For some movies, the hype building up to their release isn’t based on its stars or director or plot, but by the boutique company putting it out to the public. Think A24. Think Laika. Think Blumhouse, the production org that’s become synonymous in horror with low budgets, big returns, and bigger thrills.
Over the past two decades, magnate of monstrosity Jason Blum — who has also produced plenty of “normal” movies — has banked his legacy on reinventing how horror scripts are discovered and made, keeping the genre from going stale, like it infamously did in the ’90s. After all, blood dries quickly; gotta keep it fresh. Look to franchises like The Purge, Paranormal Activity, and Insidious: when you watch one Blumhouse horror movie, you’re probably gonna seek out what else they’re up to.
Blumhouse had a very busy 2022 with The Black Phone, They/Them, Halloween Ends, and Nanny among their major releases. And they kick off 2023 with a dolled-up bang with M3GAN, their best-reviewed horror movie since Get Out. Since then, we’ve added Sick, Insidious: The Red Door, Totally Killer, and The Exorcist: Believer, and Five Nights at Freddy’s.
With 2024, they’ve released Imaginary, Speak No Evil, and AfrAId.
Now, we’re ranking all Blumhouse horror movies by Tomatometer, with Certified Fresh films first!
Critics Consensus: Funny, scary, and thought-provoking, Get Out seamlessly weaves its trenchant social critiques into a brilliantly effective and entertaining horror/comedy thrill ride.
Synopsis: Now that Chris and his girlfriend, Rose, have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend...
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Critics Consensus: Unapologetically silly and all the more entertaining for it, M3GAN is the rare horror-comedy that delivers chuckles as effortlessly as chills.
Synopsis: M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child's greatest companion and a parent's...
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Critics Consensus: Smart and suspenseful, CAM is a techno-thriller that's far more than the sum of its salacious parts -- and an outstanding showcase for Madeline Brewer in the leading role.
Synopsis: A camgirl has her principles, until a mysterious woman who looks just like her takes over her channel....
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Critics Consensus: Smart, well-acted, and above all scary, The Invisible Man proves that sometimes, the classic source material for a fresh reboot can be hiding in plain sight.
Synopsis: After staging his own suicide, a crazed scientist uses his power to become invisible to stalk and terrorize his ex-girlfriend....
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Critics Consensus:Totally Killer may not take full advantage of its promising conceit, but this time-traveling horror/sci-fi mashup is still enjoyable overall.
Synopsis: Thirty-five years after the shocking murder of three teens, the infamous "Sweet Sixteen Killer" returns on Halloween night to claim...
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Critics Consensus: Harnessing sick suspense from the glimmer in James McAvoy's eye, Speak No Evil is the rare remake that hushes up concerns of "been there, done that."
Synopsis: When an American family is invited to spend the weekend at the idyllic country estate of a charming British family...
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Critics Consensus: A painfully timely horror-fueled thriller, Soft & Quiet forces the viewer to confront the ugly underbelly of modern American race relations.
Synopsis: Playing out in real time, SOFT & QUIET is a runaway train that follows a single afternoon in the life...
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Critics Consensus:Ouija: Origin of Evil swerves its franchise's planchette unexpectedly to YES with a surprisingly scary and dramatically satisfying follow-up to its lackluster predecessor.
Synopsis: In 1967 Los Angeles, widowed mother Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) unwittingly invites authentic evil into her home by adding a...
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Critics Consensus: Using its low-budget effects and mockumentary method to great result, Paranormal Activity turns a simple haunted house story into 90 minutes of relentless suspense.
Synopsis: Soon after moving into a suburban tract home, Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) become increasingly disturbed by what...
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Critics Consensus:The Black Phone might have been even more frightening, but it remains an entertaining, well-acted adaptation of scarily good source material.
Synopsis: Finney, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where...
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Critics Consensus:Halloween largely wipes the slate clean after decades of disappointing sequels, ignoring increasingly elaborate mythology in favor of basic - yet still effective - ingredients.
