The 22 best horror movies of 2024, and where to watch them
We've had strong back-to-back years for horror, with 2022 and 2023 both containing movies that'll likely be scaring people for decades to come. And the good news is, 2024 looks set to carry on the trend.
From the religious horror of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods' Heretic and Arkasha Stevenson's The First Omen to the creeping dread of Daniel Kokotajlo's Starve Acre and Parker Finn's Smile 2, we've rounded up the strongest picks of the year.
Counting down to our very favourite, here are the best horror movies of 2024.
22. Trap
Trap may be more of a straight-up thriller than a horror flick, but for its serial killer shenanigans, it earns a spot on this list. From the concept alone — a murderer must escape a pop concert designed to trap him — you know you're in for a blast. Yet M. Night Shyamalan takes this premise to even more bonkers levels, all fueled by Josh Hartnett's pitch-perfect turn as a serial killer on the verge of snapping. I'll never forget his bizarre suggestion that he and his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) just pop through a trap door in the concert floor because it would be "cool." Or how pop star Lady Raven (Saleka, Shyamalan's own daughter) suddenly snaps into detective mode. Or how Trap doubles as a film about the anxieties of fatherhood — and somehow pulls it off. — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter
How to watch: Trap is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV+.
21. The First Omen
Taking on Immaculate in the nun-themed horror arena and winning, The First Omen acts as a prequel to The Omen franchise, taking things back to 1969 Rome as Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) battles terrifying visions in a new convent.
"In the end, The First Omen offers generous splashes of gore, jump scares, and dread," wrote Mashable's Kristy Puchko in her review. "So if you're up for seeing something more spooky than scary, or more haunting than horrifying, this religious thriller will scratch that itch with a long, putrid claw." — Sam Haysom, Deputy UK Editor
How to watch: The First Omen is now streaming on Disney+.
20. Abigail
A group of criminals find themselves trapped in a house with a monstrous little ballerina in this vampire horror/comedy that Mashable's Kristy Puchko described in her review as "a fresh tale of predator and prey" that's "pretty damn fun".
"Despite the sentimental detours, stodgy staging, and indulgent pacing, Abigail is a blast," she wrote. "It's exactly the kind of gonzo, gory, goofy crowdpleaser you'd hope for, considering its very well-promoted premise." — S.H.
How to watch: Abigail is now streaming on Prime Video and is available for rent or purchase on Apple TV+.
19. Alien: Romulus
Director Fede Álvarez takes the Alien franchise back to basics in this story of young space colonists exploring a space station overrun with Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus falters at points, with an overreliance on fan service (including one ill-advised cameo) threatening to undercut the film's best moments. But when Romulus hits, it hits. Facehuggers, chestbursters, set pieces bursting at the seams with gloppy goodness… It's enough to make you hoot, holler, and hide in terror. And that's all before Romulus hits us with a gonzo third act featuring one of the franchise's gnarliest creatures yet. — B.E.
How to watch: Alien: Romulus is now streaming on Hulu.
18. Apartment 7A
A Rosemary's Baby prequel was a big gamble to take, but it paid off. Set months before the events of the 1968 classic, Relic director Natalie Erika James takes minor character Terry (Julia Garner), a neighbor of Rosemary who only has a single scene in the original, and fleshes her story out to terrifying effect.
"With Relic, Natalie Erika James spun an intimate tale of mother-daughter relationships and family curses into a rivetingly scary thriller," wrote Mashable's Kristy Puchko in her review. "Here, she uses that gift of emotional intelligence and skill for crafting unsettling scenes to tell a story that's familiar yet all the more frightening for it. We know where Terry's story will end because of Rosemary's Baby. Yet James keeps us at the edge of our seats as she expertly spins a web of rich drama and sly horror, working in heartfelt conversations, shattering jump scares, and defiant dazzle. From Polanski's foundation, she builds a glittering tale of girlhood stolen that is sick, stunning, and horrifyingly relevant." — S.H.
How to watch: Apartment 7A is now streaming on Paramount+.
17. Monolith
Micro-budget Monolith follows a disgraced journalist trying to revive her career with a podcast delving into the unexplained. But when a story about mysterious black bricks lands in her inbox, she finds herself getting sucked into something she genuinely can't make sense of.
"It almost sounds like a challenge: Can you make a feature-length movie with only one on-screen actor, one location, and a budget of less than half a million?" I wrote in my review for Mashable. "Written by Lucy Campbell and directed by Matt Vesely, eerie sci-fi mystery Monolith exists within these potentially tricky parameters. Almost the entire movie takes place in a modern, isolated house in the rolling Adelaide Hills, South Australia, following a disgraced journalist (Lily Sullivan) as she yarn-balls a weird global enigma for her new podcast series. The film could easily have been a dismally failed experiment, but Monolith's logistical restrictions actually help it shine, adding a claustrophobia and sense of realism that only heightens the core mystery."
