With Halloween approaching, I have compiled a list of all the horror movies I watched this past year, old and new, good and bad, and everything in between. They are sorted into tiers based on quality and listed alphabetically within each tier. As streaming rights are always changing, check JustWatch.com to see where the films may currently be available to watch.

Tier 1: Cinematic Masterpieces

Oddity (2024) directed by Damian Mc Carthy
Oddity is about twin women, one of whom was murdered, and the other is a psychic medium who owns an antique shop that sells occult oddities. She comes to suspect that her sister was killed by someone other than the man who was arrested, so she goes to the house where the murder took place (which is possibly haunted), bringing some occult items from her shop to get revenge. Trying to explain the premise doesn’t do the film justice. It is so well done, like a horror Pulp Fiction because of the way the story is told nonlinearly via flashbacks. Rather than relying on jump scares and gore (though there is some of each), the film instead uses dread, suspense, and tension to expertly build to those moments of horror.

Tier 2: Great Films

28 Years Later (2025) directed by Danny Boyle
I liked the original 28 Days Later when it first came out, but 23 years later I had low expectations for 28 Years Later. The Walking Dead gave me zombie fatigue, but this was surprisingly well done. I should have have expected as much from the writing/directing combo of Alex Garland and Danny Boyle.

All You Need Is Death (2023) directed by Paul Duane
A folk horror movie set in Ireland, following a couple who collect old folk songs—but one song contains an ancient curse that is unleashed upon hearing it. It was such a unique and interesting premise for a horror story, centered around a cursed folk song. Add it to A Dark Song (which could have been the title of this film as well) and Without Name to the renaissance of great new folk horror movies coming from Europe, in the tradition of the masterpiece of the genre, The Wicker Man.

Antiviral (2012) directed by Brandon Cronenberg
I’d been meaning to see this, the debut film from Brandon Cronenberg (son of David), after enjoying his later work (Possessor and Infinity Pool)—though “enjoy” is the wrong word because those films are quite dark and disturbing, though expertly directed. This is the same. It is a bizarre concept of a near-future in which people have become so obsessed with celebrities that they buy and sell illnesses that have infected famous people.

Caveat (2020) directed by Damian Mc Carthy
The feature film debut of the director of Oddity, about a creepy rabbit doll and a man chained in a harness while he babysits a schizophrenic girl in a secluded old house on an island. Again, the plot description doesn’t do it justice. It is similar in tone to Oddity: slow-burn folk horror with an odd atmosphere, several plot twists, and some genuinely creepy moments.

Evil Dead II (1987) directed by Sam Raimi
I saw this movie once before several years ago, and I liked it, but thought it was a bit overrated based on the cult following it has. It didn’t seem that special. But what I realize is that it only appears that way now because so many movies have since copied the horror/comedy blend innovated in this film. It is a bit campy with low-budget special effects, but also has some amazing filmmaking techniques by Raimi—which again, have been copied to death. It starts as a simple “cabin in the woods” horror story, but gets increasingly more zany until a mind-blowing end.

Exhuma (2024) directed by Jang Jae-hyun
A folk horror film from South Korea that felt fresh and original. It’s about shamans who exhume graves and perform rituals to help spirits move on to the next life. But they dig up one grave to discover something dark and unexpected lurking beneath. I love this recent string of folk horror films being made. It’s a sub-genre that is far more interesting than most other forms of horror. Exhuma adds a unique Korean flair, heavily infused by their culture and history.

Heretic (2024) directed by Scott Beck & Bryan Woods
Two female Mormon missionaries visit a “Reddit atheist” (Hugh Grant) who locks them in his house and tests their faith through a twisted game of cat-and-mouse with some wildly horrific twists and turns. I don’t quite know what the directors are trying to say thematically, as they spend most of the film criticizing religion, yet the atheist is the clear villain. It was highly engrossing as a tense horror film, but philosophically, Heretic is lacking.

The Invitation (2015) directed by Karyn Kusama
I saw this slow-burn horror movie when it first came out and loved it, but ten years later, it was due for a re-watch because I forgot many of the details (aside from the main premise and general ending). A group a friends visit a couple’s house in the Hollywood Hills after they’ve disappeared for the past two years. The couple joined a group in the Mexican jungle to overcome their past trauma, but the other guests slowly come to suspect they might be members of a cult. I won’t spoil the ending, but be forewarned: it gets dark and heavy.

