The 50 Best Horror Movies of the 21st Century So Far, Ranked

If your favorite horror film isn’t on the list, it’s because there are so many amazing candidates that a top 50 couldn’t cover them all. A top 100 couldn’t cover them all either. The point is, we had to cut ourselves off somewhere.

Behold, the 50 best horror movies of the 21st century so far.

50. Werewolves Within (2021)

Josh Rubin’s witty and monstrous supernatural whodunnit stars Sam Richardson as a mild-mannered forest ranger who is, unfortunately, the only person in town who can solve a series of brutal murders. The killer is, as the title suggests, a lycanthrope, and Rubin, working with co-writer Mishna Wolff, has a ton of fun blending the horror and mystery genres. “Werewolves Within” isn’t quite “Clue with a Werewolf” but it comes close, making for a gloriously fun experience. Not many filmmakers could pull it off, but to “Dropout” luminary Rubin this kind of thing is, apparently, no problem.

49. Malignant (2021)

James Wan is one of the most prominent horror filmmakers of the 21st century, and his name will come up again soon, and multiple times, but first we have to celebrate his fabulously weird cult masterpiece “Malignant,” starring Annabelle Wallis as a woman haunted by visions of a mysterious serial killer. It’s a luscious and exciting homage to the outlandish and colorful Italian giallo genre, and that’s before the story goes bonkers. When “Malignant” kicks in — and you’ll know it when you see it — it proves that Wan can tell a classy ghost story when he wants to, but he’s truly inspired when he has the freedom to get weird.

48. Triangle (2009)

Christopher Smith’s terrifying “Triangle” is a fascinating and frightening twist on the old time loop formula, starring Melissa George as a single mother who takes a day off to go boating with some friends. A storm hits and they find themselves stranded on a decaying ocean liner, stalked by a homicidal maniac, in a life or death situation that they – or somebody else – has clearly gone through before. Fiendishly clever and horrifyingly bleak, “Triangle” is a scream of infernal despair.

47. Trick ‘r Treat (2009)

Michael Dougherty’s cult classic Halloween anthology film first screened in 2007 but the theatrical distribution kept getting delayed, until it finally went straight to video in 2009. That sounds ridiculous now, since “Trick ‘r Treat” has become an iconic holiday favorite that moves tons of merch every year. It’s a series of imaginative, creepy stories that all take place in the same town on October 31st, including a ghost story about vengeful children, a gruesome tale about a family’s annual jack o’lantern, and in an iconic finale where the spirit of the season torments a cranky old man who refuses to give out candy. Like all anthologies, some of writer/director Dougherty’s stories are better than others, but there are more treats than tricks, and they are delectable..

46. The Conjuring (2013)

James Wan’s classy supernatural thriller stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the Warrens, based on real-life paranormal investigators who, by everyone’s accounts but their own, were almost certainly charlatans. In the “Conjuring” movies, however, they’re stalwart experts in the unknown, who help a struggling working class family fend off an evil spirit. The first film is still the best, with Wan cranking up the atmosphere, building to one unforgettable scare after another, and establishing all the elements that would transform these films, and their many spin-offs, into a billion dollar franchise.

45. Ready or Not (2019)

Samara Weaving marries into an impossibly wealthy family with a strange tradition: Whenever someone joins their ranks they all play a game, and unfortunately Weaving picked “hide and seek,” meaning all her in-laws – and her new husband – have to hunt her down and kill her before dawn. Fast-paced, funny, and packed with memorable characters, “Ready or Not” is an instant classic “humans hunting humans” movie, with a cathartic sense of class consciousness. We all know the rich would hunt the poor people for sport if they could, and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s horror comedy argues, convincingly, that we should get them before they get us.

