24 Best Horrors of 2022: The Highest Rated Scary Movies

There were quite a few horror movies hitting the big screens in 2022, including both mature stories from esteemed masters of the genre, and promising films created by aspiring directors and screenwriters. Some of them might have flown under everyone’s radars, but nevertheless they really deserve attention of the horror fans.

Most of the horrors, even the good ones, don’t have high ratings because exploring the nature of human fears is just too niche a theme for a mainstream audience. Here you can find a comprehensive list of the best horror films released in 2022 with a variety of plots designed for every taste.

There is a fine line between thriller and horror film. If you prefer slow and anxiety-inducing suspense to vile and shocking action, you should opt for the compilation of the best thrillers of 2022.

Table of contents

Men

Rating IMDB – 6.1
Genre: Horror, drama
Production: UK, USA / 2022
Worldwide gross: $11,152,071
Directed by: Alex Garland
Cast: Jesse Buckley, Rory Kinnear, Gail Rankin, Paapa Essiedu, Sarah Twomi, Zach Rothera-Oxley, Sonoya Mizuno

Men is a controversial 2022 arthouse horror film starring Jesse Buckley. Featuring a distinct conflict between male and female concepts, this movie may be not everyone’s cup of tea. It also packs a storm of mixed emotions with a mystical component inspired by gloomy medieval legends.

After a terrible quarrel with her husband ending up in his suicide before her eyes, Harper Marlowe decides to run away from tragic experiences and rents a house in a picturesque village. The town seems idyllic at first, but then Harper realizes that she is pursued by local men who are very similar to each other.

During the first two weeks after the premiere, the film was firmly holding its spot in the top ten at the box office.

Х

Rating IMDB – 6.6
Genre: Horror
Production: USA, Canada / 2022
Worldwide gross: $14,779,858
Director Ty: West
Cast: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Kid Cudi, Martin Henderson, Owen Campbell, Stefan Ure, James Galin, Simon Prast, Geoff Dolan

X is a bloody 2022 Canadian-American slasher, a sequel to the horror film Pearl and a kind of homage to the classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The story takes place in the Texas outback in 1979. The production team of the porn movie titled The Farmer’s Daughter rents a barn from a elderly farming couple, Howard and Pearl. They ask the filming crew to be as quiet as possible, but the production team ignores the only request of a married couple.

Pearl really wants to take part in the sexual amusements of young people, but when she is rejected, she is offended and begins to hunt for the helpless lodgers.

Mia Goth performed the roles of both the young porn star Maxine Minx and the murderous farmer Pearl.

Pearl

Rating: IMDB – 7.0
Genre: Horror, drama
Production: USA, Canada / 2022
Worldwide gross: $9,423,445
Director: Ty West
Cast: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Thandie Wright, Matthew Sunderland, Emma Jenkins-Purro, Alistair Sewell, Amelia Reed, Gabe McDonnell, Lauren Stewart, Todd Rippon

It is a stylish, atmospheric horror that deserved an enthusiastic review from Scorsese himself. This is a prequel to the equally famous slasher X (the films were shot simultaneously). Mia Goth, who starred in both films, plays the titular character here.

In 1918, young Pearl lives with her parents in the Texas outback, waiting for her husband to return from the war, while farming and desperately dreaming of becoming a famous dancer. However, Pearl’s chances are slim. Her disabled father requires constant care, and her tyrant mother forbids her everything except working tirelessly on a farm.

Pearl feeds the crocodile living in the lake, excited by its bloodthirstiness, and gradually hopelessness accumulates in her soul, which will result in a burst of bloody madness.

The third movie in the series called MaXXXine is planned to be released in 2023, starring the same actress Mia Goth in the titular role.

Hatching

Rating: IMDB – 6.2
Genre: Horror
Production: Finland, Sweden / 2021
Worldwide gross: $504,051
Directed by: Hanna Bergholm
Cast: Siiri Solalinna, Sofia Heikkila, Jani Volanen, Reino Nordin, Oiva Ollila, Ida Mäattyanen, Saiya Lentonen, Stella Leppikorpi, Hertta Niminen, Aada Punakivi

It is an extraordinarily colorful Scandinavian horror movie about a perfect Finnish family that has to somehow deal with a scary monster.

