The 20 scariest movies of the 2020s

The kids aren't alright in this bonkers, bizarrely hilarious horror comedy from last year. When an entire class goes missing overnight, fleeing their cozy homes of their own accord like birds flocking to their distant nest, the mystery unravels in ways that are riveting, hilarious, and yes, horrifying.

Another movie from the director of Weapon. Barbarian takes up real estate in your mind with a decades-spanning tale of a haunted house. What's hiding in the basement is shocking and shockingly comedic, switching cinematic tones like a bipolar genius.

What if there were two Jack Nicholsons in The Shining? That's the luny premise of Robert Eggers' austere nightmare, in which two men in a lighthouse lose their minds and their beans over a windswept, atmospheric winter. Eggers delivers a beacon of light to arthouse Cinema with this Herman Melville meets Bella Tar journey into the inky depths of insanity.

I don't know what's scarier: Robert De Niro in Meet the Parents or the sadistic racists in Get Out, which is basically Meet the Parents with deadly stakes. Jordan Peele's breakout feature takes you to a sunken place of poignant comedy and terrifying twists that make your Thanksgiving political arguments seem tame by comparison.

Being a mom is scary; just ask your mother at home. There's a baby that oozes from inside you, and then you have to raise it through the perpetual roadblocks of childhood--those scary years between 5 and 15 that are a parent's worst nightmare. Babdook expertly capitalizes on that uncertainty with a folk horror flick that plays like a bedside story gone awry.

There's nothing more terrifying than a crisis of faith, especially when it's tested by Nazis. The lyrical, laconic drama about a family standing for their morals in Nazi-occupied Austria is resplendent to look at, yes, but the fate of this World War 2 couple is devastating all the same.

The castration scene alone earns Send Help a spot on our list. Sam Raimi's gonzo popcorn flick is Cast Away, with a smattering of pulp, blood, guts, comedy, and shocking twists.

Stephen King adaptations rarely match the source material, but The Long Walk brings Hunger Games vibes to the author's dystopian critique of voyeurism and how we soak up inhumane violence for entertainment. The walk, in which lame young men walk four miles per hour constantly; otherwise, they are killed, is laughably unrealistic (who among us can walk 800 miles without stopping) but incredibly effective as a horror flick.

What a return to form for M. Night Shyamalan, who had made some of the wackiest horror movies I've ever seen leading up to The Visit. A creepy indie about children visiting their deranged grandparents, this movie excels at claustrophobic use of space, editing, and shadows.

Arguably the scariest movie ever made, Hereditary branches off the family tree of Freud and art horror to create a palm-sweating, eye-covering visceral experience that haunts your nightmares for weeks. Ari Aster announced himself as a master of tension, folk visuals, editing, cinematography, and storytelling with this tale of a troubled family even Tolstoy would avoid. 

Monsters lurk in the woods (or do they?) in this spooky horror flick about a hike through the Dark Forest. Along the treacherous, twisty path, The Ritual sacrifices jump scares for inherently slow-burn terror. 

Technically over a decade old, Drive is an immensely unsettling thriller about a driver getting revenge. Directed in the style of Jean Pierre Melville, this icy thriller sees Ryan Gosling mogging his way through incredibly tense, terse action scenes.

Another unconventional pick: there might be nothing scarier than the screaming matches in Marriage Story. A devastating, deliriously depressing divorce tale, this movie rips your heart into a million pieces with no intent to repair it.

A small, slow-burn film with a massive, shocking ending, The Invitation starts as an awkward dinner party and ends with cult antics. A full-course feast of tension, the film proves you don't need jump scares to unsettle audiences out of their wits.

The silence is deafening in A Quiet Place. A genius premise about monsters that feed on noise, the film is a dystopian nightmare where every little crackling twig and rustling tree is met with intense tension. The rare blockbuster to be immensely scary, A Quiet Place is proof that studios can still crank out horror with substance.

There's something terrifying yet exotically entertaining about this windswept lesbian romance on the rugged shores of uncertainty. Painterly, lyrical, and a bit scary, this romance paints in poetic brushstrokes while remaining grounded in reality. 

An Oxempic critique that turns body dysmorphia into body horror, as a fading actress tries a substance that gives her a younger, thinner body. The Substance is a tough pill to swallow, graphic and grotesque, but impeccably crafted and with something to say.

There are levels to Parasite; the class system is divided into floors in a mansion, and the classes clash in bloody debauchery. Starting off comedic and shifting into horror, Parasite is a genre juggling act that very few directors could pull off. 

Yes, the ending of M. Night Shyamalan's movie is a mess, but the buildup is one of the most eerie, unsettling, and riveting setups in movie history. When strangers attack a random cabin in the woods, the movie shifts into a dystopian mystery, creating one of the decade's most interesting "is it or isn't it" movie questions.

Project Hail Mary isn't a horror movie in the conventional sense — there are no jump scares or evil villains — but my goodness, do you root for Gosling to save the planet and find yourself in a black hole of uncertainty when the universe rests on his shoulders. I can't remember the last wonderful movie that made me as invested as Project Hail Mary,