Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for horror movies like Whistle:
Talk to Me
Talk to Me is the latest elevated horror movie from A24, a studio that’s completely redefined and reimagined the state of the genre, introducing new ideas and themes into it over the past decade. Talk to Me attempts to do the same, pitting trauma and coping mechanisms with demonic forces to a scary degree.
Oddity
Oddity is a rather succinct and well-paced Shudder movie, making it a surprisingly refreshing picture given the current state of independent horror and Shudder‘s most recent original movies to debut on the platform. Perhaps they saved the best for a loaded October because Oddity kicks it off in strong fashion, using jarring framing and bloodstained gore to effective results.
Bodies Bodies Bodies
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 horror 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.
Smile
While Smile delivers on a couple creative and freaky scares, it ultimately falls apart with a prototypical first hour and a generally confusing second one. Sosie Bacon stars as a traumatized doctor looking for answers to her visions.
It’s What’s Inside
To its credit, It’s What’s Inside makes a few choices to make itself memorable. The premise is inarguably fascinating, and the consequences of the central plot engine are enticing at times. But It’s What’s Inside becomes frustratingly convoluted, compounded by a set of characters that I simply could not care less about.
Keeper
Keeper finds Oz Perkins splitting the difference between the chilly occult dread of Longlegs and the goofy pulp of his Stephen King riff The Monkey. The result is a winking slow burn that slips, scene by scene, into gawky madness. It is more confident than The Monkey, less severe than Longlegs, and most alive when it trusts atmosphere over exposition.
Ring
Ring is among the most influential movies to ever come out of Japan. Setting aside it’s successful attempt to blend Japanese filmmaking into the mainstream, Hideo Nakata‘s wildly successful 1998 film is one of the horror genre’s most well-regarded releases. It transcended where it came from, becoming an international powerhouse and spawning and English-language remake due to its popularity.
Stopmotion
Stopmotion is entertaining in the moment, but not all that engaging or memorable after the fact. A work of function and form, but not nearly as groundbreaking or redefining in an era of genre picture glory. A step-up from recent Shudder releases, which is still a promising sign.
Influencers
Influencers threads a tricky needle: it pokes at the attention economy with a knowing grin while mostly dodging the smugness that sinks a lot of social satire. Director Kurtis David Harder returns to the world of Influencer and finds an agile way to keep the story going after that first film’s seemingly final grace note. The sequel opens the aperture without losing the clean, nasty pleasures of watching a shapeshifter navigate vapid luxury ecosystems and weaponize them against their owners.
The Monkey
The Monkey is a middling but watchable entry in the 2025 horror slate. It doesn’t reach the high bar set by of Oz Perkin’s best films, nor does it fully honor the emotional undercurrents of King’s original story, but it’s never boring. If nothing else, it reaffirms Oz Perkins as a horror director worth watching—even when the material doesn’t quite land.
READ MORE: Whistle (2026)