Tinja’s image-obsessed mother runs a vlog about her family’s supposedly ordinary life. In reality, all her videos are just a flawless production, which she creates by the merciless tyranny of her loved ones.

12-year-old Tinja is forced to submit to her mother’s cruelty and narrow-mindedness. One day she finds an abandoned egg and decides to save it. The egg grows and then hatches into a strange twisted creature of Alli: the embodiment of the girl’s suppressed anger, which becomes a protector, deadly for those who in any way harms Tinja.

This movie is the debut of the young Finnish actress Siiri Solalinna. She had to play two very different roles, the submissive Tinja and the expressive Alli, showing her great acting potential.

You Won’t Be Alone

Rating: IMDB – 6.3
Genre: Horror, drama
Production: Australia, UK, Serbia / 2022
Worldwide gross: $335,465
Directed by: Goran Stolevski
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Alice Englert, Carlota Cotto, Anamaria Marinka, Sarah Klimoska, Arta Dobroshi, Felix Marito, Verika Nedeska, Teodor Vincic, Kamka Tochinovsky

The directorial debut of a Macedonian Australian filmmaker, You Won’t Be Alone is a spooky tale based on folklore werewolf witches.

Witch Maria is going to take the newborn Nevena from her mother in order to turn her into a shapeshifter. The young mother begs the witch to wait for 16 years, agreeing to voluntarily abandon her daughter after that time. The witch deprives the child of her voice and dissolves into the night.

Mother raises Nevena in a cave, away from people, hoping that the witch will not find her here. But these hopes do not come true. Maria kills Nevena’s mother, takes the girl, performs a ritual on her and disappears again. And now a young and lonely werewolf witch, in a desperate thirst to learn about the life of ordinary people, kills them and into her victims.

The film received the most prestigious Australian award at the CinefestOZ film festival.

Scream

Rating: IMDB – 6.3
Genre: Horror, detective
US: production / 2022
Worldwide gross: $140,041,405
Directed by: Matthew Bettinelli, Tyler Gillett
Cast: Melissa Barrera, Jack Quaid, Jenna Ortega, Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Dylan Minnette, Courteney Cox, Marley Shelton, Mickey Madison, Kyle Gallner

Scream (2022) is the fifth film of the famous slasher franchise and a direct sequel of the fourth movie.

25 years has passed after the terrible events that shook the town of Woodsboro, and Tara Carpenter is attacked by Ghostface. She survives ending up in the hospital, and then her sister Sam comes to see her. After finding out the details, Sam turns to former Sheriff Dewey Riley asking him to help her catch the next killer hiding behind the Ghostface mask.

The attacks continue and gradually all the people, who in one way or another were involved in the events of 25 years ago, begin to realize that they may be the next victims.

This is the first film in the franchise not directed by Wes Craven, who died in 2015. The sixth movie in the Scream series is already in production.

Moloch

Rating: IMDB – 6.0
Genre: Horror, drama
Production: Netherlands / 2022
Worldwide gross: $558,917
Directed by: Nico van den Brink
Cast: Sally Harmsen, Anneke Block, Marquise Hamer, Ad van Kempen, Edon Rizvanolli, Willemine Kressenhof, Fred Goossens, Phi Nguyen, Albert Secur, Johan Fretz

Moloch is a sinister Dutch folk horror about witches and the transmigration of souls. It follows the story of Betriek, a 40-year-old woman living in her parents’ old house somewhere in the Dutch forests with her daughter Hannah.

One day, an archaeological expedition led by Jonas appears nearby in the swamps, and instead of ancient relics, they begin to find numerous corpses of women who died a violent death.

All of this is somehow connected with the vague memories of Betriek, who witnessed the mysterious death of her grandmother, but almost forgot about this nightmare. Jonas and Betriek join forces to find out the truth.

Moloch is a mythical creature with a bull’s head and a thirst for child sacrifices.

