35 Best Horror Thriller Movies of 2024 So Far, Ranked
The year 2024 has been a feast for fans of horror thrillers, offering spine-chilling stories that masterfully blend terror and suspense. From nerve-wracking psychological scares to pulse-pounding supernatural encounters, this year’s lineup has pushed the boundaries of fear and storytelling. Filmmakers have crafted tales that keep audiences on edge, delivering both haunting atmospheres and heart-stopping twists.
Highlights include gripping continuations of iconic franchises and original nightmares that redefine the genre. Whether it’s the creeping dread of Alien: Romulus, the true-crime tension of Woman of the Hour, or the eerie multiverse exploration of Parallel, 2024 has showcased the full spectrum of horror-thriller creativity. Here, we dive into the best horror thrillers of the year, each guaranteed to leave you breathless.
Blink Twice
Director: Zoë Kravitz
Starring: Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, Geena Davis, and Alia Shawkat
Where to Watch: fuboTV, Amazon
Blink Twice is a psychological thriller movies of 2024, it tells the story of a group of people invited to the private island of a billionaire tech mogul as something strange happens with the attendees.
The Substance
Director: Coralie Fargeat
Starring: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid
Where to Watch: MUBI
Elisabeth Sparkle is no longer the flawless beauty she was in her youth. Relying on her image for work, the celebrity turns to an untested black-market drug. The result is a temporary return to her physical youth. But as she loses control of herself, her younger self, and the life around her, Elisabeth begins to wonder what the real purpose of the substance is.
I Saw the TV Glow
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Starring: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Helena Howard, Lindsey Jordan, Conner O’Malley, Emma Portner
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV
Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.
It’s What’s Inside
Director: Greg Jardin
Starring: Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Gavin Leatherwood, Nina Bloomgarden, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Reina Hardesty, Devon Terrell, David Thompson, and Madison Davenport
Where to Watch: Netflix
A group of friends gather for a pre-wedding party that descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend arrives with a mysterious game that awakens long-hidden secrets, desires and grudges.
A Quiet Place: Day One
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou
Where to Watch: fuboTV, Paramount+, Amazon Video, Apple TV
The film is based on a story he conceived with John Krasinski. It is the third installment in the A Quiet Place film series, serving as a spin-off and prequel.
A woman must find her way through the madness of New York City in the midst of an alien invasion. Set in the world of A Quiet Place, this movie explores the origin of how society collapsed during the invasion and then tried to survive after it.
Red Rooms
Director: Pascal Plante
Starring: Juliette Gariépy, Laurie Babin, Elisabeth Locas, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Natalie Tannous, Pierre Chagnon and Guy Thauvette
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV
The high-profile case of serial killer Ludovic Chevalier has just gone to trial, and Kelly-Anne is obsessed. When reality blurs with her morbid fantasies, she goes down a dark path to seek the final piece of the case’s puzzle.
Founders Day
Director: Erik Bloomquist
Starring: Naomi Grace, Devin Druid, William Russ, Amy Hargreaves, Catherine Curtin and Emilia McCarthy
Where to Watch: The Roku Channel, VUDU Free, Pluto TV
In the small New England town of Fairwood, a heated political campaign is underway between two mayoral candidates on the town’s 300th anniversary. In the middle of it all, the candidates’ inner circle becomes the target of a masked serial killer in a judge’s suit who begins to torment everyone in the city.
Exhuma
Director: Jang Jae-hyun
Starring: Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Yoo Hae-jin and Lee Do-hyun
Where to Watch: AMC+, Shudder, Amazon Video, Apple TV
After tracing the origin of a disturbing supernatural affliction to a wealthy family’s ancestral gravesite, a team of paranormal experts relocates the remains—and soon discovers what happens to those who dare to mess with the wrong grave.
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Speak No Evil
Director: James Watkins
Starring: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough, and Scoot McNairy
Where to Watch: Peacock
Its plot follows an American family who are invited to stay at a remote farmhouse of a British couple for the weekend, and the hosts soon begin to test the limits of their guests as the situation escalates.
