(Photo by A24/courtesy Everett Collection)
Best A24 Horror Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer
The latest: A24 ended the year with a one-two punch of Heretic and Y2K. They’ve got Opus and Death of a Unicorn coming up, both in March.
Like Blumhouse, production house and distributor A24 rose to prominence in the 2010s, especially through getting their names attached to some of the best horror movies of the decade. While the Blum boys are known for their keen budgeting and thrust for the mainstream, A24 carved its identity through scares challenging, unexpected, and experimental. 2016 was A24’s breakthrough year for horror (they also released Best Picture Oscar-winner Moonlight the same year, by the way), with Robert Eggers’ folk period-authentic The Witch, and the backwoods punk pulverizer Green Room. 2018’s Hereditary was A24’s highest-grossing movie until Everything Everywhere All At Once, and launched writer/director’s Ari Aster’s feature career, who quickly followed up with 2019’s sunbaked Midsommar.
Elevated horror was a phrase bandied about to describe the movies of this decade that commingled shock and terror with less emphasis on jump scares and more on atmosphere, dread, and able to withstand critical and societal scrutiny. (It Follows and Blumhouse’s Get Out are two more grand examples.) While the elevated horror term isn’t used much more these days, it did get the job done, in that it raised audiences expectations out of what to expect out of horror and what the genre can achieve, and A24 has continued to rise to the occasion in the 2020s. Just take a look at Rose Glass’ Saint Maud, Ti West’s X/Pearl/MaXXXine, and Talk To Me.
#1
Critics Consensus: With a gripping story and impressive practical effects, Talk to Me spins a terrifically creepy 21st-century horror yarn built on classic foundations.
Synopsis: When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new
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#2
X
(2022)
94%
76%
Critics Consensus: A fresh spin on the classic slasher formula, X marks the spot where Ti West gets resoundingly back to his horror roots.
Synopsis: In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their
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#3
Critics Consensus: Pearl finds Ti West squeezing fresh gore out of the world he created with X -- and once again benefiting from a brilliant Mia Goth performance.
Synopsis: Filmmaker Ti West returns with another chapter from the twisted world of X, in this astonishing follow-up to the year's
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#4
Critics Consensus: A brilliantly unsettling blend of body horror and psychological thriller, Saint Maud marks an impressive debut for writer-director Rose Glass.
Synopsis: The debut film from writer-director Rose Glass, Saint Maud is a chilling and boldly original vision of faith, madness, and
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#5
Critics Consensus: In Fabric's gauzy giallo allure weaves a surreal spell, blending stylish horror and dark comedy to offer audiences a captivating treat.
Synopsis: A lonely divorcee visits a bewitching London department store to find a dress to transform her life. She soon finds
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#6
Critics Consensus: Hugh Grant has infectious fun playing against type in Heretic, a religious horror that preaches the gospel of cerebral chills over cheap shocks.
Synopsis: Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by
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#7
Critics Consensus: As thought-provoking as it is visually compelling, The Witch delivers a deeply unsettling exercise in slow-building horror that suggests great things for debuting writer-director Robert Eggers.
Synopsis: In 1630 New England, panic and despair envelops a farmer, his wife and their children when youngest son Samuel suddenly
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#8
Critics Consensus: A gripping story brilliantly filmed and led by a pair of powerhouse performances, The Lighthouse further establishes Robert Eggers as a filmmaker of exceptional talent.
Synopsis: Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the
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#9
Critics Consensus: Hereditary uses its classic setup as the framework for a harrowing, uncommonly unsettling horror film whose cold touch lingers long beyond the closing credits.
Synopsis: When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter and grandchildren begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying
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#10
Critics Consensus: Green Room delivers unapologetic genre thrills with uncommon intelligence and powerfully acted élan.
Synopsis: Members (Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat) of a punk-rock band and a tough young woman (Imogen Poots) battle murderous white supremacists
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#11
Critics Consensus: It Comes at Night makes lethally effective use of its bare-bones trappings while proving once again that what's left unseen can be just as horrifying as anything on the screen.
Synopsis: After a mysterious apocalypse leaves the world with few survivors, two families are forced to share a home in an
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#12
Critics Consensus: Impeccably cast and smartly written, Bodies Bodies Bodies is an uncommonly well-done whodunit.
Synopsis: When a group of rich 20-somethings plan a hurricane party at a remote family mansion, a party game goes awry
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#13
Critics Consensus: Darkly imaginative and brought to life by a pair of striking central performances, Lamb shears expectations with its singularly wooly chills.
Synopsis: A childless couple in rural Iceland make an alarming discovery one day in their sheep barn. They soon face the
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#14
Critics Consensus: With a distinctive visual aesthetic that enhances its emotionally resonant narrative, I Saw the TV Glow further establishes writer-director Jane Schoenbrun as a rising talent.
