The 40 Best Horror Movies Of The Last Five Years, Ranked

Summary

• Recent horror movies showcase a new golden era for the genre, delivering great entries that still draw people to the movies.
• The genre offers a wide variety of projects, including elevated horror movies, classic horror franchises, supernatural stories, masked killers, and terrifying monsters.
• The best horror movies of the last five years feature slick and entertaining studio monster movies, intense creature features, quirky dark comedies, and genre-bending experiences like the
  Fear Street
  trilogy.

The best horror movies of the last five years have showcased why many are starting to consider it a new golden era for the genre. Horror movies have been a staple of cinema since its very beginning with classics like Nosferatu. Subsequent eras such as the golden age of Universal monster movies and the mainstream popularity of 80s slashers, for example, has ensured interest in scary films never waned. The 2020s have seen a resurgent tide of high-quality scares, and the best horror movies of the last five years include some of the most celebrated in decades.

The latest horror movie boom highlights the wide variety of films catering to audiences and viewers hoping for a good scare. There continues to be the rise of so-called elevated horror movies with deeper messages. However, there is also the return of some classic horror franchises that have become popular once again. Supernatural stories, masked killers, and terrifying monsters populate the best horror movies of the last five years, giving horror fans plenty of incredible releases between 2019 and 2023.

40 The Last Voyage Of The Demeter (2023)

A Crew Battles Dracula On The Night Seas

Dracula movies haven’t proven successful at the box office recently, but The Last Voyage of the Demeter proves the iconic vampire still makes for a great genre monster. The movie is inspired by a section in Bram Stoker’s classic novel detailing a ship coming to England unknowingly carrying the coffin of Count Dracula.

2024’s The Last Voyage of the Demeter operates like Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic, Alien, but on a 19th century merchant ship, with the crew getting picked off one by one as the vampire lurks around the dark vessel with no hope of escape. It is a slick and entertaining studio monster movie with a solid cast and some great creature designs.

39 Night Swim (2024)

A Haunted Swimming Pool Creates Some Unique Supernatural Scares

While the haunted house subgenre is somewhat overpopulated by the 2020s, the 2024 Blumhouse horror movie from director Bryce McGuire, Night Swim, is a fresh take on the concept. The house of the Waller family in Night Swim isn’t haunted, but their swimming pool, on the other hand, is. While this premise could be written off as gimmicky at first, McGuire’s directing ensures that, on the contrary, Night Swim is a truly terrifying watch with some incredibly unique scares.

As with any haunted house movie, the cursed pool in Night Swim has an intriguing history behind it that slowly unravels as the movie progresses — though not before causing some incredibly spooky goings-on along the way. One aspect that makes Night Swim scarier than its premise would suggest is the high level of child endangerment, as the demonic pool desires the lives of at least one of the Waller’s children.

38 Five Nights At Freddy’s (2023)

Animatronic Puppets Are Out For Blood

Blumhouse’s FNAF movie arrived in 2023 and finally brought audiences the long-awaited adaptation of the popular horror video game. Part creature-feature, and part slasher-movie, Five Nights at Freddy’s proved the central concept of the games works just as well on the big screen.

Five Nights at Freddy’s tells the story of a young father who takes a job as a night security guard at an abandoned family entertainment center only to learn that the creepy animatronic puppets come alive and become murderous monsters. While the critical response to Five Nights at Freddy’s was negative, the movie was embraced by fans, becoming one of the biggest openings for a Blumhouse movie to date.

37 The Wolf Of Snow Hollow (2020)

Small-Town Murders Point To A Werewolf

Werewolf movies have been a mainstay of the horror genre in the past, but The Wolf of Snow Hollow finds an interesting new approach to the story. Set in the titular mountainside town, Jim Cummings stars as a young and hot-tempered deputy looking into a series of grisly murders that begins to suggest there is a werewolf among them.

The movie is a dark and bloody affair, but Cummings, who also wrote and directed the movie, brings a great sense of humor to it as well. The result is a quirky dark comedy that feels like the Coen Brothers take on the horror genre.