Synopsis: It's been 40 years since Laurie Strode survived a vicious attack from crazed killer Michael Myers on Halloween night. Locked...
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Critics Consensus:Split serves as a dramatic tour de force for James McAvoy in multiple roles -- and finds writer-director M. Night Shyamalan returning resoundingly to thrilling form.
Synopsis: Though Kevin (James McAvoy) has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), there remains one still...
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Critics Consensus: Barry Levinson's eco-horror flick cleverly utilizes familiar found-footage methods in service of a gruesome yet atmospheric chiller.
Synopsis: The residents of a seaside Maryland community become the unfortunate hosts of mutant, waterborne parasites that take control of their...
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Critics Consensus: With an emphasis on dread over gore and an ending that leaves the door wide open for sequels, Oculus could be just the first spine-tingling chapter in a new franchise for discerning horror fans.
Synopsis: Haunted by the violent demise of their parents 10 years earlier, adult siblings Kaylie (Karen Gillan) and Tim (Brenton Thwaites)...
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Critics Consensus: An intriguing debut for writer-director Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, Black Box compensates for a lack of surprises with strong performances and an emotionally rewarding story.
Synopsis: After losing his wife and memory in a car accident, a single father undergoes an agonizing experimental treatment that causes...
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Critics Consensus: A funnier follow-up with a sci-fi bent, Happy Death Day 2U isn't as fiendishly fresh as its predecessor, but fans of the original may still find this a sequel worth celebrating.
Synopsis: Collegian Tree Gelbman wakes up in horror to learn that she's stuck in a parallel universe. Her boyfriend Carter is...
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Critics Consensus:Happy Death Day puts a darkly humorous sci-fi spin on slasher conventions, with added edge courtesy of a starmaking performance from Jessica Rothe.
Synopsis: Tree Gelbman is a blissfully self-centered collegian who wakes up on her birthday in the bed of a student named...
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Critics Consensus: It may not be particularly scary, but Black as Night has just enough bite to satisfy audiences in the mood for dark, teen-focused supernatural drama.
Synopsis: A resourceful teenage girl leaves childhood behind when she battles a group of deadly vampires in Black as Night, an...
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Critics Consensus:The Visit provides horror fans with a satisfying blend of thrills and laughs -- and also signals a welcome return to form for writer-director M. Night Shyamalan.
Synopsis: Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and younger brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) say goodbye to their mother as they board a train and...
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Critics Consensus: While the jolts and thrills are undeniably subject to the diminishing returns that plague most horror sequels, Paranormal Activity 3 is a surprisingly spine-tingling treat.
Synopsis: A videographer becomes obsessed with finding the source of disturbing late-night noises in his home and discovers its terrifying origin....
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Critics Consensus: It may occasionally mistake more gore for genuine terror, but The Town That Dreaded Sundown is just stylish and clever enough to justify this second stab at the source material.
Synopsis: A masked maniac terrorizes the same small community where a murderer known as the Phantom Killer struck decades earlier....
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Critics Consensus: Although its card is far from full, Bingo Hell delivers moderately effective socially conscious horror while suggesting greater things for director Gigi Saul Guerrero.
Synopsis: When a sinister figure threatens the residents of a low-income community, a feisty senior citizen tries to stop him in...
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Critics Consensus:13 Sins may be derivative of other horror films that made their moral points with more finesse, but it atones with a grim sense of humor and sleek style.
Synopsis: A desperate, debt-ridden salesman agrees to perform an increasingly hideous set of tasks in order to win millions of dollars....
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Critics Consensus: Its plot hinges on typically implausible horror-movie behavior and recycles countless genre cliches, but Sinister delivers a surprising number of fresh, diabolical twists.
Synopsis: True-crime writer Ellison Oswald (Ethan Hawke) is in a slump; he hasn't had a best seller in more than 10...
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Critics Consensus:Nocturne's thought-provoking themes find themselves at odds with its genre ingredients, resulting in a mild blend that isn't quite pulpy enough.
Synopsis: Inside the halls of an elite arts academy, a timid music student begins to outshine her more accomplished and outgoing...