44. It: Chapter One (2017)

Stephen King’s iconic novel “It” has always been a weird beast, split as it was into two timelines: a group of children fighting a demonic clown, and those same kids returning as adults to finish the job. “It: Chapter One” exclusively tackles the coming of age narrative, with director Andy Muschietti assembling a cast of excellent child actors to look terrified by Bill Skarsgård, who turns in a grotesquely intimidating performance as the fear-mongering entity Pennywise. This first half of “It” is a horrifying rollercoaster and it would have ranked even higher if the follow-up, “It: Chapter Two,” didn’t retroactively sully it by stinking out loud, for a plethora of annoying reasons.

43. Saw (2004)

James Wan exploded onto the cinematic scene with the fiendish serial killer thriller “Saw,” written by and co-starring Leigh Whannell. A doctor, played by Cary Elwes, wakes up in a disgusting bathroom, chained to the wall, and has to work together with a weird stranger, played by Whannell, to solve the disgusting, self-mutilating puzzles designed by the mad schemer Jigsaw. There was nothing quite like “Saw” when it came out, leading waves of imitators and a series of sequels which quickly got even more elaborate, and arguably even better. But the original set the template. Without “Saw,” the history of 21st century horror movies would look very different.

42. Red Rooms (2023)

Juliette Gariépy stars in this grim Canadian indie as a model who’s obsessed with a mysterious murder suspect, who allegedly made real-life snuff videos on the dark web. But is she horrified by his evil or just his number one fan? In the hands of writer/director Pascal Plante, “Red Rooms” is a clinical, possibly unsolvable mystery about why we become obsessed with unspeakable acts. Gariépy gives a chilling performance as a woman whose motives are inscrutable, but also disquietingly familiar to anyone who would want to watch “Red Rooms” in the first place.

41. Sinister (2012)

Ethan Hawke is a true crime writer who moves into a murder house with his family, only to discover a treasure trove of home videos featuring… well, you’ll have to see for yourself. Scott Derrickson’s breakout hit “Sinister” is eerie and atmospheric, and Derrickson expertly navigates the line between psychological reality and supernatural mythology. It was the first time Hawke and Derrickson teamed up, and their “Black Phone” movies are terrifying as well, but “Sinister” has a unique alchemical composition that stands out amongst other, similar supernatural thrillers of the 2010s, There were a lot of scary stories about families facing horrors in their house in those days, and “Sinister” is one of the very best.

40. Cam (2018)

Daniel Goldhaber’s debut feature is an intimate and unsettling doppelgänger story, starring Madeline Brewer as a sex worker whose identity is stolen online. Literally. There’s someone else on OnlyFans – well, “FreeGirlsLive,” but we all know what we’re really talking about – who has her name, her face, and now her audience. “Cam” is a psychotropic tale about identity, with Alice falling deep into a terrifying headspace, confronting the disturbing dangers of having an online persona. Ingeniously conceived and incredibly respectful of sex workers, “Cam” is a mature, freaky psychological nightmare.

39. Smile 2 (2024)

Parker Finn’s first “Smile,” about a therapist whose patient claims to be cursed, ends their own life, and transfers the curse to her, was a vicious tale about fighting a losing battle against your trauma. “Smile 2” tells a similar story while improving on the original in every way, with Naomi Scott playing a pop star whose overwhelming pressures almost destroyed her before the supernatural even got involved. Scott gives a tour de force performance, while Finn concocts a staggering number of ways to obliterate her sanity, in outlandish and uncomfortable set pieces that have to be seen to be believed, including one of the most frightening finales of any horror movie.

38. Train to Busan (2016)

The zombie genre went through a lot of permutations in the last quarter century, and in many ways “Train to Busan” is the genre at its pinnacle. Gong Woo plays a businessman and subpar father takes his daughter on a train ride on the first day of the zombie apocalypse. The survivors of the initial attack are now trapped in a confined location – par for the course in these films – but the location is on the move, creating a series of unique and devious problems the heroes have to solve if they want to survive. “Train to Busan” is a breathless, thrill-a-minute experience with believable characters, and their plight will genuinely move you. Zombie films don’t get much slicker or more involving.

