Wow. Everyone knew 2022 was a great year for horror films, but you don't truly realize how great a year it was until you start to line them all up for a "Best of" list. After many hours, many buckets of blood, and me promising the boys that there would be no monsters under the bed or ghosts in the closet, we have finally compiled our Best Horror Films of 2022. This list made us realize that no matter how many horror movies we watched this year... it wasn't enough. Check out our list, listed alphabetically out of fairness, match it against your own, and fill in the blanks before 2023 arrives. (M3GAN supremacy in the new year!)
Barbarian
Barbarian is one of those films that everyone says is best to go in with no prior knowledge of. I don't know if that is necessarily true - the story is bonkers no matter what. What starts out as an Airbnb mix-up gone astray goes deeply, deeply off the rails, and strays so far from that premise that it's barely what the film is about at all. There are moments of hilarity, moments of horror, and moments of "what the fuck?" which make for a great horror film, as far as I'm concerned. Oh, and also: there is a scene where a guy has his arm ripped off, then is beaten with it. That is always cinematic gold to me. – Alyse Wax
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Who wants to play Bodies Bodies Bodies? As you’ll discover in this chaotic horror romp, no one would want to with this cast of characters. The story centers on a group of friends who all gather at a swanky mansion for a party. Shortly after they all arrive, a storm sweeps through and traps them all there. What better time could there be to then play a game centered around murder? The only problem is that this might no longer be playing around as bodies begin to actually stack up and result in all the characters turning on each other. Misdirects and chaos abound as nothing is what it seems in this story. However, the less that you know the better as it builds to a killer final punchline that makes it all the more joyous. — Chase Hutchinson
Bones and All
Director Luca Guadagnino has a unique sensibility when it comes to romance, so it’s no wonder that Bones and All is, at its heart, a love story. The movie follows Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet as two starstruck lovers who build a life together while traveling across America. While this would be the perfect premise for a drama movie, Bones and All feels at home in horror became Russel and Chalamet play cannibals, people who urge for the flesh of the living and cannot control their unnatural hunger. Bones and All might not be everyone’s cup of tea since so much of its runtime is spent building the characters and letting them figure out who they want to be. However, Guadagnino doesn’t hold anything back when it comes to depicting the gruesome acts of cannibalism to underline how Bones and All is most definitely a horror movie. Besides that, we feel the movie deserves praise for dealing with a controversial theme with such a delicate and human gaze. – Marco Vito Oddo
Crimes of the Future
A film that provides yet more proof that David Cronenberg is the absolute King of body horror, Crimes of the Future shares a name with one of his earliest works though is a beast all its own from its heartbreaking start to its intriguing conclusion. It features the dynamic duo of Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux as two performance artists who find themselves swept up in a conspiracy surrounding people who claim to be able to consume plastic. As they are collaborators who care deeply about the body as a location of exploration and creation, this potential revelation piques their interest. The film then explores their passion for performance amidst the chaos of destruction and rebirth, creating a dynamic reflection on what it means to be an artist. For those who had been missing Cronenberg, this film makes it worth the wait as it is one of his most self-reflective worlds that cuts deeper the longer you sit with it. — Chase Hutchinson
Deadstream
Coming from writers and directors Joseph and Vanessa Winter, Deadstream is by far the best feature directorial debut of 2022. Holding its Creepshow and Evil Dead influences close to the chest, Deadstream presents a story that will make you laugh while still being frightened. Besides that, the Winters’ knack for practical effects gives Deadstream a level of polish that’s frequently missing from many big-budgeted productions. Finally, Deadstream does something unique with the found-footage subgenre by making the whole story fit into a single live stream. With clever camera angles and dedicated attention to continuity, the Winters keep the illusion everything in the movie happens in real-time, turning Deadstream into a filmmaking achievement that every horror fan should check out. – Marco Vito Oddo