36 Crawl (2019)

A Father And Daughter Fight Off Alligators During A Flood

The creature feature subgenre of horror movies isn’t as prevalent in modern horror, but Crawl brought it back with a terrifically intense and fun ride. Set in Florida during a flood, the movie follows a young woman who attempts to rescue her father who is stuck under the crawl space of their house when a group of hungry alligators arrive. As the water rises in the small area and the gators continue to circle, there is a very effective fast-paced energy to Crawl, mixing in heroic elements of a survival story with the thrills of a killer animal story.

35 The Lodge (2019)

A New Step-Mom Is Not What She Seems

The Lodge became one of the lesser-known standout horror movies of the last five years thanks to its overwhelmingly creepy premise. Siblings Mia and Aiden Hall are still mourning the death of their mother, Laura, when their dad commits to a new woman named Grace Marshall and wants the family to spend the holidays at a country house.

Grace’s actions become worrisome and end up being more terrifying than the kids imagined.

Grace’s actions become worrisome and end up being more terrifying than the kids imagined. The atmospheric approach and the smart script earned The Lodge high praise from critics, who also pointed to the performance of Riley Keough as Grace.

The Lodge
is available to stream on Max.

34 Stopmotion (2024)

The Critically Acclaimed Tale That Asks How Much One Can Sacrifice For Art

While it may not be as recognizable a name to wider audiences as many modern horror movies, 2024’s Stopmotion has been lauded by fans of the genre and is, without a doubt, one of the most harrowing scary films released in the last five years. The movie focuses on a mother-daughter duo, Suzanne and Ella Blake. Suzanne is an acclaimed stop-motion artist who is suffering from arthritis and must enlist Ella to help her complete her next movie. However, the pair have an incredibly toxic relationship, with Suzanne overworking Ella to the point that she induces psychosis.

While the psychological aspects of Stopmotion are tense enough, it’s when Suzanne suffers from a stroke and Ella must complete the movie on her own that the horror aspects of the film really take shape. To say the visuals in Stopmotion are disturbing is an understatement to say the least, and Ella finds that the lines between reality and the grotesque stop-motion film she’s making using real decaying animal flesh and discarded human off-cuts like hair and skin-tags become blurred.

33 No One Will Save You (2023)

Home Invasion With An Alien Twist

Alien horror movies have made for some of the genre’s greatest entries, and No One Will Save You emerged as a surprise hit that deserves its recognition among the best horror movies of the last five years. The Hulu original horror movie stars Kaitlyn Dever as a young woman living an isolated life who has to fight for survival when an alien invades her home.

A hugely entertaining genre movie with a fun twist on the typical home invasion story.

What is particularly impressive about the movie is that No One Will Save You has barely any dialogue in the entire runtime, working off the tense set pieces and building suspense to tell its story. The result is a hugely entertaining genre movie with a fun twist on the typical home invasion story, and one that also somewhat refreheses the sci-fi horror subgenre, showing that it can be incredibly innovative when handled right.

32 Immaculate (2024)

One Of The Best Antichrist Films Of The Last Several Decades

2024 has already been a great year for horror movies, and one of the most intriguing additions to the genre is Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney. With plenty of similarities to movies like The Omen and The Nun, both in the aesthetic and in the plot, Immaculate takes place at a Roman Catholic convent and focuses on Sweeney’s Sister Cecilia, a young novice who travels to Italy to join the rest of the nuns. However, all is not what it seems, and from the earliest moments it’s clear that there are incredibly sinister goings-on behind the religious facade.

The plot of Immaculate truly kicks off when Cecilia discovers that she is pregnant, despite being faithful to her vows and remaining a virgin. The rest of the nuns at the convent see this as a miraculous blessing, with many comparisons being drawn to Mary, the mother of Christ. Cecilia soon learns that, rather than holding the second coming in her womb, her unexplained pregnancy is the result of something far more demonic — and was entirely planned by the nuns around her and their sinister leader, Father Tedeschi.

