It’s not just studio horror movies dominating the box office this year.
In addition to the well-known and much-publicized hits like Smile 2, the sequel to one of the most profitable movies of 2022, the most compelling box office narrative of the year is how independent horror is breaking through to the mainstream.
The headlines began in March 2024 when both IFC/Shudder’s Late Night with the Devil and Neon’s Immaculate became unexpected hits. Each broke records in its shared opening weekend and went on to make $10M and $15M domestically in their theatrical runs, respectively.
It wasn’t long before Neon bested itself with a viral marketing campaign that turned its Nicolas Cage-starring summer horror flick Longlegs into a $74M domestic hit, $108M if you count worldwide grosses, after its July debut.
Cut to October, and the unrated and supremely gory Terrifier 3 clowned Joker: Folie à Deux in its second weekend to take the No. 1 box office spot in America.
You may have already seen some of those movies. But if you’re looking for more cinematic scares, here are 10 killer films that may have sneaked past your radar but are worth a scream, ahem, stream, in time for Halloween.
In a Violent Nature
Watch if you like: Terrifier-level practical effects gore to go with your Terrifier-level inventive kills, slasher movies, art-house affair
The premise is simple — what if during a slasher movie, let’s say Friday the 13th, for example, the camera never left Jason Voorhees? Instead of focusing on his victims, the camera watches him trudge along the woods. It’s a bold experiment in form that will certainly alienate some viewers and reward others.
If you’re a fan of the genre, it’s a delight to see horror conventions subverted and remarked upon, and this fresh perspective invigorates a potentially tired subgenre with new life.
It also happens to feature the most repulsive (and impressive, if you’re nasty) horror movie kill of the year; trust me, you’ll know it when you see it.
In a Violent Nature is streaming on Shudder
MadS
Watch if you like: 28 Days Later, zombie movies, French filmmaker Gaspar Noé
MadS has a gimmick at its center — the entire movie unfolds in one single continuous take. That framing, which could easily play like a cheap trick, pays off huge, as the movie is 90 minutes of pure adrenaline and nonstop action.
The less you know, the better. But if you need more, there’s an added wrinkle: The lead character is on drugs as all hell breaks loose. It’s as if Gaspar Noé directed a George Romero movie, and I haven’t been this thrilled by a genre flick in ages. A blast that grabs you from the jump and doesn’t let go.
MadS is streaming on Shudder
It’s What’s Inside
Watch if you like: Bodies Bodies Bodies, Talk to Me or any other high-concept, low-budget genre movie
Want to know the secret to sorting the good Netflix Originals from the bad Netflix Originals? The ones it acquires are generally good.
Enter It’s What’s Inside, a Sundance festival breakout that Netflix paid a whopping $17 million for, and it’s easy to see why once you watch it. When a group of old friends reunite for a wedding, one of them shows up with a mysterious suitcase device, and it turns out that the machine lets you swap bodies with another person.
Imagine that it turned into a party game with a bunch of 20-somethings, swirling with jealousy and possibly contempt for one another, jockeying for the body they want most. It’s twisted, darkly funny and supremely fun to watch unfold.
It’s What’s Inside is streaming on Netflix
Red Rooms
Watch if you like: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, psychological thrillers, true-crime serial killer fare
One of the first great horror movies about the dangers of existing largely on the internet, Red Rooms is an upsetting and very realistic movie for the people who grew up watching messed-up stuff online.
The film follows a young woman’s obsession with a serial killer as she attends his murder trial and follows down a rabbit hole of investigating what he did to his victims. This one’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s got more on its mind than a typical gross-out horror film. It comes with a strong recommendation, if you can handle it.
Red Rooms is available for rent or purchase
Out Come the Wolves
Watch if you like: Adam MacDonald’s Backcountry, survival horror movies
If you haven’t seen Backcountry, stop reading this list and watch that first.
I won’t say what it’s about, but what I will say about Out Come the Wolves, another woods-based thriller directed by MacDonald, is that it’s a riveting survival thriller that has a lot in common with Backcountry but tells a story of its own. It’s not just the impending doom of the titular wolves that wrings tension here but also the character dynamics and their relationships. A total indie gem!
Out Come the Wolves is available for rent or purchase
Caddo Lake
Watch it if you like: Twisty head trips, M. Night Shyamalan
This is a weird but rewarding watch that’s certain to be divisive, but I’m including it because it is so cuckoo-bananas that it required the studio to send press notes to film critics clarifying key details of its reveal. That is wacky ambition I line up behind.
If you’re into head trips or the works of M. Night Shyamalan (who produced Caddo Lake), this movie is for you. It’s about a young girl’s disappearance on a lake and how that intersects with another character who lost something at the lake. If I said any more, you probably wouldn’t even believe me.
Caddo Lake is streaming on Max
Daddy’s Head
Watch if you like: Metaphor-horror (meta-phorror, if you will) movies like The Babadook, movies about grief
The metaphor-as-horror subgenre has been working overtime since The Babadook, and some are better than others at getting across the point that “it’s actually about grief” or whatever is underneath.
Daddy’s Head proves that meta-phorror can still work, provided the fundamentals are in place first and the audience isn’t beaten over the head with an allegory.
The focus on atmosphere and dread here is masterful at times, and the first jump scare is so unexpected, I’m warning you about it and am confident it’ll get you anyway. Watch alone late at night if you want to freak out.
Daddy’s Head is streaming on Shudder
What You Wish For
Watch if you like: The Menu, The Bear but only if you can handle suspense
This is more a tense thriller than a pure horror flick, but the subject matter is certainly dark enough that I recommend it.
Nick Stahl (Terminator 3) stars as a talented chef who flees the country due to gambling debts and winds up staying with a buddy who seems to be living his dream existence. Something twisted happens that leads to Stahl getting a taste of the good life. Without spoiling anything, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
This move is what I thought The Menu would be. It does a great job of ratcheting up tension and putting you in the lead character’s shoes.
What You Wish For is available for rent or purchase
Infested
Watch if you like: Creature features, movies about killer bugs
If you’re afraid of spiders, this movie will ruin your life. It’s a creature-feature (technically, a creatures-feature) about an apartment building that gets infested with scary spiders, and the spiders kill people in gross ways.
It’s clever, well shot and just plain effective — you feel the intensity throughout, and the special effects, both practical and digital, are impressive.
Infested is streaming on Shudder
Oddity
Watch if you like: A good old-fashioned spooky story, folk horror, Tales from the Crypt
The aptly titled Oddity is a strange one, but you’ll be hooked by the chilling opening scene. It’s evocative of a specific type of horror storytelling that has to be seen to be understood, but a good comparison is that it plays like a Tales from the Crypt-style morality play.
It’s an Irish folk horror film with so much going on that it might be hard to follow the first time, but I found it riveting enough to give it another go pretty soon after. It has a palpable sense of dread that most horror flicks would kill for.
Oddity is streaming on Shudder
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