Over the past decade, A24 has become the home of some stellar indie films, and that includes indie horror movies. In honor of the release of Ti West’s MaXXXine, A24’s premiere horror series, here are the best horror movies that A24 has ever made.
What Are the Best A24 Horror Movies?
Horror is an entirely subjective genre, filled with plenty of different niches and methods to scare audiences. But when put through the lens of A24’s auteur-focused lens of production, they seemingly elevate each genre into something more. A24 has made a lot of horror movies in the past decade, and while some of them have been less than amazing, plenty are worth your time.
This past weekend, A24 released MaXXXine, the conclusion to Ti West’s X trilogy, which has found commercial and critical success since its release in 2022. With people eager to see the conclusion of this horror series, some people may be itching to see more horror movies like MaXXXine after they see the credits roll. Consider taking a look at these five other excellent horror movies made by A24. While I can’t guarantee they’ll scare you, I can guarantee that you won’t forget them.
1) Hereditary (2018)
Considered by many to be one of the scariest movies of the past decade, Hereditary is an unnerving look at a family that is slowly falling apart. To say any more would spoil the numerous twists and revelations in the film, but Ari Aster’s debut horror feature shows an eye for cinematography that most other directors lack. He would go on to make Midsommar, another excellent A24 horror movie, but Hereditary manages to leave a long-lasting impression, mostly thanks to Toni Collette’s amazing performance. It’s a slow-burn horror movie, not dissimilar from something like Rosemary’s Baby, and thanks to the myriad of shots that will leave you disturbed, it’s going to be one that the viewer won’t forget anytime soon.
2) I Saw The TV Glow (2024)
It may be a bit presumptuous putting a movie like I Saw The TV Glow on this list so soon after its release, but the technicolor nightmare that it brings is hard to ignore. The film follows Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine as socially awkward teenagers who bond over a supernatural show called The Pink Opaque. At first, what seems like a 90s-inspired coming-of-age story slowly descends into an amalgamation of Buffy, Twin Peak, and a whole host of mid-90s Nickelodeon shows. That may seem like a weird combination, but the show’s unnerving blend of surrealism and horror creates an experience that, by the end, will leave you questioning everything you saw and saddened by the conclusion. This is a depressing movie that will leave you nostalgic for an era of popular culture that we’ll never get back, yet hollow thanks to the fate of its cast.
3) The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017)
If you saw Poor Things last year and thought that the director, Yorgos Lathimos, was weird, then The Killing Of A Sacred Deer is just for you. It’s the story of a doctor, played by Colin Farrell, as he becomes more and more familiar with a young man played by Barry Keoghan. Like most of Yorgos’s films, it’s an odd watch at first, but you can’t deny the terror that begins to overtake everything as the movie begins to pick up speed. It’s a movie that will leave you asking a lot of questions, but the ideas it has about evil and the nature of the devil are wonderfully handled, mostly thanks to a breakout performance by Barry Keoghan. More than any other movie on this list, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is not for everyone, but for those who can vibe with its weirdness, you’ll find a lot to admire.
4) The Lighthouse (2019)
Much like Ari Aster, Robert Eggers is a director who got his start making horror movies with A24 and has found critical success ever since. However, while Aster has more modern sensibilities surrounding horror, Eggers uses a lot of classical imagery and mythology to make his horror movies pop. Take The Lighthouse for example. The film follows Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as two lighthouse keepers who can hardly stand each other, forced to live with one another on a stormy island for an unknown amount of time. Between the abuse that Dafoe puts on Pattinson and the tight cinematography, sometimes literally, it makes a film that makes you feel almost as deranged as the two men themselves. Add in some truly bizarre moments and an ending that will sear itself into your brain, and you too will be spilling your beans and regretting ever criticizing Dafoe’s lobster.
5) X (2022)
It stands to reason that if this list is in celebration of MaXXXine’s release, we should probably talk about X and its homage to 70s low-budget horror movies. Taking influence from exploitation films of the era and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the film follows a group of adult filmmakers as they rent out a barn on the property of ultra-religious geriatrics as they try to secretly make their movie without alerting their hosts of what they’re doing. What follows is a gory look at religious fundamentalism, the allure of fame and regret, all propelled by the performances of Mia Goth, who does double duty as both the film’s protagonist and antagonist. Mia Goth owns this movie and elevates what should normally be a middle-of-the-road slasher into something special. It’s funny how Mia Goth’s characters want to be a star and this is the film that put this scream queen on the map and into the hearts of so many horror fans. If you watch X, you’re coming for the slasher bits, but you’re staying for Mia Goth.