37. Talk to Me (2022)

If you tell a group of kids not to do something, they’re probably going to do it. That’s true for cigarettes, for alcohol, and in Danny and Michael Philippou’s first feature “Talk to Me,” for disembodied arms that connect you to the spirit world. Sophie Wilde stars as a teenager who encounters this unearthly curio at a party and, in a desperate attempt to contact her dead mother, takes the experience too far, ripping through the veil between the mortal and spiritual planes. “Talk to Me” is, in no uncertain terms, a petrifying motion picture, brought to life with emotional honesty and brutal imagery. It’s a mean movie with a valid point about processing grief and mortality, which the filmmakers explored again, also brilliantly, in their follow-up “Bring Her Back.”

36. The Invisible Man (2020)

The original, iconic adaptation of H.G. Wells’ sci-fi novel about a sinister see-through scientist, directed by James Whale in 1933, is an ominously humorous classic about what happens when a man can do anything with zero accountability. Leigh Whannell’s very, very loose remake updates the tale with modern science and a contemporary understanding of toxic men and their patterns of abuse. Elisabeth Moss barely escapes her sadistic spouse, who immediately dies, but she can’t shake the sensation that he’s still watching her. It’s almost like he’s in the room right now. Nobody believes her, making for a disturbing metaphor that Whannell explores in detail. “The Invisible Man” has never been scarier, because all sci-fi pretense aside, it feels nerve-shreddingly real.

35. You’re Next (2013)

A group of killers wearing animal masks attack a rich family at their isolated home, and they would have gotten away with it too, if the victims hadn’t brought a working class hero along. Sharni Vinson stars as a down-to-earth woman who just happened to grow up on a survivalist compound, giving her just the skills she needs to protect the homestead and manage a gaggle of useless, yet well-defined bourgeois characters out of this nightmare – if, of course, they actually listen to her. An expertly crafted, violent crowd-pleaser, directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett, who also made the similarly wild and entertaining genre mash-up “The Guest.”

34. The Strangers (2008)

There’s a refreshing, elegant simplicity to Bryan Bertino’s home invasion classic, which makes it feel like every horrible thing that happens could happen to you. Heck, if you’re watching it your home, The Strangers might already be behind you. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman play a couple whose relationship literally just fell apart when a trio of masked murderers target them for death. They lurk in the background for what seems like forever until they strike, and their motivation is completely inscrutable. “The Strangers” is grim, stripped down scare fest which can get under almost anybody’s skin.

33. Host (2020)

One of the amazing things about the horror genre is that great films can not only be made cheaply, but also extremely fast, which means it’s often the first cinematic genre to directly confront current events. Rob Savage’s “Host” was filmed and released just a few months into the COVID lockdown, and its supernatural story is incredibly pointed: A group of isolated friends, desperate for connection, perform an online seance over Zoom, but their fate is sealed when they fail to heed common sense precautions about their safety. But more than that, “Host” is actually scary as hell, and it’s one of the few “screen life” movies that completely justifies the format.

32. Midsommar (2019)

Ari Aster’s breakout film “Hereditary” was an outburst of a movie, harrowing yet overwrought, about a family falling prey to generational psychological damage, amplified by the intrusion of the supernatural. The performances were amazing, but his follow-up “Midsommar” takes that ball and runs a marathon with it. Florence Pugh stars as a young woman mourning the death of her family in a tragic murder-suicide. When her inattentive, kinda crappy boyfriend drags her to Sweden for a cultural festival, they’re swept up in a cult that takes advantage of her fragile state, eventually doing unspeakable things to them both. Superficially similar to horror classics like “The Wicker Man,” Aster’s uniquely sun-drenched nightmare gussies up true psychological terror in the guise of human connection and healing. It’s an insidious film which only gains more power over time.

31. Pearl (2022)

Lots of horror movies have a twist ending. Ti West’s “X,” a slasher about a pornographic film crew attacked by a murderous elderly woman, concluded with a big one: The prequel has already been filmed, and it was coming out almost immediately. “Pearl” stars Mia Goth as a young woman in the 1910s, whose repressive upbringing, active libido, and naive dreams of a life in show business are probably not why she’s murderously violent. But Pearl’s circumstances do make her sympathetic, transforming “Pearl” from a simple tale of mass murder into a haunting character piece, anchored by an all-timer performance from Mia Goth. “Pearl” is phenomenal because Goth is phenomenal, and even after Wes concluded his trilogy with his 1980s-set “MaXXXine,” it’s still the best in the series.

