The 28 Best Horror Movies Of 2024 So Far

We love horror here at /Film, which gives us an excuse to highlight some of the best horror movies of 2024. The year is still young — it's not quite April yet — but there are already a slew of creepy, spooky, and scary titles to pick through and celebrate. We can only hope and assume this list will grow considerably as 2024 continues on, but for now, let's look back at what's already arrived and highlight some titles that might've completely slipped through the cracks for some of you. We've avoided spoilers to keep these films fresh for you. You're welcome. And now, here are the best horror movies of 2024 so far. 

Filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have become household names in the horror world for taking over the "Scream" franchise with the series two most recent installments, but real ones know that it's their original work that made them two of the freshest voices in the genre. After multiple stand-out additions to anthology films like "V/H/S/" and "Southbound," the filmmaking collective also known as Radio Silence put out "Ready or Not," establishing the group as the patron saints of "fun horror." The film helped earn them the "Scream" gigs, but this year ushered in a welcome return to original storytelling with the ballerina vampire horror comedy, "Abigail"

A group of hired criminals have been tasked with kidnapping and holding the young daughter of a mysteriously powerful (and disgustingly wealthy) man hostage for 24 hours, but soon realize their safe house is actually a trap for the pint-sized vamp to hunt and play with her next meal. The ensemble cast is phenomenal, there's a ridiculous amount of blood and gore, the comedic moments hit every single time, and Alisha Weir's performance as the titular Abigail is an even bigger star-making performance than her turn in "Matilda: The Musical." When I reviewed the film after its world premiere at the Overlook Film Festival, I gave it a 10/10, a rating I still stand by months later. Ignore the marketing spoiling the vampire twist, and enjoy one of the best horror films of the year. (BJ Colangelo)

Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett

Cast: Melissa Barrera, Alisha Weir, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%

Larry Fessenden, indie horror auteur, is back — with a werewolf movie. But "Blackout" isn't your typical lycanthrope flick. This is more like a quirky indie character drama that also happens to be about a werewolf. The wolfman in question is Charley Barrett (Alex Hurt), a working-class artist who lives in the small autumnal town of Talbot Falls. When we meet Charley, he appears to be getting his affairs in order. There's a reason for that: he knows he's a werewolf and he'd like to end his life before he turns back into a monster and kills more people. 

While there's werewolf action to be had here, complete with throats ripped out and limbs torn off, Fessenden is more interested in the characters who populate the town. Seemingly every person who shows up on screen is a quirky, memorable individual, and while some of the performances are shaky, Fessenden's script has a way of making his players, no matter how minor, stand out. Occasionally funny (in a dark sort of way), "Blackout" has a melancholy vibe to match its autumn atmosphere, and best of all, the werewolf is just a guy wearing make-up. Sure, it's not the most sophisticated make-up — but give me a practical werewolf over a CGI monstrosity any day. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Larry Fessenden

Cast: Alex Hurt, Addison Timlin, Marshall Bell, Joseph Castillo-Midyett, Barbara Crampton

Rating: Unrated

Rotten Tomoates Score: 79%

One of the best horror movies of the year (and for my money, the best) also just happens to be an NFT. I won't lie: I still don't even understand what the hell an NFT is. But for some reason, that's the only (legal) way to watch "Chime," a terrifying 45-minute chiller from master filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa. As he did with movies like "Cure" and "Pulse," Kurosawa builds an almost unbearable sense of dread through the use of space and loneliness. There's a prevailing sadness blanketing everything here; the unshakable feeling that something is wrong, something you can't quite place your finger on. Ever room feels haunted, if not by ghosts then by a unnamable presence that creates a prevailing sense of horror.

Mutsuo Yoshioka plays a chef and culinary instructor who watches in horror one day as one of his students gruesomely stabs himself in the neck with a butcher knife. The young man seemed odd and disturbed before the event transpired, speaking of a mysterious chime sound that only he could hear. "It's like a scream. But not human," the young man said shortly before his death. Scary in ways that most horror movies can never replicate, "Chime" rattles the viewer, leaving them stunned and severely creeped out by the time the end credits roll. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Cast: Mutsuo Yoshioka, Seiichi Kohinata, Hana Amano

Rating: Unrated

Rotten Tomatoes score: N/A

Stephen King, a guy who knows a thing or two about horror, took to Twitter (or X, as losers call it) to proclaim "There's a Spanish movie called THE COFFEE TABLE on Amazon Prime and Apple+. My guess is you have never, not once in your whole life, seen a movie as black as this one. It's horrible and also horribly funny. Think the Coen Brothers' darkest dream." He ain't kidding, folks.