Fresh
Mimi Cave’s directorial debut is a delicious story about a cannibal and the victims he keeps in his basement. Fresh starts just like a romantic comedy, and those unaware of what they are watching might be surprised when the movie turns into a full-blown horror movie filled with people-eating scenes that will challenge your stomach. That’s just one of the reasons Fresh is so enticing, as Cave already shows a rare domain over genre and style that elevates a movie that otherwise could crumble under the trope of the girl in the basement. Besides telling a disturbing story, Fresh is also a movie about modern dating, women's objectification, and the social power structure that allows men to get away with the horrific things they do. While Fresh mostly balances subtext and story, the third act gets a little clumsy as the movie tries to ensure people will understand its message. Even so, Fresh remains a tasty entry for horror-hungry people looking for a movie that subverts expectations. – Marco Vito Oddo
Glorious
Glorious, directed by Dr. Rebekah McKendry, has one of the most curious concepts of the year. What if you found a Lovecraftian Elder God in the most unlikely place? Let’s say, a glory hole in the bathroom of a rest stop by the side of the road? Glorious is well aware of the absurd situation it presents, and that self-consciousness is what allows it to be as funny as it is. There are real stakes in Glorious, as a random man discovers he might be the key to saving the universe from total obliteration. But Glorious is ready to laugh about the idea of finding purpose in the most disgusting place in the world. And while the movie is mainly a horror-infused comedy, Glorious understands perfectly well what makes Lovecraftian creatures so scary by hiding enough information so we can fill it with our most terrible nightmares. On top of everything, J.K. Simmons voicing an Eldritch monster is almost too good to be true. – Marco Vito Oddo
Hatching
Infused in body horror, the Finish horror movie Hatching reuses the old doppelgänger trope to deal with repressed emotions, family expectations, and the pressure to look perfect on social media. The story follows Tinja (Siiri Solalinna), a young girl who wants nothing more than to impress her rigid mother, who, in turn, is determined to build the perfect family she wants to show the world through her social media accounts. Things turn dark when the girl finds an egg, decides to hide it in her bedroom, and inadvertently hatches a gruesome creature that looks more like her each day. Hatching is not trying to be subtle, and it reveals quickly how the creature manifests all the anger and sorrow Tinja keeps locked inside while trying to please her mother. That doesn’t prevent Hatching from being a highly-effective cautionary tale about the dangers of raising a child to fit the internet’s twisted idea of perfection. Lastly, Hatching is an ode to the lasting horror of practical effects, shining even more in an era where digital creatures are shoehorned in most movies. – Marco Vito Oddo
Hellbender
Hellbender does a beautiful job of updating witchcraft mythology by introducing the new titular creature. A mix between a witch and a demon, a Hellbender's power comes both from innate abilities and precise rituals. That choice allows directors John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser to freely explore well-recognized occult symbols and new images unique to their movie, with a result that’s nothing less than stunning. Besides presenting a new creature in a genre where repetition is the rule, Hellbender tells a soul-crushing coming-of-age story as mother and daughter struggle to define their identity as powerful and dangerous creatures. Finally, Hellbender is also infused with metal energy, as the film’s title is also a reference to a fictional band created for the feature, whose original songs result in one of the year's best soundtracks. – Marco Vito Oddo
Mad God
Mad God is an experimental stop-motion animated horror movie that’s more concerned with form than substance. In other words, Mad God is a challenging movie that will leave more viewers confused than satisfied. Those looking for a linear story and explicit references will be disappointed with Phil Tippett’s stop-motion horror. Still, the feature is a technical wonder that deserves all the praise it gets. With Mad God, Tippett pushes the limit of what someone can do with stop-motion, creating a nightmarish landscape where hundreds of individual pieces are moving to the will of animators, frame by frame. It’s a unique spectacle that can enthrall those who let their minds give up the need to make sense of each frame and accept they are being bombarded with hellish flashes of holy terrors. Mad God can be too demanding for some people, and that’s absolutely fine. But for lovers of the weird, Tippett’s is an achievement like no other. – Marco Vito Oddo
