The Best Horror Movies of 2020, Ranked by Tomatometer

Critics Consensus: Bad Hair's unwieldy ambitions are easy to respect -- even if the film's tonal jumble and uneven execution are impossible to ignore.

Synopsis: Terror strikes when a woman's new hair weave seems to take on a life of its own.

Starring: Elle Lorraine, Jay Pharoah, Lena Waithe, Kelly Rowland

Directed By: Justin Simien

Critics Consensus: Gretel & Hansel's rich visuals satisfy, even if this adaptation of a classic fairytale gets a little lost in the woods on the storytelling front.

Synopsis: When their mother descends into madness, siblings Gretel and Hansel must fend for themselves in the dark and unforgiving woods. Hungry and scared, they fortuitously... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sophia Lillis, Alice Krige, Samuel Leakey, Charles Babalola

Directed By: Oz Perkins

Critics Consensus: Joe Keery's magnetic screen presence can't disguise Spree's shallow critique of social media culture -- although that lack of depth may be precisely the point.

Synopsis: Thirsty for a following, a rideshare driver has figured out a deadly plan to go viral.

Starring: Joe Keery, Sasheer Zamata, David Arquette, Kyle Mooney

Directed By: Eugene Kotlyarenko

Critics Consensus: Although Feedback's generic story drowns out its timely messages, Eddie Marsan's performance makes it an experience worth airing.

Synopsis: Jarvis Dolan is a London talk-show host who plans to reveal a bombshell news story on the air. But when two masked intruders take over... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Eddie Marsan, Paul Anderson, Ivana Baquero, Richard Brake

Directed By: Pedro C. Alonso

Critics Consensus: The Owners will prove excessively mean-spirited and over the top for some, but should be just pulpy enough for genre enthusiasts up for some home invasion thrills.

Synopsis: An elderly couple turn the tables on a group of young thieves who broke into their house while they were away.

Starring: Maisie Williams, Sylvester McCoy, Rita Tushingham, Jake Curran

Directed By: Julius Berg

Critics Consensus: If its chilly sense of dread never quite becomes spine-tingling terror, Amulet remains smart, solidly disquieting fun for genre fans seeking slow-building horror.

Synopsis: Terror strikes when a former soldier takes a job to help a young woman and her housebound mother.

Starring: Carla Juri, Imelda Staunton, Alec Secareanu, Angeliki Papoulia

Directed By: Romola Garai

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 him to question who he... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Mamoudou Athie, Phylicia Rashad, Amanda Christine, Tosin Morohunfola

Directed By: Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour

Critics Consensus: Led by an impressive Riley Keough performance, The Lodge should prove a suitably unsettling destination for fans of darkly atmospheric horror.

Synopsis: During a family retreat to a remote winter cabin over the holidays, the father is forced to abruptly depart for work, leaving his two children... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, Lia McHugh, Richard Armitage

Directed By: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala

Critics Consensus: The Wretched stirs up a savory blend of witch-in-the-woods horror ingredients that should leave genre fans hungry for a second helping from writer-directors Brett and Drew T. Pierce.

Synopsis: A defiant teenage boy, struggling with his parent's imminent divorce, faces off with an old witch who has possessed the neighbor next door.

Starring: John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda, Jamison Jones, Azie Tesfai

Directed By: Brett Pierce, Drew T. Pierce

Critics Consensus: Some tricky genre juggling makes The Rental a bit of a fixer-upper, but effective chills and a solid cast make this a fine destination for horror fans.

Synopsis: Two couples on an oceanside getaway grow suspicious that the host of their seemingly perfect rental house may be spying on them. Before long, what... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Dan Stevens, Alison Brie, Sheila Vand, Jeremy Allen White

Directed By: Dave Franco

Critics Consensus: The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw compensates for a certain amount of frustrating narrative drift with solid performances and a strong command of mood.

Synopsis: Protestant villagers suspect a mother and daughter of witchcraft as a deadly plague decimates crops and livestock.