Synopsis: Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a
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#15
Critics Consensus: Its message may prove elusive for some, but with absorbing imagery and a mesmerizing performance from Scarlett Johansson, Under the Skin is a haunting viewing experience.
Synopsis: Disguising herself as a human female, an extraterrestrial (Scarlett Johansson) drives around Scotland and tries to lure unsuspecting men into
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#16
Critics Consensus: Ambitious, impressively crafted, and above all unsettling, Midsommar further proves writer-director Ari Aster is a horror auteur to be reckoned with.
Synopsis: A young American couple, their relationship foundering, travel to a fabled Swedish midsummer festival where a seemingly pastoral paradise transforms
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#17
Critics Consensus: The Hole in the Ground artfully exploits parental fears with a well-made horror outing that makes up in sheer effectiveness what it lacks in originality.
Synopsis: One night, Sarah's young son disappears into the woods behind their rural home. When he returns, he looks the same,
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#18
Critics Consensus: High Life is as visually arresting as it is challenging, confounding, and ultimately rewarding - which is to say it's everything film fans expect from director Claire Denis.
Synopsis: Monte and his baby daughter are the last survivors of a damned and dangerous mission to the outer reaches of
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#19
Critics Consensus: The Monster uses its effectively simple setup and a powerful lead performance from Zoe Kazan to deliver a traditional yet subtly subversive -- and thoroughly entertaining -- horror story.
Synopsis: A divorced mother and her headstrong daughter must make an emergency late-night road trip to see the girl's father. As
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#20
Critics Consensus: The Killing of a Sacred Deer continues director Yorgos Lanthimos' stubbornly idiosyncratic streak -- and demonstrates again that his is a talent not to be ignored.
Synopsis: Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children.
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#21
Critics Consensus: Slow-building and atmospheric, The Blackcoat's Daughter resists girls-in-peril clichés in a supernatural thriller that serves as a strong calling card for debuting writer-director Oz Perkins.
Synopsis: During the dead of winter, a troubled young woman (Emma Roberts) embarks on a mysterious journey to an isolated prep
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#22
Critics Consensus: Intoxicating with its maxxximal style, MaXXXine is an uneven but vibrant pastiche that drives a stiletto through Hollywood's heart.
Synopsis: In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious
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#23
Critics Consensus: Thanks to a strong performance from Jake Gyllenhaal and smart direction from Denis Villeneuve, Enemy hits the mark as a tense, uncommonly adventurous thriller.
Synopsis: A mild-mannered college professor (Jake Gyllenhaal) discovers a look-alike actor and delves into the other man's private affairs.
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#24
Men
(2022)
69%
40%
Critics Consensus: If its narrative and thematic reach sometimes exceeds its grasp, magnetic performances from a stellar cast help Men make the most of its horror provocations.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of a personal tragedy, Harper (Jessie Buckley) retreats alone to the beautiful English countryside, hoping to have
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#25
Critics Consensus: Challenging and rewarding in equal measure, Climax captures writer-director Gaspar Noé working near his technically brilliant and visually distinctive peak.
Synopsis: When members of a dance troupe are lured to an empty school, drug-laced sangria causes their jubilant rehearsal to descend
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#26
Critics Consensus: Beau Is Afraid is overstuffed to the point of erasing the line between self-flagellation and self-indulgence, but Ari Aster's bravura and Joaquin Phoenix's sheer commitment give this neurotic odyssey undeniable power.
Synopsis: A paranoid man embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in this bold and ingeniously depraved
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#27
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: In a spooky small town, when a slew of pizza delivery boys are slain on the job, two daring survivors
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#28
Critics Consensus: Its classic horror aims exceed its blood-slicked grasp, but False Positive works its way sneakily under the skin.
Synopsis: After months of trying and failing to get pregnant, Lucy (Ilana Glazer) and Adrian (Justin Theroux) finally find their dream
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#29
Critics Consensus: Tusk is pleasantly ridiculous and charmingly self-deprecating, but that isn't enough to compensate for its thin, overstretched story.
Synopsis: A U.S. podcaster (Justin Long) ventures into the Canadian wilderness to interview an old man (Michael Parks) who has an
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#30
Critics Consensus: In spite of Aubrey Plaza's committed performance, Life After Beth remains a sketch-worthy idea that's been uncomfortably stretched to feature length.
Synopsis: A guy (Dane DeHaan) discovers that his girlfriend (Aubrey Plaza) has returned from the dead, but his joy turns to
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#31
Y2K
(2024)
43%
52%
Critics Consensus: Y2K earns points for ambition and sheer audacity, even if it struggles to keep the laughs coming while maintaining a messy tonal blend.
Synopsis: On the last night of 1999, two high school juniors crash a New Years Eve party, only to find themselves
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