Humanity is going to hell in a handbasket. At least, that seems to be the rearview consensus on 2022: a year that saw some things get better, a lot of things get worse, and the consequential uncertainty further taking over politics and pop culture.
Anyone reading this list knows horror movies mean some kind of catharsis. But as worldwide trends get more dreadful year over year, the thematic link between “our trying times” and the satisfaction we get from nightmares playing out onscreen has become stronger and more apparent. Now, perhaps more than ever before, scary movie fans can acutely consider why some new terrors captivate and excite, while others don’t or can’t.
Take last year’s inexplicable cannibalism trend: “Bones and All,” “Fresh,” “Resurrection,” all great movies that make our list. But why did consuming flesh consume our interest? And why did that subject matter so often intersect with sex? Sure, there’s no cannibalism in David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future,” but the film’s “sex is the new surgery” slogan certainly evokes similar feelings.
Or consider the “requel,” as coined by “Scream” (2022). Franchising has long been the bread and butter of the horror genre. It’s even a no-brainer for arthouse A24, which saw Ti West and Mia Goth deliver a double-header with “X” and “Pearl” just six months apart. But major spiritual revisitations — such as “Halloween Ends,” “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2022), and the aforementioned return to Woodsboro — play differently in a time when so much feels so cyclical, right? Heck, even Art the Clown is back thanks to Damien Leone and surprise box office smash “Terrifier 2.”
It’s these sort of nooks and crannies that make horror one of the most exciting genres to track and talk about all year long. It’s less of a rare treat now than it once was to imagine genre artists earning Oscar nominations, and we’re increasingly seeing bold new voices eager to spin scary stories. First-time feature directors Zach Cregger, Goran Stolevski, Chloe Okuno, Mimi Cave, and more competed for audience attention in a year that also enjoyed new releases from Jordan Peele, Luca Guadagnino, Alex Garland, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and more horror heavyweights.
Suffice it to say, business is good for things that go bump in the night. And that means we get to be picky. With a focus on innovation and variety, here are the 22 best horror movies of 2022. Honorable mentions, in no particular order, include Scott Derrickson’s “The Black Phone,” Hanna Bergholm’s “Hatching,” and David Prior’s “The Autopsy” from “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.”
22. “The Menu” (dir. Mark Mylod)
What Mark Mylod’s “The Menu” lacks in character development and philosophical clarity it makes up for with cutting humor and scrumptious spectacle. Anya Taylor-Joy plays final (course?) girl Margot: Nicholas Hoult’s unsuspecting plus-one at a high-end culinary experience that quickly turns lethal. You’ll want to know more about Ralph Fiennes’ glowering chef and the motives behind his far-from-fine dining presentation, but they won’t come. Instead, this luxurious, if slightly underbaked meal of a movie unfolds with a tempting messiness best likened to a juicy cheeseburger — for a reason you’ll find out later.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “The Menu.”
21. “Terrifier 2” (dir. Damien Leone)
Damien Leone’s wickedly mischievous “Terrifier 2” snags the title of the year’s hardest-to-sit-through horror. That’s a half-jab at its vaguely testing runtime, but more pointedly a celebration of the film’s incredible gore. Made for just $250,000, this splatterific sequel takes its chunk of flesh a dozen times over, dragging its helpless audience through the kicking and screaming of some of the year’s most spectacularly screwed-over victims. With blood and viscera flying like circus confetti, actor David Howard Thornton once again brings magnificent meanness to his Art the Clown for a new outing that makes the last movie (featuring a woman…sawn in half…vertically) seem quaint.
Read IndieWire’s interview with Damien Leone.
