Horror doesn’t always get its due. While many fans would argue that the genre is consistently at the forefront of creativity and innovation in Hollywood, certain spooky movies and series have recently clawed their way to the top, capturing the world’s — and critics’ — hard-won attention. To put it another way: People are obsessed with horror right now. (Cue a scream queen–worthy gasp!)
Horror runs the gamut of subgenres, embracing a variety of monsters and always searching for new, inventive ways to terrify audiences. To celebrate the recent uptick in love for all things horror, you’ll find a curated list of hair-raising titles that got the rare thumbs-up from critics. Keep your own five-star Letterboxd rating at the ready, and read on to learn more.
In space, no one can hear you scream. Welcome aboard the Nostromo, a commercial towing vessel headed back to Earth. Its seven crew members — including Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Kane (John Hurt), and Ash (Ian Holm) — are pulled from cryosleep by the ship’s AI, “Mother,” after it detects a distress signal from an abandoned starship. Upon boarding the derelict vessel, they discover a fossilized alien corpse — and hostile life-forms that infiltrate their own ship. The vicious, acid-blooded alien begins to hunt the Nostromo crew down one by one in director Ridley Scott’s (Blade Runner) beloved, critically acclaimed 1979 sci-fi horror classic.
In Creep’s highly praised 2017 sequel, Josef (Mark Duplass) now goes by Aaron — his victim’s name from the first film — and he’s lured in another videographer. This time, he hires a YouTuber named Sara (Desiree Akhavan) to join him at a remote cabin. He’s also up-front about who he really is (a serial killer) but says he’ll abstain from killing Sara if she spends the next day making a documentary about his life. At first, Sara isn’t fazed by the man’s strange tactics to frighten her. After all, if this project takes off, it’ll boost her subscriber count. But she soon realizes she’s in for some life-altering scares as Aaron attempts to prove just how creepy he really is.
This well-reviewed Mexican supernatural horror flick made reviewers — and audiences — question their grasp on reality. It stars Harold Torres (ZeroZeroZero) as Santiago, a morally ambiguous photojournalist who sells his grisly work to the highest-paying tabloid. He’s never stopped to think about the ethics of his work, but after snapping a few photos at a high-profile crime scene involving a dead politician, he begins to wonder about his own sanity. One by one, Santiago’s five senses begin to disappear. Is this the universe’s repayment for his unscrupulous photographs? Or has he been cursed by something with a particularly sick sense of humor?
Critical darling Mike Flanagan takes on Gothic horror icon Edgar Allan Poe in this celebrated eight-episode limited series. Siblings Roderick (played by Bruce Greenwood in the present day and Zach Gilford in flashbacks) and Madeline Usher (Mary McDonnell and Willa Fitzgerald, respectively) have spent their lives building their pharmaceutical empire into an unprecedented success, regardless of who got hurt along the way. So when Roderick’s children — the company’s heirs — begin to die one by one in increasingly bizarre ways at the hands of a mysterious woman (Carla Gugino) from their youth, the siblings are forced to look back at the path that led them to their horrifying present.
Critics are just as enamored with From’s puzzle-box mystery as viewers. This sci-fi horror series from the producers of Lost follows a group of strangers who find themselves trapped in a town with no name and no way out. Season 1 kicks off when a new batch of folks arrives on Main Street. From that moment on, Sheriff Boyd Stevens (Harold Perrineau) and his fellow seasoned residents realize this purgatorial place has a lot more secrets than they ever thought possible. And that’s not even taking into account the perpetually smiling monsters that live in the surrounding forest and will tear apart anyone who wanders outside after dark.
This horror thriller from writer-director Jeremy Saulnier (Rebel Ridge) is not only admired by critics but also ranks in the top three scariest films on Tudum’s 31 Days of Horror Halloween list. When the four members of a down-and-out punk band, the Ain’t Rights (played by Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, and Callum Turner), take a last-minute gig, their night turns unexpectedly violent. Why? Well, it turns out that the job is at a neo-Nazi bar in rural Oregon, where they witness a murder and are held hostage in the club’s green room by its skinhead owner, Darcy (Patrick Stewart), and his minions — who have no intention of letting any witnesses escape.
Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein) is one of cinema’s most inventive storytellers and has garnered plenty of praise over the decades. In his celebrated anthology, Cabinet of Curiosities, del Toro presents his own spin on The Twilight Zone with an eight-part collection of macabre tales from a diverse group of directors. Each new tale is introduced by del Toro with Rod Serling–inspired aplomb, but every episode is chilling in its own way. One stars Tim Blake Nelson (Wormwood) as a right-wing military veteran trying to summon a demon; another puts a devastating spin on the classic haunted house trope. No two episodes are the same, making for a unique viewing experience every time.
Chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) brings new meaning to the phrase “eat the rich” in this heralded, Golden Globe–nominated satirical horror film directed by Mark Mylod (Succession). Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) is less than impressed when her date, self-proclaimed foodie Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), whisks her away to Chef Slowik’s exclusive restaurant on a remote island. Tyler and his fellow elites ooh and ahh over every meager course — but Margot’s disdain only grows with each new amuse-bouche. While Slowik might be rattled by Margot’s scorn, he’s also determined to impress her. Because little do his upper-crust diners know that his final course will keep their social circles talking for years to come.
This celebrated prequel to the A Quiet Place films — which are acclaimed in their own right — stars Lupita Nyong’o (The Odyssey) and Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) as a pair of survivors thrust together at the beginning of an alien apocalypse. When the terminally ill Sam (Nyong’o) narrowly survives the initial invasion in New York City, she and her cat, Frodo, team up with a terrified law student, Eric (Quinn), to try and reach the last remaining path off the island of Manhattan. They’re beset by the film series’ famed blind extraterrestrials, and must band together to outsmart (or, rather, out-silence) the monsters.
Directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman) and written by Alex Garland (Civil War), this sequel is the fourth entry in the revered 28 Days Later film series and stars Alfie Williams as Spike, a kid living in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-ridden world. After the events of 28 Years Later, Spike finds himself caught up with a sadistic, devil-worshipping cult leader, Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell). Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) still resides in his temple of bones, and forms a tenuous relationship with one of the infected, an Alpha called Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). The two groups soon clash, with Iron Maiden’s ’80s classic “The Number of the Beast” playing a pivotal role.