Starring: Catherine Walker, Jared Abrahamson, Hannah Emily Anderson, Sean McGinley

Directed By: Thomas Robert Lee

Critics Consensus: While it may feel muddled at times, The Platform is an inventive and captivating dystopian thriller.

Synopsis: In the future, prisoners housed in vertical cells watch as inmates in the upper cells are fed while those below starve.

Starring: Emilio Buale, Zorion Eguileor, Alexandra Masangkay, Ivan Massagué

Directed By: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia

Critics Consensus: Some of its contents are more entertaining than others, but genre fans should still find this Scare Package well worth opening.

Synopsis: Seven filmmakers present seven terrifying and comedic tales of horror.

Starring: Jeremy King, Noah Segan, Toni Trucks, Chase Williamson

Directed By: Courtney Andujar, Aaron B. Koontz, Hillary Andujar, Anthony Cousins

Critics Consensus: Synchronic sets off on an intriguingly idiosyncratic sci-fi journey that should satisfy fans of Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson's earlier work.

Synopsis: When New Orleans paramedics and longtime best friends Steve and Dennis are called to a series of bizarre and gruesome accidents, they chalk it up... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dornan, Katie Aselton, Ally Ioannides

Directed By: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead

Critics Consensus: Porno mines sexual repression to produce a laughably lurid -- and genuinely scary -- outing that should delight genre fans in search of a good time.

Synopsis: Four repressed, religious teens and a straight-edge projectionist working at a small-town movie theater in the 1990s discover a secret screening room filled with vintage... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Evan Daves, Jillian Mueller, Katelyn Pearce, Bill Phillips

Directed By: Keola Racela

Critics Consensus: An intriguing and unsettling debut for writer-director Jeffrey A. Brown, The Beach House offers a delightfully grim getaway for fans of imaginative, ambitious horror.

Synopsis: College sweethearts on a romantic getaway struggle for survival when unexpected guests exhibit signs of a mysterious infection.

Starring: Liana Liberato, Noah Le Gros, Jake Weber, Maryanne Nagel

Directed By: Jeffrey A. Brown

Critics Consensus: VFW's solid cast, deft direction, and surprisingly weighty subtext add extra heft to a gory thriller that should hold buckets of sanguine appeal for grindhouse fans.

Synopsis: A typical night for veterans at a VFW turns into an all-out battle for survival when a desperate teen runs into the bar with a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Stephen Lang, William Sadler, Martin Kove, Fred Williamson

Directed By: Joe Begos

Critics Consensus: Using an effectively creepy setting and a beguilingly evasive approach, Koko-Di Koko-Da takes a chilling look at the long tail of grief.

Synopsis: A case of food poisoning derails a family's holiday and forever alters the course of their lives. Years later, the couple go camping again, looking... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Peter Belli, Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon, Katarina Jakobson

Directed By: Johannes Nyholm

Critics Consensus: Smart, well-acted, and suitably chilling, Scare Me uses its familiar horror setting as the backdrop for a fresh deconstruction of standard genre ingredients.

Synopsis: Two strangers tell scary stories in a Catskills cabin during a power outage.

Starring: Aya Cash, Rebecca Drysdale, Chris Redd, Josh Ruben

Directed By: Josh Ruben

Critics Consensus: An entertaining slasher with a gender-bending, body-swapping twist, this horror-comedy juggles genres with Freaky fun results.

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Millie Kessler spends her days trying to survive high school and the cruel actions of the popular crowd. But when she becomes the latest... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Katie Finneran, Celeste O'Connor

Directed By: Christopher Landon

Critics Consensus: A welcome return for director Richard Stanley, Color Out of Space mixes tart B-movie pulp with visually alluring Lovecraftian horror and a dash of gonzo Nicolas Cage.

Synopsis: After a meteorite lands in the front yard of their farm, Nathan Gardner and his family find themselves battling a mutant extraterrestrial organism that infects... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Tommy Chong, Madeleine Arthur

Directed By: Richard Stanley

Critics Consensus: Bloody horror with barbed wit, Come to Daddy anchors its brutal violence in a surprisingly mature approach to provocative themes.

