Horror moviesare often unfairly destroyed by critics, but occasionally they come close to reaching absolute perfection on Rotten Tomatoes. As a genre, horror gets a bad rap from movie critics, with movies in the genre rarely getting nominated for prestigious awards. However, not only are somehorror movies Academy Award nominated, butthey can end up dominating the charts on RottenTomatoes.com, coming quite close to the coveted 100% mark.
Horror movies that have found favor on the review compilation website tend to either tackle sensitive subjects that bait critical analysis or are simply old and iconic enough to warrant positive feedback. Scary movies with deep, sociopolitical themes or meticulous global presences commonly reach the 97%, 98%, and even 99% mark. That being said, some classiccreature featureshave also held up strongly, pulling favor in the eyes of retrospective reviewers.
Get Out
Cast
Jordan Peele made his directorial Horror debut with Get Out, a terrifying Psychological Horror film starring Daniel Kaluuya. In the 2017 release, Chris Washington heads to Upstate New York to meet the family of his girlfriend, Rose. What follows is a horrifying ordeal for the anxious photographer.
The horror movie directorial review of Jordan Peele, better known at the time for being one half of the irreverentKey & Peelesketch comedy duo,Get Outwas a veritable phenomenon at the time of its release. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya as an inner-city photographer who steps outside of his cultural comfort zone when he visits his rich white girlfriend’s affluent suburban family for the first time. Before long, his feelings of unease and subtle racial tension begin to thaw away to something much more sinister lurking under the surface.
Get Out Ending & Twists Explained
Jordan Peele’s Get Out blends a classic horror movie premise with a topical twist – and here’s what the movie and the ending really mean.
Get Outisn’t just an effective psychological thriller and mystery, buta scathing commentary on American racial relationsthat manages to strike the delicate balance of subtlety and statement. The film certainly isn’t afraid to mince words about its themes, earning it enough critical praise to reach the 98% mark. Even compared toPeele’s later horror releases,Get Outhas still fares the best.
Let the Right One In
Based on John Ajvide Lindqvist’s 2004 novel, Let the Right One In is a romance horror/drama that follows Oskar, a kindly young boy who is bullied relentlessly upon moving to a new Swedish neighborhood with his mother. Oskar’s fortunes begin to change when he befriends the dour but enchanting Eli, despite her dark and deadly supernatural secret.
Foreign horror films have a great shot at ascending the rankings of Rotten Tomatoes' percentage system, with a new cultural viewpoint attracting criticism that might normally gloss over standard Hollywood releases. A Swedish production,Let the Right One Inis a great working example of this thesis statement, accruing an impressive 98% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The story follows a lonely, bullied 12-year-old boy who begins an adolescent romance with his new next-door neighbor who is secretly a vampire.
Let the Right One Indeserves its accolades as one of the best modern vampire movies.
Reviews ofLet The Right One Inpraise theinspired storytelling, fresh takes on well-worn vampire tropes, and brilliant child acting. The themes of coldness and social isolation seem to resonate with its native Swedish audience, who may have inflated the film’s percentage with a slew of warm reviews. Regardless,Let the Right One Indeserves its accolades as one of the best modern vampire movies.
The Babadook
The Babadook, directed by Jennifer Kent, explores the struggles of a single mother grieving her husband’s death while confronting her son’s fear of a lurking monster. As they contend with this unseen entity, the sinister presence grows increasingly pervasive in their lives.
Some of the best-reviewed horror movies are those that can push the genre to its limits narratively, marrying a very real, very human dilemma with an abstract monster.The Babadookis one such film,an Australian horror movie drawing heavily from German expressionism. The film centers on a recently widowed single mother struggling to raise her son, all the while being stalked by a mysterious and terrifying entity known as the Babadook.
What makesThe Babadookso genius is the eponymous villain’s status as a visual metaphor, standing in for the very real sense of grief all people endure upon losing a loved one. Theslow-burn horror, deep psychological themes, and clear appreciation for the films of antiquity grantThe Babadooka heightened critical profile compared to most horror movies. That’s not even to mentionThe Babadook’s status as an LGBTQ iconas designated by Netflix.