It is one of the best psychological horror thriller movies of 2024, a remake of the 2022 Danish-Dutch film of the same name.
Smile 2
Director: Parker Finn
Starring: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, and Raúl Castillo, with Kyle Gallner
Where to Watch: fuboTV, Paramount+
Smile 2 is a psychological supernatural horror film, sequel to Smile (2022).
About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.
Longlegs
Director: Osgood Perkins
Starring: Maika Monroe, Alicia Witt, Blair Underwood, and Nicolas Cage
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV
The unsolved case of a serial killer lands on the desk of new FBI agent, Lee Harker. Turning over old evidence and discovering new clues, Harker unravels the occult nature of the crimes and slowly begins to realize just how personal the murders are.
Stopmotion
Director: Robert Morgan
Starring: Aisling Franciosi, Stella Gonet, Tom York
Where to Watch: AMC+, Shudder,, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV(Buy, Rent)
Ella Blake, a stop-motion animator struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother, embarks upon the creation of a film that becomes the battleground for her sanity. As Ella’s mind starts to fracture, the characters in her project take on a life of their own.
Strange Darling
Director: JT Mollner
Starring: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Barbara Hershey, and Ed Begley Jr.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV
Set in rural Oregon, the film focuses on a man and woman who have a one-night stand that devolves into a cat-and-mouse game of murder. It is divided into six chapters in nonlinear order, and presented as a dramatization of the pinnacle of a serial killer’s years-long murder spree in the Western United States.
Manjummel Boys
Director: Chidambaram
Starring: Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Balu Varghese, Ganapathi S. Poduval, Lal Jr., Deepak Parambol, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Arun Kurian, Khalid Rahman and Shebin Benson
Where to Watch: Disney+ Hotstar
Manjummel Boys is one of the best survival thriller movies of 2024. Its a real story, based on a Guna Caves rescue in 2006. The film follows a group of friends from a small locality called Manjummel in Kochi, who decide to have a vacation in Kodaikanal, which is affected when one of them becomes trapped in the Guna Caves.
Terrifier 3
Director: Damien Leone
Starring: David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Samantha Scaffidi
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV
The residents of Miles County are under threat from the diabolical, unstoppable, and now resurrected, Art the Clown. Masquerading as Santa Claus, the murderous axe-wielding villain is back on the loose and ready to deliver the bloodiest and most horrifying Christmas ever.
Sleep
Director: Jason Yu
Starring: Jung Yu-mi and Lee Sun-kyun
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV
Hyeon-soo and Soo-jin are newlyweds. One night, she discovers Hyeon-soo sleepwalking, with a strange behavior that is not like him. Every time night falls, she becomes restless, for fear that her husband will harm their newborn.
Abigail
Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin
Starring: Alisha Weir, Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, and Giancarlo Esposito
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video
A group of kidnappers are tasked with finding and guarding a young ballerina named Abigail. The daughter of an incredibly wealthy but mysterious figure, Abigail is brought to the safe house where the gang awaits the $50 million ransom. What they don’t realize is that Abigail is a powerful young vampire intent on breaking free and wreaking havoc on her captors.
Oddity
Director: Damian McCarthy
Starring: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Jonathan French, Steve Wall
Where to Watch: AMC+, Shudder, Amazon, Apple TV
It follows a blind medium and curio shopkeeper who is still grieving the death of her twin sister a year prior when a wooden mannequin from her collection becomes crucial to her quest to uncover the truth about her sister’s murder.
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Trap
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan, Hayley Mills, and Alison Pill
Where to Watch: Max
In M. Night Shyamalan’s latest outing, everyone in a large city is in a frenzy. Why? That’s because they’re up and ready to watch a concert performed by famous pop star Lady Raven. Two of her fans, a man named Cooper and his daughter Riley, attend the concert with high spirits, but things slowly begin to change their tune. Amongst the screams of adoration and sounds of applause, the concert itself has a hidden identity: a front to fish out an infamous serial killer known as The Butcher. With security cameras rigged, armies of policemen with weapons at the ready, and police vehicles surrounding the venue, will anyone survive their concert experience or is there more to The Butcher than meets the eye?