20. “Amok” (dir. Balázs Turai)
The only short to make our list, Balázs Turai’s “Amok” delivers delicious terror like a tab of acid. Plunged into vivid color and a fast-changing narrative just luminescent, audiences who can snag an opportunity to see the award-winning animated short will witness a tragic love story-turned-kaleidoscopic tale of codependency. Plus, there’s a blood-drinking Santa: at once gripping and giggle-worthy. “Amok” qualified for the Oscars two times over, winning the Cristal for a Short Film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and clinching Best Short at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
Read about IndieWire’s Short Film LA3C Showcase.
19. “Watcher” (dir. Chloe Okuno)
Writer/director Chloe Okuno makes her feature debut with “Watcher”: an excruciating psychological horror-thriller — not to be confused with Ryan Murphy’s “The Watcher” — set in Bucharest. As a killer of women prowls Romania’s streets, an American actress (Maika Monroe) struggles to convince her husband (Karl Glusman) of a neighbor spying into their apartment.
A master of both subtle and sharp expressions of fear, first known for 2014’s “It Follows,” Monroe deftly navigates the part of prey once more. But where David Robert Mitchell’s supernatural flick found certainty, even in an unexplainable entity, Okuno’s slow-burn/”Rear Window” homage tortures, consistently undermining the credibility of its lead while laying a trail of subtle clues she may be right. Does she want to be? The answer is an effective (if cliched) knife-twist as satisfying as the wait is long.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Watcher.”
18. “Halloween Ends” (dir. David Gordon Green)
The finale to David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy was unlike anything franchise fans expected. Sure, it played with the same themes of cyclical trauma and grief conjured in Jamie Lee Curtis’ triumphant Laurie Strode reprisal from 2018. But the supernatural middle finger that was “Halloween Kills” set audiences up to expect another beat-you-over-the-head bloodbath with Michael Meyers. not an oddly romantic spin on the killer babysitter trope centering the increasingly dazzling Andi Matichak opposite franchise newcomer Rohan Campbell. With the legend of Laurie looming large over Haddonfield, this divisive conclusion dared to ask: What’s worse than Michael Meyers?
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Halloween Ends.”
17. “Men” (dir. Alex Garland)
Alex Garland bit off more than he could chew with a title like “Men,” implying (perhaps unwittingly) a definitive stance on gender relations his movie never begins to attempt. Still, that pesky moniker aside, this heavily coded allegory — starring Jessie Buckley as a widow seeking respite in a rural English town — drives at an intriguing intersection of grief and abuse, with a toxi-mmasculinity kicker that helps it stand out from other films in the space. Buckley and Paapa Essiedu breathe fire into scenes explaining the late husband’s shocking demise, while Rory Kinnear (doubling many times over as the boys and men of the town) sparks a series of implied and direct assaults that draw the couple’s conflict into a broader consideration of dependence and destruction.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Men.”
16. “Scream” (dir. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett)
Neve Campbell’s exit from Paramount’s famed slasher franchise could spell trouble for the upcoming “Scream 6,” hitting theaters on March 10, 2023. But at least for now, fans can bask in the warm glow of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s “Scream 5,” an energizing reinvigoration of Wes Craven’s scary movie spoof that combined the nostalgic draw of a project like “Halloween” (2018) with the cheeky self-awareness Ghostface(s) do better than anyone else. Taking bold narrative swings and lambasting so-called “elevated horror” on the way down, the co-directors’ first entry into the “Scream” legacy surprised, delighted, and gave us one of the most shocking deaths of the year. Plus, Jenna Ortega’s take on Drew Barrymore’s iconic 1996 opening scene — an instantly captivating entry point for fans of any familiarit level — is too good to miss.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Scream” (2022).
15. “Mad God” (dir. Phil Tippett)
Most horror movies leave audiences with only a handful of genuinely upsetting moments, ratcheting up the tension to snap off two or three big scares before hastily tying up a story that may or may not have anything to do with those scares. “Mad God” defies that expectation with unbridled ambition, and, yes, a bit of a god complex as viewers are assaulted with a frantic journey through a realm caught somewhere between Hell and the underside of your car’s driver’s seat. Esteemed creature and visual effects artist Phil Tippett began work on this stop-motion descent into madness 30 years ago, and it grinds you down with a disturbing consistency that’s equally awe-inspiring, terrifying beat after beat bleeding into one another for a loose narrative experience that’s all but impossible to look away from. If any film with this much pulverized flesh can be said to be “made with love,” it’s “Mad God.”