Halloween Ends

Rating: IMDB – 5.0
Genre: Horror
US production / 2022
Budget: $20,000,000
Worldwide gross: $104,186,860
Directed by: David Gordon Green
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Rohan Campbell, Will Patton, Jesse Boyd, Michael Barbieri, Destiny Bostic, Joey Harris, Martin

Is Halloween horror series really ending again? Hopefully not. This is just the thirteenth film in a long-running franchise and at the same time the last movie in the trilogy of direct sequels to the original 1978 horror.

In 2019, Corey Cunningham accidentally killed a child he was babysitting, and since then he has been a real outcast in his hometown. Later, he meets and strikes up a relationship with Allyson, the granddaughter of Laurie Strode, the last survivor of a few rampages of the maniac Michael Myers.

One day, Corey accidentally falls into the sewer and meets Michael Myers himself. Their complex relationship will lead to an unexpected outcome of a long story.

Hellraiser

Rating: IMDB – 6.0
Genre: Horror
Production: USA, Serbia / 2022
Directed by: David Bruckner
Cast: Odessa Ezion, Jamie Clayton, Adam Faison, Drew Starkey, Brandon Flynn, Ifa Hinds, Jason Leales, Selina Lo, Zachary Hing

It is a reboot of the famous horror franchise. At first, it was supposed to be a remake of the first film, but after a few script rewrites, Hellraiser (2022) got a unique story focused on the functions of the infernal puzzle box.

Recovering drug addict Riley lives with her brother Matt. One day, her boyfriend Trevor invites the girl to rummage around in an abandoned warehouse in search of something valuable. Riley finds a puzzle box, which she later opens in the park. It leads to the Cenobites appearing before the girl and demanding her to choose another sacrifice. All of Riley’s friends are drawn into this terrible story, desperately looking for a way to close the portal to hell.

Critics called this movie “a gift to Hellraiser fans tired of numerous lackluster sequels”.

Morbius

Rating: IMDB – 5.2
Genre: Horror, science fiction, action, fantasy
US production / 2022
Budget: $75,000,000
Worldwide gross: $167,460,961
Directed by: Daniel Espinosa
Cast: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Tyrese Gibson, Al Madrigal, Michael Keaton, Zaris-Angel Hathor, Joe Ferrara, Charlie Shotwell

This movie is a superhero horror and a third film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. It follows the story of a Marvel comics character suffering from a rare blood disease.

Morbius devoted his entire life to finding a cure for his disease, and succeeded in fusing the genes of vampire bats with his own. But the drug obtained in this way has two side effects. The first one is pleasant. Morbius acquired echolocation, while his strength, speed and reaction have increased significantly. The second one is less unpleasant. The drug turns Morbius into a bloodthirsty vampire with killing tendencies.

The film became a box office flop and was met with lukewarm reviews from global audience.

The Twin

Rating: IMDB – 5.1
Genre: Horror, drama
Production: Finland / 2022
Worldwide gross: $1,512,684
Directed by: Taneli Mustonen
Cast: Teresa Palmer, Stephen Cree, Barbara Marten, Tristan Ruggieri, Andres Dvinyaninov, Nick Connor, Tiiu Uibo, Raivo Truss, Liisi Org, Kert iz Chur

It is a dark Scandinavian psychological drama directed by Taneli Mustonen. A cozy house in the Finnish outback is a new hope for a fresh start for American couple, Anthony and Rachel, who mourn the death of their son, Nathan.

They find a solace in their second son, Elliot. But after the moving, strange things begin to happen in the family. Elliot talks a lot about his dead brother and becomes withdrawn. Rachel suffers from nightmares, and she is convinced that the locals with their incomprehensible rituals and legends are to blame. She does not yet know that she will have to fight a mortal battle for the life of her second son.

Teresa Palmer, who plays Rachel in The Twin, also starred in the zombie movie Warm Bodies.