Master
Mariama Diallo’s Master, another Sundance film, is a balancing act of horror that grounds itself in both history and modern academia. At the core of this is the riveting Regina Hall as Gail who has managed to work her way up to be the "first Black woman to be the Master" at the fictional Ancaster College, an elite Northeastern university. At the same time, there is a new student named Jasmine (Zoe Renee) who finds herself struggling to navigate the school as one of only a few Black students in a sea of white. In many ways, it plays as a ghost story in terms of what begins to haunt the two characters and the world that they inhabit. The less that is known the better, but it provides yet more proof that Hall is an outstanding performer with the range to elevate any film she is in. In particular, one closing scene that she has is flooring where she speaks volumes with only a few lines. — Chase Hutchinson
Medusa
Anita Rocha da Silveira's Medusa follows a gang of religious women in Brazil who go after sinners in the night, beating them up and forcing them to declare their love for God. There’s a lot to unpack with this premise, as it deals with how orthodox religion frequently feeds violence and how women are the primary target of the more hostile side of organized faith. However, the movie also doubles down as a grim portrait of current Brazilian problems, where some evangelical churches have been literally training people as soldiers for a war against evil that often turns into persecution of everyone that doesn’t fit the conservative model of family. Finally, Medusa is also a clever possession movie where coming in touch with an evil spirit wakes women up instead of cursing them. While Medusa slipped through the cracks, it definitely deserves its place as one of the best horror movies released in 2022. – Marco Vito Oddo
Men
With Men, Alex Garland explores misogyny and how women can feel threatened in a world ruled by men. Not surprisingly, Men cannot entirely escape the male gaze while telling its anti-sexism story, which can be somewhat problematic. Even so, Men is a weird and chaotic cinematic experiment that conjures some of the strangest and most disturbing images you’ve ever seen. The feature is also brutally honest, as Garland raises more questions about sexism than it can answer, bringing his own doubts to the screen. Men is not as clean and straightforward as Ex-Machina or Annihilation. But even when its story doesn't hold, it’s still a fascinating movie overflowing with style. The ending sequence, in particular, will leave a mark on anyone willing to give Men the opportunity to scar their brains with maddening imagery. – Marco Vito Oddo
The Menu
With The Menu, Mark Mylod cooked a balanced meal that's highly entertaining while also cleverly discussing the meaning of art and the exploration of the working class. The Menu takes place one evening in the restaurant of Chef Slowski (Ralph Fiennes), a renowned cook that invited a group of select guests to taste his ultimate menu. The menu, however, is a series of political statements delivered through food, which become weirder and bloodier at each course. Soon, it becomes clear that Slowski’s guests are actually ingredients in his masterpiece, a menu that will send the world a message about the art market's brutality. There’s a lot to unpack in The Menu, as the movie has much to say beneath a simple plot cover. That’s another win for Chef Slowski, as The Menu holds strong through multiple viewings. – Marco Vito Oddo
Nanny
Yet another film that premiered at Sundance, Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny defies easy categorization in how it blends multiple genres. While it is still very much a horror film, both in terms of its haunting visuals and the devastating truth that lies underneath them, it also is a focused drama of life in America. Specifically, it looks at the experience of Anna Diop's Aisha who has come from Senegal to work in New York City. She hopes to make enough money to bring her son there with her, but faces down a whole host of barriers to this dream. Centrally, in working as a nanny, her employers treat her with casual cruelty and frequently skimp on paying her. She must then navigate this increasingly fraught working environment so that she can get what she is owed. At the same time, she must try to maintain a connection to her son that threatens to slip away from her when supernatural forces begin to crash into her reality. This all builds to one of the most tragic endings of the year that, while painful, couldn’t have concluded any other way. — Chase Hutchinson
NOPE