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Mad God.”
14. “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities: The Viewing” (dir. Panos Cosmatos)
“Most of ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ is following characters who have fatally bad ideas. One of the reasons that ‘The Viewing’ works so well is that, for a decent chunk of its runtime, the characters invited to a private exhibition at the home of an eccentric gazillionaire believe they’re going to make it out of the experience with a rad story and nothing else to really worry about. Cosmatos and Stewart-Ahn whip up a central group of artists and scientists, gathered to take in a once-in-a-lifetime evening of ultra-rare booze, co*ke, and other…indulgences. Before things descend into chaos — when a room in a Cosmatos joint gets drenched in blood-red light, it’s only a matter of time — ‘The Viewing’ is extremely careful about where and when to start dialing up the uneasiness. It’s not just the gory consequences or the way Peter Weller delivers the phrase ‘sh*t your mind’ or what emerges from the Obelisk Room (or the greatest Michael McDonald smash cut in history). As with all great horror story transformations, it’s the sense that the world as it exists in this shiny, alternate version of September 1979 will never, ever be the same.” —Steve Greene
Read IndieWire’s complete ranking of “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.”
13. “Nanny” (dir. Nikyatu Jusu)
The watery misery of Nikyatu Jusu’s soul-stirring feature debut comes in literal waves. A trickle of water felt in a dream soon spills into sinking tragedy as Senegalese immigrant Aisha (Anna Diop, purposeful and ferocious) gets sucked down an understated spiral of suspense, dread, and dark magic in New York City. “Nanny” quickly lets us know something is wrong in Aisha’s new world, where she babysits for a toxic family helmed by the manipulative Amy (a razor-sharp Michelle Monaghan) and her lecherous husband Adam (Morgan Spector).
But the subsequent steady creep proves the ideal pace for Jusu to build up to her final-act heartbreaker. Aisha’s romance with the handsome Mailk (Sinqua Walls) and her longing for her son Lamine (Jahleel Kamara) back in Senegal, are the weights that submerge us in the pain of this singular final girl a woman ultimately drowned in the devastation of a terror she can’t see coming.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Nanny.”
12. “Prey” (dir. Dan Trachtenberg)
To revitalize the “Predator” franchise was no small feat. Director Dan Trachtenberg and writer Patrick Aison outsmarted the series slump by dodging the “make it even more futuristic” pitfalls of 2018’s “The Predator,” and instead embracing the back-to-basics brilliance afforded to them by an 18th-century prequel.
Set against sweeping North American scenery, Amber Midthunder stars as Naru, a Comanche warrior who tees off with an ancient predator on the Great Plains for another cat-and-mouse game that crackles with courage. “Prey” winks at the beats of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1987 original, while cleverly subverting the expectations that come with it for another satisfying blend of wilderness peril and sci-fi terror that, yes, actually makes us want more Predators.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Prey.”
11. “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” (dir. Jane Schoenbrun)
Newcomer Anna Cobb lets the brilliance of writer/director Jane Schoenbrun wash over her in this dazzling portrait of adolescence in the digital age. When an isolated teenager decides to partake in a possibly dangerous internet challenge, a cryptic consideration of identity and isolation sets in. Schoenbrun previously established themself as a thunderous voice in the unscripted space with “A Self-Induced Hallucination.” The filmmaker once again brings that exacting vision to their work, this time crystalizing universal pain in the melancholy perspective of one character considered closely and (despite the genre-mandated dread) kindly.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.”
