Rolling Stone's Greatest Horror Movies of the 21st Century
Here are the top 35 of Rolling Stone's 50 Greatest Horror Movies of the 21st Century. Which scared your pants off?
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Note: text quotes are from Rolling Stone's original list.
Discuss the list here
Note: text quotes are from Rolling Stone's original list.
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36 titles
- DirectorJohn FawcettStarsEmily PerkinsKatharine IsabelleKris LemcheTwo death-obsessed sisters, outcasts in their suburban neighborhood, must deal with the tragic consequences when one of them is bitten by a deadly werewolf.#35 - Werewolves and womanhood walk arm-in-arm in this Canadian B-movie classic.
- DirectorJemaine ClementTaika WaititiStarsJemaine ClementTaika WaititiCori Gonzalez-MacuerViago, Deacon, and Vladislav are vampires who are struggling with the mundane aspects of modern life, like paying rent, keeping up with the chore wheel, trying to get into nightclubs, and overcoming flatmate conflicts.#34 - The Real World (1992)-style friction between several undead housemates, including an 8,000-year-old Nosferatu-like bloodsucker, is sharply satirical and yet strangely poignant; you end up feeling for these creatures of the night, even when they have to rip some poor soul's throat out to survive.
- DirectorAna Lily AmirpourStarsSheila VandArash MarandiMarshall ManeshIn the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.#33 - Consider this the punk-rock, girl-power Twilight (2008) you didn't know you needed.
- DirectorHélène CattetBruno ForzaniStarsCassandra ForêtCharlotte Eugène GuibeaudMarie BosAs a young girl Ana was a rebellious child. She was also tormented by images of death and a shadowy, ominous figure in black. Now an adult, she is once again tormented by shadowy, other-worldly forms.#32 - It's stylish, terrifying and ironic to the extreme, a kaleidoscope of color and a sensory overload.
- DirectorMatt ReevesStarsMike VogelJessica LucasLizzy CaplanA group of friends venture deep into the streets of New York on a rescue mission during a rampaging monster attack.#31 - The panic-inducing you-are-there approach to an attack on Manhattan by a berserk, bizarre alien monstrosity is found the dark and desperate heart of a genre too frequently limited to kaiju camp.
- DirectorAdam WingardStarsSharni VinsonJoe SwanbergAJ BowenWhen the Davison family comes under attack during their wedding anniversary getaway, the gang of mysterious killers soon learns that one of the victims harbors a secret talent for fighting back.#30 - There’s more gore here than you can shake a severed head at, but the script's dark humor and clever plot twists elevate it far above your typical retro-splatter fare.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsWillem DafoeCharlotte GainsbourgStorm Acheche SahlstrømA grieving couple retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage, but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.#29 - Opening with a child falling out an open window and ending with a horde of faceless women marching ominously through barren woods, Lars von Trier's psychological horror film exudes plenty of slithering unease.
- DirectorPascal LaugierStarsMorjana AlaouiMylène JampanoïCatherine BéginA young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.#28 - Pascal Laugier's cinematic endurance test is something to be watched on a dare, even for those jaded horror fans who think they've seen it all.
- DirectorBryan BertinoStarsScott SpeedmanLiv TylerGemma WardA young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.#27 - Doling out suspense in agonizing drips and drabs, director Bryan Bertino takes his sweet time to get to the mayhem, teasing out the conflict between the victims and the looming threat of their mysterious attackers.
- DirectorTakashi ShimizuStarsMegumi OkinaMisaki ItôMisa UeharaA mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides.#26 - [N]ever underestimate the power of someone unexpectedly finding a hand on the back of their scalp.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsVincent GalloTricia VesseyBéatrice DalleTwo American newlyweds in Paris experience a love so strong, it almost devours them.#25 - This is where the Venn diagram of high art and extreme horror meet in the middle, and you will not find a better gut-punch allegory about love as a consuming passion.
- DirectorJee-woon KimStarsLee Byung-hunChoi Min-sikJeon Gook-hwanA secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.#24 - The film poses the question "How do good people destroy evil without becoming rotten themselves?"
- DirectorSam RaimiStarsAlison LohmanJustin LongRuth LivierA loan officer who evicts an old woman from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.#23 - [J]ust about the time Alison Lohman tells an elderly corpse to "choke on it, bitch!" you realize we'd already got all the new The Evil Dead (1981) movie we needed.
- DirectorAlexandre BustilloJulien MauryStarsAlysson ParadisJean-Baptiste TabourinClaude LuléFour months after the death of her husband, a woman on the brink of motherhood is tormented in her home by a strange woman who wants her unborn baby.#22 - It's a gory Gallic violence party of household weapons including knitting needles, a lamp, Lysol, sewing shears and – bonus points – the very creative use of a toaster.
- DirectorBen WheatleyStarsNeil MaskellMyAnna BuringHarry SimpsonNearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.#21 - [T]he fact that Ben Wheatley's jaw-dropping second movie ends as a spiral into hell attests to the gent's ability to meld genres while dropping the rug out from you.
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsSong Kang-hoByun Hee-BongPark Hae-ilA monster emerges from Seoul's Han River and begins attacking people. One victim's loving family does what it can to rescue her from its clutches.#20 - It's a funnier, smarter sort of Godzilla (1954)-style B-movie.
