Here are the 13 Best Horror Films Released since I did my horror countdown in October, listed in order of release.

Let’s start out with V/H/S/BEYOND – Released October 5, 2024 and streaming on Shudder! While not all of the stories followed the theme of sci fi horror and sci fi horror has been a staple of the V/H/S series, this year’s collection of found footage shorts worked pretty well. While the connective tissue between the shorts was pretty weak, I still liked the one where the skydivers get hit by a UFO by Justin Martinez, the police raid on a home that is infested with alien zombies by Jordan Downey, and Kate Segal and Mike Flanagan’s trip through time and space. Another V/H/S is due out next year, and as long as it’s of this quality, I’m looking forward to it.

October 11 saw the release of TERRIFIER 3 and it shocked the world by surging to the #1 spot in theaters. Now available On Demand, the film is probably my least favorite of the series due to its lack of plotting and story, but it does deliver the goods when it comes to over the top gore. I can’t deny the power of Damien Leone, but the chinks in this franchise’s armor is beginning to show. I get the fervor behind this film, it’s the SAW franchise of this generation. But I’m hoping Leone starts adding a little more meat to the storytelling bones of this franchise as I’m losing interest. Still, I can see TERRIFIER 3 become a fun and gross holiday classic.

If you’re looking for an indie gem, look no further than FALLING STARS, released the same week as TERRIFIER 3 and available On Demand. It’s a low budget, dialog heavy film about a world where witchcraft is an everyday, invisible threat, much like nuclear war and terrorism. One night during in October, the alerts go off and people are supposed to stay indoors because witches, which look like falling stars, swoop down and take people. But when a dead witch is found, a group of kids venture into the desert to see it. There are very few effects, but the ones used are pretty sweet and directors Gabriel Bienczycki and Richard Karpala do some solid world-building here. Yes, it’s talky, but the acting is pretty good and the story had me by the throat from the beginning. This is low fi goodness.

SMILE 2 was finally released October 18 and it was about time since I was sick to death of seeing the preview in front of every movie I saw in the theaters. Still, the wait paid off as this sequel takes everything that worked in the original and pasted it to a mainstream, Taylor Swift-style scenario. Yes, this film pandered to the tween market, but it still had a lot of teeth, delivering all kinds of blood, gore, and truly effective scares. Plus Naomi Scott is phenomenal as the lead whose sanity chips away with every smile she sees. Sure, it’s a knockoff of IT FOLLOWS, but this is an extremely well done knockoff.

The full-bore thrill ride known as MADS was released on the same day as SMILE 2 on Shudder and once you’ve seen it, you’re bound to never forget it. While we’ve seen drugged up infected rampages before, this one shows it while resting the camera firmly from the perspective of three unfortunate people. While there most likely were some clever cuts, most of this film was shot in one take, making it a technical marvel as well. MADS pumps up the adrenaline with its strange imagery and rapid fire nightmares!

Yes, this was in limited release at the end of September, but most of you were able to see AZRAEL when it was released on Shudder on October 25. This is another horror movie that is basically one chase scene, this one made even better with the wonderful blue eyes of Samara Weaving. You see, this film is practically dialog free, leaving Weaving to emote every horror she experiences with only her eyes and facial expressions. This one was from CHEAP THRILLS director E.L. Katz and YOU’RE NEXT’s Simon Barrett, two titanic voices in horror mixing their skills together to make one pulse-pounding movie set at the end of the world where demons hunt the humans left behind after the Rapture.

November saw the release of HERETIC, which is now available On Demand. While some seem to look down on this film for being talky and some kooks have accused the film guilty of mansplaining, I found it to be a fascinating study of faith and belief. This is a thinking man’s SAW with wonderful performances by all three actors involved. Hugh Grant does a fantastic job of balancing his usual “aww shucks” persona with a downright diabolical slant. There’s nothing wrong with challenging common beliefs and this film really does make a wonderful point that everything argued about now is derivative of that which has happened in the past. This is smart horror and I want more of it.

Picking up pretty much where the first YULE LOG movie left off, YULE LOG 2: BRANCHIN’ OUT was unleashed on December 5 and I think this one is better than the first. This one mixes all of the best and worst tropes of the Hallmark Holiday genre with that of the typical slasher film and somehow, someway, it works! I chuckled my fool head off at this one and it definitely got me in the holiday spirit. This is a new holiday classic from the twisted brain-pan of Casper Kelly. Look for this one streaming on MAX!

While I didn’t really go for Nick Frost’s BLACK CAB, I did love his clever, comedic twist on folk horror called GET AWAY. Like THE YULE LOG 2, GET AWAY takes everything you love about folk horror—the secluded island culture, the harvest worship, the primitive masks, and of course, the sacrifices and rituals, and turns it upsy-downsy. The pitch black comedy works and really makes for a wonderful little movie. Think the Griswalds meet the Wicker Man, and that pretty much sums up this fun and gory gem.

Nostalgia abounds in THE LAST VIDEO STORE, which was released on December 9 and is available streaming on the Arrow Films Channel. This is a one location ode to the video stores of the 80’s as the Videonomicon is found and it rips monsters and martial artists from old genre movies. The story is played straight, even while things get kind of wonky. Plus this one manages to tell a big story set in a small space. Look for a Jason knockoff, an alien praying mantis, and a Chuck Norris style martial artist to cause all kinds of mayhem for a video store worker and a millennial who are just trying to survive the night. This is really fun stuff.

I’ll be reviewing DEUS IRAE soon. It was released on December 10, 2024 and streaming on Screambox and offers up a visual kaleidoscope of blasphemous and grossout imagery. Few exorcism movies stand out from the herd, but this mashup of Lovecraft and the Catholic religion is something worth shouting about. My review will be coming soon, but take my word, you’ve never seen an exorcism film like this one.

Friday, December 13th saw the release of THE MAN IN THE WHITE VAN which is available On Demand. The film has mainly a teenage cast, but the stakes are very high and I felt no one was safe from this based on a true story thriller. Lead actress Madison Wolfe, who most last saw in THE CONJURING 2 as that rapscallion Janet, does a great job of carrying the movie. The intercutting of previous abductions by the creeper in the van helps keep the tension high. There was a very real sense of danger here and a nice gritty look to the 70’s countryside setting. I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

The last film I saw in 2024 was Mike Eggers’ NOSFERATU which is still in theaters. I’ve been busy compiling these lists, but now that I’m done, look for my full review of this one in a day or two. Robert Eggers does a wonderful job of honoring the previous incarnations of both the NOSFERATU and DRACULA films of the past and maybe feels a bit too adherent to a more classical style of filmmaking and storytelling. That said, this is a gorgeous film, classically performed by a very talented cast. While I have a few issues with Skarsgard’s performance that I will delve into in my review, I still recommend you try to see this one in the theaters if you can.

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