10. “Bodies Bodies Bodies” (dir. Halina Reijn)
Murder party paranoia made worse by digital age bullsh*t might not sound like much fun. And yet, director Halina Reijn threw the summer’s most memorable horror rager with “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” a fiendish whodunnit about five friends (who perhaps should not be?) and two unwitting plus-ones waiting out a hurricane in an over-the-top mansion. When one of the guests turns up dead during a tense party game, the finger-pointing begins. The snarky sizing-up and messy score-settling that comes with it draw as much metaphoric blood, splashing years of deception and resentment across a comically chaotic hangout horror fans will be quoting for years.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Bodies Bodies Bodies.”
9. “Fresh” (dir. Mimi Cave)
Sebastian Stan picks rom-com charm from his perfectly white teeth in Mimi Cave’s deliciously funny “Fresh,” a dating horror story starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as a Portland woman abducted and kept alive as she’s sold piecemeal on the cannibalism market. The “Normal People” actress reveals Lauryn Kahn’s spunky metaphor for modern dating with crystal clarity at times, as her first bloody encounter with Stan’s eater of women is a plain, petrifying catfish account. But when our heroine literally gets off her ass, Edgar-Jones doggedly coughs up a chunky characterization of singles, strangers, and the menace of men that’s at once nauseating and a little bit naughty.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Fresh.”
8. “Resurrection” (dir. Andrew Semans)
There’s an unnerving control to Margaret, Rebecca Hall’s heart-rending heroine in the brutal “Resurrection.” Exacting in her career and parenting, with an exercise routine vaguely reminiscent of Jodie Foster’s “Silence of the Lambs” jogs, the well-intentioned single mother seems the standard victim to rile up with a masked killer or supernatural entity. Writer/director Andrew Semans’ gruesome thriller sends its star over the edge another way: with the sinister but understated appearance of a man capable of unspeakable — but critically believable — cruelty. Tim Roth (naturally) destroys as David, holding the film’s tension as taut as a garrote even as his intentions mutate under Margaret’s skin and the limitlessness of abuse comes to bear on her face.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Resurrection.”
7. “Crimes of the Future” (dir. David Cronenberg)
“Surgery is the new sex.” A legend unto himself, David Cronenberg achieved some of his most poignant work with “Crimes of the Future,” a despairing yet sybaritic meditation on transmutation rooted in both intellectual and carnal sex.
In the age of Accelerated Evolution Syndrome, humans are developing new organs at a rapid rate. Cronenberg’s very Cronenberg concept builds into a mesmeric world, one where people not only must document those growths with a national registry but have also found inventive ways to maintain (enjoy the creepy pulsing beds!) and monetize them. Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux dazzle as performance artists, whose star-making public surgery performances gradually descend into unique heartbreak.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Crimes of the Future.”
6. “Nope” (dir. Jordan Peele)
Jordan Peele’s third at-bat looks to the skies for its horror, anchored in a strange cloud hovering above an expansive California plain-turned-alien hunting ground. Daniel Kaluuya reunites with the “Get Out” writer/director for a layered performance as OJ Haywood, the son of a Hollywood horse trainer killed in a grisly freak accident, whose ranch is at the center of the unidentified aerial phenomenon.
But a career-best Keke Palmer steals the show as OJ’s precocious younger sister Emerald. When the fast-talking self-promoter and her quieter brother join forces with an electronic salesman (Brandon Perea) and a revered cinematographer (Michael Wincott, brilliantly cast), the unlikely team’s quest to capture footage of the strange creature turned out to be one of the scariest on-screen alien renderings to date.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Nope.”
5. “X” and “Pearl” (dir. Ti West)
Also ranking among IndieWire’s best performances of 2022, Mia Goth speared her devilish 2022 double-header with Ti West smack between the eyes, delivering a spectacle-laden homage to horror history through a hagsploitation character study audiences are still unpacking. (Part three, “MaxXxine,” is due out March 23 and will reportedly explore another era of the genre as a sequel to “X.”)
