2022 was truly a banner year for horror, producing some of the best horror movies of all time. So it was always going to be tough for 2023 to beat it, and honestly, it didn’t. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some pretty good movies this year to keep you on the edge of your seat. Here are my 10 best horror films of 2023.
Note: I completely reject the idea that Godzilla Minus One is in any way a horror film, so that’s why it isn’t the top movie on this list. It did make my best science fiction films of 2023 list, and—spoiler—you’ll see it soon on my top overall movies of the year as well.
10. Mad Heidi. On paper, Mad Heidi absolutely shouldn’t work. It’s a low-budget movie from a studio you’ve never heard of, starring perennial low-budget schlock star Casper Van Dien. And yet, in spite of—or maybe because of—all of that, it actually does work, and works well. The movie is set in a 1984-esque dystopian future where Switzerland (yes, really) has become a fascist state ruled by an insane dictator (Van Dien) who rules thanks to an iron-fisted monopoly on cheese (yes, really). When mountain girl Heidi’s boyfriend is executed for selling his own cheese, she’s sent to prison and forced to eat Van Dien’s cheese, before she escapes to lead the resistance. It’s not to be taken seriously at any point, and there’s oh-so-much gore, but it’s a fun romp nonetheless. Mad Heidi is available for digital rental on multiple platforms.
9. The Wrath of Becky. Becky was a weird little film that came out in 2020 that was a particularly gory take on the standard home invasion story. I enjoyed it well enough back then and was more than a bit surprised to discover that they made a sequel. This time, the movie takes on the revenge movie trope, as our titular heroine takes on an anti-government militia to avenge their killing of her caregiver and the kidnapping of her dog. Lots and lots of bloodshed and violent murder follows, but Becky, played perfectly by Lulu Wilson, remains somehow likable throughout. And the final scene of the movie promises even more Becky to come. Both Becky films are available on Showtime.
8. Five Nights at Freddy’s. I’m aware that fans of the video game franchise were disappointed in the film adaptation, so I guess I’m glad I’ve never played the game, as it allowed me to enjoy the movie on its own. And enjoy it I did. Yes, it’s a fairly silly premise: a recently fired mall cop is offered the only job he can get as a night security guard at a rundown Chuck E. Cheese-like restaurant. As an audience, we already know that the animatronic creatures have come to life and murdered the last guard, but that, of course, is something our hero is going to have to learn for himself. That he’s also the guardian of his young sister heightens the tension, and then there’s the attractive police officer to further distract him. The movie doesn’t really tread too much new ground—and it’s not even the best murderous robot movie of the year—but it’s nonetheless quite entertaining. Five Nights at Freddy’s is available on Peacock.
7. Scream VI. The long-running franchise brings the gore to New York City, where our heroines from the last movie—Melissa Berrera’s Sam and Jenna Ortega’s Tara—are once more being terrorized by Ghostface. As usual, they pick up a few new friends, along with the franchise’s longest-running character in Courtney Cox’s Gail. Even Hayden Panettiere returns as Kirby, who seemed to have been killed off way back in 2011’s Scream IV. There’s the usual amount of gore, along with the always-present “everyone’s a suspect” aspect. It’s not the best movie in the franchise, but it’s certainly an entertaining one. And given the drama that has engulfed the franchise over the last few months, it seems we may have to wait some time to see another entry in the series. It’s available on Paramount+.
6. Sick. A home invasion movie with a contemporary twist: two friends decide to sit out the COVID-19 quarantine at the family lake house. But then a masked intruder shows up, intent on killing them, and they have to fight for survival while also trying to figure out who wants them dead. It’s a tense thriller that will keep you guessing until the end. You can watch Sick on Peacock.
5. Thanksgiving. There have been plenty of horror movies over the years that use holiday gatherings as their jumping-off point, but this might be one of the few based around Thanksgiving. The movie opens with a Black Friday stampede that goes horrifically, and gruesomely, wrong, and then skips forward a year as someone starts murdering those who survived. There’s a nice touch that the movie takes place in Plymouth, and the murderer disguises himself with a cheap plastic mask of John Carver, an author of the Mayflower Compact and someone who still has more blood on his hands than the murderer in this movie. The movie shamelessly borrows a lot of the tropes of ’80s and ’90s slashers, coming up with some truly grotesque ways to kill people. Thanksgiving is available for digital rental on multiple platforms.
4. Cobweb. Two extremely overprotective parents, played by Lizzy Caplan and Anthony Starr, are raising their young son by keeping him cut off from the world. But when he starts to hear things in the walls, their lives quickly unravel. Like most good horror, this movie is really a commentary, this time on the harm extreme overprotectiveness can wrought. But there are plenty of jump scares and gruesome death to keep you interested even if you decide to ignore the bigger theme. See for yourself on Hulu.
3. M3GAN. On the surface, a child’s toy goes rogue, and bad things happen. But this is as much an exploration of the dangers of AI as anything; earlier in the year, when the movie first debuted, I don’t think many predicted that we’d spend so much time in 2023 discussing the real-world implications of AI. While we’re (thankfully) still some way off from sentient killer robots, the movie provides a surprisingly timely tale. M3GAN is available on Amazon Prime Video.
2. The Blackening. The tagline for the movie—“We can’t all die first”—tells you all you need to know about this irreverent yet still sadly topical comedy slasher. It starts out like so many other movies in the genre—a group of friends get together in a remote cabin and stumble across a haunted board game (this one, based around a racist Sambo character) that unleashes mayhem on them. But instead of just being an exercise in gore, The Blackening is almost a satire of the genre, commenting on many of the tropes, both racist and not, of slasher films, but it keeps itself just serious enough to be entertaining throughout. The movie is available on Starz.
1. Talk to Me. Supernatural possession has been a staple of the horror genre since the beginning, and it seems like dozens of movies on the topic are released every year. (Five Nights at Freddy’s is among that category this year.) So in this crowded field, coming up with a unique take on it and really doing something different is rare, but the Australian film Talk to Me manages to succeed. The movie follows a group of young friends who attend a party and discover a game wherein people take turns grabbing an embalmed hand that allows them to talk to the dead. Of course, one of the heroines has recently lost her mom, so she’s more than willing to partake but doesn’t realize the price the hand exacts until it’s too late. Genuinely scary throughout, Talk to Me is easily this year’s best horror film. It’s available for digital rental on multiple platforms.