Late Night With the Devil (2023) directed by Cameron Cairnes & Colin Cairnes
This had a similar premise to the Argentine movie History of the Occult, except instead of a TV news show, it is a late-night comedy show. As a result, Late Night With the Devil is more comedic, but also more horrific. Less subtle, it is more visceral and over the top.

Longlegs (2024) directed by Osgood Perkins
A crime/horror movie about a female FBI agent tracking a serial killer, which has obvious vibes to Silence of the Lambs. And the killer uses codes like the Zodiac. But there is an occult supernatural element, similar to the Thomas Ligotti short story “The Frolic”. Longlegs is well directed and genuinely creepy, but the subject matter and nature of the killings were especially disturbing—about what you would expect from the son of the killer in Hitchcock’s Psycho.

The Seeding (2023) directed by Barnaby Clay
A unique folk horror movie set in the American desert. A man goes hiking to photograph a solar eclipse and gets lost and trapped in a deep canyon, where an odd woman lives alone in a shack while vagrant teenage boys taunt them from above. The premise sounds weird, and it is weird, but in a good way.

The Unbinding (2023) directed by Karl Pfeiffer
This is one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen—if it is all true, as they claim. The film has a 5/10 rating on IMDb, which may make you think all the reviews were middling—but actually, almost all the reviews were either a 10 or 1, meaning it is highly divisive. It is a documentary from the people behind Hellier, a docuseries I found fascinating. It follows Greg and Dana Newkirk, who host a traveling museum of haunted objects. After they receive a small wooden statue of a crone that is supposedly haunted, bizarre and horrific things begin to happen in its vicinity. Again, this is real life, not a movie. Of course, you have to take them at their word that the things they claim happen actually happened. If true, it is truly frightening, proving some kind of supernatural phenomenon. Ultimately, I do not know whether the Newkirks can be fully trusted or not, but the film is nevertheless captivating. It is not a perfect film, but I lean more toward the 10 than the 1.

Tier 3: Just Good

Alien: Romulus (2024) directed by Fede Alvarez
A solid entry to the Alien franchise, with ties to the other movies while still being its own thing. It includes some inventive action scenes, particularly one involving Xenomorph acid in zero gravity. I might have bumped it up to “great,” but I had to lower it a tier after the eye-rollingly bad inclusion of the famous line, “Get away from her, you…”

Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made (2018) directed by David Amito & Michael Laicini
This film has a great concept. It begins as a fake documentary about “Antrum,” a supposedly cursed horror movie from the 1970s that causes people who watch it to die. Then they play the full film, which did not live up to the hype of the intro. It’s about a teenage girl and her younger brother going to the woods to perform an occult ritual and dig a hole to hell to save the soul of their recently deceased dog. There were definitely some haunting images and creepy music, plus other visual effects added to an unnerved feeling. But the story itself was lacking, as the brother and sister repeatedly make such inexplicably dumb decisions. I think the film overall would have been much better as primarily a documentary with only limited clips from the movie interspersed throughout.

Cuckoo (2024) directed by Tilman Singer
A unique horror film built on mystery, as a teenage girl is forced to move to a remote resort in the Alps with her father and his new family. But everything there is just a bit… off. The film has a great set-up, though I didn’t totally get the ultimate payoff.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) directed by Scott Derrickson
This is one of the better exorcism stories since the original Exorcist. This film, loosely based on a true story, turns the classic exorcism story into a courtroom drama, featuring a debate between science and the supernatural, with flashbacks of the demonic possession horror. The movie was co-written by a believer and a skeptic so that it could be interpreted either way, though it seemed to lean more towards the supernatural side of demons being real (perhaps because the Christian co-writer was also the director and therefore had final cut).

I Trapped the Devil (2019) directed by Josh Lobo
A low-budget slow-burn horror movie about a man who claims to have the devil locked in his basement. The “burn” was a little too slow.

Lord of Misrule (2023) directed by William Brent Bell
Folk horror about a cult in a small English town, in the vein of The Wicker Man, but not nearly as good.

Messiah of Evil (1974) directed by Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz
A surreal horror movie about a woman who searches for her father in a seaside town infested by zombie-like people who consume human flesh. It’s kind of low-budget and a bit dated, but has some amazing visuals and music.

Project MKHEXE (2025) directed by Gerald Robert Waddell
I’ve grown tired of most found footage horror movies, but this one was fresh and original, made in a documentary style, about a college student who discovers a secret MKULTRA-style government project involving the occult.