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Critics Consensus:Unfriended subverts found-footage horror clichés to deliver a surprisingly scary entry in the teen slasher genre with a technological twist.
Synopsis: One night, while teenagers Blaire, Mitch, Jess, Adam Ken and Val take part in an online group chat session, they...
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Critics Consensus: Conceptually strong but uneven in execution, There's Something Wrong with the Children is a serviceable horror movie that could have been much more.
Synopsis: When Margaret (Alisha Wainwright) and Ben (Zach Gilford) take a weekend trip with longtime friends Ellie (Crew) and Thomas (Santos)...
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Critics Consensus:Unfriended: Dark Web is more interested in chills than an exploration of its timely themes, but horror fans should still find this sequel to be steadily, undeniably effective.
Synopsis: After finding a laptop, a young man goes online to play a game with five of his good friends. He...
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Critics Consensus: Gritty, grisly, and uncommonly ambitious, The Purge: Anarchy represents a slight improvement over its predecessor, but it's still never as smart or resonant as it tries to be.
Synopsis: One night per year, the government sanctions a 12-hour period in which citizens can commit any crime they wish --...
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Critics Consensus:Paranormal Activity 2 doesn't cover any new ground, but its premise is still scary -- and in some respects, it's a better film than the original.
Synopsis: When the Reys move into their new Southern California home, little do they realize that the house is already occupied....
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Critics Consensus:The Hunt is successful enough as a darkly humorous action thriller, but it shoots wide of the mark when it aims for timely social satire.
Synopsis: Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are -- or how they got there. In...
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Critics Consensus:Insidious: Chapter 3 isn't as terrifying as the original, although it boasts surprising thematic depth and is enlivened by another fine performance from Lin Shaye.
Synopsis: When teenager Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott) senses that her late mother is trying to contact her, she seeks help from...
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Synopsis: Separated from their father (Michael Kelly), two teenage sisters (Sofia Black-D'Elia, Analiegh Tipton) try to survive an apocalyptic viral outbreak...
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Critics Consensus: Octavia Spencer's performance overpowers many of Ma's flaws, but uneven pacing and a labored story keep this thriller from fully realizing its unhinged potential.
Synopsis: A lonely middle-aged woman befriends some teenagers and decides to let them party in the basement of her home. But...
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Critics Consensus:The First Purge should satisfy fans of the franchise and filmgoers in the mood for violent vicarious thrills, even if its subtextual reach exceeds its grasp.
Synopsis: To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America...
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Critics Consensus: It isn't particularly subtle, but The Purge: Election Year's blend of potent jolts and timely themes still add up to a nastily effective diversion.
Synopsis: As a young woman, Sen. Charlie Roan survived the annual night of lawlessness that took the lives of her family...
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Critics Consensus:The Belko Experiment offers a few moments of lurid fun for genre enthusiasts, but lacks enough subversive smarts to consistently engage once the carnage kicks in.
Synopsis: An ordinary day at the office becomes a horrific quest for survival when 80 employees (John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn,...
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Critics Consensus:The Forever Purge fails to fully engage with its most frighteningly timely themes, but the franchise remains largely -- albeit bluntly -- effective.
Synopsis: Adela (Ana de la Reguera, Cowboys & Aliens) and her husband Juan (Tenoch Huerta, Days of Grace) live in Texas,...
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Critics Consensus: Although director Zoe Lister-Jones has forged a new path for the weirdos of today, The Craft: Legacy's spells may only enchant fans of the original.
Synopsis: An eclectic foursome of aspiring teenage witches get more than they bargained for as they lean into their newfound powers....
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Critics Consensus:DASHCAM is visually and thematically provocative, although the film's grating protagonist undercuts its effectiveness.
Synopsis: At the start of the pandemic, an indulgent and self-deluded livestreaming improv musician abandons L.A. for London, steals her ex-band...
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Critics Consensus: Despite a pair of layered performances from its talented leads, Mr. Harrigan's Phone never quite connects with the source material's intriguing themes.
