'Longlegs' CREDIT: Neon

These are the best horror movies of 2024, according to critics

2024 has been a big year for horror movies, but as the year starts to draw to a close, what have been the most critically praised releases? Read on for the full top 20.

by · NME

The review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes has pulled together the critical consensus on every horror movie released since January 1, and the film topping the poll is Late Night With The Devil, Colin and Cameron Cairnes’ found footage supernatural horror set on a late night chat show on Halloween 1977.

The film stars David Dastmalchian (Prisoners, Blade Runner 2049) as Jack Delroy, the host of the show in question, as he attempts to boost ratings by inviting an allegedly possessed girl onto the show.

The film made headlines on its opening weekend in March when it drew exactly $666,666 on its first Sunday of release, contributing to an overall weekend haul of $2.8million (£2.2million). It tops Rotten Tomatoes’ list with a very strong 97 per cent critics score, and is available to stream on Shudder or to rent or buy.

The Irish film Oddity makes it into second place with 96 per cent. Damian McCarthy’s film follows a blind medium and shopkeeper who is grieving the death of her twin sister, and who believes a wooden mannequin holds the key to solving the mystery of her murder. Oddity is also streaming on Shudder.

Sitting in third place is Infested, a French film starring Theo Christine as someone who takes home a deadly spider that reproduces rapidly and causes an infestation in the neighbourhood. Once again, the film is available to watch on Shudder.

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Other major releases from 2024 to make the list include Coralie Fargeat’s body horror The Substance, in which Demi Moore plays an aging Hollywood star who is tempted by a mysterious substance that promises to provide her with youthful looks.

The film has a 91 per cent rating and lands at number seven on the list. A five-star review from NME stated: “Fargeat really cranks up the freakiness in the final act. With help from some memorably grotesque prosthetics, she offers a hellish vision of what women will do to themselves in pursuit of men’s idea of perfection. Filled with visual nods to iconic movies including Carrie and Showgirls, The Substance is that rare thing: a future cult classic that also packs a real punch now. It’s horrifying in the moment and gnawingly haunting when you process it fully: a sickening satire of society’s obsession with youth and beauty.”

Another of the year’s most talked-about horror films, Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, is at number 15 on the list with an 86 per cent score. In the film, Nicolas Cage plays a satanic serial killer who is thought to be connected to a number of unsolved murders and is being pursued by Maika Monroe’s FBI agent Lee Harker.

Producers of the film were very careful not to release images of Cage’s look in the film ahead of its release – and that applied to his co-stars too. It has been reported that the first time Monroe laid eyes on him in full character, her heart rate leapt to an alarming 170bpm.

In a four-star review of the film, NME wrote: “At its heart, Monroe is superb as Harker, offering up a buttoned-down performance that never breaks. Hopefully, Longlegs doesn’t get her pigeonholed as a Scream Queen; she deserves more.”

“As for Cage, also a producer here, it’s just another worthy addition to his canon of crazies. Despite limited screentime, it might just be his most bonkers role yet. “Is it scary being a lady FBI agent?” asks one little girl of Harker. Well, when you’re confronted with Cage’s Longlegs, it most certainly is.”

Other box office hits on the list include the sequels A Quiet Place: Day One and Smile 2 at numbers 12 and 14 respectively.

Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the top 20 horror films of 2024 is: 

  1. Late Night With The Devil
  2. Oddity
  3. Infested
  4. In Flames
  5. Strange Darling
  6. New Life
  7. Mads
  8. The Substance
  9. Stopmotion
  10. The Devil’s Bath
  11. V/H/S/Beyond
  12. A Quiet Place: Day One
  13. Out Of Darkness
  14. Smile 2
  15. Longlegs
  16. I Saw The TV Glow
  17. Speak No Evil
  18. Abigail
  19. The First Omen
  20. You’ll Never Find Me