54. IT (2017)
Pennywise hits the big screens in the most bankable horror movie ever made in this monstrously popular adaptation of the Steven King novel. It works best when focused on the relationships between its young cast, though the dancing clown bit is sure to provide apt nightmare fuel.▶ HBO Max·Read the review →
53. UPGRADE (2018)
American fight choreography takes a bold step forward in this low-budget sci-fi actioner that wastes no time getting into the gritty, grimy beatdowns. A side dish spies the horrifying implications of nano-tech merging with Homo sapiens is also on full display.
52. TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL (2010)
Hillbilly horror-comedy follows two misunderstood softies trying to relax for the weekend but come up against pretentious college tools who assume the worst. Bloody mishaps ensue.
51. REVENGE (2017)
Coralie Fargeat’s feminist rape-revenge fantasy is a brutal takedown of male-gaze exploitation cinema and a bloody beat-em-up fighter flick to boot. The blood comes in buckets here.▶ Shudder·Read the review →
50. THE FINAL GIRLS (2015)
Max and her friends are sucked into a slasher film (don’t ask how) and must use their knowledge of horror movies to survive and best their would-be killer. A funny, bloody, sweet meta socks-knocker. (And way better and smarter than similarly meta Happy Death Day.)▶ The Roku Channel·Read the review →
49. THE VISIT (2015)
M. Night Shyamalan’s comeback film of the new age incites fear of the elderly in found footage framework. Gross, goofy, and a damn good time. Coprophiliacs may delight.▶ Prime Video·Read the review →
48. OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL (2016)
Perhaps the best sequel to a terrible movie ever, Mike Flanagan (who’s featured a whopping 4 times in this list) fills this studio horror with starkly unsettling imagery and bleak conclusions.▶ Netflix·Read the review →
47. HUSH (2016)
The “She’s deaf” equivalent of A Quiet Place and Don’t Breathe, this unsettling invasion thriller (also from Flanagan) boils down the essential ingredients of a horror movie and delivers them in ideally measured fashion.▶ Netflix·Read the review →
46. THE WAILING (2016)
This Korean spooky epic turns distrust of strangers into a supernatural frightfest in distinctly K-horror fashion. Great counterprogramming to the usual American horror fare.Read the review →
45. THELMA (2016)
Not all superpowers are good in psychosexual thriller that feels like Carrie and X-Men were put in a blender.
44. BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 (2017)
S. Craig Zellner makes horror movies that don’t contain themselves to a solitary genre but the brutal violence and soupy displays of blood and bone qualify this hellish crime epic. Vince Vaughn reinvents himself as a true menace in terrifying, bone-cracking fashion.Read the review →
43. SIGHTSEERS (2012)
An odd couple’s U.K. road trip turns into a serial killing spree in this sardonic anti-rom-com from horror auteur Ben Wheatley.Read the review →
42. COHERENCE (2013)
Stretching a heady sci-fi concept to razor-wire tautness, this eerie mindfuck also turned a nothing budget into a hazy intellectual exercise in minimalism and paranoia. Trust no-one, stay inside.Read the review →
41. THE CONJURING 2 (2016)
The second outing with the Warrens didn’t quite reach the same heights but spines tingled nonetheless, especially when little Janet Hodgson contorted herself into crawl spaces. *Shudders*▶ HBO Max·Read the review →
40. CHEAP THRILLS (2013)
An antagonistic satire on American capitalism sees two lowly no-ones completing increasingly harmful dares at the behest of a rich benefactor. A sometimes mean-spirited and definitely pissed off black comedy that’ll kick you in the teeth.
39. PIRANHA 3D (2010)
70’s sexploitation meets turn-of-the-century budget CGI in this tongue-in-cheek monster movie that unleashes bloodthirsty teeth-fish on bikini-clad spring breakers. A campy beer bong-able party movie if there ever was one. Spoiler alert: A piranha burps out a human penis.
38. CLIMAX (2019)
A band of French dancers start going crazy and killing each other when someone spikes the punch with acid in this hallucinogenic, kaleidoscopic whirlwind of sound and fury.Read the review →
37. WE ARE WHAT WE ARE (2013)
A remake of the Mexican horror movie of the same name, this cannibal family psycho-drama invests in relationships that pay increasing dividends, as unlikely country folk take to the subsequent murder and consumption of their neighbors, all which leads up to an absolutely fireworks ending.▶ The Roku Channel·Read the review →
36. STARRY EYES (2014)
Low-budge indie horror tracks the disintegration of a wanna-be Hollywood starlet, complete with a Kafka-esque transformation that’ll have even the hardest of horror fans squirming.▶ Shudder·Read the review →
35. IT COMES AT NIGHT (2017)
A devastating virus has forced survivors to make do on the fringes in this cold, mythological character study that asks if the interests of two families can align – or must be pitted against one another. A searingly intelligent psychological slow-burn.
34. A CURE FOR WELLNESS (2016)
Blockbuster man Gore Verbinski (The Ring) returns to horror in stately big budget haunter that’s a verifiable orgy of weird ideas. Ambitious to a fault, the story tells of a company man who goes to a spa to retrieve his fall-guy boss. Little healing occurs.▶ Prime Video·Read the review →
33. THE INVITATION (2015)
Ignorance certainly isn’t bliss when a man attends a dinner party at his ex’s (and her new lover’s) house. Something is off, or so he believes. Karyn Kusama dials the tension up, up, and away.
32. YOU’RE NEXT (2011)
Sharni Vinson’s Erin is among the most badass final girls of the decade in this bloody home invasion thriller made for people who would enjoy Home Alone with more actual murder.
31. GERALD’S GAME (2017)
Only horror maestro Mike Flanagan could turn his “unfilmable” Steven King novel into an unflappable master work, reworking the trials of a woman handicuffed to her bed after her husband suddenly dies into a visually arresting collage of the horrors of sexual abuse.Read the review →
30. HOUSEBOUND (2014)
New Zealand remains the king of horror-comedy, this time presenting a maybe-haunted-house story about a pissy jailbird under house arrest, contending with a possible possession and a definitely annoying mum.Read the review →
29. THE DEVIL’S CANDY (2015)
Heavy metal is evil again as a father/artist falls into a productive (but costly) trance when he moves into a home with a killer history in this steely-eyed creeper from the director of The Loved Ones.
LIST CONTINUES ON THE NEXT PAGE (4/4)
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By: Matt Oakes
Started blogging about film in college when the university paper wouldn’t have him. Dislikes your consensus film Twitter favorites. Devotee of horror movies that make him die a little inside. Catches films at festivals when he can. Proud SFCS and OFCS member and Tomatometer-approved critic. Editor-in-chief of Silver Screen Riot.
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