Once you've watched the movie, see if you agree with our interpretation of the ending. — S.H.
How to watch: Monolith is now streaming on Prime Video in the U.S., on Now TV in the UK, and on Binge in Australia.
16. Starve Acre
Daniel Kokotajlo's nightmare folk horror – based on Andrew Michael Hurley's novel of the same name – will make you never look at rabbits the same way again. Following a university professor (Matt Smith) and his wife (Morfydd Clark) in the aftermath of their son's tragic death, the movie deals in local legends and the mysterious presence of a figure named Jack Gray — an unseen spirit that haunted their son and seems determined to continue haunting the couple. A truly upsetting meditation on unimaginable grief with some stunning performances and horrifying moments (if you're a bit confused after the ending, we have an explainer on Mashable).* — S.H.
How to watch: Starve Acre is now streaming on BFI Player via Prime Video in the UK and is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video in the U.S.
15. Caddo Lake
OK, so you could definitely argue that this one is more sci-fi/mystery than horror, but the combination of missing children and weird time distortion is scary enough for it to make the cut. Celine Held and Logan George's genre-blender follows Paris (Dylan O'Brien), a man struggling to understand the strange illness that led to his mother's death, and Ellie (Eliza Scanlen), a student desperately trying to find her missing stepsister. What follows is a tense and twisty reality-bending puzzle that you may require an ending explainer to make sense of. — S.H.
How to watch: Caddo Lake is now streaming on Max.
14. MadS
One of the most uniquely chilling horror movies of 2024 was this biting zombie thriller out of France, all shot as if in one continuous take. Centering on a devil-may-care squad of hard-partying teens, MadS begins with a party-drug run, in which rich and reckless 18-year-old Romain (Milton Riche) collides with a stranger covered in blood. While he tries to brush it off for his night out, he's carrying more than trauma with him as he connects with his girlfriend Anais (Laurie Pavy) and her chic bestie Julia (Lucille Guillaume). Only horror will follow.
As I cheered in my review, "MadS binds us to these characters, allowing us to experience the claustrophobic frenzy and fear at their sides. No cutaways will offer an escape to another location or from the tension. Doggedly, we follow them as they run, bike, and clamor for salvation. We watch helpless as they transform from frivolous to ferocious, their teeth gone from points of pride to pointed weapons. And we share in their horror as the world around them goes from glowing and full of thrills to wretchedly caked in gore and rife with terror." — Kristy Puchko, Entertainment Editor
How to watch: MadS is now streaming on Shudder.
13. In a Violent Nature
A slasher movie shot almost entirely from the perspective of the killer (Johnny, played by Ry Barrett), I described In a Violent Nature in my Mashable review as "a fun squirm-fest with visuals to delight and appall." Writer/director Chris Nash's movie is a beautifully filmed play on the classic high-school-teens-stalked-by-masked-killer-in-the-woods subgenre that uses its murder-y POV to its advantage.
"For the bulk of the movie, the camera hovers somewhere behind Johnny's broad shoulders as he makes his slow, unrelenting way through the forest towards his next victim. There's an inevitability to Johnny's nonstop trudging that heightens the tension in a way you don't really expect," I wrote. "The device could get repetitive, but crucially Nash knows when enough's enough — at several key moments in the film, including the campfire origin story that introduces us to the core characters, he switches the perspective up." — S.H.
How to watch: In a Violent Nature is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV+, Fandango at Home, and Microsoft.
12. Sleep
"Someone's inside." Two words begin writer/director Jason Yu's feature debut Sleep, uttered by a slumbering Hyun-su (Lee Sun-kyun) sitting at the end of his bed. This terrifies his wife Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi) and is the beginning of a long line of erratic, disturbing behaviour. Is it a sleep disorder or something more sinister? A subtle horror about the anxieties of marriage and new parenthood, Sleep deprives its protagonists of vital rest, instead sending them into a waking nightmare of somnambulism and threat — mainly to the couple's extremely cute Pomeranian, Pepper, but also, you know, the baby.
Sleep doesn't reinvent the wheel as a slow-burn, possibly supernatural horror, instead leaning on well-worn markers of the genre — the increasingly shocking events, the enlisting of a medium, the race to discover the truth. However, Lee and Jung give intense performances that make the film feel fresh, while cinematographer Tae-soo Kim and editor Meeyeon Han find unique ways to capture the inside of a small apartment for maximum tension. Both Soo-jin and Hyun-su fear what the other is capable of, with the film pivoting from one parent's unconscious fears to the other's over the course of a sharp 90 minutes. — Shannon Connellan, UK Editor
How to watch: Sleep is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video.
11. The Platform 2
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia's sequel takes us back to the nightmarish world of the original: A vertical prison with a table of food that travels slowly from the top to the bottom, with the prisoners at the top eating well — and the ones at the bottom starving to death.
