A24’s Top Ten Scary Movies As Rated By Critics

Talk to Me, directed by twin brothers Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou, is the top-rated A24 film by film critics. The filmmakers are from Australia and have spent the last decade making violent horror comedy videos on their immensely popular and often demonetized YouTube channel RackaRacka. It stars a great cast that includes Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, Miranda Otto, and Zoe Terakes. In the film, a group of teenagers uses an embalmed hand to contact the spirit world, and things spin violently out of control.

The first film in a trilogy, X, is about a crew of adult filmmakers and actors who go to Texas to shoot their newest skin flick. Director Ti West shot the film in New Zealand, and it stars Mia Goth in a dual role, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, and Owen Campbell. This 70s-era slasher has the era's look and feel and was very popular with fans as well.

Pearl was shot a month after X, using the same set in New Zealand. In it, Mia Goth plays the younger version of X's Pearl, a childlike killer who only wants to be loved. Audiences weren't sure whether to be charmed or horrified and were perhaps a little of both. Ti West made the right call with shooting X and its prequel back to back, and Pearl was so popular and so critically acclaimed that the sequel MaXXXine was announced shortly after. It stars Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, and Matthew Sunderland. You can read the news about the chaotic cast of MaXXXine at Fangoria.

Saint Maud, written and directed by Rose Glass, is about a profoundly religious palliative caregiver who has fixated on saving the soul of her patient to disastrous results. The film stars Morfydd Clark and Jennifer Ehle and asks questions about the nature of religious beliefs and miracles. Does faith make miracles real, or is it all an illusion?

Alex Garland wrote and directed Ex Machina, the next film on the list. The film stars Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, and Oscar Isaac. In the film, a programmer, Caleb, wins a contest to visit the home of the company's CEO, Nathan Bateman. When he arrives, he is asked to help test if a robot that the CEO has built, Ava, is truly sentient. Caleb starts to feel for Ava, who wants him to help her escape. But can Caleb trust Ava?

Brothers and co-directors Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie made Uncut Gems, one of comedian Adam Sandler's more serious roles. While the film isn't supernatural, an unrelenting tension throughout the storyline is intensely disturbing, as are the fates of Howard Ratner (Sandler) and Arno Moradian (Eric Bogosian). The film stars Adam Sandler, LaKeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, and Eric Bogosian.

In Fabric, a comedic horror film directed by Peter Strickland is about a mysterious and beautiful red dress that brings bad fortune to the people who own it. It stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hayley Squires, Steve Oram, Gwendoline Christie, and Barry Adamson. The haunting story alternates between hilarity and horror as the dress goes from one story to the next, leaving death in its wake.

The Lighthouse is a tricky film. Even on Wikipedia, it does not have a strict classification. However, director and co-writer Robert Eggers said that the idea for the film came from the unfinished short story by Edgar Allen Poe, also called The Lighthouse. After the concept was not found to be workable, Eggers added the story of a tragedy at a real-life lighthouse. I would describe it as the story of two caretakers in a lighthouse who go absolutely out of their minds but watch it and decide for yourself. It stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson.

Robert Eggers' first feature film, The Witch, is coincidentally the next film on the list. Like Ti West's one-two punch of X and Pearl, Eggers' films The Lighthouse and The Witch are on the list right next to each other. The film is about a family of Puritans who are expelled from their settlement and have to build a farm close to a forest. The family's infant child disappears while the daughter Thomasin plays peek-a-boo with the newborn. Then, terror reigns as the family becomes convinced that Thomasin may be in league with a witch. The spooky film stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, and Black Phillip. In an archive interview with Robert Eggars from The Gingold Files, you can read more about the making of the film.

Green Room, written and directed, is a realistic horror film that contradicts the idea that real life cannot be horror. The story is about a punk band who takes a gig at a remote bar and finds that they are in a dangerous situation, namely, that the bar is run by neo-Nazi skinheads who have just killed someone. Since the group's leader barges into the room, the whole band are witnesses who must be eliminated. Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner, Patrick Stewart, and Macon Blair.