30. Good Boy (2025)

“Good Boy” is not the first haunted house movie where the dog can tell there’s something malevolent going on, but it’s a rarity in the genre anyway, because it’s told entirely from the dog’s perspective. A Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever named Indy, playing himself, is pulled by his owner to a cabin in the woods while he recovers from a serious illness. But no matter how hard Indy tries, his human never seems to figure out that he’s in mortal danger. Ben Leonberg’s film is a beautifully tragic ghost story, which uses masterful editing to make Indy – who is, to be clear, a regular dog – seem like the greatest actor on the planet. Try to get through this film without crying. We dare you.

29. The Descent (2005)

A claustrophobic survival tale that’ll give you goosebumps long before it goes into full bore monster mode, Neil Marshall’s “The Descent” is about a group of women who go spelunking in a mysterious cave and get trapped inside. The only way out, they hope, is through, so down they crawl, into one narrow crevasse after another, deep into the darkness. Eventually they discover they’re not alone, but if this was just a story about women with strained relationships in a heartstopping crisis “The Descent” would make this list anyway. That the monsters are distinctly off-putting, gruesome creatures which force our heroes to swim in rivers of blood is just a bonus.

28. Skinamarink (2023)

Years before “Backrooms” got mainstream moviegoers excited about liminal spaces, YouTubers were exploring this unique form of discomfort, and none of them has done it better – yet – than Kyle Edward Ball. His feature directorial debut “Skinamarink” has a premise so dreadful it could only emerge from a child’s nightmare, because it did: Two small children awake in the middle of the night and discover every door and window is missing. A television shows old cartoons, which keeps them distracted, but eventually they know they’ll have to go upstairs to their parents’ bedroom, and that’s where the horrors are. A squirmily ambiguous, undeniably effective low budget freakout that hits you right in the most uncomfortable recesses of your mind.

27. Happy Death Day (2017)

Another diabolically clever time loop, “Happy Death Day” stars Jessica Rothe as a college student who keeps reliving her birthday, because no matter how hard she tries, she’s always murdered by a murderer in a baby mask. Christopher Landon’s film is one of the best horror comedies, in general, because it smartly balances old fashioned slasher movie scares and high-concept comedy, anchored by Rothe’s stellar performance as a woman who is really going through it today and has every imaginable reaction to her circumstances. (The sequel, “Happy Death Day 2 U,” is a worthy continuation that downplays the scares in favor of sci-fi ingenuity.)

26. Nope (2022)

Jordan Peele’s “Nope” is, like all his movies to date, an ingenius reinvention of very familiar ideas. Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer play siblings who inherit their father’s ranch, but something keeps killing all the livestock. It’s no surprise to discover that extraterrestrials are responsible, but Peele’s unique interpretation of how U.F.O.’s work and inventive, unpredictable script make sure that’s the only part of the story you can anticipate. What’s even more amazing is how Peele converts this sci-fi horror story into a passionate and thoughtful exploration of filmmaking art forms that rarely get dramatized on camera, with animal wranglers and cinematographers all working together to make history… if they can survive.

25. It Follows (2015)

Damn, “It Follows” is scary. Maika Monroe stars as a college student who sleeps with a guy, who reveals too late that he’s passed something on to her. Not a disease, but a demon, who will walk steadily towards her until it catches and kills her, unless she passes it on to somebody else by having sex with them too. Writer/director David Robert Mitchell uses widescreen photography to make it damn near impossible to tell which stranger in the background is the entity, and Monroe realistically conveys the overwhelming trauma of being betrayed by a sexual partner. “It Follows” also has one of the most panic-inducing scores of the century, which adds to the film’s distressing power.