- DirectorGuillermo del ToroStarsMia WasikowskaJessica ChastainTom HiddlestonIn the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds - and remembers.#19 - The movie's high style and use of color hearkens back to old-school Mario Bava movies and Hammer flicks.
- DirectorAlejandro AmenábarStarsNicole KidmanChristopher EcclestonFionnula FlanaganIn 1945, immediately following the end of Second World War, a woman who lives with her two photosensitive children on her darkened old family estate in the Channel Islands becomes convinced that the home is haunted.#18 - The scares here are low-key but immensely effective, thanks to the film's dreamlike pacing and creepy atmosphere.
- DirectorPeter StricklandStarsToby JonesAntonio MancinoGuido AdorniA sound engineer's work for an Italian horror studio becomes a terrifying case of life imitating art.#17 - It's a clever exercise in audience manipulation, making us uncomfortable by showing the fakery that going into producing a good scare – and the delivering the goods.
- DirectorAlexandre AjaStarsCécile de FranceMaïwennPhilippe NahonBest friends Marie and Alexia decide to spend a quiet weekend at Alexia's parents' secluded farmhouse. But on the night of their arrival, the girls' idyllic getaway turns into an endless night of horror.#16 - [T]his movie ranks high by living up to its title and presenting enough intense suspense to make it so you can't look away.
- DirectorJ.A. BayonaStarsBelén RuedaFernando CayoRoger PríncepA woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.#15 - J.A. Bayona’s 2007 film asks the question, "what could be more terrifying than the unexplained disappearance of your child?"
- DirectorJee-woon KimStarsLim Soo-jungYum Jung-ahKim Kap-suAfter being institutionalized in a mental hospital, Su-mi reunites with her sister, Su-yeon, and they return to live at their country home. But strange events plague the house, leading to surprising revelations and a shocking conclusion.#14 - By the time the movie reveals all its secrets, a dysfunctional family has morphed into its own kind of monster.
- DirectorDavid Robert MitchellStarsMaika MonroeKeir GilchristOlivia LuccardiA young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.#13 - Never has losing your V-card ever had a higher cost.
- DirectorTi WestStarsJocelin DonahueTom NoonanMary WoronovIn 1983, financially struggling college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger.#12 - The House of the Devil (2009) plays up the spooky atmosphere and retro style – right down to a scene involving a cranked-up Walkman, a song by The Fixx, and our sick fear that everything's about to go very wrong.
- DirectorGuillermo del ToroStarsMarisa ParedesEduardo NoriegaFederico LuppiAfter Carlos - a 12-year-old whose father has died in the Spanish Civil War - arrives at an ominous boys' orphanage, he discovers the school is haunted and has many dark secrets which he must uncover.#11 - Guillermo del Toro's third feature was the one where all the pieces fell into place, and watching him grab hold of his true voice remains a thrill.
- DirectorJonathan GlazerStarsScarlett JohanssonJeremy McWilliamsLynsey Taylor MackayA mysterious young woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. However, events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.#10 - It's like taking a warm bath in pure nightmare fuel.
- DirectorNeil MarshallStarsShauna MacdonaldNatalie MendozaAlex ReidA caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.#9 - [T]he film's greatness lies in its use of its main character's raw, red grief as emotional kindling for the catastrophe that follows.
- DirectorEdgar WrightStarsSimon PeggNick FrostKate AshfieldThe uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.#8 - Shaun of the Dead (2004) brilliantly merges horror and comedy in a way that makes the scares exponentially more cutting.
- DirectorRobert EggersStarsAnya Taylor-JoyRalph InesonKate DickieA family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.#7 - Black Phillip, the family’s goat, will put you off petting zoos for the rest of your life.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsHaruhiko KatôKumiko AsôKoyukiTwo groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.#6 - It's sad, beautiful and haunting – the rare horror movie that leaves a dark stain on your soul.
- DirectorDrew GoddardStarsKristen ConnollyChris HemsworthAnna HutchisonFive college friends head out to a remote cabin for a getaway, but things don't go as planned when they start getting killed. They soon discover that there is more to the cabin than it seems.#5 - Its real feat is being a rare movie that manages to be scary and funny without becoming schlocky or corny in the process.
- DirectorJames WanStarsPatrick WilsonVera FarmigaRon LivingstonParanormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.#4 - The Conjuring (2013) isn’t merely a spot-on period re-creation — it's a fiendishly effective throwback to Seventies-style studio horror, back when methodical pacing and an icy tone trumped cheap gore.
- DirectorJennifer KentStarsEssie DavisNoah WisemanDaniel HenshallA single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book titled "Mister Babadook" manifests in their home.#3 - It becomes truly terrifying when the subject shifts to how quickly parental love can turn to hate.
- DirectorTomas AlfredsonStarsKåre HedebrantLina LeanderssonPer RagnarOskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.#2 - Filled with enough Swedish angst to make Ingmar Bergman proud and enough genuine scares to appeal to jaded horror fanatics, Let the Right One In (2008) moves quietly and deliberately.
- DirectorDanny BoyleStarsCillian MurphyNaomie HarrisChristopher EcclestonFour weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.#1 - In the wake of 9/11's jolting tragedy, this prescient horror film also spoke to unconscious anxieties about a world in which simmering tensions and seething paranoia felt like a terrible new normal.
- DirectorPaul HaggisStarsDon CheadleSandra BullockThandiwe NewtonLos Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption.