It was a great year for original horror films, although we also had a few successful sequels. From the body horror of The Substance to the found-tape footage within Late Night With the Devil, there were plenty of new stories to experience. There was also a spectrum of genres, from psychological horror to classic slashers, all doing new and exciting things.

Here are my picks for the Top 10 Horrors Films released in 2024.

10.) Late Night With the Devil

This year’s Australian horror film offering that made it big, Late Night With the Devil, is a unique idea in which the film follows the host of a late-night show in the late 70s as they choose to host an exorcism live on air. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t go well, but it makes for a great thrill ride for all of us.

9.) Alien: Romulus

Whenever a new Alien (or Predator) film releases, we all collectively grit together for fear of it being terrible. Fans of the big monster horror franchises of the 80s have been stung a few too many times. Fortunately, in the hands of Don’t Breathe director Fede Alvarez, Romulus delivers both in parts of safe Alien-thrills before dropping in some bombs in the final act and going wild.

8.) Terrifier 3

The Terrifier franchises continue with a third entry; this time, it’s a Christmas slasher. As Sienna (Lauren LaVera) deals with the traumatic events of the previous film, Art The Clown (David Howard Thornton) takes some time to relax but decides the holiday season would be a great time to kill, kill and kill across Miles County, all before attempting to get back at the one girl who managed to escape him. It’s high gore, high thrills, and some comedy for measure, too. Everything fans of these films have now come to expect.

7.) The Devil’s Bath

The latest film from co-directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, the team behind Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge, is The Devil Bath, a slow-burn into the desolation of 18th century Austria, but also that of women seeping into sorrow and depression. It’s one the bleakest films of the year and does what the directors have proven to be great at previously as they draw you into this world and make you feel as terrible as the characters on screen. You’ll want to hug someone when it’s over.

6.) Immaculate

Sydney Sweeney plays Sister Cecilia, an American who arrives in Italy to take up her place in a remote covenant. Of course, things aren’t as they seem, with a dark secret hidden deep within the house of gods’ walls. An excellent performance from Sweeney leads this film from Michael Mohan, the two joining again after 2021’s The Voyeurs.

5.) Smile 2

Smile 2 makes the grand decision of now sitting in what made the first film a success, and instead ups the ante and follows the natural and also the highly insane direction that the idea of this parasite would go. This time, the disease/thing infects a pop star, which makes for some shocking scenes, and also getting to watch the fantastic Naomi Scott deliver one of the year’s best performances as she loses her grasp on reality the further the film goes on.

4.) Red Rooms

Red Rooms is a French/Canadian film that follows a unique POV of a gruesome serial killer trial. Instead of the victims, the police, or the killer themself, the film focuses on Kelly-Anne (Juliette Garispy), a model who is obsessed with the case and the trial itself. However, there’s little horror seen in the film; the descriptions and how director Pascal Plante builds the tension and mood rival any other movie on this list that shows you any violence on screen.

3.) I Saw The TV Glow

Jane Schoenbrun’s coming-of-age psychological horror film works to be used on how personal it is, and how she crafts a thriller from a queer experience is superb. The film is more than just about the queer experience of discovering yourself. However, it’s also a nightmarish escape into growing up in the 90s. For anyone who has ever felt lost or questioned their own self, this will be the film that hits you hard from last year.

2.) Longlegs

Neon did such a fantastic job of marketing Osgood Perkins’s third film, Longlegs. Nicholas Cage’s ‘Longlegs‘ serial killer became one of the most talked about performances of the year, also one of the most shrouded in mystery, sending viewers to the cinema to find out more themselves. The film’s many mysteries weren’t just in the marketing; however, Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) attempts to unravel the secrets and signs of the killer. Easily one of the best serial killer films since The Silence of the Lambs while offering some unique to the genre.

1.) The Substance

Coralie Fargeat has achieved something that hasn’t happened ever, if at all. Her body horror film, The Substance even made it into award circles consideration for many things, but prominently the performance of Demi Moore as lead, Elizabeth. But like all the greats in this genre, the horror here is used as a tool to tell a fantastic story, and this one, a focus on how women are treated as they age, especially in Hollywood, is still highly relevant today. Not only does The Substance contain some of the year’s best acting, production design and more, but it also delivers blood and body horror that’ll make even more season fans of the genre wince.

Check out the rest of our Best of 2024 coverage over here now!