Few directors can claim to be as successful as Jordan Peele. With his third movie, NOPE, Peele solidifies his position as one of the leading voices in horror, delivering another theatrical spectacle loaded with social commentary. After exploring structural racism with Get Out and political extremism with Us, Peele is now concerned with discussing how Hollywood is a predatory industry that devours innocent lives to stay alive. And that discussion becomes very literal once an eye-shaped alien starts to torment the small town of Agua Dulce, California. NOPE is all about people doing everything they can for fame and finding a bloody fate instead. But even without all the subtext, NOPE is still one heck of a crowd-pleaser, featuring a fantastic creature that has already carved its name in the history of most iconic monsters in cinema. NOPE is just as weird as it’s impressive, and it is impossible not to be mesmerized by Peele’s most ambitious film yet. – Marco Vito Oddo
Orphan: First Kill
Orphan has such a lasting effect on horror culture because of the surprise at its end and the brilliant performance of Isabelle Fuhrman. A prequel, then, sounds like a cash-grab when we are all aware of Esther’s secret, and there’s nothing else that could shock us. Fortunately, Orphan: First Kill proved us all wrong by delivering another thrilling serial killer movie with a big twist that takes the story in a whole new direction. As a prequel, Orphan: First Kill helps to flesh out Esther, played again to perfection by Fuhrman. However, the movie stands as its own self-contained tale of psychopaths doing whatever they need to get what they want. While it starts as a classic prequel, Orphan: First Kill takes Esther on a rollercoaster ride as the story twists and turns unexpectedly. In itself, that’s already a feat deserving praise, but the fact that Orphan: First Kill is so entertaining allows Esther to remain a relevant horror icon. – Marco Vito Oddo
Pearl
"X is the most impressive feature [Ti West] has ever released." Says the man who has yet to see Pearl. Pearl, though a prequel to X, and shot even more secretively than X, is less a horror movie and more an ode to classic cinema itself. Set in 1918, we follow Pearl, the antagonist of X, as a young woman, left alone with her overbearing mother and her handicapped father when her husband goes to war. Pearl dreams of becoming a star, running off to become an actress or a dancer - anything to get her out of her small-time farm life. The film itself is shot like it is in Technicolor, with vivid colors permeating every inch of the screen in an almost surreal fashion. Mia Goth's performance is truly outstanding, with some amazing long takes that would guarantee her an Oscar were this not considered a horror film. – Alyse Wax
Piggy
Carlota Pereda's Piggy is yet another indie movie that didn’t get the attention it deserves. Based on Pereda’s short film of the same name, the movie follows Sara (Laura Galán), a teenager who suffers daily attacks from bullies. The bullies think Sara’s weight is enough to turn her into a target for cruel pranks that become more violent as time passes. While Piggy draws from a classic revenge horror movie, it also brings something new to the table by putting Sara into a weird romantic relationship with a serial killer who kidnaps her bullies. So, the girl must decide if she wants to save the people who constantly attack her or protect a vicious killer who’s the only person to show her affection. Piggy is also elevated by gritty cinematography, brilliant performances, and perfectly executed practical effects. – Marco Vito Oddo
Prey
Returning to the basics, Prey finally explains why the Predator franchise is so often disappointing. The first Predator remains one of the best action-horror movies of all time, following the deadly game of cat and mouse between an alien carrying wondrous technology and a man fueled only by his wits and rage. Further sequels try to amp up the action by giving the Predator’s new victims more resources to work with. But while every Predator sequel is more explosive than the original, none is so gripping. Prey, however, does the opposite, taking us back to 1719. By uniting the Predator franchise with a period piece, director Dan Trachtenberg recreates everything that made the original story so enticing. Amber Midthunder shines as a young Comanche warrior, using all her knowledge to get whatever vantage she can get to beat an adversary that’s obviously more skilled and better equipped. At the same time, Prey features the scariest version of the iconic monster, making the Predator less human and more feral than previous iterations. Thanks to Prey, we can now be excited about new Predator movies instead of wondering why they are developing another entry of a quasi-dead franchise. – Marco Vito Oddo