We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.
56 best horror movies that are actually good and terrifying
Talk to Me, Barbarian and His House are among the best (and scariest) horror films to watch.
Halloween or not, we are constantly looking for the best horror movies ever made, from all-time classics like The Exorcist to the best horror movies of 2024.
Here is a selection of unmissable, terrifying horror movies you should watch as soon as possible. The list grows as new horror movies find their way to cinemas and streaming platforms, but not every single horror movie can make it. The bar is high!
Alas, sometimes it's no easy task to find a good horror movie. Beware of the many disappointing scary movies out there, because not all of them deserve your time, and even fewer of them will truly, truly scare you. Forget thrillers, action movies or other genres with high levels of intensity, since in this list the focus is on horror and only horror.
If you're ready to have some spooky time at home, we are here to help by listing the scariest horror movies ever made, from top-notch classics like Psycho and Halloween to recent horror movies we'll never get tired of recommending, such as Talk to Me, Evil Dead Rise (two of the best horror movies of 2023), Barbarian and His House.
We are also including some beloved horror franchises that deserve your time, from Scream to The Conjuring, in case you are brave enough to pull off a marathon. Also, as we mentioned earlier, we have an eye on 2024 movies that might surprise us.
It's not always easy to find the right movie to watch. How can you choose when there's just so much out there? Do not fear (yet), and get started with our list: for better or worse, these are the best horror movies to scare you senseless.
This is not a ranking, since we want to simply celebrate (and highly recommend) a diverse group of horror movies, starting with the most recent ones and then going through the classics that you've probably already seen. Or you should have by now!
Without further ado, let us walk you through the horror-movie fest you were craving for.
Late Night with the Devil (2024)
Director: Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes
Cast: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss
The best horror movie of 2024 (so far) is Late Night with the Devil, which is even more impressive than Sydney Sweeney's Immaculate and The Omen prequel The First Omen (which are great too).
The story follows Jack Delroy (an excellent David Dastmalchian), a late-night show host who desperately tries to bring his show Night Owls back to the top with a haunting Halloween special. He invites a famed psychic and an aggressively sceptical magician, but the main event is an interview with a girl who happens to be possessed by a demon.
A found-footage horror with delicious '70s aesthetics and unexpected turns, Late Night with the Devil is as unique as it is scary.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it revitalises the found footage genre as David Dastmalchian delivers a haunting and emotionally complex performance.
Watch now: Shudder (from April 19)
Talk to Me (2023)
Director: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Cast: Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, Miranda Otto, Zoe Terakes
Talk to Me was 2023's best horror movie, and probably one of the most terrifying cinematic experiences of the last few years. This Australian film introduced an instantly iconic horror-movie item — an embalmed hand — while talking about grief and trauma.
As our review noted: "You'll almost be glad that the movie only runs just over 90 minutes long as it's such an intense experience. It might have familiar building blocks – possession plus horror as a grief metaphor – but it surprises in the darkest ways."
The ending of Talk to Me might be one of the best in this list.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it is meticulously crafted to scare the shit out of you, haunting you long after the credits have rolled.
Watch now: Netflix UK
Barbarian (2022)
Director: Zach Cregger
Cast: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long
The joy of Barbarian, and one of its greatest assets, is how it constantly wrongfoots the audience.
Swing after swing, we're drawn into the mysterious basement of this AirBnB house and watching our characters try to survive. It's better not reading too much into the synopsis and just diving right in. Trust us.
And trust our 5-star review: "After its horrors have been unveiled and it's shredded your nerves over 90 minutes, Zach Cregger ends the movie on a surprisingly poignant note. As with everything else, it subverts your expectations of what a horror movie finale should be and, yet, is totally perfect."
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it's incredibly unexpected, and completely bonkers.
Watch now: Disney+
X (2022)
Director: Ti West
Cast: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell
Set in 1979, X follows a group of young filmmakers who are shooting a porn movie in a rural Texas property owned by a strange old couple. Something is not totally right with them, as the protagonists will find out too late. You'll come for the jumpscares and gore, but you'll stay thanks to the humanity at the heart of the story.
"I wanted to take the trope of sex and violence that is typically lowbrow and try to do something crafty with it. Having never made a slasher movie, which are mostly people getting murdered, I wanted to do something a little unexpected that isn’t just people getting killed," director Ti West said in an interview with Indiewire.
West also released a prequel, Pearl, as he prepares the end of the trilogy with MaXXXine.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it pays homage to a horror classic, 1974's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, without losing an ounce of originality.
Watch now: Prime Video
Malignant (2021)
Director: James Wan
Cast: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young
As today's most celebrated horror master, James Wan never disappoints.
