This Year Was A Feast: The Best Horror Movies Of 2024

I did not expect one of the gnarliest body horror films in recent memory to come out of Cannes, but here we are. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat (Revenge) made waves at the Festival de Cannes with her Best Screenplay winner, The Substance before unleashing it on the masses. When a movie can surprise me, I can’t help but give it a little extra love. 

Demi Moore has never been more impressive, starring as former A-list star Elisabeth Sparkle. This is Hollywood, baby, and nothing gold can stay, what's a girl to do? Enter, The Substance. Yes, it is a savage takedown of impossible beauty standards and our youth-obsessed culture. But it is also just a really gorgeous and incredibly grotesque body horror movie which means there’s something for everyone here.

The First Omen could very easily have been a run-of-the-mill paint-by-numbers prequel deal. Instead, Arkasha Stevenson came in and blew us all away with her feature directorial debut. She fought hard for the elements of this movie that make it stand out and thank god she won the battle. The origins of Damien are more sinister than we may have imagined and the nightmare imagery on display is something that has stuck with me as we near the end of the year. And that's sayin' something.

Nosferatu solidifies Eggers as a master of marrying the gorgeous and grotesque. It’s not very often we get a full blown good old fashioned monster movie. Add to that — when’s the last time you saw a gorgeously crafted gothic romance? Sometimes you don’t need to reinvent the genre. Editor In Chief Phil Nobile Jr. put it perfectly in a recent Terror Teletype: “no matter who’s telling it; horror gets hyped over the hand behind the paintbrush. It’s the singer, not the song. And so it should be.”

Among popcorn buckets and official casket merch tie-ins is “a perfect classic horror movie.” Eggers clearly loves the source material, this is a faithful adaptation that harkens back to classic monster movies we cut our fangs on. Viewed through Eggers’ lens we get a gorgeous gothic take on the familiar story that is well worth watching. And as we head into a year teeming with monster fare crafted by storytellers we love, I’ll just say… I like where this is going.

Nosferatu is in theaters Christmas Day, squeezing into 2024 just under the wire.

Read our full Nosferatu review, and check our our interview with director Robert Eggers and star Willem Dafoe.

When I frst saw the trailer for Heretic, I was instantly hooked. As a fan of Beck and Woods, I couldn’t wait to see what they were going to do with this subject matter and killer cast. Hugh Grant as a villain in a horror movie was an instant hook, and we’ll always show up to Sophie Thatcher further solidfying her genre icon status, (Chloe East is stellar as well).

There were two paths laid out before Beck and Woods here, and they chose the path less traveled. That is to say, watching the trailer, it is easy to assume what’s in store. Instead, they deliver intelligent characters who are actually quite smart in all the choices they make, weaponize Hugh Grant’s charm to a terrifying degree, and build us one of the most horrifying escape rooms ever.

Regardless of where you land on the debate, it will make you think and perhaps most interestingly of all, I don’t think folks would be particularly offended by it, which in itself makes the angle and the approach more impressive. 

Originally making its debut at SXSW in 2023 and making the festival rounds,Cameron and Colin Cairnes’ Late Night With The Devil wasn’t made widely available until March of 2024.

The duo so meticulously bring the world of late-night ‘70s TV to the big screen, and David Dastmalchian so convincingly breathes life into fictional talk show host Jack Delroy that for a good portion of the film, it would be easy to believe you were actually watching a biopic. (You all thought so, too awarding Dastmalchian with the 2024 Chainsaw Awards Best Lead Performance.) Finding fresh ways to implement found footage, solid world-building, and incredible performances solidify Late Night With The Devil’s spot on the list.

This was a great year for horror comedy, though for whatever reason, the box office numbers didn’t agree. Abigail is Radio Silence completely off the leash, doing what they do best, beholden to nothing and no one. The ensemble cast is a highlight here, including the likes of Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, going against a little girl who happens to be a ballerina vampire. If you’re a fan of Ready or Not this is a return to form for the Radio Silence gang, and you’re sure to have a grand time.

For more, check out our interviews with the Abigail cast.

Hear me out. Once again folks did not seem to be big on horror comedies this year, but I tend to love it as a subgenre, especially when it’s done well. Lisa Frankenstein is Heathers by way of Frankenstein, shockingly gory, surprisingly mean and a whole lot of fun. Mark my words, folks are going to be flocking to late night screenings of this one in about a decade or so. If you skipped it earlier this year, now’s your chance to check it out so you can say “I appreciated it in 2024.”

The costume design is pretty spectacular, take a look behind the scenes with Lisa Frankenstein Costume Designer Meagan McLaughlin.

Oddity was my biggest surprise of the year. A small Irish film that I turned on before bed and had to turn off just a few minutes into it so I could finish watching in the relative safety of daylight. It’s not very often something gets under my skin or can shake me up in that way. Director Damian McCarthy plays with the audience's idea of what “evil” is.

While there is an oddities shop in the film and an actual oddity in the form of a horrifying, gaping mouth gollum, the film itself is an oddity. The way McCarthy explains it: “it was a mix of a lot of old ideas that I could never find a home for.” Like a bit of an oddities shop of ideas coming to life on the screen.

