Twenty personal favorites and 18 movies too good to leave unmentioned.

This isn’t a film critic’s ranking, and it doesn’t pretend to name the most important horror movies of the last 15 years. It’s simply a list of my personal favorites: the movies that scared me, surprised me, entertained me, or lodged themselves in my brain and never left. Your list will almost certainly look different. But these are the 20 I’d choose, plus 18 wildly specific honorable mentions, because apparently my idea of “narrowing it down” is picking 38 movies.

The Main List

1. Obsession (2026) – A lonely man uses a magical wish to make his longtime crush fall in love with him, but her devotion quickly becomes terrifyingly absolute.
2. Weapons (2025) – A small town begins to unravel after nearly every child in the same classroom mysteriously disappears on the same night.
3. Sinners (2025) – Twin brothers return to 1930s Mississippi to open a blues club, only to attract a supernatural evil waiting outside its doors.
4. The Substance (2024) – An aging celebrity tries an illicit treatment that creates a younger, seemingly perfect version of herself, with horrifying consequences.
5. Oddity (2024) – A blind medium uses cursed objects and supernatural gifts to uncover the truth about her twin sister’s brutal murder.
6. Nosferatu (2024) – A young woman becomes the object of a vampire’s consuming obsession as an ancient evil descends upon her town.
7. Longlegs (2024) – An FBI agent investigating a series of inexplicable family murders uncovers an occult connection to a mysterious killer known as Longlegs.
8. Heretic (2024) – Two young missionaries enter the home of a charming theologian who subjects them to a terrifying test of faith.
9. Barbarian (2022) – A woman arrives at her Detroit rental to find it already occupied, but the stranger inside is not the house’s most frightening secret.
10. The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020) – A small-town police officer investigates a series of savage killings that locals believe may be the work of a werewolf.
11. The Invisible Man (2020) – A woman who escapes an abusive relationship becomes convinced that her supposedly dead ex has found an invisible way to continue tormenting her.
12. Halloween (2018) – Forty years after surviving Michael Myers, Laurie Strode prepares for the inevitable night when he comes after her again.
13. Get Out (2017) – A young Black man’s first visit to his white girlfriend’s family home reveals something far more sinister than awkward racial tension.
14. Don’t Breathe (2016) – Three young burglars break into a blind man’s house and discover that their intended victim is far more dangerous than expected.
15. Train to Busan (2016) – Passengers aboard a speeding train fight for survival as a zombie outbreak rapidly consumes South Korea.
16. The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) – A father-and-son coroner team uncovers increasingly disturbing secrets while examining the body of an unidentified young woman.
17. It Follows (2014) – After a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, a young woman is pursued by a relentless supernatural entity that can assume anyone’s appearance.
18. World War Z (2013) – A former United Nations investigator races around the world searching for a way to stop a rapidly spreading zombie pandemic.
19. The Pact (2012) – After returning to her childhood home following her mother’s death, a woman uncovers a terrifying presence and long-buried family secret.
20. The Cabin in the Woods (2012) – Five college friends visit a remote cabin, unaware that their terrifying weekend is being carefully orchestrated from behind the scenes.

Honorable Mentions

The Modern Horror Classic Everyone Else Loved More Than I Did (Sorry): Hereditary (2018) 

Best Brand-New Horror: Hokum (2026)

Best Slasher: Scream 7 (2026)

Best AI Camp Horror: Companion (2025)

Best Modern Monster Movie: Wolf Man (2025)

Best Vampire Comedy: Abigail (2024)

Best Gothic Mystery: A Haunting in Venice (2023)

Best Horror Performance: Mia Goth in Pearl (2022)

Best Gen Z Horror: Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Best Horror Satire: The Menu (2022)

Best Horror Reboot: Candyman (2021)

Best Horror Comedy: Freaky (2020)

Best Psychological Horror: Us (2019)

Best Sci-Fi Horror: A Quiet Place (2018)

Best Holiday Horror: Better Watch Out (2017)

Best Birthday Horror: Happy Death Day (2017)

Best Home-Invasion Horror: Hush (2016)

Best Found-Footage Horror: The Visit (2015)