Caye Casas' "The Coffee Table" opens with a bickering couple — Jesús (David Pareja) and Maria (Estefanía de los Santos) at a furniture store, their newborn baby in tow. Jesús is talked into buying a rather garish-looking coffee table (it features two nude golden women with arched backs holding up the glass top) even though Maria hates the damn thing. Not to be swayed, Jesús insists on buying what the salesman (Eduardo Antuña) insists is an "unbreakable" table.

Once they get the damn thing home, Jesús sets about assembling the table only to discover a screw is missing. Meanwhile, Maria heads out to buy groceries, leaving Jesús home with the baby (and the coffee table). I won't dare spoil what happens next, but just know it's shocking.

It can often feel like a cop-out when I'm forced to say "The less you know about this movie, the better!" But trust me on this one: you need to go into "The Coffee Table" cold. But just know the movie goes to some extremely dark places that will have your eyes bugging out of your head. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Caye Casas

Cast: Josep Riera, David Pareja, Estefanía de los Santos, Claudia Riera

Rating: Unrated

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

Neon's next horror hit, "Cuckoo," won't be out in theaters until August 9, 2024, but after catching it at the Overlook Film Festival, fans of Sicko Cinema should know that they're in for a treat. Horror is a genre that thrives on following formulas and understanding them well enough to know how to break them. "Cuckoo" is all about breaking the rules, throwing traditional convention to the wind, and believing that logic is for the birds. Director Tilman Singer fearlessly commits to the bizarre, injecting you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it madness into what feels like a traditional hunter-prey survival thriller. Led by "Euphoria" star Hunter Schafer as 17-year-old Gretchen, the teen moves to the German Alps with her father and his new wife and daughter despite her presence feeling like an intrusion on their perfect family life. From the moment they arrive at their new home, Gretchen can sense that something — okay, everything — is very weird.

And she's right! Everything in "Cuckoo" is WEIRD. Resort owner Herr König (Dan Stevens), as I described in my review, "emotes like a Bond villain in a gay porn parody [complimentary]." There's a weird screaming sound that pierces through from out of the forest. Resort guests wander around aimlessly at all hours and have a tendency to barf on the floor. Gretchen gets hurt non-stop, and there's a terrifying woman in an oversized coat stalking Gretchen. This movie is nuts and nonsensical in the best ways possible. Don't feed the birds, or you might find yourself going cuckoo. (BJ Colangelo)

Director: Tilman Singer

Cast: Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%

Jang Jae-hyun's "Exhuma" is an epic, engrossing, mystical horror film all about graves. Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) and her partner, the very handsome Bong-gil (Lee Do-hyun), are Korean shamans who are called in to help a family being haunted. The shamans, in turn, ask for assistance from geomancer Kim Sang-deok (Choi Min-sik), who specializes in finding the right spot for burial plot, aided by mortician Yeong-geun (Yoo Hae-jin).

To get to the bottom of their latest supernatural cases, these four individuals locate and excavate a grave hidden away in the woods near the North Korean border. As you might guess, this turns out to be a big mistake, and digging up the grave unleashes both the malevolent ghost of the dead man buried in the grave and something far worse, and far deadlier. Let this be a lesson to you: don't go digging up graves. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Jang Jae-hyun

Cast: Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Yoo Hae-jin, Lee Do-hyun

Rating: Unrated

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

"The First Omen" feels like a minor miracle. When I heard they were making a prequel to "The Omen," I scoffed. It seemed pointless, and surely, the end result would be a lazy, studio-mandated piece of horror trying to do little more than cash-in on brand awareness. But that's not what happened. Instead, director Arkasha Stevenson was able to bring real vision to the flick, creating a nasty, scary, stylish piece of work, lush with stunning, horrifying visuals.

