The Best Horror Movies to Watch Now

The Best Horror Movies to Watch Now

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The horror genre can be notoriously divisive, with cult favorites derided by critics and critical darlings called out as pretentious by the genre’s fans. At agoodmovietowatch, our job is to bridge that gap—recommending you a healthy dose of scary movies that offer more than your standard blood and gore and jump scares, but that still scratch your itch to see something creepy and messed up. Here we’ve prepared a list of horror films we still think are underseen by most people, but whose quality we’d cross our hearts and hope to die for.

40. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

7.0

Country

South Korea, United States of America

Director

Kim Jee-woon

Actors

Kim Gap-soo, Kim Kap-soo, Lee Dae-yeon, Lim Soo-jung

Moods

Dark, Gripping, Mind-blowing

If this South Korean cult favorite relies a little too much on jump scares and twisty plot developments, its relatively emotionally distant story is nevertheless given a welcome boost in character thanks to an impressive overall look and feel. Shadowy and foreboding from beginning to end, A Tale of Two Sisters seems to be designed for group viewings where friends can spook each other out without losing track of the film’s momentum. But it’s far from shallow: patient horror fans should enjoy unpacking the movie’s densely layered character dynamics, which become all the more disturbing and sorrowful after learning all of the film’s secrets.

39. The Platform (2019)

7.0

Country

Spain

Director

Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia

Actors

Alexandra Masangkay, Algis Arlauskas, Antonia San Juan, Chema Trujillo

Moods

Challenging, Intense, Thrilling

The Platform is the closest thing to Parasite released so far. This interesting Spanish movie is about 90% a science-fiction drama and 10% a horror movie. It’s an allegory set in a future where prisoners live in vertical cells, and each cell has to wait for the cell above it to eat to get food. Depending on the floor where prisoners wake up, they might not get any food at all. This creates for disturbing situations that are hard to see as not representative of our modern societies.

38. Possessor (2020)

7.0

Country

Australia, Canada, Canada United Kingdom

Director

Brandon Cronenberg

Actors

Andrea Riseborough, Ayesha Mansur Gonsalves, Christopher Abbott, Christopher Jacot

Possessor announces a visionary new voice in Brandon Cronenberg, and is one to watch for the concept alone, brilliantly melding science fiction and horror into one. Cronenberg’s direction is reminiscent of a cross between Christopher Nolan’s Inception and Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin, but has more than enough originality to stand well on its own. However, unfortunately, it is surprisingly slow at times, and is far from the mind-blowing gore fest that was promised, resulting in a well made but underwhelming experience. BUT, if you were in the mood for a trippy introspective sci-fi thriller and are able to keep your expectations tempered, this is well worth a watch

37. Climax (2018)

7.1

Country

Belgium, France, United States of America

Director

Gaspar Noé

Actors

Adrien Sissoko, Alaia Alsafir, Alexandre Moreau, Alou Sidibé

Moods

Challenging, Original, Weird

This twisted movie is actually two movies, the credits even roll in between. The first half is gorgeous: talented dancers get together for a party and perform beautiful contemporary dance sequences. They introduce themselves through their audition tapes to join the dance group, but also through conversations at the party. The second half is less fun. It turns out someone had laced the sangria they’ve been drinking with a psychedelic drug. Not for the faint of heart or anyone who didn’t like director Gaspar Noé’s past movies (Enter the Void, I Stand Alone, etc).

36. Timecrimes (2007)

7.1

Country

Spain

Director

J.T. Petty, Nacho Vigalondo

Actors

Bárbara Goenaga, Candela Fernández, Juan Inciarte, Karra Elejalde

Moods

Thought-provoking, Thrilling

A man accidentally gets into a time travel machine and travels one hour back in time. He finds himself stuck in a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences, with unusual and thrilling moments at every corner. Similarly to Primer, this movie goes to prove that with intelligence and attention to detail, you don’t need a big budget to create an unforgettable story. Great acting, great story-line, and a great thriller.

35. Re-Animator (1985)

7.2

Country

United States of America

Director

Stuart Gordon

Actors

Al Berry, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Abbott, Bunny Summers

Moods

Dark, Intense, No-brainer

Taking the Frankenstein story to its low-budget ’80s extremes, Re-Animator finds lots of dry humor and gory thrills in the simple story of a mad scientist in medical school. But instead of any Frankenstein’s monster terrorizing the university, it’s the hubris of man and their arrogance in denying the inevitability of death that constantly threatens every other innocent person in the film. The scare to minute ratio here is refreshingly low, meaning Re-Animator isn’t driven by a need to manipulate audiences, but by the primal thrills of fake guts and blood—and a sharp, snarky performance from Jeffrey Combs.

34. Thelma (2017)

7.2

Country

Denmark, France, Norway

Director

Joachim Trier

Actors

Anders Mossling, Camilla Belsvik, Eili Harboe, Ellen Dorrit Petersen

Moods

Gripping, Intense, Suspenseful

Much like the 1976 horror classic Carrie, Thelma centers on a young telekinetic woman whose religious upbringing and sexual repression give way to unpredictable moments of fury and rage. When she meets the cool, charismatic Anja, she falls in love immediately, but the wave of emotions that overwhelm her threaten to destabilize not just their budding romance, but other relationships and lives as well. 

Thelma recalls Carrie in other ways too, most notably in the way it uses supernatural elements to allude to female fury and lust, but it also stands on its own as a singular piece of work; the mesmerizing transitions, the slow-burn pace, and the undercurrent of melancholia are all known trademarks of director Joachim Trier. This layering of old and new makes Thelma an intriguing watch, at once recognizable and wholly original. 

 

33. I Saw the Devil (2010)

7.2

Country

Korea, South Korea

Director

Jee-Woon Kim, Kim Jee-woon

Actors

Byung-hun Lee, Cheon Ho-jin, Choi Jin-ho, Choi Min-sik

Moods

Thrilling

I Saw the Devil is a South Korean psychological thriller/horror film. IT IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!!! It has a lot of blood and gore that could make even the strongest stomachs turn. A young woman is kidnapped from her car while waiting for a tow truck and the kidnapper murders her far from her car and scatters her body parts around. Her fiancé, a secret service agent of the National Intelligence Service, sets out to track down her murders and extract his revenge. If you’re looking for a thrill ride, look no further- but don’t say we didn’t warn you.

32. Pee Mak (2013)

7.3

Country

Thailand

Director

Banjong Pisanthanakun

Actors

Davika Hoorne, Jongruay Somjinna, Kantapat Permpoonpatcharasuk, Mai Davika Hoorne

Pee Mak is a hilarious and heartwarming comedy that blends horror, romance, and slapstick humor with Thai folklore. The story follows a group of friends who return from war to a remote village, only to realize the village folks now fear Mak’s beautiful wife, believing she is now a ghost. The film’s clever and witty dialogue and its eerie and suspenseful moments create a unique and memorable experience. Even with all of its cliche horror-comedy tropes, it’ll be hard not to enjoy all the heartfelt ridiculousness pulled off so well.

31. The Devil’s Backbone (2001)

7.3

Country

France, Mexico, Spain

Director

Guillermo del Toro

Actors

Adrian Lamana, Berta Ojea, Eduardo Noriega, Federico Luppi

Moods

Intense

Pan’s Labyrinth is often considered director Guillermo Del Toro’s best film, and rightfully so. But if you’re looking for a straight-up ghost story, this is the film that gets the job done. Everything about this film is sad and beautiful and unnerving, from the setting (an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War) to the atmospheric visuals.

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

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