainly the intent, that doesn’t make it less painful. I found Justice Smith’s stuttering, wispy performance to be infuriating, though almost certainly he’s performing as directed. Brigette Lundy-Paine absolutely nails the role of an edgy teen who has made “depressed and misunderstood and smarter than you” their entire personality and who I would cross a busy street to avoid having a conversation with. Both of their characters feel like real, suffering outsiders rather than spit-shined cinematic avatars of teenage angst, and while that’s an achievement, it’s also a reminder of why media usually exaggerates adolescent wit, foolishness, or both for the sake of entertainment. The real thing sucks as much to watch as it does to experience firsthand.

The awkwardness and displeasure do serve a purpose. Schoenbrun puts us in the shoes of a young queer person who feels out of place, hollowed out, uncomfortable in their own skin. Owen identifies strongly with Isabel ( Helena Howard ), one of the female leads of The Pink Opaque , but is afraid to embrace what this connection might mean. He lives in fear of his father (Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst ), a silent statue of a man nearly always photographed from a distance or from low, obscure angles. His mother (the always excellent Danielle Deadwyler ) is not long for this world, which will leave Owen with nothing worth holding onto. And yet, he remains paralyzed, too afraid of being judged or rejected by a world from which he is already completely alienated. It’s an evocative portrait of gender as a prison from which no one can simply be released — you need the courage to escape.

While there are supernatural elements and otherworldly imagery, most of the horror of I Saw the TV Glow is of the existential variety. Schoenbrun repeatedly teases more overt supernatural elements, but these otherworldly horrors remain ambient—ever-present but backgrounded. This is creepy, but it’s also disappointing and essentially leaves the film without a third act. There’s no thrill, no relief, no fun whatsoever. It’s pure bummer.

Being unpleasant isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and certainly hasn’t kept I Saw the TV Glow from winning a lot of critical praise. The film is “cool to like” in the way David Lynch movies are cool to like. It requires more patience than a mainstream motion picture, it doesn’t answer all your questions, and it’s not supposed to make you feel good. The thing is, Lynch’s movies are that way because their author is a genuine weirdo who doesn’t want to be understood. I Saw the TV Glow is too transparent a film to operate on this level. It makes too much sense, has too legible a plot and too obvious a message.

Art films always have a greater allowance for being unpleasant than a commercial movie might have. However, on some level, the experience needs to be more rewarding than it is punishing.

• SEE ALSO : ‘Under the Bridge’ Review: A Miniseries That Interrogates the True Crime Genre

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings, they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to fac... Read all When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings, they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death. When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings, they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death.

• Spenser Cohen
• Anna Halberg
• Nicholas Adams
• Jacob Batalon
• Olwen Fouéré
• 67 User reviews
• 36 Critic reviews
• 35 Metascore

• The Countess

• The Hermit …

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• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia The title card appears nearly 17 minutes into the run-time.

Voices : Welcome to the circle. One more at the heart. With this final card, your meeting will start. Follow one rule to stay out of danger. You're never to deal with the deck of a stranger. The Hermit. Magician. High Priestess or Death? Whose face will you see, when you take your last breath?

• Connections Referenced in All About: All About Horror in 2024 (2023)

User reviews 67

• sofiagladun
• May 2, 2024

New and Upcoming Horror

• When was Tarot released? Powered by Alexa
• May 3, 2024 (United States)
• United States
• Official Site
• Horrorscope
• Belgrade, Serbia
• Screen Gems
• Alloy Entertainment
• Capstone Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $8,250,000 (estimated)
• May 5, 2024
• $10,203,012

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• Runtime 1 hour 32 minutes

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Tarot review – disappointment is in the cards with silly supernatural horror

Final Destination inspires yet another throwaway teen schlocker, this time with an increasingly risible astrological bent

A s many of us impatiently wait for the sixth Final Destination film , slated for release next year over a decade since the fifth, here comes yet another limp attempt to recreate that specific, sadistic form of magic. Some curse, some teens, some shock deaths, a formula that’s been trotted out in so-what films like Wish Upon , Countdown and Truth or Dare , shrugs where shocks should be, franchise starters ending after the first round.

Which brings us to Tarot, a film wisely kept from critics until the very last second and one that audiences would be smart to keep themselves from too. It’s not quite as bad as these things can often be but flashes of competence are not enough to distract from a sense of crushing pointlessness, more watery slop served up lukewarm for undemanding Friday night horror fans, who really ought to be demanding so much more.

Like the other Final Destination pretenders, Tarot is designed for a tamer teen crowd, a hard R replaced by a soft PG-13 but like those others, its makers are never quite sure how to master the right tone required. It’s too nasty at times, too silly or too self-serious at others, too idiotic throughout, uneasily combining flashes of gore with splashes of comedy, all peppered with laughably unconvincing cry-on-cue moments of so-sad grief. Loosely based on the 90s YA schlocker Horrorscope but written with such drunk plotting that it could have been based on a Sony exec pointing at a pack of tarot cards, it tells the story of a group of college friends renting out a shadowy mansion who happen upon a padlocked room with a sign saying PRIVATE: KEEP OUT.