To be fair, there are a few moments here where the film clumsily ties itself to the original "Omen" (I'm looking at you, final scene), but for the most part, "The First Omen" avoids these trappings and forges its own identity. Nell Tiger Free plays Margaret, a young nun who is brought to Rome to work at an orphanage. Once there, she begins experiencing horrifying visions and suspects a sinister plot with potentially demonic forces. "The First Omen" underperformed at the box office, and that's a damn shame, because we need more studio horror willing to take big swings like this. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Arkasha Stevenson

Cast: Nell Tiger Free, Tawfeek Barhom, Sônia Braga, Ralph Ineson, Bill Nighy

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%

In what feels like the inverse of "A Quiet Place," the story that put the filmmaking duo of Beck/Woods on the map, "Heretic" is an intimate, talky chamber piece where a sadistic Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) terrorizes two unsuspecting Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) by forcing them into the ultimate test of faith. As /Film's Jacob Hall aptly noted in his review, "It's dark and nasty and cerebral, but it also never forgets to be a good time at the movies." Each bit of dialogue is expertly locked and loaded like a "Saw" trap, turning debates of religious dogma into a crossbow pointed straight at the jugular. "Heretic" takes place almost exclusively in Mr. Reed's home, but he's built a residence as labyrinthian as his theological philosophies and pop culture knowledge. Watching Mr. Reed taunt his houseguests like a cat with a stray mouse is deliciously diabolical and makes for one of the most compelling horror watches of the year. You'll never think about The Hollies, Radiohead, or Lana Del Rey the same way ever again. (BJ Colangelo)

Director: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods

Cast: Hugh Grant, Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher, Topher Grace

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

Remember in 2022 when "Euphoria" season 2 debuted and Sydney Sweeney's character Cassie Howard had a full-on psychological breakdown about sleeping with her best friend's ex-boyfriend and screamed in the mirror "I HAVE NEVER, EVER BEEN HAPPIER!"? Well, the final five minutes of Michael Mohan's nunsploitation flick "Immaculate" starring Sweeney makes the Cassie Howard scream look like a hiccup. Sweeney stars as Sister Cecilia, a young nun who joins a convent in a remote part of the Italian countryside, and quickly realizes something sinfully sinister is going on at this supposed holy sanctuary.

Every bit of "Immaculate" is meticulously designed, with secrets lingering in the background of set decorations and costuming, and the film wisely uses its runtime to completely flip the expectations of the audience. Religious horror — and nun horror, specifically — is nothing new, and "Immaculate" knows that from the first frame. Jump scares are sprinkled in throughout a simmering burn of something blasphemous, and Sweeney's dedication to the role is nothing short of awe-inspiring. She's truly shown why she's one of the most sought-after performers working today, but if she elects to stick with horror, she'll undoubtedly be crowned our new queen. (BJ Colangelo)

Director: Michael Mohan

Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Simona Tabasco, Benedetta Porcaroli

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%

Chris Nash's "In a Violent Nature" has a killer hook: what if a "Friday the 13th"-style slasher movie was told from the point of view of the slasher? Here, we follow Johnny, an undead killer who rises from his moldy grave in the Canadian wilderness after being disturbed by some damn youths.

Sporting a mask that makes him look like a Minion from hell, Johnny goes on a rampage, brutally dispatching those who are unlucky enough to cross his path. But a large chunk of the film is almost like an exercise in ASMR, following Johnny as he tromps around the woods. Some folks aren't keen on the film's long stretches of walking, but they actually add to the experience.

There's a dreamy, almost hypnotic quality to film as Johnny's silence butts up against the sounds of nature — birds singing, twigs breaking, water running. And just to keep thinks interesting, Nash throws in some of the gnarliest kills in recent memory. The now-infamous "yoga kill" has to be seen to be believed. This is both a deconstruction and celebration of the slasher movie. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Chris Nash

Cast: Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Lauren-Marie Taylor

Rating: Unrated

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%

Jane Schoenbrun's "I Saw the TV Glow" is not just one of the best horror movies of the year, it's one of the best movies of the year, period. The film is many things: a trans allegory, a throwback to the analogue age, a suburban horror flick, a coming-of-age story, and a kind of tribute to people who grew up obsessed with pouring over nerdy episode guides for cult TV shows.