24. The Invitation (2016)

When Logan Marshall-Green is invited to his ex-wife’s house for a dinner party, he’s suspicious. It’s been years since the death of their son, and everyone seems a little suspicious. The beautiful terror of Karyn Kusama’s “The Invitation” is how difficult it is to put your finger on exactly what’s wrong, and as our protagonist starts to succumb to extreme paranoia, the film could realistically and satisfyingly conclude with the revelation that something ominous really was afoot, or that the anxiety was all in his mind. To reveal what actually happens would be a crime. Suffice it to say Kusama’s outstanding direction, and the cast’s earnest portrayals of grief, are intoxicatingly bleak.

23. Frailty (2002)

The late Bill Paxton made his directorial debut with this horrific coming of age story, starring Jeremy Sumpter and Matt O’Leary as two brothers, whose father says God has told them to hunt and kill demons. The problem, besides the obvious possibility that Dad is out of his mind, is that these demons look just like regular people, and there’s no reason to believe they’ve done anything wrong. When one of the kids decides enough is enough, the elaborate abuse begins. Paxton’s impressive direction takes its cues from great small town murder films like “The Night of the Hunter” and “Lone Star,” and the serpentine story asks truly damning questions about faith.

22. Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

Willem Dafoe earned a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Max Schreck, the mysterious actor who played the ghoulish, ratlike vampire in F.W. Murnau’s trailblazing silent horror classic, “Nosferatu.” But E. Elias Merhige’s “Shadow of the Vampire” is no mere Hollywood biopic, it’s a crooked supernatural fantasy which claims Schreck actually was a vampire, and fed on members of Murnau’s crew. John Malkovich plays the celebrated filmmaker as an ambitious artiste who will make any sacrifice to make this movie, a mentality that has led to many real-life horror stories in this industry. “Shadow of the Vampire” isn’t a fanciful piece of revisionist history, it’s a razor sharp look at the way the film industry still, tragically, often works.

21. The Mist (2007)

A mysterious, thick fog blankets a small town in Maine – yes, this is a Stephen King adaptation, how could you guess? – and what’s worse, there are deadly Lovecraftian monsters hidden within the mist. Thomas Jane, Laurie Holden and Toby Jones play just some of the townsfolk who get trapped in a supermarket, trying to survive and figure out what the hell is happening, but Marcia Gay Harden absolutely terrifies as the local religious crackpot who stirs everyone into an Old Testament frenzy. Frank Darabont treats “The Mist” like a classic old school monster movie until he reveals his endgame, with a completely rewritten final scene that makes everything we’ve seen make an ungodly amount of sense. The true terror isn’t the monsters, although they sure are terrifying. No, it’s the possibility that everything you believe is wrong that will give you the shivers.

20. Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Karyn Kusama teamed up with Oscar-winning “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody to create “Jennifer’s Body,” a hilarious and biting (ha!) horror comedy starring Megan Fox as a popular cheerleader who’s sacrificed to Satan by an evil rock band and awakens as a man-eating succubus. Her best friend, played by Amanda Seyfried, can tell something is terribly wrong but everyone else at school is oblivious to the obvious danger. Witty, gory, incisive storytelling with a killer soundtrack and fantastic lead performances by Fox and Seyfried, “Jennifer’s Body” was criminally underappreciated when it was first released, then it became a cult classic, and now it’s just a straight up classic.

19. Let the Right One In (2008)

A story of two lonely children who make an unlikely connection, “Let the Right One In” is a tragic tale of friendship gone terribly, terribly wrong. Kåre Hedebrant plays a bullied young boy in Sweden who meets a vampire, played by Lina Leandersson, who is probably a lot older than she appears. “Let the Right One In” seems like a story about a hunter playing with her food, but the depths of human/inhuman connection are explored in uncomfortable detail, in Tomas Alfredson’s icy character piece with a rich vein of evil hidden just beneath the surface. Matt Reeves directed the American remake “Let Me In,” starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloë Grace Moretz, and damn if it’s not almost as good as the original.