Synopsis: When Craig, a young boy living in a small town (Jaeden Martell) befriends Mr. Harrigan, an older, reclusive billionaire (Donald...
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Critics Consensus: With Evil Eye, directors Elan and Rajeev Dassani spy a premise that has no shortage of potential, but despite the efforts of a game cast, it remains tantalizingly unfulfilled.
Synopsis: A seemingly perfect romance turns into a nightmare when a woman becomes convinced that her daughter's new boyfriend has a...
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Critics Consensus: While admirably intelligent and well-cast, Don't Let Go suffers from a formulaic approach compounded by its uneven writing and an awkward tonal balance.
Synopsis: Detective Jack Radcliff gets a shocking phone call from his recently murdered niece Ashley. Working together across time, they race...
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Critics Consensus:Dark Skies writer director Scott Stewart has a solid cast, an interesting premise, and some admirable ambitions, but he can't figure out what to do with any of them, and the result is a dull, muddled effort that will bore all but the most devoted horror buffs.
Synopsis: Lacy (Keri Russell) and Daniel Barrett (Josh Hamilton) share a peaceful life in the suburbs with their sons, Jesse (Dakota...
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Critics Consensus:Halloween Ends -- for now, anyway -- with a frequently befuddling installment that's stabbed, slashed, and beaten by a series of frustrating missed opportunities.
Synopsis: This is Laurie Strode's last stand. After 45 years, the most acclaimed, revered horror franchise in film history reaches its...
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Critics Consensus:You Should Have Left hints at a genuinely creepy experience, but never quite manages to distill its intriguing ingredients into a consistently satisfying whole.
Synopsis: Strange events plague a couple and their young daughter when they rent a secluded countryside house that has a dark...
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Critics Consensus:Thriller has an appealing cast and a fresh perspective on its genre, but those elements aren't enough to outweigh a bland and predictable story.
Synopsis: Years after a childhood prank goes horribly wrong, some South Central Los Angeles teens find themselves terrorized during homecoming weekend...
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Critics Consensus: Half social allegory, half home-invasion thriller, The Purge attempts to make an intelligent point, but ultimately devolves into numbing violence and tired clichés.
Synopsis: In an America ravaged by crime and overcrowded prisons, the government sanctions an annual 12-hour period during which all criminal...
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Critics Consensus: Better than the 2006 remake yet not as sharp as the original, this Black Christmas stabs at timely feminist themes but mostly hits on familiar pulp.
Synopsis: Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays as students travel home to spend time with their families. But as...
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Critics Consensus: A change of setting breathes some new life into the franchise, but Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones fails to provide enough consistent thrills to justify a fifth film in the series.
Synopsis: Teenagers Jesse and Hector look forward to a carefree summer, but the murder of a neighbor leads to a terrifying...
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Critics Consensus:Halloween Kills should satisfy fans in search of brute slasher thrills, but in terms of advancing the franchise, it's a bit less than the sum of its bloody parts.
Synopsis: Minutes after Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) left masked monster...
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Critics Consensus: Earlier installments have had their moments, but behind Insidious: The Red Door lies the disappointing denouement of a once-frightening franchise.
Synopsis: In Insidious: The Red Door, the horror franchise's original cast returns for the final chapter of the Lambert family's terrifying...
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Critics Consensus:The Green Inferno may not win writer-director Eli Roth many new converts, but fans of his flair for gory spectacle should find it a suitably gruesome diversion.
Synopsis: New York college student Justine (Lorenza Izzo), a lawyer's daughter, meets a student activist named Alejandro (Ariel Levy) when he...
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Critics Consensus:Insidious: The Last Key offers franchise star Lin Shaye another welcome opportunity to take the lead, but her efforts aren't enough to rescue this uninspired sequel.
Synopsis: Brilliant parapsychologist Elise Rainier receives a disturbing phone call from a man who claims that his house is haunted. Even...
