by Tori Potenza, Staff Writer

2024 has been a fascinating year for horror releases. It has been dominated by vampires, as well as franchise sequels. There have been bloody nuns, evil academics, and some truly insane moments of body horror. I have seen around 50 horror films released this year and like most years, I find hope and inspiration for the genre in independent and international films. I have found so many movies that were either released on streaming or had the smallest of theatrical runs that ended up being some of the most impressive and unique films of the year. Filmmakers have taken some really big swings and brought us some truly disturbing visions of terror. Some have also really pushed the bounds of what the genre is, while also reminding us how powerful it is. When it comes to expressing our fears, the contradictory nature of emotions, and the depths of human imagination there is nothing like the horror genre. And as we enter into 2025 with an array of real world horrors to face, this genre will endure and continue to give us a safe space for us to confront the most difficult emotions and issues.

I narrowed down my list to 11 films, with a few honorable mentions, that I think provide a well rounded look at the array of horror released this year, and hopefully include some that readers will take the time to seek out and give some love to.

Disclaimers:

My personal Top 10 of the year will be coming out at the end of the week, you may notice some drastic changes from what I have here. I wanted to give space to indie and international cinema that has been doing incredible work when it comes to moving the genre in new and interesting ways. Whereas my personal list is much more tailored to my specific taste this year.
While I adore Love Lies Bleeding and it is certainly in my top films of the year it lives in my head as more of a thriller and I really wanted to highlight films that I felt are pushing the horror genre in some new and interesting ways. I made a similar choice with Red Rooms, which was on my top list from last year. I adore them both but needed to make some tough decisions.
I liked The Substance, I hated all of the discourse around it. So much so that I feel like I need time away from it to even think about watching it again. I also think that when it comes to stories around feminist body horror there are a lot of other films that have pushed boundaries much more than The Substance. So if you liked that, seek out more women-directed body horror, I beg of you.
I was supposed to see Nosferatu before publishing this list but due to some incredibly poor planning a line full of rained-on vampires and I were turned away from the overbooked screening. Needless to say, something directed by Robert Eggers that is described as being horny and unhinged would most likely be on this list, but at least this gives me more space for some other films that could use some love.

11. Terrifier 3 (dir. Damien Leone)

Tis the season for blood and carnage, at least in the twisted mind of Damien Leone. While the Terrifier franchise is not everyone’s cup of tea, it is hard to deny how impressive elements of the film are and how incredible it is for an indie horror film to do so well in the box office. With a $2 million dollar budget, it managed to surpass $70 million globally, something that is so rare for an unrated, gory, depraved film. There is no denying the craft of these films, the amount of work that goes into creating and executing some unmatched moments of practical kills. While tonally different from the first installment, Leone’s sequels have done some amazing world building that you find more frequently in fantasy epics than you do in slasher franchises. The mythology of Art the Clown and the world of Terrifier is so unique. There is a fascinating trend with horror directors recently who stay in the world they built and get to control the trajectory of future installments. This is very different from classic slasher franchises whose storylines and continuity diverge all over the place. Getting the chance to see a massive vision like this come to life is inspiring. And while David Howard Thornton has always brought so much to his character Art, it feels like he is having a level of fun in this that is unmatched in the others.

10. Handling the Undead (dir. Thea Hvistendahl)

This Scandinavian zombie film, distributed by Neon, flew under the radar. I was lucky enough to attend one of the few screenings they had in New York City earlier this year. Handling the Undead is a very slow, bleak, and dark film but considering it is another adaptation from the writer of Let the Right One In, it is certainly one horror lovers should check out. I find the zombie genre overall to be very uninspired outside of Romero’s work and a few other standouts, so I am always excited when I see a zombie story that does not devolve into the same run of the mill survivalist post-apocalyptic frenzy. Instead, the world of Handling the Undead is very small and we only get hints of what is happening in the world at large. By following different interconnected stories, we see how the zombie virus uproots lives on a very personal level. With a focus on the insanity of grief and what lengths we will go for the ones we love, this becomes a beautifully unfolding human story. Hvistendahl is an incredible director, and while the film is difficult (especially for an animal lover like myself) I found much humor and beauty amongst the disarray and devastation of the story.