18. Paranormal Activity (2009)

Oren Peli didn’t invent the found footage horror genre with “Paranormal Activity,” but his microbudget classic – originally filmed for a paltry $15,000 – made the format so modern it felt practically universal. Countless copycats followed Peli’s formula, in which a suburban couple decides to record their seemingly haunted house, but the original is still the scariest. Katie Featherston is upsettingly sympathetic as a woman whose boyfriend, played by Micah Sloat, disregards her psychological scars and exacerbates their supernatural problem, leading to absolute terror. The sequels eventually devolved into hokum. “Paranormal Activity 2” is pretty freaky, but “Paranormal Activity 3” – a prequel set in the 1980s using VHS technology instead of digital – is the best of the rest.

17. May (2003)

When we write about the best performances in horror movie history, there’s a place reserved for Angela Bettis’ profoundly sad turn in Lucky McKee’s “May.” Bettis plays the title character, a desperately lonely person who tries, and fails, to make human connections. Eventually she realizes that she was only ever attracted to parts of other people, never the whole package, so she decides to cut those parts off and assemble the perfect person to love. An intimate take on the old “Frankenstein” tale, which emphasizes the isolation it would take for a person to resort to such monstrous measures, with Bettis making of all May’s inhuman actions seem desperately, and honestly, human.

16. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

The zombie genre was revitalized in the early 2000s thanks to films like Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later,” Zack Snyder’s “Dawn of the Dead,” and Edgar Wright’s inspired horror comedy “Shaun of the Dead.” Simon Pegg plays the title character, a likable loser whose girlfriend dumped him because he refuses to grow up. When the zombie apocalypse kicks in, Shaun has to suddenly, rapidly confront everything that’s kept in a state of arrested development, as he protects his friends and family from undead hordes and finally has to choose between the love of his life, played by Kate Ashfield, and his lifelong best friend, played by Nick Frost. Wright’s film is packed with clever horror movie references and perfectly set-up gags, which manage to be pretty scary, extremely funny, and completely satisfying.

15. Pulse (2001)

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s prescient horror classic “Pulse” wasn’t the first film to try to make the internet scary, but it did foresee how the technology that was supposed to bring the world together would lead to feelings of isolation. In his 2001 film, the proliferation of the internet opens a door to a supernatural plane, inviting ghosts into the real world, which gradually becomes an apocalyptic scenario, and as unnerving as a horror movie can be. Kurosawa is one of the undisputed masters of horror and “Pulse,” along with his 1997 hypnotism rabbithole “Cure,” amongst his finest work. Every pixel of “Pulse” drips with dread.

14. Raw (2017)

Julia Ducournau’s stomach-churning thriller stars Garance Marillier as a veterinary student, away from home for the very first time and doing what many college students do. She’s experimenting, and in the process she discovers who she really is: She’s a cannibal. The temptation to indulge in her vices leads her down a nauseating road, and although Ducournau’s visceral, daring film wrestles with familiar issues about personal identity, the nauseating gore leaves just as much of a mark.

13. 28 Days Later (2002)

Fast zombies. If Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later” had contributed nothing else to the culture, fast zombies alone would have earned it a place in the history books. Working with screenwriter Alex Garland, Boyle’s film about an outbreak of the “rage” virus, which turns everyone who gets infected into a mindless, bloodthirsty husk of a human being, swarming through England in search of more people to infect and murder. Cillian Murphy plays a man who wakes up from a coma, having missed the whole initial outbreak (sound familiar, “Walking Dead” fans?), and fights to survive on the eerily empty streets of London. Garland’s screenplay distills the iconic concepts of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” “Dawn of the Dead” and “Day of the Dead,” and Boyle’s lo-fi, early digital filmmaking makes every bizarre element look freakishly real. The new wave of zombie cinema began right here.