"The original's nightmarishly simple concept was so compelling I wanted to see more from that world, but I also worried about what a sequel could say or show that the first movie hadn't," I wrote in my Mashable review. "I'm happy to report my fears weren't necessary. The Platform 2 is a powerful continuation of the bad dream that began with Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia's 2019 movie, building upon its brutalist universe while changing the rules just enough to send a new message."
Oh, and if you get to the end and you're scratching your head a bit, we have an explainer here.* — S.H.
How to watch: The Platform 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
10. Arcadian
Nicolas Cage takes on a monster-packed apocalypse alongside his teenage sons in this remote survival thriller from Ben Brewer that's as much about family drama as it is about nighttime critters.
"It's the monsters that bring the big, delicious, funky thrills of Arcadian, sparking screams and gasps and cheers. But it's Cage and his on-screen kids who give the movie stakes and the emotional center that is required for a great monster movie, be it Jaws or Alien," wrote Mashable's Kristy Puchko in her review. "Simply put, Arcadian is a rollicking thrill ride, fueled by creature-feature thrills. But what makes this good movie pretty damn great is the human story at its heart, which is compelling on its own." — S.H.
How to watch: Arcadian is now streaming on Shudder.
9. Smile 2
After the success of Parker Finn's Smile, expectations for the sequel were high — and you'd better believe that thing delivered. Following on from the events of the first movie, Smile 2 takes its cursed premise into the world of fame, following pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) on a world tour-turned-nightmare.
"To match his superstar heroine, Finn goes all in on creating an unpredictable narrative that's full of jump scares, creepy imagery, and spine-tingling sound effects," wrote Monica Castillo in her Mashable review. "There are even more violent injuries, body horror, and bloody deaths to make an audience recoil, and plenty of upsetting details, from Skye's compulsive hair-pulling habit (aka trichotillomania) to a group of smiling backup dancers chasing Skye through her apartment in choreographed formation. These scares can feel delightfully over the top, almost like a carnival ride, but they're as creative and horrific as the best parts of the Final Destination series." — S.H.
How to watch: Smile 2 is now streaming on Paramount+.
8. Nosferatu
Robert Eggers sinks his teeth into F.W. Murnau's 1922 horror classic Nosferatu, delivering a reimagining that takes the original's psychosexual subtext to new heights. Thomas and Ellen Hutter's (Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp) life as newlyweds gets off to a rocky start when Thomas must travel to Transylvania for business, but it only gets worse from there when it turns out his client, Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), is an undead vampire with an obsessive connection to Ellen. What follows is a seductive tale of creeping darkness (rendered literal by cinematographer Jarin Blaschke's impeccable work) and repression come to light. Boasting exquisite craftsmanship and impeccable performances — look no further than Orlok's decaying body or Depp's exceptionally committed take on Ellen's possession — Nosferatu has all the makings of a gothic horror classic. — B.E.
How to watch: Nosferatu premieres in theatres Dec. 25.
7. Cuckoo
Tilman Singer's horror about a teenager being stalked by a stranger in the mountains was described by Siddhant Adlakha as "a fun midnight genre romp that works despite its goofiest elements" in his Mashable review.
"A mountainous horror film reminiscent of The Shining — albeit with far more overt body horror — it follows the travails of a family of four as they take up residence near a fancy lodge in an isolated corner of the German Alps," he wrote. "When strange sounds emanating from nearby forests begin to have bizarre bodily effects on some of the guests, moody 17-year-old Gretchen (Hunter Schafer of Euphoria) ends up stumbling upon an ongoing investigation into something both silly and sinister. With its tightly wound atmosphere and an impeccable ensemble that throws everything at the wall, Cuckoo emerges as a largely unique work despite its many familiar elements, thanks in part to its increasingly twisted implications surrounding gender and biology. It's incredibly strange and deviously fun." — S.H.
How to watch: Cuckoo premieres on Hulu Dec. 17.
6. It's What's Inside
One of the most mind-bending movies of 2024 begins with a slasher setup: Years after a dramatic falling-out, a gaggle of college friends reunite on the eve of one of their crew's wedding to reconnect and party hard. But rather than a masked killer in their midst, the mayhem device in this clever thriller from writer/director Greg Jardin is a party game that offers players the power to swap bodies. Dare to give it a go?
Slipping into the skin of lovers, frenemies, and rivals, these twentysomethings flirt, fight, and deceive until a deadly turn raises the stakes. And every step of this movie is gleefully twisted. In his Mashable review, Siddhant Adlakha raved, "Wielding devilishly enjoyable visual language, it provides winking hints of catharsis that make even its most audacious, galaxy-brained genre swerves feel like a couple's therapy session atop the world's tallest, fastest roller coaster. It's a frenetic and fascinating film that can't be missed."* — K.P.