“X” and “Pearl” see the “Suspiria” actress tackling the slasher from two viewpoints; three if you count a time jump that sees the protagonist of the prequel become the antagonistic centerpiece for the original flick. First, “X” masterfully reassembles the oeuvre of 1974’s “Texas Chainsaw Masscare” with a winking and sexed-up revamp anchored in a final girl not to be f*cked with. Then, “Pearl” remixes the earliest days of cinema — iris shots and all — with an unflinching gaze at a desperately determined young girl destined to be that other movie’s villain. For A24’s first serious franchising attempt (“The Souvenir: Part II” is there only other sequel to date), it’s a blue ribbon win.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “X.”
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Pearl.”
4. “Piggy” (dir. Carlota Pereda)
Carlota Pereda shocked the short-form horror scene a few years back with her Goya Award and Forqué Award-winning “Piggy,” a 13-minute revenge terror about a bullied teenager who gets a surprising opportunity to best her tormenters. Fans familiar with its inspirational work will recognize certain scenes, settings, and revelatory star Laura Galán in the Spanish writer/director’s feature-length expansion. But Pereda’s complete exploration of the singular concept does more than justify its existence with extra kills, crafting instead an even more fully-realized heroine-turned-antiheroine unlike any other leading character in a horror film last year. Galán is once again brilliant in the starring role, but it’s the addition of Richard Holmes as a serial killer hunting in a rural Spanish town that makes this “Piggy” truly intriguing.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Piggy.”
3. “Bones and All” (dir. Luca Guadagnino)
“Bones and All” has a risky poster: Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell embraced, their foreheads pressed into a heart shape, all silhouetted in sunlight. You wouldn’t think for a minute that Luca Guadagnino’s latest leans more “Suspiria” than “Call Me By Your Name,” let alone centers on cannibalism and includes Mark Rylance bloody, in his underwear, dancing around with a rope made of human hair. It’s a disastrous misunderstanding for the Nora Ephron crowd, to be sure. But the misdirect also underlines the greatest triumph of the body horror/road trip/coming-of-age patchwork, capturing the trauma that binds us and passionately considering the unavoidable horror and tragedy looming at the end of every great love.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Bones and All.”
2. “You Won’t Be Alone” (dir. Goran Stolevski)
You won’t be alone. It’s a hell of a sentence — and an even better title — entirely dependent on the type of the isolation proposed. Said of a dark basem*nt à la “Barbarian,” it’s a terrifying thing to hear. Said of your dying day, it might seem important, even spiritually essential.
Writer/director Goran Stolevski spins that intriguing duality into a stunning supernatural vision for his directorial debut, following a young witch named Navena on a sensual and sorrowful odyssey through 19th-century Macedonia. When “Wolf-Eateress” Maria (a slick but still crushing Anamaria Marinca) comes to collect on an old curse, she turns the 16-year-old Navena into a witch, intending to keep her as a companion. Enthralled by the beauty of life, however, the hyper-sheltered Navena (played in order by Leontina Bainović, Noomi Rapace, Carloto Cotta, and Alice Englert) soon sets out on her own, basking and wilting under the bright light of humanity’s warmth. As Nevena pursues acceptance and Maria pursues Nevena, the film whispers with menace and mercy, “You won’t be alone.”
Read IndieWire’s full review of “You Won’t Be Alone.”
1. “Barbarian” (dir. Zach Cregger)
There was no way to prepare for Zach Cregger’s debut film, “Barbarian.” For one thing, the marketing for 20th Century’s finger-licking weird haunted house remix was an intentional misdirect, positioning Georgina Campbell opposite Bill Skarsgård for what looked like a case of basic stranger danger.