Spanning decades, the story follows Owen (Justice Smith), who becomes obsessed with a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"-like TV show called "The Pink Opaque." Owen's parents forbid him from watching the show (his father, played by, believe it or not, Fred Durst, derided the show as being "for girls"), but he's able to finally bear witness to the series thanks to his friend Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), who leaves him taped episodes. But one day, Maddy disappears, leaving behind a burning TV set and a lot of questions.

As the years press on. Owen grapples with his own identity — and then one day, Maddy shows up again, and what she has to say throws Owen completely for a loop. Haunting, dreamy, and emotionally devastating, "I Saw the TV Glow" isn't your typical horror pic, but that's part of what makes it so special. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Jane Schoenbrun

Cast: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Helena Howard, Lindsey Jordan, Conner O'Malley, Emma Portner, Ian Foreman, Fred Durst, Danielle Deadwyler

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Are you afraid of spiders? Well then, you should probably skip "Infested," one of the best spider horror movies ever made. Kind of a mash-up of "Arachnaphobia" and "Attack the Block," this nasty piece of work from French filmmaker Sébastien Vaniček is about the residents of a run-down apartment complex who find themselves dealing with some increasingly big bugs.

Kaleb (Théo Christine) lives in the apartment complex, and he loves insects. So when he sees a unique spider in a shop, he buys it, brings it home, and names it Rihanna. Unfortunately, this is no ordinary spider. Soon, the creature escapes its inclosure and breeds, spawning a series of spiders that grow increasingly bigger and bigger. Are they deadly? Of course they are. Will this movie make your skin crawl? Oh yes. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Sébastien Vaniček

Cast: Théo Christine, Sofia Lesaffre, Jérôme Niel, Lisa Nyarko, Finnegan Oldfield

Rating: Unrated

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Not all horror is overtly terrifying, nor is it about how many jump scares can be packed into a 90-minute package. Sometimes, horror is more of a psychological thing where one has to place oneself in the shoes of someone on screen and realize the situation at hand would be downright horrifying, even if it's not presented as "scary," per se. Such is the case with the buzzy "It's What's Inside," a movie that Netflix paid a small fortune for following its premiere at Sundance earlier this year. You can read /Film's 9 out of 10 review of the film right here.

There's a reason Netflix paid so much money for the film. Put plainly, it's one of the most original concepts put to screen in some time, relying totally on the brilliant execution of director Greg Jardin. This serves as his feature directorial debut, which makes what he pulls off all the more impressive. This is one of those "the less said the better" situations but, very basically, the film takes place at a pre-wedding party where a bunch of old friends reunite. It all descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged member of the group shows up with a mysterious suitcase. What's in the case? That's best left unsaid but what we get out of it is funny, wildly inventive, and unexpected. It's one of the best examples of a filmmaker being able to do an awful lot with relatively little in a long time. (Ryan Scott)

Director: Greg Jardin

Cast: Brittany O'Grady, James Morosini, Alycia Debnam-Carey, and Devon Terrell

Rating: N/A

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%

A spiritual successor to "Ghostwatch," "Late Night with the Devil" recreates the vibes of a '70s late-night talk show with a devilish twist. David Dastmalchian is pitch-perfect as Jack Delroy, the host "Night Owls with Jack Delroy," a "Tonight Show" knock-off that's slipping in the ratings. Grieving the recent death of his wife and desperate to make his show a hit, Jack plans a Halloween night broadcast where one of his guests is a young girl (Ingrid Torelli) who is the only survivor of a Satanic cult. What starts off as mundane and even comical slowly turns into something far more sinister.