Fresh

Rating: IMDB – 6.7
Genre: Thriller, comedy, horror
US production / 2022
Directed by: Mimi Cave
Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sebastian Stan, Jojo Tee. Gibbs, Andrea Bang, Dayo Okenyi, Charlotte Le Bon, Brett Dyer, Alina Maris, William Bello, Lachlan Carmby

Noa is a 25-year-old girl who is quite unlucky in her love life. Perhaps she is looking for soulmate in the wrong place, liking anyone she sees on Tinder. The next date becomes the last straw. It turned out that the guy just came to eat at Noa’s expense.

Angry Noa completely loses her faith in online dating platforms and a little later she meets Steve in a grocery store. This is a real prince for Noa: he pays for both, works as a plastic surgeon, does not have accounts on social networks and, in general, is a quite handsome man!

Soon, the enchanted girl agrees to spend the weekend at her lover’s country house, where all the “fun” begins.

Fresh is the directorial debut of Mimi Cave and the first R-rated film from Walt Disney Pictures to be released in Australia.

Nope

Rating: IMDB – 6.9
Genre: Fantasy, horror
US production / 2022
Budget: $68,000,000
Worldwide gross: $171,235,592
Directed by: Jordan Peele
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea, Steven Yan, Michael Wincott, Wrenn Schmidt, Keith David, Devon Grie, Terry Notary, Barbie Ferreira

It is a new horror movie directed by Jordan Peele known for his Oscar-winning work, Get Out. The plot revolves around siblings OJ and Emerald trying to run the family’s horse ranch after their father’s death.

Things are going really badly, and the siblings are already thinking of selling the business, when suddenly one night the lights go out, and a strange object appears in the sky. OJ and Emerald, quickly realizing that this is their golden ticket, decide to film the alien ship at any cost, and then get rich on it. But the aliens are by no means harmless.

Nope received the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction of 2022.

Studio 666

Rating: IMDB – 5.7
Genre: Horror, comedy, music
US production / 2022
Worldwide gross: $3,018,515
Directed by: B.J. McDonnell
Cast: Dave Grohl, Nat Mendel, Pat Smear, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shiflett, Whitney Cummings, Jeff Garlin, Leslie Grossman, Jenna Ortega, Marty Matulis

It is a bizarre horror comedy shot as a documentary about the supernatural adventures of the real music band Foo Fighters. The main roles were played by the members of this music band.

The story takes place in 2019. Grohl and his team, under pressure from their agent, decide to rent a remote gothic mansion to get inspiration for a new album. Right on arrival, a technician named Krug Jagermeister is electrocuted to death by a wire, and the band decides to dedicate this new album to him.

Soon, Grohl finds a basement in the house, littered with all sorts of satanic props, and a terrible bloodthirsty demon suddenly possesses his body.

The film is movie is based on a story by Dave Grohl, who plays himself in the titular role.

Prey for the Devil

IMDB rating – 5.2
Genre: Horror
US production / 2022
Worldwide gross: $40,709,631
Directed by: Daniel Stamm
Cast: Virginia Madsen, Jacqueline Byers, Colin Salmon, Ben Cross, Nicholas Ralph, Christian Navarro, Yana Marinova, Derek Morse, Lisa Palfrey, Posy Taylor

This is an original horror about possession and exorcism from German director Daniel Stamm.

The story follows the Roman Catholic Church fighting the spread of demonic possession by opening exorcism schools where only male priests are allowed to train. Sister Ann firmly believes that fighting demons is her talent and holy mission. She convinces Father Quinn to teach her the rituals, but Ann is soon confronted by fearsome demons from her past.

Prey for the Devil appeared on WatchMojo’s list as one of the ten most anticipated horror films of 2022.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Rating: IMDB – 4.7
Genre: Horror
Production: USA, Bulgaria / 2021
Directed by: David Blue Garcia
Cast: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham, Jacob Latimore, Moe Dunford, Olwen Fouere, Jessica Alleyne, Nell Hudson, Alice Krige, William Hope

This is a horror film directed by David Blue Garcia and a sequel to the original 1974 film. 48 years after the atrocities of Leatherface, a group of young entrepreneurs travel to the abandoned Texas town of Harlow, where they plan to buy land and create a modern high-end residential area.