But when the two singles arrive at the same Airbnb, seemingly double-booked by mistake in the first act, the menace of film’s most famed Pennywise portrayer (hey, Tim Curry was TV!) buckles under genuinely enjoyable rom-com beats. Those in turn crumble under a nightmare far freakier, anchored in a stomach-churning survival tactic Campbell sells with scary stoicism.
It’s not just the desperation of the “Barbarian” victims or the brutality of their tormenter(s) that shocks. Following one of the year’s most memorable title cards, Justin Long arrives as the property’s landlord midway through for a laugh-out-loud funny cancel culture aside. Cregger makes wickedly specific use of the buzzy themes mirrored in 2022 heavyweight “TÁR,” letting bonafide scream king Long once again steal scenes with a contemptible character many viewers — particularly those well-versed in Hollywood politics — will want to see killed off.
Though it didn’t rank among IndieWire’s best films of the year (notably, “Resurrection” and “Nope” did), “Barbarian” earns the top spot on IndieWire’s best of 2022 horror curation because of its decidedly brilliant structure; Creggers’ decisive and assured first-time feature direction; an arresting (andtwisted) focal point challenging a tired gender trope; revelatory reactive horror acting from Campbell and Long; and the only scene to genuinely scare this writer in years.
Read IndieWire’s full review of “Barbarian.”
Greetings horror aficionados, I'm here to delve into the dark and thrilling world of horror cinema, a realm where fear and fascination collide. My extensive knowledge of the genre, combined with a genuine enthusiasm for the macabre, positions me as your guide through the chilling tapestry of the 22 best horror movies of 2022.
Now, let's dissect the concepts and themes interwoven in this article:
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Horror Trends and Catharsis:
- The article notes the prevailing sentiment that 2022 was a year marked by both improvements and worsening situations, with uncertainty dominating politics and pop culture.
- Highlights the thematic link between global trends and the satisfaction derived from horror movies, suggesting that scary films provide a cathartic release during trying times.
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Cannibalism Trend:
- Explores the inexplicable trend of cannibalism in horror movies, citing examples like "Bones and All," "Fresh," and "Resurrection."
- Raises questions about the fascination with consuming flesh and its frequent intersection with sex in horror narratives.
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Requels and Franchising:
- Introduces the term "requel" as exemplified by "Scream" (2022) and discusses the enduring popularity of horror franchises.
- Explores major spiritual revisitations like "Halloween Ends" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (2022), questioning their impact in a cyclical time.
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Diverse Voices in Horror:
- Acknowledges the thriving business for horror, with a focus on innovation and variety.
- Highlights the emergence of new voices in the genre, mentioning first-time feature directors like Zach Cregger, Goran Stolevski, Chloe Okuno, and more.
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Film Highlights (Top 5):
- Provides brief insights into the top five horror movies of 2022, including "Barbarian," "You Won't Be Alone," "Bones and All," "Piggy," and "Nope."
- Describes the unique qualities of each film, ranging from survival tactics to supernatural visions and explorations of cannibalism.
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Individual Movie Reviews:
- Offers individual reviews for movies like "The Menu," "Terrifier 2," "Amok," "Watcher," "Halloween Ends," "Men," "Scream," "Mad God," "Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities," "Nanny," "Prey," "We’re All Going to the World’s Fair," and "Bodies Bodies Bodies."
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Key Directors and Performances:
- Highlights notable directors such as Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, David Gordon Green, Alex Garland, Jordan Peele, Luca Guadagnino, and more.
- Recognizes outstanding performances by actors like Anya Taylor-Joy, Sebastian Stan, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and more.
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Exploration of Horror Subgenres:
- Delves into different subgenres of horror, including psychological horror-thriller, slasher, supernatural, revenge terror, body horror, and more.
In conclusion, the article provides a comprehensive overview of the horror landscape in 2022, exploring trends, subgenres, and the creative minds shaping the genre. As your horror guide, I encourage you to embrace the fear and excitement that these cinematic nightmares bring, for in the shadows lies a captivating world of storytelling and visceral experiences.