In Malignant, the filmmaker offers an incredibly enjoyable, mind-bending and scary movie with Peaky Blinders star Annabelle Wallis leading the cast.
The story follows a woman who starts having strange visions of people being murdered. As it turns out, those events might be happening in real life, and the protagonist's past could be hiding the answer to everything.
Malignant's story is bonkers for all the right reasons.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it surprises at every turn and that action scene in prison is absolutely priceless.
Watch now: Prime Video | On Netflix UK on November 27
Relic (2020)
Director: Natalie Erika James
Cast: Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, Bella Heathcote
Relic will terrify you and simultaneously break your heart.
The story starts with Kay (Emily Mortimer) and her daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) as they go back to their family home after the mysterious disappearance of the matriarch Edna (Robyn Nevin).
Suffering from dementia, Edna comes back without revealing where she has been hiding, and something is not entirely right with her. Or with the family house, for that matter.
Natalie Erika James's movie is a eerie and emotional exploration of sickness and family, as three generation of women face the brutality of the passing of time.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it manages to channel our fear not to monsters or haunted houses, but to the inevitability of death.
Watch now: Prime Video | BBC iPlayer
The Night House (2020)
Director: David Bruckner
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Evan Jonigkeit, Stacy Martin, Vondie Curtis-Hall
Rebecca Hall stars in this horror movie that explores grief through haunted houses, creepy ghosts and unshakable trauma. The Night House is a harrowing watch, as the story follows a widow who discovers a dark secret about her deceased husband.
"To me, there was something fundamentally interesting about the idea of a woman dealing with the aftermath of a suicide of a loved one and being left with this sense of—I didn’t know that person. And if they were capable of that, what else were they capable of?," actress Rebecca Hall said in an interview with Vogue.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it's as clever as it's scary, and contains a couple of scenes where we really forgot how to breathe.
Watch now: Disney+
His House (2020)
Director: Remi Weekes
Cast: Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu, Matt Smith
One of the best horror movies on Netflix, His House is a stunning debut for Remi Weekes. The story follows a young refugee couple from South Sudan who struggles to adapt to their new life in England. Their new house seems to be haunted by evil spirits, taking them back to the horrors they've already lived through.
The ending of His House will leave you shaking for all the right reasons.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it digs deep into the trauma of refugees while delivering classic haunted-house horror.
Watch now: Netflix
Host (2020)
Director: Rob Savage
Cast: Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova, Caroline Ward
This movie felt too close for comfort during pandemic times, and maybe that's why it was so terrifying. In the lockdown era, where video calls became a daily routine, Host showed the dangers of performing a seance over Zoom. In case you needed to be aware of them.
Filmed and produced during the COVID pandemic in 2020, Host will make you think twice before dialling into a Zoom call again.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it's incredibly inventive and original, turning a historical moment in time into a terribly clever concept.
Watch now: Prime Video Channels | iTunes | Shudder
Saint Maud (2019)
Director: Rose Glass
Cast: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, Lily Frazer, Lily Knight
Before she was Galadriel in Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Morfydd Clark gave a standout performance in Saint Maud, a chilling psychological horror (another of our 2020 highlights). Who knew the devil could speak Welsh?
Rose Glass's excellent debut feature follows a religious young woman working as a nurse, who becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her patient.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because, even if it might not be an all-out scarefest, it's the kind of horror that seeps into your consciousness and remains there, whether you want it to or not.
Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Hereditary (2018)
Director: Ari Aster
Cast: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, Gabriel Byrne
Head meets pole — need we say more? Hereditary has earned a spot among some of the most iconic horror movies of this century, and rightfully so. Ari Aster's debut feature before Midsommar and Beau is Afraid hit all the right keys, telling the story of a dysfunctional family tormented by grief.
The ending of Hereditary still haunts us.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it is, too, one of the scariest movies of all time. We're not forgetting Toni Collette climbing through the walls for a long, long time.
Watch now: Prime Video | Apple TV
A Quiet Place (2018)
Director: John Krasinski
Cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe
Who would have thought John Krasinski, sweet Jim from The Office, could direct such an original and ingenious horror movie, where the lack of sound is what makes it the more terrifying?
Starring himself and real-life wife Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place follows a family surviving in the aftermath of an alien invasion. Since the creatures are blind but perfectly attuned to sound, silence is in order, although it's not always possible.
Don't ask us why they don't live by the waterfall, we don't know.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it surprised audiences with a concept so enticing that still shines in the sequel, A Quiet Place Part II.
Watch now: Paramount+ | Prime Video | Apple TV | Microsoft Store
Get Out (2017)
Director: Jordan Peele
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, LaKeith Stanfield, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones
What a horror-movie revolution this was back in 2017, when it became not only a box-office success and an awards-race sensation, but also a cultural movement of its own in the US.
