The 15 Best Horror Films Of 2021

Let it be known that this was a particularly fascinating year for horror. As always, we saw our fair share of low-budget and arthouse horror titles, but 2021 was also a year where horror went mainstream in several unexpected places. Slashers and monster movies bled into the mainstream to a degree we don’t often see, and several big-budget studio titles held their own against the auteurs of the genre world.

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2021

Warner Bros. brought supernatural slashers to the multiplex with James Wan‘s “Malignant.” Netflix invested heavily in not one, not two, but three YA-themed slashers for audiences of all shapes and sizes. Even a high-profile sequel – Nia DaCosta‘s “Candyman” – earned a spot on this list thanks to a combination of big ideas and even bigger execution.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2022

So dig into our list and find just the right horror to wrap your year. Even if your favorite horror movie of 2021 did not appear on this list, you should be able to find something fun to watch with your family over the holidays – or something goopy to turn on as a way of getting some much-needed time alone.

15. “Willy’s Wonderland“
You can lump most late-career Nicolas Cage performances into one of two camps: those where the filmmakers tap into the earnestness of his work and those where the filmmakers treat his very presence as some sort of meta-joke. Thankfully, “Willy’s Wonderland” is very much the former. While the feature might have a ridiculous premise – a janitor trapped overnight with killer animatronics – both film and star play things admirably straightforward.

The little touches of unaddressed worldbuilding also work in the film’s favor. Screenwriter G.O. Parsons and director Kevin Lewis allow Cage’s Janitor to be gleefully underdeveloped, capturing little character flourishes – a soda addiction, an obsession with clean t-shirts – that add to the movie without feeling overly forced. The result is a wild ride that never loses its way by winking at the audience, something not all Cage directors can pull off.

(Read Charles Barfield’s review of “Willy’s Wonderland”)

14. “The Forever Purge“
Over the course of five films – not to mention a short-lived television series that aired on the USA Network – the ‘Purge’ franchise has continued to expand. What began as a banger of a home invasion movie soon evolved into national acts of economic terror. And despite a more muted reception than its peers, “The Forever Purge” is perhaps the most perfect distillation of the series’ ripped-from-the-headlines ethos.

In the latest entry in the series, the United States is undergoing a militia uprising, and a handful of citizens are forced to flee across the border into Mexico. Unapologetically political, “The Forever Purge” flips the script on American xenophobia, treating us to acts of violence visited upon the same brand of would-be terrorists who so often populate our headlines. It may be choppy and heavy-handed in places, but there’s no denying it is one profoundly cathartic watch.

13. “Fear Street Part One: 1994“
For years, horror fans have shared a single question: when will the slasher revival begin in earnest? This subgenre of horror – which has always found ways to reinvent itself for new generations of genre fans – has been frustratingly absent from studio fare over the past decade. Well, worry no further: “Fear Street Part One: 1994” brought our favorite mode of horror back into the teenage spotlight.

As the first film in the trilogy, Leigh Janiak’s feature is as invested in horror-based worldbuilding as providing first-rate kills. The result – a group of teenagers being hunted by the supernatural minions of an undead witch – balances the breeziness of a CW television series with the dashes of grotesque horror that only the director of a film like “Honeymoon” could truly deliver. The world also needs more YA horror, and this is a good one.

(Read Anya Stanley’s review of “Fear Street Part One: 1994”)

12. “Censor“
You may not know her name yet, but Niamh Algar is inches away from superstardom. With an eclectic range of titles to her name – including “Calm with Horses” and the bombastic “Raised By Wolves” – it was only a matter of time before she received a showcase feature to call her own. So consider “Censor” her big coming-out party, at least for those who have not already dug into the actress’s earlier Irish horror films.

In “Censor,” Algar plays a British censor working on the video nasties of the 1980s. When one film causes a childhood trauma to resurface, she soon finds herself digging deep into the very displays of violence she tried so hard to obscure from the public eye. While the film belongs to Algar mind, body, and soul, the unique premise and A+ period detail are proof that director Prano Bailey-Bond is also a talent worth keeping an eye on.

(Read Charles Barfield’s review of “Censor”)

11. “Sator“
If I describe “Sator” as a film that needs to be experienced more than understood, does that make you want to see it more or less? Jordan Graham’s film combines folk horror, the occult, and found footage to arrive at something both elusive and haunting. There are long spells of opacity in the film, but also moments of true genius that most horror filmmakers would kill to have onscreen.

Maybe because of this, “Sator” benefits on a first-time watch from understanding the history of the production. Graham’s film is heavily rooted in his reconstructed family history; the director recorded his dementia-afflicted grandmother and crafted a narrative around the cult religious elements that shaped the Graham family history. But the result is something so filmic – lit aflame with aspects of sight and sound – that one cannot help but become transfixed.