When examining the old shelter building, it turns out that old Ginny lives here with her adult nephew. Upon hearing the news, Ginny faints and is taken to the hospital. Meanwhile, a bunch of investors arrive here, and as if by magic, Leatherface appears – a maniac who decided to murder all uninvited visitors.

This is the ninth film in the franchise and a direct sequel to original movie released in 1974.

The Privilege

Rating: IMDB – 4.7
Genre: Horror, fantasy, thriller, drama, detective
Production: Germany / 2022
Directed by: Felix Fuchssteiner, Katharina Schoede
Cast: Max Schimmelpfennig, Lea van Aken, Tijan Marei, Milena Tscharntke, Lise Reesom Olsen, Roman Knizhka, Horst Janson, Nadezhda Brennike, Jan Andreesen, Dieter Bach

It is a German teen mystical horror film. As a child, Finn Bergmann, left with his older sister Anna, survived a shocking attack and then the death of his sister.

A lot of time has passed since then. Finn is 18, he consumes heavy antidepressants and has constant nightmares. One day, at a school party Finn takes some drugs and sees a scene from his traumatic past in front of him. Soon, his life begins to crumble as some supernatural oddities slowly surround him.

The movie stars teenage actors from the TV series Dark (2017), and some footage from that TV show are used in The Privilege.

Virus-32

Rating: IMDB – 5.4
Genre Horror
Production: Argentina, Uruguay / 2022
Worldwide gross: $93,500
Directed by: Gustavo Hernandez
Cast: Paula Silva, Daniel Hendler, Pilar Garcia Ayala, Frank Villa, Sofia Gonzalez, Rachid Caesar, Anaisi Brunet, Tiziano Nunez, Juan Fodde, Virginia Mendez

It is one of the latest zombie horror movies. Virus-32 tells a non-trivial story about the zombie outbreak in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

Iris is not a very good mother. Forgetting about the request of her ex-husband to look after their daughter Tata, she is forced to take the girl with her to work. Iris is the night security guard of a large building. While her daughter wanders through the endless maze of local premises, Iris begins to notice that something is clearly wrong.

The zombie apocalypse unfolds right in front of a terrified Iris. It all starts with small incidents and quickly turns into mass hysteria. Now the woman has to find her daughter in a huge building, and then figure out how to get out of the nightmare that Montevideo has become.

The Jack in the Box: Awakening

Rating: IMDB – 4.4
Genre: Horror
Production: UK / 2022
Worldwide gross: $213,506
Director: Lawrence Fowler
Cast: Matt McClure, James Swanton, Molly Hindle, Nicola Wright, Michaela Longden, Jason Farris, Victor Mellors, Erina Machate, Nicholas Anscombe, Melvin Rawlinson

This is the third film by British director Lawrence Fowler, and a sequel to his previous endeavor titled The Jack in the Box. The plot has remained practically the same, and although the ratings of both films are identical, Awakening is showing the overall improvement of production quality.

Olga Marsdale is a terminally ill wealthy aristocrat who has only a month left to live. She acquires a mysterious box with the demon Jack, who can heal her if she gives him six innocent souls to be torn to pieces.

Olga’s son Edgar helps his mother by luring people into the mansion. With each new death, Olga becomes prettier, and Edgar begins to think about the inheritance.

Awakening unveils the mystery of Jack in the Box showing his transformation from an ordinary person into a demonic killer clown.

La abuela (The Grandmother)

Rating: IMDB – 5.9
Genre: Horror
Production: Spain, France, Belgium / 2021
Worldwide gross: $3,033,653
Directed by: Paco Plaza
Cast: Almudena Amor, Vera Valdes, Karina Kolokolchikova, Marina Gutiérrez, Berta Sanchez, Alba Bonnin, Gabriela Calonfirescu, Ileana Wilson, Chacha Juan, Lle Godoy

This is a great Spanish horror with a dark atmosphere and unexpected ending. Although it would not be hard to predict the outcome of this story, if you pay attention to details.

Susana is a popular model, but the days of her glory are slowly passing by. Photographers prefer younger models, and she begins to think about retiring. When her grandmother Pilar has a stroke, Susana flies to Madrid to find a nurse for the old lady.