Because they’re all stupid, they break in and because they’re all really stupid, they decide to crack open a creepy wooden box of hand-painted tarot cards, insisting the sensible final girl Haley (the British actor Harriet Slater, good enough) reads for them all. She’s got an interest in both tarot and astrology but is nursing a broken heart from both a recent breakup and the death of her mother (!) and puts her carefully textured backstory to the side to give each of her too-large group of friends some maddeningly detailed predictions. Each is then killed off in adjacent circumstances, somehow also tied to their astrological signs (“He’s an earth sign and was found in the dirt!”).

It’s a horror film for the kind of person who’d tell a stranger they’re “such a Libra” after a five-second conversation and maybe those who do invest an awful lot in the meanings behind such waffle would find something scarier here. But there’s not much else for the rest of us, an unscary cycle of poorly executed jump scares, suspense-free death sequences and truly inane plotting. The writer-directors Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg really have no idea how to fill the gaps between deaths and even at 92 minutes, we’re left with something that feels so much longer.

We’re lumbered with some horrendously dull college student dialogue about how everything is, like, so insane, with Spider-Man’s usually charming Jacob Batalon forced into extremely annoying comedy relief. The characters make dumber than usual decisions and embark on a quest to find someone who might know what’s really going on that literally begins with them Googling the words “tarot” and “death” together. The Irish stage actor Olwen Fouéré takes on the Tony Todd in Final Destination role as someone who has battled this dark force before, something she also did in 2022’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre retcon sequel . As Mrs Exposition, she plays thankless gap-filler which does at least allow for a charmingly batty flashback to 18th-century Hungary, one of the few times we can tell this was based on an actual book.

While the deaths do remind one of the Final Destination movies (“you can’t cheat death” is inelegantly transformed into “you can’t change fate”) they also bring to mind Hellraiser, a wall being removed between one world and the other with a collection of monsters doing the dirty work for a central villain. There are touches of good design – some creepy metallic fingers pushing down a ladder on to unlucky first girlie – but not a lot sticks. Both of those franchises revelled in the giddy jolt of gore and how inventively it can be used but here it’s all sanitised for the sleepover crowd and without, say, smart plot reveals or suspense or characters we root for, we’re left with very little else.

It’s been a scary year so far for the horror genre, a traditionally reliable stream of income for Hollywood, with a string of worrying under-performers, from Imaginary to Immaculate to The First Omen to Abigail. It doesn’t take a reading to predict that Tarot isn’t going to change things.

Tarot is out now in US and UK cinemas

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TAGGED AS: Horror , Netflix

(Photo by Netflix. Thumbnail: Dark Sky/courtesy Everett Collection)

The Best Horror Movies on Netflix

Looking for the best scary movies on Netflix? After a guided map of the most terrifying dingy dungeons, creaky manors, home-invaded houses, and deeply dark woods you can find on the streaming service? Then your search has led you to your glorious streaming doom: The Best Horror Movies on Netflix!

Not only does Netflix have a strong rotating library of scary movies, they sit along their horror original efforts, like Gerald’s Game , Fear Street , and Bird Box .

How did we whittle down our list of horror? We took every last scary movie on Netflix that had at least 20 reviews . What emerges is a portrait of which films unnerved and spooked out critics, have the potential to get audiences’ heart racing, and maybe even broke new ground and bones for the genre. So enough delaying the inevitable: Here are the best Netflix horror movies to stream and scream right now!

Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) 61%

Jaws 2 (1978) 62%

Unfriended (2014) 62%

Bird Box (2018) 64%

Before I Wake (2016) 67%

We Summon the Darkness (2019) 67%

The Perfection (2018) 70%

The Babysitter (2017) 70%

Piercing (2018) 72%

The Ritual (2017) 74%

Apostle (2018) 79%

Cult of Chucky (2017) 81%

The Platform (2019) 80%

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) 79%

The Conjuring 2 (2016) 80%

What Keeps You Alive (2018) 80%

Await Further Instructions (2018) 81%

Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021) 84%

Girl on the Third Floor (2019) 82%

The Conjuring (2013) 86%

It Comes at Night (2017) 88%

#Alive (2020) 88%

The Ravenous (2017) 88%

Cargo (2017) 87%

Freaks (2018) 88%

Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021) 87%

Emelie (2015) 89%

Creep (2014) 91%

The Invitation (2015) 90%

Zombieland (2009) 89%

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021) 88%

Vampires vs. The Bronx (2019) 90%

1922 (2017) 92%

Gerald's Game (2017) 91%

Hush (2016) 93%

Cam (2018) 93%

Sweetheart (2019) 93%

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) 95%

The Old Ways (2021) 95%

Jaws (1975) 97%

Under the Shadow (2016) 99%

Creep 2 (2017) 100%

His House (2020) 100%

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