31 Werewolves Within (2021)

A Whodunnit With A Possible Werewolf

Like The Wolf of Snow Hollow, Werewolves Within is a werewolf movie that combines horror and humor in a very fun way. Based on the video game, Werewolves Within is about the residents of Beaverfield, Vermont who are there for one another during bad winter weather and who realize that a werewolf is loose in their seemingly regular, adorable town.

An entertaining genre-bending experience and one of the best movies based on a video game.

The characters of The Wolf of Snow Hollow are charming and portrayed by a great ensemble cast that includes Sam Richardson, Harvey Guillén, and Milana Vayntrub. It is perhaps goofier than it is scary, but makes for an entertaining genre-bending experience and one of the best movies based on a video game.

Werewolves Within
is available to stream on Hulu and AMC+.

30 Fear Street Trilogy (2021)

Netflix’s Genre-Blending Horror Trilogy

Netflix took an interesting approach to telling an expansive and compelling horror story that crosses various time periods with the Fear Street trilogy, all set in the town of Shadyside. It’s great that each film in the Fear Street trilogy is like its own subgenre, with the first being a slasher about Shadyside, the second being set at Camp Nightwing, and the third telling a witchcraft tale.

The three connected films focus on the town’s scary history, the friendship between the main characters, and the sibling bond that Cindy and Ziggy had before tragedy struck. Each movie in the Fear Street triology is unique, and it’s a testament to the franchise that each works just as well as a standalone entry, but become all the more satisfying when viewed together.

All
Fear Street
movies are available on Netflix.

29 Freaky (2020)

A Teen Girl Body Swaps With A Serial Killer

Another genre-bending horror movie, Freaky is not only a comedic slasher film, but also a wacky body-swap movie. The 2020 horror-comedy stars Kathryn Newton as a high schooler who is attacked by a local serial killer (Vince Vaughn) only for the two to switch bodies in the process.

What follows is a very entertaining new approach to the high-concept story with Vaughn giving a hilarious performance as a teen girl trapped in a grown man’s body as he tries to stop a killer who is now disguised as a seemingly innocent girl. Despite the comedy, Freaky is also a gory affair, balancing the two genres nicely.

28 Doctor Sleep (2019)

A Follow-Up To Stephen King’s The Shining

Mike Flanagan’s horror projects on television have helped to establish him as one of the genre’s best voices right now, but his movie work is also worth noting, especially his adaptation of Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep. The movie is a sequel to The Shining, following an adult Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) as he still deals with his dark past while helping protect young children with similar powers from a deadly cult.

An interesting mythology, some deeply disturbing scenes, and a terrific villain performance from Rebecca Ferguson.

Flanagan lovingly pays homage to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining while also building his own story with an interesting mythology, some deeply disturbing scenes, and a terrific villain performance from Rebecca Ferguson.

27 Late Night With The Devil (2024)

A Talk Show Turns Demonic

After having supporting roles in the likes of Ant-Man and Dune, character actor David Dastmalchian takes center stage in the unique 2024 horror movie Late Night With The Devil. This supernatural horror all takes place within the same episode of the fictional 1970s talk show Night Owls with Jack Delroy, presenting itself as a found-footage tale by informing audiences that what they’re about to witness is unreleased footage of the show’s final, unaired episode. The focus of the episode, hosted by Dastmalchian as Jack Delroy, involves a possessed girl being brought on as a guest.

Of course, while Delroy and his crew don’t believe the girl is actually possessed, the plot of the horror movie becomes somewhat predictable in the sense that she, of course, is. However, despite the inevitability of the finale, Late Night With The Devil shouldn’t be written off by horror genre fans. It’s one of the most novel and innovative possession movies released in several decades, and uses its found-footage premise to incredibly effect. There are some truly sinister moments throughout, and David Dastmalchian gives a career-defining performance as Delroy.