9. The Devil’s Bath (dirs. Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz)

Another bleak entry for the year comes from the directing duo who brought us The Lodge and Goodnight Mommy. The Devil’s Bath is German-language period piece does an amazing job of highlighting expectations of women, superstition, and the sexism that played major roles in the European witch trials. The way the film explores the loneliness that Agnes feels throughout the film makes her feel so relatable and empathetic. This is especially true when, as a society, we have not evolved past these gendered issues as much as we would like to think. Her descent into madness and illness also shows how easy it can be for isolation and lack of community to affect our physical and mental capacities. Fiala and Franz also bring a hefty dose of dark humor to the film that by the end, leaving me absolutely floored. I did not know if I should laugh or cry, although that humor may be the only thing that can save us from despair when it feels like this darkness still permeates our society. The Devil’s Bath may leave a bitter, but necessary taste in the mouth but the craft and visual stunning elements of the film are a nice counterbalance to that.

8. Smile 2 (dir. Parker Finn)

While I liked Smile, I did not love it enough to be thrilled for the second installment. I was excited that this one ultimately exceeded my expectations. First and foremost, Parker Finn has an incredibly cinematic eye. There is a very operatic feel to the whole movie and the production design and cinematography do a great job at enhancing the horror elements of the film. Upping the drama by having this story follow a pop star also gave Finn the opportunity to give us some incredible costumes and set pieces that the first one lacks. The focus on how trauma can have long term effects that can be very isolating from those around you was particularly poignant. The horror elements are great, subtle, creepy, and effective with a J-horror flair. It also promises a third installment that would really open the world up in some new and chaotic ways which promise to be a good time.

7. Chime (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a master at creating very simple, yet effective horror that sends an existential chill down your spine. The way the film slowly unravels and subtly shows how the world is changing makes you feel so unstable and uncertain of what is going on. I always find that ability to unsettle and throw an audience off kilter is so impressive. Without saying much about what is going on, it manages to create an ever-present sense of unease and dread that feels grounded even with its supernatural implications. The world Kurosawa creates feels slightly off in a way that could very easily align with any odd circumstance we may interact with going about our day. It leaves much up to the viewer to pull from, leaving us with a chance to fill what we see with our own anxieties and fears. Considering his classics like Cure and Pulse came out 20+ years ago, it is amazing to see how he continues to bring us unique worlds with different kinds of communal horrors.

6. Oddity (dir. Damian Mc Carthy)

Damian Mc Carthy is one of the most interesting and unique genre filmmakers of the past few years. While Caveat was not my favorite story overall, the horror elements of the story were impressive enough to make me excited for Oddity. These two features both have a handful of strange circumstances as play and it is surprisingly easy to drop into the worlds he creates. He especially excels at giving us unsettling props as the focal point of these films. Carolyn Bracken gives two incredible performances in the film, and both characters are easy to care about and feel connected with. Mc Carthy clearly likes playing with different kinds of relationship dynamics, and it is one of the strong elements that gives us stakes in the stories we watch. Oddity is a well-oiled machine whose various storytelling elements work in perfect conjunction to give us an unsettling, unique, and strangely humorous horror tale.

5. Cuckoo (dir. Tilman Singer)

Tilman Singer is another unique voice in genre filmmaking for people to watch. In a world full of sequels, reboots, and remakes it feels like there are not enough movies taking big swings and taking opportunities to just be weird. This is not something you have to worry about with Singer films. His film Luz from a few years ago really showcased his unique voice and it is nice seeing him get the chance to make something with bigger names and the backing of Neon. Dan Stevens has had a memorable year with his eccentric characters, but nothing really compares to his role here as Herr König. Cuckoo’s German sense of humor matched with bizarre plot and a great central performance from Hunter Schafer make it one of the most memorable watches of the year.