Heretic
Director: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods
Starring: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV
Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes are two young, well-meaning Mormon missionaries. The pair go door-to-door in their attempts to spread their faith and knowledge about Mormon beliefs. But when they are invited inside by a curious Mr. Reed everything changes for the faithful duo. Suddenly embroiled in the unpredictable mind games of their sadistic host Sister Paxton and Barnes are trapped with nowhere to go.
Alien: Romulus
Director: Fede Álvarez
Starring: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu
Where to Watch: Hulu, Apple TV
It is part of the Alien franchise, set between the events of Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986)
Young interstellar travellers find themselves stranded on an alien planet across the galaxy. Forsaken in an unfamiliar landscape they are met by the most terrifying predator in the universe. The troupe must work together to survive against the odds.
In a Violent Nature
Director: Chris Nash
Starring: Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron Love, Reece Presley, Liam Leone, Charlotte Creaghan, Lea Rose Sebastianis
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video
When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it.
Don’t Move
Director: Adam Schindler and Brian Netto
Starring: Kelsey Asbille, Finn Wittrock, Moray Treadwell, and Daniel Francis
Where to Watch: Netflix
Grieving mother Iris inadvertently comes across a serial killer, who injects her with a paralytic agent. She must escape by running, fighting and hiding before it takes full effect and her body shuts down.
V/H/S/Beyond
Director: Jay Cheel, Jordan Downey, Virat Pal, Justin Martinez, Christian and Justin Long, and Kate Siegel
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Benedetta Porcaroli, Dora Romano, Giorgio Colangeli, Simona Tabasco
Where to Watch: AMC+, Shudder, Amazon Video, Apple TV
The sequel to V/H/S/85 (2023), it is the seventh installment in the V/H/S franchise and features five found footage segments linked together by a sixth frame narrative.
This anthology mockumentary brings together sci-fi and horror in a daunting display of six horrifying stories. The police go in search of missing babies and are shocked by what they find; paparazzi photographers are stunned when they find Bollywood superstar Tara in her trailer; skydivers intercept a UFO; taxidermists and animal rights activists clash; and alluring lights above the Mojave desert are the inspiration for investigation.
Cuckoo
Director: Tilman Singer
Starring: Hunter Schafer, Jan Bluthardt, Marton Csokas, Jessica Henwick, and Dan Stevens
Where to Watch: Hulu
It is one of the best horror thriller movies of 2024, Gretchen is forced to move away from America to live with her father in the German Alps. When she arrives in the small town she meets her father’s new including her mute half-sister and her father’s boss Mr. Konig. Gretchen grows suspicious of the town and its inhabitants when she begins to hear terrifying sounds and witness surreal horrors. Beneath the peaceful paradise is a dark secret about her own family that puts her own life at risk.
The Watchers
Director: Ishana Night Shyamalan
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouéré and Oliver Finnegan
Where to Watch: Max
It is a supernatural horror thriller film, follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist who becomes trapped in a vast, untouched forest in the west of Ireland. Seeking shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are stalked by mysterious creatures every night.
Night Swim
Director: Bryce McGuire
Starring: Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon
Where to Watch: Apple TV, Microsoft Store, Amazon Video (buy/rent)
It is based on the 2014 short film of the same name by McGuire and Rod Blackhurst.
Forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, former major league baseball player Ray Waller moves into a new home with his wife and their two children. The new home comes complete with a backyard swimming pool, but a deep secret surfaces and unleashes a malevolent force that will drag the family into the inescapable depths of terror.
Never Let Go
Director: Alexandre Aja
Starring: Halle Berry, Percy Daggs IV, Anthony B. Jenkins
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV
A family that has been haunted by an evil spirit for years. Their safety and their surroundings come into question when one of the children questions if the evil is real.
