The 21 best horror movies of the 21st century (so far)

All families are troubled in their own way, but this one is especially troubled. If you think you have it bad at home, remember it could be worse. Your sister could die in a car accident, your mom could join a cult, and your family could go up in flames. Ari Aster's debut is the love child of Leo Tolstoy and Rosemary's Baby . It combines family drama with horror tropes in a groundbreaking, bone-chilling, and downright mesmerizing way. Toni Collette's performance alone is worth the price of admission. 

The best advertisement for condoms...ever! It Follows shows us the consequences of not using protection by giving our protagonist an STD that comes in the form of a demon. David Robert Mitchell's lo-fi, high-stakes breakout is filled with warning signs for teenagers having sex and several flourishes that call to mind old Carpenter films. 

Every generation gets the zombie movie it deserves. For Gen X, that meant a zombie movie full of rage. Coming after 9/11, this movie took our country's anger and turned it into a hoard of flesh-eating zombies. The camera opens on Cillian Murphy waking from a coma to find London almost completely abandoned. Then, after a few minutes of quiet, come the explosions. 

Wanna know something even scarier than zombies? Racist white people. Jordan Peele's debut feature about a Black man (Daniel Kaluuya) who meets his white girlfriend's parents not only scared us with tension but also with politics. Poking fun at white hypocrisy and racial paranoia when those things were front-page news, Peele found a way to make a horror movie that was smart and terrifying, timely and timeless. The genre would never be the same. 

Horror, comedy and Christian Bale with a chainsaw equal a really good time at the movies. Even though many people saw this adaptation of Bret Easton's novel as a misfire, those who read the fine print saw a movie with plenty to say about posturing, culture, and Reagan-era excess. You can also watch it as a movie about a serial killer who likes Huey Lewis and the News. 

A horror film? Try a tender, human tale of love and friendship. Director Tomas Alfredson took what could have been a slasher and turned it into a tearjerker. Good luck not tearing up when a young vampire tells her crush that she is "not a girl" but something else entirely. 

This is the matchup we've all been waiting for. In one corner, you have Natalie Portman, in the other, you have a mutant bear. My money would have been on Portman, who navigates the alien bubble in Alex Garland's sci-fi spectacle like a shark in foreign waters. The environment may be different, but the chomp is still the same. 

More than any other spoof, Shaun of the Dead tests the limits of what constitutes a parody. Yes, it has jokes, dumb characters, and enough booze to knock out Mike Tyson, but it also has moments that genuinely make you jump. It's a testament to Edgar Wright's direction that we spend most of this "comedy" on our toes. 

It starts like any other drama, then spirals into an action flick. Once you've settled into a hitman movie, it turns into something else entirely. Ben Wheatley's ability to meld genres reminded me of Bong Joon Ho's. Just when you think this will be a comedy, the ghosts come. 

The Act of Killing doesn't have any ghosts or monsters — at least not in the traditional sense — but it does have some of the most surreal moments ever put on film. This documentary about the Indonesian mass killings of 1967 is filled with scenes you can't even begin to comprehend. That a group of gangsters would want to reenact their crimes for the camera is too much for me to process. 

The first chapter in the James Wan series brought back '70s horror, in which action takes a backseat to the ambiance. The story follows two paranormal investigators as they visit a Rhode Island family who believes their home is haunted. Along the way, tension builds and builds as the two wander attics, lawns, and basements, all of which are shot with a stately sheen.

Bela Tarr's final film doesn't belong to the horror genre in any traditional sense, but it's hard to imagine any film surpassing the dread and atmosphere of this one. Drawing on the writings of Samuel Beckett and John the Apostle, Tar takes us on a long walk into the winds of fate, the apocalypse beating on the doorstep of a father and daughter as they wait out a storm. 

This movie's marketing campaign may be more interesting than the movie itself, but that's only because it had one of the most interesting marketing campaigns of all time. The idea of putting a movie out without a trailer, poster, or IMDb might seem insane, but J.J. Abrams was able to pull it off thanks to a great premise and some inventive camerawork. 

It took director Jonathan Glazer over a decade to adapt Michael Faber's best-selling novel about an extraterrestrial that comes in the form of a human (Scarlett Johansson) and lures men into her car, seduces them, and eats them. The fact that he turns the material into a tone poem is impressive, but even more impressive is how Johansson didn't age a day during the 10-year shooting process. Which begs the question: Who's the real alien? Johansson or her character? 

Vampires have feelings, too. They've got jobs, friends, and responsibilities just like us. They also happen to live thousands of years and eat human flesh, the conundrum that makes Taika Waititi's spoof hilarious. Not since Young Frankenstein have monsters been this funny. 

Some call it the GOAT of 21st-century horror; others call it slow and methodical. One thing's for sure: it certainly has the best goat in movie history, a buck named Black Phillip who stands for mother nature's wrath against man. Along for the ride is Anya-Taylor Joy's protagonist, a New England teenager who notices strange things happening on her farm. After her brother goes missing, those stark trees and misty woods begin to take on a life of their own, which is to say nothing of Black Phillip and his dark eyes. 

Does this even count as a horror movie? Naomi Watts loses her identity and is chased by people who want a magic box, all while visions of a monster haunt her dreams. Yeah, I'd say it's a horror movie. This story of an actress thrust into Hollywood is what nightmares are made of, with delusions of grandeur and a score that sends shivers down your spine. 

The found footage and haunted house genres play off each other, like Brady and Gronk. They complement each other perfectly as we watch a young couple get attacked by ghosts from their nanny cam. Each attack is more deadly than the last. The film made a billion dollars, though none of the sequels could live up to the original. 

Ana Lily Armipour's debut combines westerns, vampires, comedies, art films, indie films, French New Wave classics, and Iranian sensibilities all into one package. You've never seen anything like it, a movie about a vampire who skateboards around town looking for her next victim while looking for love in the darkest places. It's the punk version of Twilight, which you didn't know you needed. 

Speaking of great debuts, how can we list the best horror movies this century and not include The Babadook? The breakout from Jennifer Kent, this 2014 sensation follows a widowed mother whose son is possessed by a demon that looks like a child's scribbles. Soon, it becomes clear that the monster is a metaphor for grief that grows larger as mom's grief grows wider. 

All hail David Gordon Green! The director of the best movie of 2021 (and one of the best movies of all time), Green found a way to spin a classic Arthurian tale into a revolutionary odyssey. Along the lines of Homer, The Green Knight takes us on one man's journey from a castle to a forest to a mythical isle, all while he forges his path to self-discovery. There are ancient beasts, eternal songs, and immersive camerawork. Plus, one of the most impressive montages we've ever seen.