4. The Vourdalak (dir. Adrien Beau)

While there are plenty of vampire films to talk about from the past few years, The Vourdalak deserves much love and more attention, as it is a beautiful looking period piece that gives us a unique Eastern European vampire myth. The most intriguing element of the film is the use of a puppet as is the central antagonist, Gorcha. While the puppeteering and horror elements are really effective, it is most interesting how the vampire is used to explore toxic family dynamics and the way that a patriarch can control and suck the lifeforce out of an entire family. The themes around familial systems and class dynamics are very strong and that makes it shockingly easy to deal with the uncanny nature of the puppet amongst all the humans. Puppeteering is an art in and of itself, and it is nice to see this art form being used in a modern genre film.

3. Horror in the High Desert 3: Firewatch (dir. Dutch Marich)

While on a found footage kick this year, I discovered the Horror in the High Desert series. I ended up binging all 3 over the course of a weekend because of how impressed I was with the world building Dutch Marich does, and will continue to do in his future installments. This style has been utilized to great effect by other horror directors but there is something very special about what Marich is doing. Over the course of 3 films we have more questions than answers, and developing a mystery at this slower pace over the course of several installments is something we do not get to see very often. One constant across these films is that Marich is a master of building tension. It is not always easy for me to have a big physical reaction to horror with how many films I have watched, but the last 15 minutes of the third installment made me want to jump out of my skin.

2. Longlegs (dir. Osgood Perkins)

The creeping terror that Osgood Perkins crafts in Longlegs is so effective that it works even on rewatches. While Longlegs is obviously inspired by crime thrillers such as Silence of the Lambs, Perkins makes the world just slightly supernatural, which creates an interesting effect to the otherwise grounded cat-and-mouse narrative. From simple, yet horrifying shots to Nic Cage’s unhinged demonic performance, Longlegs is a masterful piece of art that lingers on the mind long after viewing. The first time I watched it, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened, and the second time I was on the edge of my seat dreading what I knew was coming. One of my favorite aspects of the film was the discussions I had after with friends who were obsessed with theorizing. One of those friends is Amber T who wrote an amazing piece that delves into some of this over at Fangoria.

1. I Saw the TV Glow dir. Jane Schoenbrun

“There is still time” should be the anthem of our lives from here on out. When I saw We Are All Going to the World's Fair, I knew that Jane Schoenbrun was proving to be one of our most interesting and important voices in horror. I Saw the TV Glow solidified this opinion and immediately made them one of my favorite directors. With the state of the world right now, nothing feels scarier than existential horror, and there is something beautiful, tragic, and ultimately terrifying about the world that they build in this film. While other films have been steeped in nostalgia for the early 2000s, there is something beyond simple aesthetic and references that bring us back to that time and place here. Jane mimics exactly what that point and time felt like. Beyond that, the overarching trans themes feel both personal and relatable for many. Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine give two of the most gorgeous performances of the year alongside some of the most gorgeous cinematography, scoring, and soundtrack. I hope more people find ways to relate to this and that they see the absolute brilliance and genius of Schoenbrun’s work.

Honorable Mentions

There was truly so much horror to be excited about this year and so many deserve to be showcased and praised. Here are a few that did not quite make the cut for this list but should be on people’s radar.

Lisa Frankenstein (dir. Diablo Cody)
I believe this will age as well as Jennifer’s Body. Weird girl love stories are so important and Lisa Frankenstein is just a joy to watch. I am happy to be one of its supporters early on.
Milk & Serial (dir. Curry Barker)
It is very exciting to hear so many people buzzing about a film that is easily available on YouTube. This is so unsettling and so surprisingly engaging, plus the short runtime is always appealing to horror fans.
Exhuma (dir. Jang Jae-hyun-)
I love a good paranormal story, and Exhuma is so unlike anything else I have seen. There are so many great moments of dread and impressive scares. South Korea continues to deliver some of the best in genre films.
Heretic (dirs. Scott Beck & Bryan Woods)
Hugh Grant is in his villain era and the fact that he can be so scary while wearing an old man sweater and doing Jar Jar impressions is proof he deserves to be here. This is one of my favorite scripts of the year and I cannot wait to watch it again because it is a film that demands a rewatch.
Strange Darling (dir. JT Mollner)
Sexy, thrilling, and unhinged, Strange Darling is an absolute blast. Kyle Gallner continues to be one of the best in the horror game. The way the story is structured is so perfect and unfolds in a way that was very unexpected.