The Wailing
The arrival of a mysterious stranger in a quiet village coincides with a wave of vicious murders, causing panic and distrust among the residents. While investigating the suspect, a policeman realizes that his daughter may have been a victim of the attack.
Another international horror venture,The Wailingmay not have been the film to put South Korean horror on the map, but it certainly solidified the country’s place as a thrilling horror gold mine. Set in a small village in the mountains of South Korea,The Wailingunfolds from the point of view of a lone police officer tasked with uncovering a series of mysterious eventstriggered by the arrival of a Japanese stranger. When his daughter becomes possessed, he’s forced to take a very personal stake in the supernatural goings-on.
The Wailingmeshes together multiple genres, cultural sensibilities, and storytelling styles into a rich stew, somehow weaving every conflicting element together with expert dexterity. Critics seem to be aghast with the way twists and turns of the intriguing narrative, which merges the horror sensibilities of the East and West. The cross-cultural experiment left a strong enough impression to maintain an impressive 99% freshness rating, even 9 years later.
Bride of Frankenstein
The follow-up to the horror classic Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, sees the titular doctor forced to back up his research on the creation of life after being blackmailed and threatened by his former mentor. The film centers around the construction of a bride for the monster as he tries to find a reason to exist in a world that wants him destroyed.
One of the classic Universal monster movies might not be what one expects to find in a compilation of Rotten Tomatoes highest-ranked horror movies. Yet it’s at the lofty 98% freshness mark thatBride of Frankensteinremains, still incredibly influential all these decades later.A sequel to the originalFrankenstein,the 1935 film was among the first to introduce the idea of “Frankenstein’s Bride” in the flesh, a concept that’s only ruminated on in the Mary Shelley novel.
Here, the scientist necromancer Henry Frankenstein is persuaded to follow through with creating a female companion for his undead monster, only to suffer the consequences of not learning his lesson with the first iteration. WhileBride of Frankensteinwas certainly looked upon favorably by contemporaneous critics, time has been even kinder to the film, which has since itself as a horror movie icon. With all sorts of interpretations of the themes Christianity and sexuality,Bride of Frankensteinmight be thebest film to feature Boris Karloffas The Monster.
Ringu
Based on the Japanese horror novel by Koji Suzuki, Ringu is a supernatural horror film directed by Hideo Nakata and was released in 1998. Reporter Reiko Asakawa is prompted to investigate a strange videotape that supposedly led to the death of her niece and her friends. However, after Reiko finds and views the tape, she too becomes cursed and must solve the case behind the tape within a week before meeting her fate.
While Gore Verbinski’s remake might be more familiar to Western audiences, it’s 1998’s originalThe Ring,sometimes known asRingu, that’s managed to capture an impressive 98% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Like the Western version,The Ringchronicles a reporter’s efforts to researcha cursed videotape that kills those who watch itafter seven days.It’s not long before the culprit behind the curse, Sadako, is flushed out of hiding and ready to vengefully attack those looking into her wrath.
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The elements ofThe Ringthat has shot it to such acclaim on Rotten Tomatoes are its simplicity, effective scares, and cultural purity.The Ringwas single-handedly responsible for inspiring a Western craze for Japanese horror, leading to remakes like the Verbinski version as well as other cross-cultural reboots likeThe Grudgeseries. Taking a more responsible, subtle approach to a genre that had long been dominated by gaudy slasher movies,The Ring’s high freshness rating is indicative of its broad cinematic influence.
Under the Shadow
Set during the Iran-Iraq War, Under the Shadow is a horror film directed by Babak Anvari. The story follows Shideh, who becomes convinced that her home is haunted by malevolent supernatural forces after a missile strikes her building, putting her daughter Dorsa in danger.