Read more in our interview with Oddity director Damian McCarthy.

The third entry is the Quiet Place franchise ventures away from the Abbott family of the previous two films and takes us back to the beginning of how the Abbotts ended up there in the first place. This one was shockingly poignant, largely due to an impressive cast, led by Academy Award Winner Lupita Nyong'o and Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn. (I have never cried this much in an A Quiet Place movie, but don’t let that deter you.)

This was a big year for trilogies. Ti West closed out his X trilogy with Maxxxine over the summer, and it was an event. Another thing we don’t get a ton of are cinematic events, so when that happens, I count it as something pretty special. Regardless of where Maxxxine lands in your trilogy ranking, I would argue there are no bad movies in this trilogy and that is a feat in itself. We close out the story of Maxine Minx against the backdrop of ‘80s Hollywood heavily inspired by Hollywood sleaze flicks like Angel and a healthy sampling of De Palma.

We would be remiss not to mention total Art the Clown domination. Damien Leone has managed to do something we truly don’t see much of. Not only did Leone create a new slasher icon that has infiltrated every avenue of pop culture, but he’s three installments deep and damn near broke the box office this time around.

With the third installment, Leone goes deeper into the lore and bigger as he builds to the fourth installment crescendo. Not only is Terrifier 3 set during Christmas (bet your ass there’s going to be an influx of Santa suit-wearing Art the Clowns at all the 2025 conventions), but you also get an angel battling a demon; what’s more, in the spirit of the season than that?

And now onto Amber T's picks below!

In a world that's ever increasingly more hostile to its most vulnerable demographics, Jane Schoenbrun’s sophomore feature I Saw the TV Glow bought audiences to tears this year with its bittersweet and melancholic message of nostalgia and embracing your true identity.

With its horror undertones and some of the most terrifying monster designs of the year (the Ice Cream Man needs his own spinoff sequel, to be honest), I Saw the TV Glow rightfully took home the FANGORIA Chainsaw Award for Best Limited Release movie, and will without a doubt be a life-changing piece of media for many young queer horror fans going forward.

After what felt like hundreds of years with little news except that one press-approved still (seriously, us news writers went through HELL), Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo was more than worth the wait. This future cult classic piece of weirdo cinema boasts an irresistibly dry, distinctly German streak of humor running throughout.

Dan Stevens is in his element as the enigmatic and bizarre Herr König. Hunter Schafer establishes herself as a kickass final girl for the ages. And wherever you think Cuckoo is going, it isn’t. Hear its call and fall under Cuckoo’s spell.

Read more in our interview with Cuckoo director Tilman Singer.

From the marketing to the memes, Longlegs was the film on everybody’s lips this year, escaping the horror niche to find huge success among even the more, shall we say, normal of film fans (even pop princess Ariana Grande called it one of her faves of the year).

Starring Nicolas Cage in the role he was put on this earth for and scream queen Maika Monroe, Longlegs is a dark descent into glam-rock occultism and the evils of the nuclear family, securing its place undoubtedly as the serial killer thriller of the year – perhaps even the decade.

You probably came away from Longlegs with more than a few theories about the mysterious Dale Kobble and his evil ways. I have some of my own too…

For more, take a deep dive into our familial horror of Longlegs theory

Anxiety auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse) proved he still had the juice this year – the juice being a mastery of bone-deep existential dread – with Chime, one of three films he released in 2024. In Chime, which honestly does feel like a spiritual successor to Cure, a chef’s life slowly unravels as he becomes aware of an intrusive chiming sound.

At just 45 minutes, Chime manages to outscare even some of the biggest horrors of the year, and does it all without jumpscares or (excessive) gore. You WILL believe an empty household hallway will be the scariest thing you've ever seen in your whole life.

Jang Jae-hyun’s Exhuma proves yet again that few countries are doing horror cinema as well as South Korea. In Exhuma, two shamans (Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun) and a Feng shui expert (Oldboy legend Choi Min-sik) are tasked with excavating a grave and appeasing a curse. Chaos, as expected, follows shortly.

Exhuma blends traditional Korean customs and important historical context with classic scares to create one towering inferno of supernatural horror that honestly feels more akin to Hong Kong black magic cinema than it does to The Wailing.

Japanese horror maestro Kōji Shiraishi (Noroi: The Curse, Occult) steps outside of the found-footage format for House of Sayuri, a ghost story that’s hilarious and horrifying in equal measure. Based on a manga of the same name, House of Sayuri follows a family moving into a home haunted by a restless spirit. Think you know where it’s going? Think again. This bizarre and eclectic horror has to be seen to be believed.

Bigger and bolder in almost every way, Parker Finn’s Smile 2 proved that sequels can retread similar ground whilst also expanding on hard-hitting themes. Naomi Scott gives an all-timer performance as pop star Skye Riley, the latest victim of the mysterious Smile curse, having to navigate an upcoming world tour, her own unresolved trauma, and a demon intent on tormenting her at every junction. In a year dominated by fictional popstars, Skye Riley easily takes the crown. Blood On White Satin vinyl when??

Seeking more of our picks for best of the year? Check out the best horror video games of 2024. And to see what's on the horizon, we've got you covered with all the new horror movies coming our way in 2025.