12. 28 Years Later (2025)

Danny Boyle’s sequel “28 Years Later” came out 23 years later (which is weird), and imagines a post-zombie England as a land returning to its mythic roots. Alfie Williams stars as a boy who never knew a world without the infected, raised in a nearly medieval village, hunting the remaining zombies with his trusty bow and arrow. When he discovers there may be one last person in the whole country who is actually a real doctor, he takes his dying mother, played by Jodie Comer, on an epic, shocking quest. “28 Years Later” could never as influential as “28 Days Later,” and no shade to the scary as hell 2007 sequel “28 Weeks Later,” but it’s the most powerful film in the series. Nia DaCosta’s follow-up, “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” is, however, a bold and worthy follow-up that deserved a bigger audience.

11. The Witch (2016)

Robert Eggers brings his obsessively historically accurate story of religious zealotry and, possibly, genuine devilry to life in his instant-classic “The Witch.” Anya Taylor-Joy stars as a teenage girl whose family was exiled from their Puritan colonial village for being too Puritan, and in isolation they fall into seemingly inevitable ruin. Little lies turn into tragedy, and as fingers are pointed, everyone starts to fear the fires of hell are coming for them, possibly in the form of the family goat, Black Phillip. A thematically rich film about a time when the existence of supernatural evil was an accepted fact of life, whether it was actually real or not, “The Witch” is uncomfortably captivating from start to finish.

10. Audition (2000)

Debuting in festivals in 1999, released overseas in 2000 and only available in America in 2001, Takeshi Miike’s shocking film’s offical release date is nebulous enough that if you’re not careful, you could talk yourself out of including it on any list of this ilk. Ryo Ishibashi plays a widower looking for a new wife, who stages a fake audition for a television series just to find the right girl. The scheme works and he falls in love with Asami (Eihi Shiina), and everything seems nice. What happens next, nobody in their right mind would ruin. Even admitting that “Audition” is a horror movie in the first place technically qualifies as a spoiler. Let’s just say that the guy gets what’s coming to him, in one of the scariest and most surprising horror films ever produced.

9. Ju-On: The Grudge (2003)

Hollywood became obsessed with remaking Japanese horror movies in the early 2000s, after the unexpected breakout success of Gore Verbinski’s remake of “The Ring.” As good as Verbinski’s film is, none of the American rehashes held a candle to the originals, but then again Takashi Shimizu’s “Ju-On: The Grudge” is nearly impossible to match, let alone top. It’s the story of a house haunted by an act of violence so egregious that it can’t be contained, and follows everyone who steps inside into the rest of the waking world, kills them, and haunts wherever they died, spreading like a ghostly virus. Some of the most frightening imagery of the century is in “Ju-On: The Grudge,” the third film in the series (and the first to be theatrically released).

8. Ginger Snaps (2001)

“Ginger Snaps” went largely unnoticed when it first came out 25 years ago, and now it’s considered, arguably, the greatest werewolf movie ever made. Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle play teenage sisters who hate their school, and hate boys, and have a somewhat troubling fixation with death. When one of them is bitten by a werewolf she begins to transform into a confident, sexual young woman who makes terrible decisions and has a growing taste for blood. As a coming of age metaphor, “Ginger Snaps” is arguably obvious, but its story is so rich, the performances are so nuanced, that it’s undeniably powerful anyway. The sequels are worthy successors – especially “Ginger Snaps Unleashed,” co-starring Tatiana Maslany – but werewolf movies don’t get better than this.

7. Lake Mungo (2008)

The greatest haunted house story of the century (so far), is such a small and convincing production that if you didn’t know where it came from, you might actually think it was real. “Lake Mungo” is the story of an Australian family mourning the disappearance of their teenage daughter, and finding her in the background of freshly taken photographs. Is their daughter still in the house? Are they victims of a scam? There are answers in “Lake Mungo,” but never the ones you’re expecting, and catharsis may be forever elusive. But most importantly the grief is depressingly genuine, and reminds us that every haunted house story is a story about an empty space where a person used to be.