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Critics Consensus: Loaded with Easter eggs, Five Nights at Freddy's may be fun to watch for fans of the game, but most viewers of any other persuasion will find this adaptation muddled and decidedly unscary.
Synopsis: The film follows a troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. While spending his first night...
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Critics Consensus:Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin gives the long-running found-footage franchise a new level of visual polish; unfortunately, effective scares are few and far between.
Synopsis: A documentary filmmaker follows Margot as she heads to a secluded Amish community, in the hopes of meeting and learning...
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Critics Consensus: Repeating the beats of better techno-horrors, AfrAId short circuits due to the clichéd software of its script and the uninspired hardware of its craft.
Synopsis: In AFRAID, Curtis (John Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family...
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Critics Consensus:Imaginary's core concept is solid enough to produce a handful of scares, but too much of its potential is lost in a clichéd story that gets bogged down in world-building.
Synopsis: From Blumhouse, the genre-defining masterminds behind FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S and M3GAN, comes an original horror that taps into the...
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Critics Consensus: While it does manage to wring a few more screams out of the franchise's surprisingly durable premise, Paranormal Activity 4 provides fans of the series with dismayingly diminishing returns.
Synopsis: It has been five years since Katie (Katie Featherston) murdered her sister and disappeared with her infant nephew, Hunter, in...
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Critics Consensus:The Exorcist: Believer earns points for trying to take the franchise back to its terrifying roots, but a lack of new ideas -- and scares -- make this an inauspicious start to a planned new trilogy.
Synopsis: Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Tony winner and Oscar®...
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Critics Consensus:Incarnate can't be accused of lack of ideas -- if only any of them made sense or coalesced in any meaningful or scary way.
Synopsis: After a single mother witnesses terrifying symptoms of demonic possession in her 11-year-old son (David Mazouz), a Vatican representative calls...
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Critics Consensus:Truth or Dare's slick presentation isn't enough to make this mediocre horror outing much more frightening than an average round of the real-life game.
Synopsis: Olivia, Lucas and a group of their college friends travel to Mexico for one last getaway before graduation. While there,...
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Critics Consensus:The Lazarus Effect has a talented cast and the glimmer of an interesting idea, but wastes it all on insipid characters and dull, recycled plot points.
Synopsis: Medical researcher Frank (Mark Duplass), his fiancee Zoe (Olivia Wilde) and their team have achieved the impossible: they have found...
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Critics Consensus:Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension ties up some of the franchise's lingering questions, but six films into the series, the thrills are mostly gone.
Synopsis: Ryan Fleege, wife Emily, and their 7-year-old daughter, Leila, prepare for Christmas in their new home. After finding an old...
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Critics Consensus:Sinister 2 has a few ingredients that will be familiar to fans of the original; unfortunately, in this slapdash second installment, none of them are scary anymore.
Synopsis: Hiding from her abusive, estranged husband, Courtney Collins lives in a rural house with her 9-year-old twins, Dylan and Zach....
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Critics Consensus: Narratively contrived and visually a mess, The Gallows sends viewers on a shaky tumble to the bottom of the found-footage horror barrel.
Synopsis: In 1993, a freak accident involving a noose kills teenager Charlie Grimille during a high-school production of "The Gallows." Twenty...
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Critics Consensus: There was plenty of room to improve on the original, but Firestarter trips over that low bar and tumbles toward the bottom of the long list of Stephen King adaptations.
Synopsis: For more than a decade, parents Andy (Zac Efron; Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile; The Greatest Showman) and Vicky...
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Critics Consensus:Fantasy Island tries to show audiences the dark side of wish fulfillment, but mainly serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of exhuming long-dead franchises.
Synopsis: The enigmatic Mr. Roarke makes the secret dreams of his guests come true at a luxurious tropical resort. But when...
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Critics Consensus:The Darkness clumsily relies on an assortment of genre tropes, leaving only the decidedly non-frightening ghost of superior horror films in its wake.
Synopsis: Peter Taylor (Kevin Bacon), his wife Bronny and their two children return to Los Angeles after a fun-filled vacation to...
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