Synopsis: A privileged man-child arrives at the beautiful and remote coastal cabin of his estranged father, whom he hasn't seen in 30 years. He quickly discovers... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Elijah Wood, Stephen McHattie, Martin Donovan, Michael Smiley

Directed By: Ant Timpson

Critics Consensus: If Sea Fever never quite heats up as much as it could, it remains an engrossing, well-acted sci-fi thriller with effective horror elements.

Synopsis: Solitary marine-biology student Siobhán endures a week on a ragged fishing trawler, miserably at odds with the close-knit crew. But out in the deep Atlantic,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Connie Nielsen, Hermione Corfield, Dougray Scott, Olwen Fouéré

Directed By: Neasa Hardiman

Critics Consensus: 1BR's occasionally ordinary storytelling is more than outweighed by tight direction, interesting ideas, and an effective blend of horror and thoughtful drama.

Synopsis: New to Los Angeles, a woman moves into a seemingly perfect apartment complex, and soon finds out that there are consequences for breaking the rules.

Starring: Nicole Brydon Bloom, Alan Blumenfeld, Taylor Nichols, Giles Matthey

Directed By: David Marmor

Critics Consensus: Swallow's unconventional approach to exploring domestic ennui is elevated by a well-told story and Haley Bennett's powerful leading performance.

Synopsis: A young housewife in a seemingly perfect marriage develops pica, the irresistible urge to ingest inedible objects and material.

Starring: Haley Bennett, Austin Stowell, Denis O'Hare, Elizabeth Marvel

Directed By: Carlo Mirabella-Davis

Critics Consensus: Led by a daring performance from Jean Dujardin, Deerskin finds writer-director Quentin Dupieux working in a more accessible -- yet still distinctive -- vein.

Synopsis: A middle-aged drifter becomes obsessed with a fringed deerskin jacket that seems to hold mystical powers.

Starring: Jean Dujardin, Adèle Haenel, Albert Delpy, Pierre Gommé

Directed By: Quentin Dupieux

Critics Consensus: Well-acted, genuinely unsettling, and occasionally even funny, #alive proves the crowded zombie genre still has fresh stories to tell.

Synopsis: A rapidly spreading infection leaves one survivor in the entire city.

Starring: Yoo Ah-in, Park Shin-hye, Jeon Bae-soo, Lee Hyun-wook

Directed By: Il Cho

Critics Consensus: Part creature feature, part romance, After Midnight somehow manages to combine its disparate ingredients and come up with something special.

Synopsis: Dealing with a girlfriend suddenly leaving is tough enough, but for Hank, heartbreak couldn't have come at a worse time. There's also a monster trying... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Henry Zebrowski, Jeremy Gardner, Brea Grant, Justin Benson

Directed By: Christian Stella

Critics Consensus: The Wolf of Snow Hollow treads somewhat unsteadily between horror and comedy, but writer-director-star Jim Cummings' unique sensibilities make for an oddly haunting hybrid.

Synopsis: A stressed-out police officer struggles not to give in to the paranoia that grips his small mountain town as bodies turn up after each full... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jim Cummings, Riki Lindhome, Robert Forster, Jimmy Tatro

Directed By: Jim Cummings

Critics Consensus: Effective space alien horror with a Soviet-era twist, Sputnik proves there are still some scary good sci-fi thrillers left in the galaxy.

Synopsis: Summoned to a secluded research facility, a controversial young doctor examines a cosmonaut who returned to Earth with an alien parasite inside of him.

Starring: Pyotr Fyodorov, Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk, Anna Nazarova

Directed By: Egor Abramenko

Critics Consensus: In the sharp, socially conscious battle of Vampires vs. the Bronx, comedy and horror blend brilliantly -- and the audience is the winner.

Synopsis: A group of friends band together to save their neighborhood from vampires.

Starring: Jaden Michael, Gregory Diaz IV, Sarah Gadon, Shea Whigham

Directed By: Oz Rodriguez

Critics Consensus: Blood Quantum blends bloody horror with sociopolitical subtext, taking a fresh bite out of the crowded zombie genre in the bargain.