26 The Night House (2021)

Secrets Are Revealed About A Widower’s Late Husband

The Night House features a powerful performance from Rebecca Hall in a gripping take on the haunted house subgenre. Beth’s sadness over her husband Owen’s death becomes even more overpowering when she walks into the woods near her lake house and sees a similar home that he built.

As she explores the house, she begins seeing strange things and hints at a darker truth about her late husband. The 2021 horror movie is an unsettling experience carried by Hall’s performance, but there is also a stirring mystery at the center which is fascinating to see unravel.

25 Ready Or Not (2019)

Horror-Comedy About A Deadly Game Of Hide And Seek

Many of the best horror movies of the last five years have veered into the horror-comedy subgenre, but few have done so as deftly as 2019’s Ready Or Not. While hide and seek is a game that is often reserved for children, it becomes a dangerous way to spend the evening in this scary movie.

Ready Or Not stars Samara Weaving as newlywed Grace, who has just married into a family that forces her into this twisted game while trying to kill her because it’s part of a ritual that will keep their family rich and successful. The premise is wisely approached with a sense of comedy, with Weaving delivering a star-making performance as she expertly balances the terror of the situation with astounding comedic timing.

24 His House (2020)

Refugees Contend With Dark Forces In Their New Home

One of the most cerebral modern horror movies, and one that has an incredible amount of social commentary, is 2020’s His House. The Netflix horror movie His House is the story of a married couple from Sudan who arrive at their new home in England only to find it haunted by dark forces. The movie is a rich and complex horror story, delivering chilling scares and suspense while also tackling the experiences of refugees, the real-world horrors they face, and the injustices even after being “accepted” in their new home.

It makes for a completely unique and engrossing experience that earned strong reviews from critics, even achieving a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. What’s more, House of the Dragon and Doctor Who star Matt Smith gives an incredible and somewhat chilling performance as part of the ensemble cast.

23 Fresh (2022)

A Woman’s New Romance Takes A Gruesome Turn

Fresh is the kind of horror movie that takes a lot of pleasure in throwing the audience off kilter. The movie starts out as if it is a romantic comedy with Daisy Edgar-Jones playing a young woman tired of the dating world when she meets an intriguing new man (Sebastian Stan). Their romance start off on an exciting and passionate note only for him to show his true sadistic colors.

Stan delivers a hugely entertaining villainous performance.

Fresh stands out as one of the best horror movies of the last five years thanks to its shocking and impactful abrupt shifts in tone, which themselves are further elevated by the performances of the two leads. Edgar-Jones is a grounded and relatable protagonist, while Stan delivers a hugely entertaining villainous performance. It is quirk and bold but ends up as a satisfying albeit intense experience.

Fresh
is available to stream on Hulu.

22 M3GAN (2023)

An AI Doll Gets Too Protective

M3GAN became an internet sensation with its wild horror movie premise and tongue-in-cheek approach to the genre, but it also served to prove that horror movies don’t need an R rating to be incredibly memorable. A slasher movie with heavy sci-fi elements, M3GAN was seen by many fans of the genre as a breath of fresh air.

The movie follows a young girl who recently lost her parents and is living with her aunt, who happens to be a pioneering designer and scientist for a leading toy company. As a way of helping her cope, she is gifted with an AI doll who becomes her best friend. However, soon the doll begins taking extreme measures to ensure the little girl is happy. With a mix of humor and melodrama, M3GAN became a surprise box office hit and already has a sequel in the works.

21 Malignant (2021)

A Woman Fears She Is A Killer

Fromhorror master James Wan, Malignant is perhaps his most outrageous and entertaining movie in the genre. The 2021 movie follows a woman who is haunted by visions of people being brutally murdered only to realize that these killings are happening in reality. The movie takes a lot of inspiration from the “giallo” horror subgenre, making for a vibrant and engrossing murder mystery.

However, it is the final reveal that makes Malignant truly memorable and counted among the best horror movies of the last five years, and Wan and his creative team pull off a wildly bizarre and entertaining climax.