Horror has always been a genre that recognizes experimentation and ingenuity. Since its inception, horror has consistently looked for new ways to scare and terrorize its viewers, and that has continued into the 2020s. Despite dozens of franchise reboots and sequels over these last few years, originality is still reigning supreme. Many great horror movies have released in the 2020s, these are just the 25 best ones so far.
25. The Sadness (2021)
24. Immaculate (2024)
Who knew a freaky nun horror movie was where Sydney Sweeney would turn her interests next? I can’t say I necessarily had Immaculate on my bingo card for Sweeney’s future career moves, but the movie further adds to her deep catalogue of genre efforts the last few years.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Immaculate (2024)
23. Evil Dead Rise (2023)
There aren’t many horror franchises able to reinvent themselves as often as Evil Dead does while still maintaining relevancy and quality. Maybe it’s because Sam Raimi holds his creation so close to his heart that only a select few are able to take on the premise, or maybe it’s because the premise seems simple and malleable enough to make nearly anything work. It can shoot for the downright zany and ludicrous with Evil Dead II or Army of Darkness, or it can strive to be like Lee Cronin’s newest spin Evil Dead Rise – a movie so sick and twisted that you can’t help but give it its dues by the time the credits roll.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Evil Dead Rise (2023)
22. His House (2020)
21. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021)
20. Longlegs (2024)
Longlegs makes good on the promise of being a freaky horror tale that injects dread in every frame and through every nook and cranny possible. Director Oz Perkins, if for nothing else, continues to prove himself as a singular horror director, with a style that no soul could replicate and a thirst for the absurd, demented, and disturbed.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Longlegs (2024)
19. Possessor (2020)
18. X (2022)
17. Saw X (2023)
Saw X emerges from the twisted mind of director Kevin Greutert, delivering a surprisingly refreshing take on the notorious Saw franchise. In this tenth installment, the filmmakers, led by writers Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger, shift the focus to a more sympathetic exploration of the series’ iconic character, John Kramer, played wonderfully by Tobin Bell.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Saw X (2023)
16. Sick (2022)
Sick is the latest action/horror picture from director John Hyams. It’s his follow-up to the 2020 film Alone and feels like a natural successor for the filmmaker. In both movies, protagonists are quickly pushed into a battle to save their own lives from relentless attackers that feel just shy from being the boogeyman reincarnated. While Alone takes place mostly in the outdoors wilderness, Sick opts for a luxurious remote cabin secluded from neighbors and the outside world.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Sick (2022)
15. Chime (2024)
Despite the movie’s brief 45 minute runtime that can make it feel more like a fragmented vignette than a fully fleshed out thriller, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s indelible and melancholic Chime packs enough terror and dread to still make it worthwhile. That runtime trudges along quickly, as the atmospheric slow burn takes ahold after a while and never lets go.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Chime (2024)
14. Malignant (2021)
13. Scream VI (2023)
The sequels for Scream have always struggled to live up to Wes Craven’s original 1996 masterpiece. It’s the inherent issue of trying to catch lightening in a bottle a second time after the first struck a nerve with a widespread audience well versed in the rules of the horror genre – if you drink, have sex, or do drugs, you’ll probably die by the time the credits role, or that you’ll surely not be back if you utter that you’ll be right back. These rules forged the franchise, and ever since the franchise has worked harder and harder to justify its own existence. Yet with Scream 6, the gang seems ready for the big time – and big changes.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Scream VI (2023)
12. V/H/S/94 (2021)
11. Cuckoo (2024)
There’s a lot to like with Tilman Singer’s sophomore movie Cuckoo, which balances sharp and eerie cinematography and sound design with a worthy physical and emotionally volatile performance from Hunter Schafer. Don’t hope to pull much of a sensical plot from this thing, because Singer’s made it clear he’s in it for surreal scares more than a cohesive story.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Cuckoo (2024)
10. Watcher (2022)
9. Mad God (2021)
8. Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Stylistically and visually, Bodies Bodies Bodies is a real treat. The scenes are lush and vibrant, and the color design for this film is excellent. As all A24 projects go, this film finds its pocket early on and sticks to it. Even with a narrative that can feel generic at this point, Bodies Bodies Bodies excels at amplifying and hyper-intensifying the world around its main plotline.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
7. Titane (2021)
6. Old (2021)
Old is one of M. Night Shyamalan’s more rewatchable endeavors in recent memory. Although The Visit is significantly funnier than this one, the documentarian camerawork slightly diminishes your ability to engage with it beyond its genre iconography. Split feels hollow past the James McAvoy performance. Old is his best balance between being audience pleasing, slightly cheesy, and brutally gory. A real directorial performance by one of the business’ best if he has his A-game. And I would argue he’s giving that A-game with Old.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Old (2021)
5. The Empty Man (2020)
4. Barbarian (2022)
Zach Cregger‘s Barbarian is still refreshing and thrilling, and it’s easily one of my favorite theater experiences of 2022. Films try over and over again to use the schlocky marketing bit of audiences screaming in theaters only to be disappointing in actual terror when places in front of you – but Barbarian is genuinely jaw-dropping.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Barbarian (2022)
3. Saint Maud (2020)
Saint Maud certainly has a few of the motifs and themes you’d expect from an A24 horror movie – a real sense of dread and Christian guilt lingers throughout much of its brisk runtime – but the debut from Rose Glass feels like an expansive, reinvigorating mold of those ideals. A few years since its release, Saint Maud remains the best horror film from the studio in the 2020s.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Saint Maud (2020)
2. I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Jane Schoenbrun delivers a similarly sinister and bewildering story with I Saw the TV Glow as they did in 2021 with We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. And while their debut film used its DIY aesthetic to great effect with long uninterrupted found-footage shots, I Saw the TV Glow uses every effect and camera flourish you could think of.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
1. Nope (2022)
Nope delivers on its promise of spectacle. Its set-up helps deliver one of the most rewarding third acts of the year, and one I’ll surely return to in years to come. Those don’t come around very often, only a handful of films lend themselves to repeat viewings, and Nope is certainly one of them. A dazzling and hypnotic viewing, and one that doesn’t leave your mind once you leave your theater. The best films make you think, and Nope gives you plenty to sink your teeth into.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Nope (2022)
More Rankings and Lists from Cinephile Corner
- Every V/H/S/Beyond Segment Ranked from Worst to Best
- Every V/H/S Movie Ranked from Worst to Best
- The 25 Best Horror Movies of the 2020s So Far
- The 50 Best Horror Movies of All Time, from ‘The Exorcist’ to ‘Hereditary’
- The 15 Best Directorial Debuts of the 2020s So Far, from ‘Barbarian’ to ‘Past Lives’
- The 15 Best Directorial Debut Movies, from ‘Get Out’ and ‘Reservoir Dogs’ to ‘Citizen Kane’
- Every David Lynch Movie Ranked from Worst to Best
- The 15 Best Movies of 1999, from ‘Magnolia’ to ‘The Matrix’