The prospect of a demonic possession live, on air, is too great for Jack to pass up, and as you might imagine, this plan backfires spectacularly. "Late Night with the Devil" takes its time building up to the horror, lulling the audience into a sense of comfort before unleashing nightmarish imagery. There's also a sense of authenticity to the proceedings that makes everything extra heightened. Here is a reminder that the "found footage" sub-genre can still be employed to great effect. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Colin Cairnes and Cameron Cairnes

Cast: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, Ingrid Torelli

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

In the 15 years since Karyn Kusama and Diablo Cody's unfairly maligned "Jennifer's Body" hit theaters, that teen girl horror comedy has since been reclaimed, reassessed, and embraced as a true cult classic. Those who weren't in the thick of the 2009 horror movie discourse often look back at the film's journey with confusion, trying to make sense of how the general public could have ever failed this movie. Well, history seems to be repeating itself with Cody's return to teen girl horror comedies, the twisted and delightful "Lisa Frankenstein." The feature directorial debut of Zelda Williams, "Lisa Frankenstein" centers on an oddball teenage girl who would rather skip keggers with her peers to sit alone in a cemetery of unmarried men and yearn over the guy with the hunkiest headstone. After a mysterious lightning storm reanimates the object of her affection, our titular hero is thrown into a coming-of-rage experience to find replacement body parts for her new man ... without getting caught.

Boasting the trademark teenspeak that made "Juno" an Oscar-winning screenplay, "Lisa Frankenstein" is an absolute blast and will most certainly be rediscovered years from now as the cult classic it deserves to be. Fortunately, as was the case with "Jennifer's Body," I'm here on the ground floor with "Lisa Frankenstein," and history will remember me fondly. As mentioned in my review, "Everyone wants a goth girlfriend until she starts murdering those who've wronged her to harvest their bodies for parts for her undead boyfriend, but in the case of 'Lisa Frankenstein,' it'll only make you love her more." (BJ Colangelo)

Director: Zelda Williams

Cast: Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Carla Gugino

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 51%

All great horror exists at the intersection of the unknown and the uncanny, that twilight zone where What Cannot Be meets What Undeniably Is. In horror cinema, the ultimate application of terror of the unknown isn't about whatever's happening inside the movie's narrative; it's within the meta relationship between audience and filmmaker. In other words, it's that feeling you get while watching a movie where the film itself feels dangerous, where you may not be able to trust the people behind it.

"Longlegs" is just such a horror film (read /Film's 10 out of 10 review here!). It's not some kind of shock-rock gorefest, where you're put through a gauntlet of one upsetting image after another. Instead, it's a movie that wants to climb into your psyche in much the same way the titular serial killer, played with inhuman verve by Nicolas Cage, insinuates himself into the lives of his victims. That ominous sense of the unknown can be seen in the performances of Maika Monroe (as FBI Special Agent Lee Harker) and Alicia Witt (as Lee's mother, Ruth), where both women either know or intuit more about Longlegs' evil than they let on.

Writer/director Osgood Perkins so successfully combines the grounded dread of '90s serial killer thrillers like "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Se7en" with the liminal terror of '70s classics "The Exorcist" and "The Omen" that "Longlegs" transcends being a mere fun night of spookiness out at a movie theater. Like Longlegs himself, like the movie's ingenious marketing campaign, the film wants to follow you back home. (Bill Bria)

Director: Osgood Perkins

Cast: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Alicia Witt, Blair Underwood

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

The woods are an inherently creepy place. Sure, you can enjoy a nice hike on a bright, sunny day. But what if you accidentally wander off the path and get lost in the thick, impenetrable forest? What if you can't find your way back? What if the night suddenly comes on, and you're still lost, wandering around in all that wild darkness? "Lovely, Dark, and Deep" is a slow-burn horror film that makes great use of its woodland setting. 

Georgina Campbell, who appeared in the excellent 2022 horror film "Barbarian," plays Lennon, who has just taken a job as a ranger in the backcountry of Arvores National Park. Lennon has a history here: when she was a child, her sister vanished in this very park, never to be seen again. Lennon's sister isn't the only person to disappear in these woods — it seems that people (including other park rangers) have a bad habit of going missing here. Is it a case of people simply getting lost and perishing due to the elements? Or is there something darker lurking out in those woods? (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Teresa Sutherland

Cast: Georgina Campbell, Nick Blood, Wai Ching Ho

Rating: Unrated

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

Ti West returned to horror in a big way with his '70s naturalistic slasher film "X," and dazzled audiences with the announcement that a prequel film set in 1918 called "Pearl" had already been secretly shot. In both films, Mia Goth would serve as the star, as adult film star Maxine Minx and the mysterious Pearl (in her youth and old age). Both films were wildly different in style and tone but shared psychosexual themes of desire, fame, and an obsession with success. As the sole survivor of what is now being called the Texas Porn Star Murders of "X," Maxine Minx is now living her best life in Hollywood in 1985, and looking to transition into mainstream acting in "MaXXXine."