The Monkey (2025) directed by Osgood Perkins
This was a wild horror/comedy based on a Stephen King story about an evil toy monkey that causes extreme accidental deaths to people around it. The tone was kind of disjointed at times, shifting between absurd comedy and dark drama, but Perkins is a talented director who somehow made it work. Ultimately the film leans more toward the campy side, with some of the most creative death scenes you’ll ever see. It wasn’t quite as good as Longlegs, but I’ll be eager to watch whatever Osgood Perkins directs next.

Nosferatu (2024) directed by Robert Eggers
This was well-directed by Eggers, with great acting and cinematography, but the ultimate story left me cold. It was more disturbing than scary. My thoughts echo those I had of the Dracula novel by Bram Stoker: the beginning when the lawyer goes to visit Dracula’s castle is fantastic, but the story drags out and loses steam after that. Eggers is a generational directing talent, but I would rather see him do something original than a remake of the same vampire story that’s been told a thousand times before.

Presence (2024) directed by Steven Soderbergh
A unique premise for a horror movie that I’m surprised hasn’t been done before (at least to my knowledge). It is a haunted house story—but told from the perspective of the ghost. You never see the ghost; instead the camera acts as the ghost. So the viewer sees what it sees, like a first-person video game (or first-person ghost). The story itself isn’t particularly innovative, but the cinematographic gimmick makes it interesting and worth watching.

Thanksgiving (2023) directed by Eli Roth
A horror movie set around Thanksgiving and Black Friday (like my story, “The Unpardoning”). It’s a basic slasher with comedic elements, similar to Scream. I wish there was more of comedian Tim Dillon, who played one of the victims.

V/H/S/85 (2023) directed by various
A solid addition to the V/H/S anthology. There were no bad films, all were “just good” except for one that was truly great: “Dreamkill” – about a goth teen who dreams of people being murdered, then his dreams appear on VHS tapes, then the dreams happen in reality.

V/H/S/99 (2022) directed by various
Another decent addition to the VHS horror anthology franchise, set in 1999 with added 90s nostalgia. The best short film in this one was by Flying Lotus, about a Nickelodeon-type “Double Dare” game show gone horribly wrong.

Tier 4: Flawed But Entertaining

Brainscan (1994) directed by John Flynn
I sought out this forgotten horror movie because it was the first credit of screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en), plus it had an interesting concept: a slacker teen plays a video game where he kills people in VR—except the murders also happen in reality. Unfortunately, Walker’s script was heavily rewritten, including changing it from a VHS tape to a video game, and the addition of the “Trickster”, a Freddy Krueger-type character, who was the weakest part of the film. Brainscan could be ripe for a remake, but I would like to see it based on Walker’s original version.

The Dark and the Wicked (2020) directed by Bryan Bertino
A dark and disturbing horror film about the devil possessing a family in a farmhouse. It was well acted and directed, but too dark and disturbing for my taste. It felt like nihilistic torture porn with one too many jump scares.

Exists (2014) directed by Eduardo Sánchez
A found footage horror movie from the co-director of the Blair Witch Project. It was well directed, but there wasn’t much of a story. A group of friends go to a cabin in the woods and get attacked by Bigfoot—and that’s it. There’s not much character development or plot.

The Last Broadcast (1998) directed by Stefan Avalos & Lance Weiler
A faux-documentary found footage horror movie about a group of filmmakers who went into the Pine Barrons to search for the Jersey Devil. It is innovative in form, coming out before the Blair Witch Project, but it was ultimately not as good a film.

Tier 5: Disappointing (Don’t Bother)

Cannibal Holocaust (1980) directed by Ruggero Deodato
This is hands-down the most disturbing movie I’ve ever seen. It’s technically horror but not really scary; it’s just filled with brutally sadistic acts of graphic violence against people and animals. It’s about four young people who go to South America to try to film a documentary about a native tribe of cannibals living deep in the Amazon jungle. I’ll give them credit for inventing the found footage horror genre two decades before The Blair Witch Project, but it’s tough to watch. There are some scenes I wish I could unsee.

Trap (2024) directed by M. Night Shyamalan
I like M. Night, but this might be his worst movie yet. It’s set at a female pop star’s concert (who is played by M. Night’s own daughter), but way too much of the concert is included in the movie, which is torturous to sit through. The plot makes no sense: a loving father of a teenage girl is also secretly a serial killer, and the police know the killer will be at the concert and are planning to arrest him, but they don’t know who the killer is… It’s full of plot holes and contrivances, and the dialogue is terrible. M. Night can direct, but he should not be allowed to write (or cast) his own films.

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If you prefer to read your horror, you can check out my book, Trick or Zombie Treat, on Amazon and read many of the free short horror stories available on my Substack, Time Zone Weird.