6. The Substance (2024)

Coralie Fargeat’s impossibly vicious body horror movie stars Demi Moore as an aging Hollywood starlet, fired for the unthinkable crime of getting a little older, who takes a mysterious new drug that doesn’t make her younger. Not exactly. It creates a doppelganger who climbs out of her spine, played by Margaret Qualley, who lives the perfect life before passing the baton back to the original. It’s not so much a case of “be careful what you wish for,” because nobody would have wished specifically for this perverse and gory nightmare, but it is a brutal satire about the indignities women are expected to endure for the sake of meeting an unrealistic standard of beauty. Absolutely repulsive, completely brilliant, and Demi Moore gives the performance of a lifetime.

5. I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

Jane Schoenbrun’s introspective, mind-blowing film stars Justice Smith and Jack Haven as teenagers in the 1990s who develop a deep, personal connection with a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”-esque YA television series called “The Pink Opaque.” When one of them goes suddenly missing, and returns years later with an unbelievable story that rings unmistakably true, it falls to Smith to decide how to respond to the revelation. There are horrors in “I Saw the TV Glow,” monsters and the supernatural and abusive fathers (which may be one and the same), but the real nightmare is the possibility of living an inauthentic life. Schoenbrun’s disquieting and personal horror film is a beautifully eerie allegory for the trans experience, and how any work popular art could become a gateway to personal discovery.

4. One Cut of the Dead (2017)

There are two kinds of people: Those who think Shin’ichirō Ueda’s “One Cut of the Dead” is one of the best movies ever made about making movies, and people who probably haven’t seen it yet. What begins as an ambitious low-budget zombie movie about a directr who actually raises the dead turns into a one-take wonder horror experience that then turns into, well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it? “One Cut of the Dead” is a wonderful horror movie and a genuinely inspiring look at the artists who bend over backwards to produce what we too often write off as schlock.

3. Sinners (2025)

Ryan Coogler’s gangster vampire musical period piece “Sinners” features some of the most glorious filmmaking of the century, in any genre. Michael B. Jordan stars, alongside Michael B. Jordan, as identical twins trying to start their own juke joint in Mississippi in 1932, but their ecstatic revelry attracts the attention of an Irish immigrant vampire, played by Jack O’Connell, who longs to bring every last person of color in town into his fold. On the surface “Sinners” may look like an ambitious vampire siege picture, not entirely unlike “From Dusk Till Dawn,” but Coogler uses this tantalizing horror framework as a means to explore difficult themes about race, identity, American history, and the coopting of Black culture by white men with power. Michael B. Jordan won an Oscar for his dual role, and the film was nominated for a record-breaking 16 Academy Awards. It probably should have won them all.

2. Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele was best known as a comedian, and a hilarious comedian at that, before he made his debut as a horror filmmaker. The film was “Get Out,” and it was immediately recognized as one of the greatest modern horror films, combining searing social commentary with unsettling humor, and genuine, almost unbearable fear. Daniel Kaluuya stars as a Black photographer who visits the family of his white girlfriend, played by Allison Williams, who think they’re progressive but keep accidentaly revealing the depths of their racism. By the time he realizes he’s not just in an awkward situation, he’s in danger, it’s probably too late. Peele’s film updates concepts from films like “The Stepford Wives” into an entirely new horror story, and won an Oscar for writing one of the best screenplays of the century, in which every line of dialogue takes on more meaning with every subsequent rewatch.

1. The Babadook (2014)

Horror is, like all art, subjective, and many movies have a reasonable claim to the top spot on a list of the best horror movies of the 21st century (so far). But Jennifer Kent’s “The Babadook” may very well be the best of them all, exploring deep-seated anxieties about motherhood, grief and post-traumatic stress while creating a brand new horror icon, a representation of horror storytelling itself. An impossibly brilliant Essie Davis plays a widow whose mind is fraying after the death of her husband, exacerbated by her son’s many stressful needs. When she reads her son a mysterious pop-up book about a boogeyman called Mr. Babadook, she begins to see the creature everywhere she goes, eventually turning into a serious threat to her own son’s life. “The Babadook” is impossibly scary, and helped spawn a wave of “trauma monster” films, but few – if any – of its imitators can match its intimate, human power. Or, just as importantly, its poignant, impressive conclusion.