After landing the role that will potentially skyrocket her into superstardom, Maxine is haunted by the ghosts of her past and threatened by the cutthroat world of the entertainment industry. Holding true to her mantra that she will not accept a life she does not deserve, Maxine takes fate into her own hands to guarantee her dreams of being a f***ing movie star. As I wrote in my review, "Instead of relying on '80s slasher tropes, 'MaXXXine' dabbles in noir, Giallo, video nasty, crime thriller, buddy-cop comedy, religious propaganda, moral panic, and of course, skin flicks. The result is a fitting cap to the "X" trilogy and one of the year's best horror films. (BJ Colangelo)

Director: Ti West

Cast: Mia Goth, Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%

Horror movies come in all shapes and sizes, but it's always tricky to measure how "scary" a given movie is because different things scare different people. That being said, I can pretty confidently say that director Damien McCarthy's "Oddity" will be one of the flat-out scariest movies released in 2024. Littered with nightmare fuel and a certain character that is going to go down in genre movie history, this is an inventive, terrifying, and bleakly funny film worthy of generating much discussion amongst its viewers.

The movie operates from a relatively simple premise: A blind woman, who also happens to be a medium, discovers a terrible truth behind her twin sister's death. So, she pays a visit to her sister's former husband at the house in the middle of nowhere where her mysterious death took place. Things get creepy as f*** from there. McCarthy is working with some familiar tropes here, but he weaves them together in a very fresh way. The tension is ever-present, there are some serious twists, and the only thing that ever relieves the tension is either a scare that will stick with you or one of the darkest laughs you're likely to encounter this year. This is an impressively frightening little motion picture. (Ryan Scott)

Director: Damien McCarthy

Cast: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Caroline Menton, and Steve Wall

Rating: N/A

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

Is there anything more terrifying than the loudest, brashest city in the world suddenly going pin-drop silent over the course of 24 hours? Actor/director John Krasinski's "A Quiet Place" series immediately stood out upon its debut for its high-concept twist on the usual alien-invasion premise: Rather than survivors fleeing from beings bent on world domination, Earth's been invaded by animalistic hunters with no sight ... but a keen sense of hearing. After two installments following a small family led by Krasinski's Lee Abbott and Emily Blunt's Evelyn Abbott, "A Quiet Place: Day One" takes us back to the very moment that the world first lost its voice.

There were a few eyerolls when the next film was announced to be a prequel, which was only exacerbated by the news that talented filmmaker Jeff Nichols had parted ways over good ol' fashioned creative differences. None of us should've panicked for a second, however, as "Pig" director Michael Sarnoski stepped in and delivered arguably the best film of the franchise thus far. Set in New York City on the very first day of the horrific invasion, "Day One" follows Lupita Nyong'o's Samira and Joseph Quinn's Eric as they try to stay alive in the labyrinthine noise machine that is modern-day Manhattan. The location isn't the only new addition that injects fresh life into this horror series, as Sarnoski's methodical and surprisingly restrained approach to the material allows room for jump scares, thrilling set pieces, and genuinely emotional moments of human connection in equal measure. Although not as razorblade tense as the original, "A Quiet Place: Day One" is a wholly effective thriller that proves this franchise can still make plenty of noise. (Jeremy Mathai)

Director: Michael Sarnoski

Cast: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, and Djimon Hounsou

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

"Red Rooms" may not be the scariest horror movie of the year, but it is the most disturbing. Pascal Plante's slow-burning chiller feels heavily influenced by the work of David Cronenberg, and no, I'm not implying there's body horror on display here. Instead, the film (which, like Cronenberg, hails from Canada) is an ice cold story of humanity, or lack thereof. Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy, something of a revelation here) is a fashion model who has grown obsessed with the trial of an accused serial killer. The alleged killer brutally murdered three teenage girls and uploaded video footage of the crimes to the dark web, and every day, Kelly-Anne sits in the courtroom and watches, transfixed. During the course of the trial, Kelly-Anne befriends Clémentine (Laurie Babin), another woman who comes to court every day. 