The burdensome duties of caring for an old woman and seemingly random incidents that prevent Susanna from leaving her grandmother make her, a young woman, feel imprisoned in a crypt. Hating herself, she dreams of Pilar’s death, and her dreams will come true, but not in the way she would like.

The film’s premiere, which was scheduled for October 2021, has been postponed several times due to COVID-19. As a result, the movie was released on January 28, 2022.

Nanny

IMDB rating – 6.3
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Drama
US production / 2022
Directed by: Nikiato Jusu
Cast: Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls, Morgan Spector, Rose Decker, Leslie Aggams, Olamide Candide-Johnson, Jalil Kamara, Princess Adenike, Mitzi Pratt

This is a psychological horror film directed by Nikyato Jusu that deals with the topic of immigrants in America. Aisha is a young black woman from Senegal who works as a nanny for Rose, the daughter of a young couple in New York. Aisha is saving up money to bring her young son to the US and is under constant stress due to her employers’ endless rigid rules and her struggle to maintain her identity.

Gradually, she begins to feel the presence of two supernatural figures from West African folklore. The trickster spider Anansi and the water spirit Mami Wata take over her mind, slowly chipping her sanity away.

Nanny won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Independent Film Festival, becoming the first horror film to receive this award.

Smile

Rating: IMDB – 6.7
Genre: Horror
US production / 2022
Budget: $17,000,000
Worldwide gross: $215,940,000
Director: Parker Finn
Cast: Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner, Jesse Asher, Robin Weigert, Caitlin Stacey, Kal Penn, Rob Morgan, Jillian Zinser, Judy Reyes, David Sochet

Smile is Parker Finn’s feature directorial debut, and a real hidden gem of 2022. This is a psychological horror with jumpscares, similar in style to the iconic The Ring.

The main character of this chilling story is psychiatrist Rose Kotter. In the psychiatric emergency room, she tries to calm a patient, Laura. The girl screams that she is being pursued by an evil spirit that takes the form of smiling people, and then cuts her throat with a smile. Soon the skeptic Rose is faced with the same horror as unfortunate Laura was. Roes does not fall into despair as she tries to understand the frightening phenomenon.

The movie is based on the short film titled Laura Didn’t Sleep. Both films were directed by Parker Finn, who, after the success of his previous work, signed a contract with Paramount Pictures to make a feature film.

The Cellar

Rating: IMDB – 5.3
Genre: Horror
Production: Ireland, Belgium, USA / 2021
Worldwide gross: $1,856,087
Director: Brendan Muldowney
Cast: Elisha Cuthbert, Owen Macken, Abby Fitz, Dillon Fitzmaurice Brady, Tara Lee, Michael-David McKernan, Andrew Bennett, Aaron Monaghan, Marie Mullen, Amy Conroy

This is an Irish mystical horror film about a haunted house. Keira and Brian Woods acquire a country estate that once belonged to a prominent mathematician. Their son is delighted with the old corridors of the house, and daughter Ellie is horrified by this pretentious mansion. In a word, this is just an ordinary family in the hope of a brighter future.

Soon Ellie goes down to the basement and disappears. After the unfruitful search with the police officers, Kira once again explores the basement and finds a barely noticeable strange math formula on the floor.

The film is based on the short horror movie titled Ten Steps.

Barbarian

Rating: IMDB – 7.1
Genre: Horror, thriller
US production / 2022
Worldwide gross: $45,293,440
Director: Zack Cregger
Cast: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Matthew Patrick Davis, Richard Brake, Kurt Braunohler, James Butler, Sophie Sørensen, Rachel Fowler, H.R. Esposito

Tess (played by Georgina Campbell) is a young woman arriving in Detroit for an interview. She rented a house through an online service, but quickly discovered that due to a system error, the same room was rented out to a man named Keith Toshko.

After a justifiable quarrel, both tenants decide to spend the night in the same room, as they have nowhere to go and it is pouring rain outside. The next day, Tess finds the door to the basement, opens it… and wishes she never did that! Tess learned the secret of this rental house dwelling and paid a heavy for her curiosity.