Synopsis: The dead are coming back to life and almost all of Earth's population is decimated due to a zombie virus, except for the isolated Mi'kmaq... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Michael Greyeyes, Elle-Maija Tailfeathers, Forrest Goodluck, Kiowa Gordon

Directed By: Jeff Barnaby

Critics Consensus: The Dark and the Wicked delivers on its title with an unsettling horror story whose deep dread and bleak outlook further compound its effective jolts.

Synopsis: Plagued by waking nightmares, two siblings suspect that something evil is taking over their family at an isolated farmhouse.

Starring: Marin Ireland, Michael Abbott Jr., Xander Berkeley, Lynn Andrews

Directed By: Bryan Bertino

Critics Consensus: Relic ratchets up its slowly building tension in an expertly crafted atmosphere of dread, adding up to an outstanding feature debut for director/co-writer Natalie Erika James.

Synopsis: A woman links her mother's increasingly volatile behavior to an evil presence at their family's decaying country home.

Starring: Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, Bella Heathcote, Chris Bunton

Directed By: Natalie Erika James

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. When the police refuse to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid

Directed By: Leigh Whannell

Critics Consensus: Further refining his provocative vision, writer-director Brandon Cronenberg uses Possessor's potentially over-the-top premise as a delivery mechanism for stylishly disturbing thrills.

Synopsis: Tasya Vos, an elite, corporate assassin, takes control of other people's bodies using brain-implant technology to execute high-profile targets.

Starring: Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean

Directed By: Brandon Cronenberg

Critics Consensus: Impetigore uses its folk horror setting as the brutally effective backdrop for a supernatural story that sinks its hooks into the viewer and refuses to let go.

Synopsis: A woman inherits a house in her ancestral village, but she is unaware that members of the community have been trying to locate and kill... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Tara Basro, Ario Bayu, Marissa Anita, Christine Hakim

Directed By: Joko Anwar

Critics Consensus: The rare anthology that maintains a consistently high level of quality, The Mortuary Collection is a must-see undertaking for horror fans.

Synopsis: Desperate for work, a young drifter applies for a job at the local mortuary on the outskirts of town. There, she meets Montgomery Dark, an... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Clancy Brown, Caitlin Custer, Christine Kilmer, Jacob Elordi

Directed By: Ryan Spindell

Critics Consensus: Surreal, unsettling, and finally haunting, The Wolf House is a stunning outpouring of creativity whose striking visuals queasily complement its disturbing story.

Synopsis: A young woman takes refuge in a strange house in the woods after escaping from a German colony in southern Chile.

Starring: Amalia Kassai, Rainer Krause

Directed By: Joaquín Cociña, Cristóbal León

Critics Consensus: La Llorona puts a fresh spin on the familiar legend by blending the supernatural and the political to resolutely chilling effect.

Synopsis: Alma is murdered with her children during a military attack in Guatemala, but when the general who ordered the genocide is found not guilty 30... View Full Synopsis

Starring: María Mercedes Coroy, Sabrina De La Hoz, Margarita Kénefic, Julio Diaz

Directed By: Jayro Bustamante

Critics Consensus: A horror/rom-com hybrid that somehow manages to blend its ingredients without losing their flavor, Extra Ordinary more than lives up to its title.

Synopsis: A woman who has supernatural abilities must save a possessed girl.

Starring: Maeve Higgins, Barry Ward, Claudia O'Doherty, Jamie Beamish

Directed By: Michael Ahern, Enda Loughman

Critics Consensus: Lean, suspenseful, and scary, Host uses its timely premise to deliver a nastily effective treat for horror enthusiasts.

Synopsis: Six friends accidentally invite the attention of a demonic presence during an online séance and begin noticing strange occurrences in their homes.

Starring: Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova

Directed By: Rob Savage

Critics Consensus: Featuring genuine scares through every corridor, His House is a terrifying look at the specters of the refugee experience and a stunning feature debut for Remi Weekes.

Synopsis: A refugee couple makes a harrowing escape from war-torn South Sudan, but then they struggle to adjust to their new life in an English town... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu, Matt Smith, Cornell John

Directed By: Remi Weekes