Clémentine's motives are clear: she's a clueless groupie who firmly believes the man on trial is innocent. But what is driving Kelly-Anne? Her obsessions remains a mystery, and as we're drawn deeper into her disturbed mindset, "Red Rooms" grows more and more unsettling. While never graphic (the filmed murders are heard but never seen), there are moments here that will make your skin crawl and your blood turn to ice. (Chris Evangelista) 

Director: Pascal Plante

Cast: Juliette Gariépy, Laurie Babin, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos

Rating: Unrated

Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

Horror movies as hopeless and miserable as "Smile 2" don't have the right to also be this much fun. Writer/director Parker Finn takes what worked in the 2022 original and dials it up the extreme: there's more gore, more humor, more drama, and a general sense of excess that perfectly mirrors the outlandish life of its pop star protagonist (played by staggering Naomi Scott). Almost a playful remake of its predecessor, the film leans heavily on our knowledge of the first movie while building on it in clever ways, maximizing scares at any and every opportunity. There is not a wasted moment in the film – if Finn isn't making you leap out of your seat, he's grossing you out or sending chills up your spine or making you question the very nature of the images on the screen.

Some horror filmmakers arrive fully formed, with a voice as clear as day. With his second film, Finn has joined the club occupied by other modern horror maestros like James Wan and Jordan Peele. Let him cook. And let him cook whatever he wants. (Jacob Hall)

Director: Parker Finn

Cast: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, and Kyle Gallner

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Ella (Aisling Franciosi) is the daughter of Suzanne Blake (Stella Gonet), a famous filmmaker who specializes in stop-motion animation. After Suzanne suffers a stroke, Ella determines to finish her mother's final film. Renting a flat in order to work, Ella meets a creepy little child (Caoilinn Springall) who tells her the film she's working on is boring — she should try something else instead. That "something else" ends up involving raw meat, dead animals, and altogether unpleasant-looking puppets. "Stopmotion" is a slow build loaded with dread. Blending live-action and ghoulish scenes of stop-motion animation, Robert Morgan's psychological horror pic brings us deep into Ella's fractured mind. Everything here feels slightly off, with blurry cinematography, intense sound design, and those nasty little puppets blending together into nightmare fuel. While things eventually go to a slightly predictable place, "Stopmotion" thrives due to its intensity and unrelentingly ominous atmosphere. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Robert Morgan

Cast: Aisling Franciosi, Stella Gonet, Tom York, Caoilinn Springall

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

"Strange Darling" dares you to fall for star Willa Fitzgerald, and boy does she and the film around her make it easy. Director J.T. Mollner first conceived the film when he imagined a scared young woman running through a field. In the final film, this is where we first meet Fitzgerald's Lady. The Lady is fleeing from a rifle-wielding man, the Demon (Kyle Gallner); the Lady's distress, resourcefulness, and puppy dog gaze make you as scared for her life as she is.

Only Mollner's second feature and his first dive into horror, "Strange Darling" takes the final girl archetype for a spin. The film uses a non-chronological structure so that you can't piece together this simple story right off the bat. Lack of context to earlier scenes is how the film puts its ideas into actions. When a situation seems familiar, we don't think there's a need to look deeper.

It's difficult to say more about "Strange Darling" without robbing you of the fun of not knowing, so let's talk about the aesthetics. The film is styled like a low budget 1970s horror and proudly boasts of being filmed on 35mm. Actor Giovanni Ribisi made a fascinating career pivot as the film's cinematographer and shows early promise; he uses the film grain to accentuate the golden hued lighting and vice versa. The soundtrack is full of creepy melodies, including a "Love Hurts" cover and Z Berg's original "Better The Devil You Know." These songs draw you as much as the central cat and mouse game does, but you can't listen/watch without feeling unnerved too. (Devin Meenan)

Director: J.T. Mollner

Cast: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Ed Begley Jr., Barbara Hershey, Steven Michael Quezada

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

The body horror in "The Substance" makes David Cronenberg's "The Fly" look like a movie for children. Coralie Fargeat's sophomore feature is singularly disgusting, but it's also darkly funny, propulsive, and addictively stylish. Demi Moore stars as a Elizabeth Sparkles, a celebrity who the Hollywood powers-that-be (including a repulsive producer named Harvey, naturally) unceremoniously push out of the spotlight on her 50th birthday. Enter The Substance, a mail order "Re-Animator"-green goo that purports to help her unleash a younger, "better" version of herself — one that comes at a price.