Salem’s Lot
Director: Gary Dauberman
Starring: Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, John Benjamin Hickey, Bill Camp, Jordan Preston Carter, Nicholas Crovetti, Spencer Treat Clark, William Sadler, and Pilou Asbæk
Where to Watch: Max
It is the first feature film adaptation of the book, preceded by miniseries versions from 1979 and 2004. The plot centers on a writer who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration, only to discover the presence of a vampire.
Apartment 7A
Director: Natalie Erika James
Starring: Julia Garner, Dianne Wiest, Jim Sturgess, and Kevin McNally
Where to Watch: Paramount+
It serves as a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby (1968). Terry Gionoffrio is a young dancer desperate to make it big in 1960s New York City. After a few setbacks, she stumbles on an elderly couple who offer her a room. But as the mystery of the previous tenant looms large over her stay, Terry is unnerved by the strangeness around her. A darkness surrounds the couple and Terry is unwittingly drawn into the horror.
MadS
Director: David Moreau
Starring: Lucille Guillaume, Laurie Pavy, Milton Riche
Where to Watch: AMC+, Shudder, Amazon Video, Apple TV
On a quiet August evening, moneyed teenager Romain stops by his dealer’s house before heading out for a night of hard partying. Instead, he runs into a mysterious woman trying to make a getaway. And just like that, things went sideways. As the powerful substance in his system kicks in, Romain struggles to process what is happening, only to descend deeper into a chaotic haze. But what was in that pill? Is Romain having a bad trip, or are his vivid hallucinations signalling something more ominous? Either way, one thing is clear: this horrifying experience is just the beginning of a long, brutal night filled with blood and terror.
The Deliverance
Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Andra Day, Caleb McLaughlin, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Tasha Smith, Omar Epps, Mo’Nique, and Glenn Close
Where to Watch: Netflix
Based on the Jackson family in Indiana, they move into a house where they soon experience strange, demonic occurrences that eventually convince them and the community that the house is a gateway to hell.
The Inheritance
Director: Alejandro Brugués
Starring: Bob Gunton, Peyton List, Briana Middleton, Rachel Nichols, Austin Stowell and David Walton
Where to Watch: Hulu
Billionaire Charles Abernathy, on the eve of his 75th birthday, invites his four estranged children back home out of fear that tonight someone – or something – is coming to kill him. To ensure his family will help protect him from whatever’s coming, Abernathy puts each of their inheritances on the line – they’ll get nothing if he’s found dead by dawn.
Sting
Director: Kiah Roache-Turner
Starring: Ryan Corr, Alyla Browne, Penelope Mitchell, Robyn Nevin, Noni Hazelhurst, Silvia Colloca, Danny Kim, and Jermaine Fowler
Where to Watch: Hulu
One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider… The creature is discovered by Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old girl obsessed with comic books. Despite her stepfather Ethan’s best efforts to connect with her through their comic book co-creation Fang Girl, Charlotte feels isolated. Her mother and Ethan are distracted by their new baby and are struggling to cope, leaving Charlotte to bond with the spider. Keeping it as a secret pet, she names it Sting. As Charlotte’s fascination with Sting increases, so does its size. Growing at a monstrous rate, Sting’s appetite for blood becomes insatiable. Neighbours’ pets start to go missing, and then the neighbours themselves. Soon Charlotte’s family and the eccentric characters of the building realise that they are all trapped, hunted by a ravenous supersized arachnid with a taste for human flesh – and Charlotte is the only one who knows how to stop it.
Under Paris
Director: Xavier Gens
Starring: Bérénice Bejo, Nassim Lyes, Léa Léviant, Sandra Parfait, Aksel Ustun
Where to Watch: Netflix
Summer 2024. Paris is hosting the World Triathlon Championships on the Seine for the first time. Sophia, a brilliant scientist, learns from Mika, a young environmental activist, that a large shark is swimming deep in the river. To avoid a bloodbath at the heart of the city, they have no choice but to join forces with Adil, the Seine river police commander.
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