Despite being such a recent and relatively unknown entry in the horror genre,Under the Shadowhas earned critical acclaim for obvious reasons, just one percentage point shy of a perfect freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Persian-language film describes a mother and daughter caught amid the throes of the First Gulf War in Iran. Their circumstances go from bad to worse when a bomb unleashes not just explosives, but a fearful ancient evil spirit.
Under the Shadowmakes the bold choice to marrythe very real horrors of war with the fantastical horrors of Middle-Eastern mythology, bringing the very real struggle that many families faced in the conflict to grisly light. Critics have continually congratulatedUnder the Shadowfor defying genre conventions at every turn. After all, mostmovies featuring genies, or Djinn,are fun, family-friendly affairs, butUnder the Shadowexamines their terrifying real-world origins straight from the source.
Vampyr
Vampyr, released in 1932, follows a young student of the occult who confronts supernatural forces and malevolent villagers in a rural area near Paris. Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, this film blends eerie visuals with a narrative steeped in mystery and horror.
Vampire movies have been around for a very long time, but some of the oldest entries in the horror subgenre still manage to remain some of the best. EnterVampyr,an incredibly influential gothic horror film from 1932that was among the first to describe the vampire legend for the screen. The plot follows a young student of the occult who finds himself in a remote village in the French countryside plagued by a living vampire.
Despite getting mixed and even overtly negative reviews at the time of its release,Vampyrhas slowly aged into a quiet favorite of many knowledgeable critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Praise has been offered for the film’s dreamlike visuals, gradual building of dread, and philosophical quandaries on the nature of life, death, and the eroticism the vampire subgenre has come to be known for. Even if it’s overshadowed by its predecessor,Nosferatu, Vampyris at the very least a critical darling.
Jaws
Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, follows the residents of Amity Island as they face terror from a menacing great white shark. The town’s police chief, a marine biologist, and a seasoned shark hunter join forces to track and kill the predator threatening their coastal community. Released in 1975.
One of the most influential films of all time, it’s no surprise thatJawsswims right up to the line of perfection on RottenTomatoes.com. If anything, it’s astonishing thatJawsisn’t able to float past the 100% mark, though it has admittedly aged in some ways. The film needs little introduction, taking place in a pleasant tourist town whosesummer season is thrown into jeopardy in the wake of a series of grisly shark attackscarried out by a single man-eating great white.
The cultural impact of the film needs little introduction, as Jaws essentially invented the summer blockbuster.
The cultural impact of the film needs little introduction, asJawsessentially invented the summer blockbuster. Beyond its mere influence on film as a medium,Jawshas also held up astonishingly well, pointed out as genuinely frightening, exciting, and memorable by modern reviews despite its relatively mundane subject matter by current standards. A rock-solid masterpiece of storytelling dressed up in all the spectacle of a gory creature feature, it’s no wonderJawsmade Spielberg a force to be reckoned with.
Psycho
In this now-iconic Alfred Hitchcock thriller, a secretary embezzles forty thousand dollars from her employer’s client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel. The place is run by a young man under the domination of his mother – and he soon turns out to be far more threatening than he appeared at first.
Another household name of a horror movie and the most famous film of legendary directorAlfred Hitchcock,Psychocontinues to be venerated with a lofty 97% freshness rating. Perhapsthe first slasher movie,Psychocenters on a series of murders surrounding the mysterious Bates Motel. From there, the iconic antagonist Norman Bates, played by Anthony Perkins, takes the reigns as one of the most deliciously evil performances ever put to screen.
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From psychological thrillers to supernatural terror, these horror films transcend simple scares, elevating them into cinematic masterpieces.
Though infamous for its suspenseful shower scene,Psychois simply a masterpiece through-and-through. Hitchcock’s commitment to his craft is endlessly commendable as the film lays the foundations of the modern horror film as audiences know it today before their very eyes. Stillhorror movieroyalty for a good reason,Psycho’s combination of suspense, fear, tension and mystery is hard to replicate, even by modern moviemaking standards.