Jordan Peele's debut feature follows a Black man trapped in a rich white people's spiderweb. We'll leave it there in case you haven't watched Get Out yet. Discovering its excellent surprises for the first time is part of the fun.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because horror, social commentary and comedy create the perfect combination possible in one of the best horror movies of the last decade.
Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
It: Chapter 1 (2017)
Director: Andrés Muschietti
Cast: Jaeden Lieberher, Bill Skarsgård, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer
We are still having nightmares fuelled by Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise. Thanks for that.
Adapting It into the big screen wasn't an easy feat, but director Andrés Muschietti delivered an impressively scary adaptation that rocked the box office. Stephen King's novel was honoured, that's for sure.
Set in Derry (Maine), the movie follows a group of seven outcast teenagers which find friendship and create The Losers' Club. Now, being bullied at school seem to be the least of their problems, as an evil spirit in the shape of a clown is terrorising them using their deepest fears.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it channeled the spirit of Stephen King's iconic book with some seriously scary moments.
Watch now: Sky Cinema | Prime Video | Microsoft Store
The Witch (2015)
Director: Robert Eggers
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw
Wouldst thou like to live deliciously? Of course thou wouldst.
The Witch is a fabulous horror movie, which marked Anya Taylor-Joy's film debut and Robert Eggers' first feature. What a combo. Set in a puritanical New England farm, the story shows how a witch-panic wave pulls a family apart, while true evil forces are indeed circling them.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it's a shocking, visually stunning feminist tale for the ages.
Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
It Follows (2014)
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe
If you think you've had bad sex, at least you haven't been stalked by an entity afterwards.
It Follows transforms a horror-movie trope — death by sex — into an amazingly clever exploration of teenage sexuality and the fear of STIs, or Sexually Transmitted Demons, in this case.
Maika Monroe stars as the protagonist of this excellent movie by David Robert Mitchell.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it's a horror masterpiece that you won't be able to shake off — your instincts tell you to look away from the screen, but you can't.
Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
The Babadook (2014)
Director: Jennifer Kent
Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, Ben Winspear
A tale of the most terrifying pop-up book ever, The Babadook is one of the most widely acclaimed horror movies of the last decade, and it's not difficult to see why.
This Australian movie dives into the tormented psyche of a widow, who deals with grief while trying to be there for her son. However, things get complicated when the young boy claims a monster is lurking nearby.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because of its bleak aesthetic, effective jumpscares, terrific performances and insightful exploration of loss and depression.
Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
The Conjuring (2013)
Director: James Wan
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga
Who you gonna call? Ed and Lorraine Warren!
This real-life married couple knows a thing or two about ghosts, demons and other evil spirits, and they proved it in this first movie directed by horror master James Wan.
You can start a Conjuring saga marathon with this movie, or perhaps follow The Conjuring timeline, which orders chronologically all the movies, including sequels The Conjuring 2 and The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It, as well as spin-offs like Annabelle and The Nun.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it was the start of one of the most popular horror franchises of the last decade.
Watch now: Sky Cinema | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Drag Me To Hell (2009)
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza
Mortgages are hell. Literally.
Nobody could question Sam Raimi's taste for horror after leading sagas like Evil Dead, and even introducing some bits of horror into the Marvel universe with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So the long-awaited Drag Me To Hell paid off as a fun horror movie which is as bonkers as it is scary.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because of the talking goat, clearly.
Watch now: Prime Video | Apple TV | Microsoft Store
Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Director: Drew Goddard
Cast: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford
Not all horror movies have to be a jump-scare fest.
Some, like Scream and Cabin in the Woods, are also hilarious and wickedly clever in their way of exploring horror-movie tropes. Careful, that fourth wall is basically shattering here.
The story follows five friends as they travel to a remote cabin (OF COURSE), where some weird, demonic things start to happen. They represent the usual genre's archetypes, from Chris Hemsworth's jock to Anna Hutchison's dumb blonde and Kristen Connolly's virgin AKA Final Girl.
The movie deconstructs every single archetype in the most fascinating way.
Why is it one of the best horror movies of all time?
Because it's every horror-movie fan's dream.
Watch now: Sky Store | Prime Video | MUBI
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
Deputy Movies Editor, Digital Spy
Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over seven years, mostly for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas.
Her work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema in the UK.
She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world, and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London.
Now based in the UK, Mireia joined Digital Spy in June 2023 as Deputy Movies Editor.
Challengers makes a welcome queer change
Why Beyond Paradise Martha and Humphrey end works
Stellar Blade for PS5 is a dull experience
8 best non-Ghibli anime movies on Netflix UK