How to watch: It's What's Inside is now streaming on Netflix.
5. Heretic
Heretic is a thrilling foray into talkative horror from writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place, 65). Hugh Grant stars as Mr. Reed, a man who's trapped two young Mormon missionaries (Yellowjackets' Sophie Thatcher and The Fabelmans' Chloe East) in his tricked-out house of horrors. He claims that all he wants is a spirited debate about theology, but his methods — like the aforementioned trapping of women — leave much to be desired. Heretic's religious talking points can be a tad surface level, but Grant still sells the hell out them with a performance that takes the charm of any of his famed rom-com roles and flips it on its head. We may never watch Notting Hill the same way again. — B.E.
How to watch: Heretic is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV+.
4. I Saw the TV Glow
Urban legend intersects with childhood memory in Jane Schoenbrun's haunting and mysterious I Saw the TV Glow, an unconventional story about two kids becoming obsessed with a strange TV show that may not be all it seems.
"It's an attempt to place years of confusing, festering emotions surrounding unbelonging into something that has shape or form — something that makes sense — but emerges as a desperate, primal scream, exploding with color and shadow," wrote Siddhant Adlakha in his review for Mashable. "The film is the disturbing sum of its lingering sensations that burrow their way beneath your skin, refusing to leave even after you've left the theater, or once you've cried yourself to sleep. But at the same time, its totality — the sheer fact of its existence, as an unbridled, uninhibited expression of the self — is exuberant and overwhelming." — S.H.
How to watch: I Saw the TV Glow is now streaming on Max.
3. Late Night with the Devil
If you like your horror lean and mean, you must see this '70s-set indie from writers/directors Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes (aka the Cairnes Brothers).
David Dastmalchian, a character actor who's unnerved us in The Boogeyman and Prisoners, headlines here as Jack Delroy, a talk show host who is so determined to best Johnny Carson's ratings that he invites an allegedly possessed girl to be a guest on his Halloween special. Part showbiz satire, part found-footage horror, Late Night with the Devil uses a low-fi look and keenly creepy effects to create a throwback tale of terror that is rank with fresh blood. While the film's been criticized for its use of AI, its scares are so satisfying that it earned praise from none other than the master of horror himself, Stephen King. So, take a cue from our review: "Tune in and hang on. Dastmalchian and his demon are coming for you."* —K.P.
How to watch: Late Night with the Devil is now streaming on AMC+, and available for rent or purchase on Prime Video.
2. The Substance
The Substance is one of the most critically heralded horror films of the year and also one of the most polarizing among our team. As the ferocious follow-up to her grisly and glorious directorial debut Revenge, French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat pulled no punches, delivering a thriller that's a gut-churning knockout.
Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, an actress whose star is fading as she ages, and heartless Hollywood execs (exemplified by a shellfish-chomping Dennis Quaid) hunger for young beauties and fresh blood. So when a miracle drug allows her to split her life with a perky younger model of herself (Drive-Away Dolls' Margaret Qualley), she leaps at the chance. But the brutal cost it takes is ugly.
A ghastly satire about the misogynistic beauty standards applied to women, The Substance shocked and awed critics and audiences alike with its giddily gruesome imagery. In his review for Mashable, Siddhant Adlakha argued "its style has no real substance." Others on our team were apoplectic over the movie's most twisted turns. But the majority of Mashable's team reveled in Fargeat's brutal honesty, which explored how vanity and insecurity can warp a person, inside and out. Speaking for those of us who loved The Substance, there's something undeniably exhilarating about a movie that's as proudly pink as Barbie but as unhinged as the gnarliest midnight movie.* — K.P.
How to watch: The Substance is now streaming on MUBI.
1. Oddity
In a year rich with sensational horror offerings, Oddity was among our very favorite. A follow-up to Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy's deeply creepy Caveat, Oddity seamlessly blends a barrage of spooky subgenres with Irish lore to create something sickening, scary, strange, and timeless.
As I recounted in my review of the movie's SXSW premiere, this supernatural thriller begins with a seeming slasher setup. A woman home alone hears an unwelcome knock at the door, and then is offered an impossible decision that will determine life or death. Keeping his audience on their toes, McCarthy then leaps to a year later, introducing us to a visually impaired psychic and her oddity shop, full of cursed curiosities. From there, ghosts, witchcraft, and psychological thriller elements come into play, mostly within a remote home that looks just wrong from every angle. And that's before the creepy Wooden Man arrives as a grim gift. In this way, Oddity plays like an anthology, unfurling horrific surprises, intense scares, and strange stories, but all within one sophisticated, unnerving saga. The result is a movie that's not just a must-see for horror fans, it's a must-see over and over again to catch every cryptic detail.* — K.P.
How to watch: Oddity is now streaming on Shudder.
*This blurb has appeared on a previous Mashable list.