"The Substance" is a savvy and unapologetic take on womanhood, aging, celebrity, and body dysmorphia, one that both pays homage to countless genre favorites before it and blazes its own trail with gutsy abandon. Moore and Qualley (who plays Lizzie's younger iteration, Sue) commit to intensive, rewarding performances, and everything from the film's squelchy sound design to its impressionistic cinematography works wonders. You might feel the urge to take a shower after finishing this gory stroke of genius, but be warned: "The Substance" doesn't wash away easily.

Director: Coralie Fargeat

Cast: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

It's impossible to recommend "Terrifier 3" to anyone. All you can do is describe it to someone, and watch their face as you realize it's either something they plan to check out as soon as possible or to avoid at all costs. Both are understandable options, as writer/director Damien Leone's latest sequel is built to shock, offend, disgust, and generally leave everyone with a spark remaining in their soul feeling queasy about their life choices. It's a broadside attack on good taste, with gore and shock acting as the tip of the spear. The franchise's rise from obscurity to mainstream success has brought transgressive horror back into the limelight in a major way. And that's a big deal.

Also a big deal: Art the clown (David Howard Thornton), the demonic clown slasher at the center of these movies who has finally delivered a nightmarish horror movie slasher icon for the modern era. Kids used to grow up whispering about Freddy and Jason. Now, they get Art. And strap in, folks, because the horror filmmakers raised on Art are going to deliver some serious goods in the decades ahead. (Jacob Hall)

Director: Damien Leone

Cast: David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, and Samantha Scaffidi

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%

Here's the thing about M. Night Shyamalan's "Trap": it's supposed to be funny. I've seen numerous reactions to the film that seem to be missing this point; people who are perplexed as to what things happen a certain way in the movie, and why characters behave the way they do. It's not really a mystery, though: Shyamalan wants you to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Josh Hartnett clearly understood the assignment, as he's having a blast playing Cooper, a loving father and firefighter who also happens to be a serial killer known as the Butcher. 

Cooper is taking his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan), a Taylor Swift-like pop star with legions of screaming fans. But law enforcement has somehow learned that the Butcher will be attending this concert, and so they've teamed up with Lady Raven to set a massive trap (hey, that's the title!). Once Cooper learns about this, he has to find a way to get the hell out of the concert venue without getting caught. Shyamalan channels Brian De Palma as he overloads the film with style, and Hartnett is a real treat to watch as he plays Cooper as a smiling, goofy girl-dad who also just happens to murder people. (Chris Evangelista) 

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Night Shyamalan, Ariel Donoghue, Hayley Mills, Alison Pill

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes score: 57%

The "V/H/S" franchise has been steadily helping to keep the art of the horror anthology alive for well over a decade now. This has resulted in some truly spectacular moments, such as the much-beloved segment "Safe Haven" from "V/H/S/2." It has also resulted in some lows, such as "V/H/S/: Viral," which nearly killed the series entirely. This year gifted us with "V/H/S/Beyond," the seventh entry in the franchise and one that leaned hard into blending horror with sci-fi. The result? The most consistently entertaining "V/H/S" movie, when taken as a whole, to date.

Mileage is going to vary as to which segment one likes the most, from the "Resident Evil" inspired thrills of "Stork" to the artistic strangeness offered by "Stowaway," there's a lot going on here. But there's no outright bad segment, which is more than can be said for most horror anthologies. There's a lot of inventiveness on display, and the production value is shockingly high for a series of relatively low-budget shorts. Pound for pound, it's hard to do better than this when playing in this particular sandbox. (Ryan Scott) 

Director: Jay Cheel, Jordan Downey, Justin Long, Christian Long, Justin Martinez, Virat Pal, Kate Siegel

Cast: Mitch Horowitz, James C. Burns, Namrata Shet, Bobby Slaski, Libby Letlow, Alanah Pearce

Rating: Unrated

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%