Letterboxd describes itself as a social network for film lovers and a place for cinema fans to rate their favorite movies. Elevated horror is a fairly new genre that doesn’t rely on the usual horror elements. Instead of slashers and stalkers, these films feature artsy cinematography and dark storytelling.
With an eye on social commentary and relying heavily on metaphors, these movies challenge the viewer to think. So, which elevated horror films stand apart from the rest? From witches to evil spirits, these titles had the highest ratings on Letterboxd for the genre. Fair warning: this list is not for the faint of heart.
Updated on October 20, 2023, by Robert Lee:
Elevated horror continues to be one of the most prolific and exciting subgenres in modern-day horror, with Letterboxd continuing to sing its praises towards the subgenre’s many entries. Recent releases like Beau is Afraid, Talk to Me, and Infinity Pool and the enthusiasm surrounding these titles on Letterboxd prove that the subgenre is thriving and is here to stay.
15 ‘Infinity Pool’ (2023)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.2/5
From director Brandon Cronenberg, the son of the master of body horror David Cronenberg, Infinity Pool follows young couple James and Em, who find themselves wrapped up in a mysterious taboo culture while on a pristine island vacation. While Em is highly hesitant and wary of this group’s mysterious ways, James finds himself enamored, especially by the seductive young Gabi. James soon finds himself wrapped up in a web of seduction, hedonism, violence, and unexplainable horrors.
As with the best elevated horror films, Infinity Pool works best with its strange and confusing horror coming with a thick coating of symbolism and messaging about its deeper themes and messages. Its high concept premise further amplifies this, as its terrifying twists and turns each come with their own terrifying reflection on power, greed, and manipulation.
Watch on Hulu
14 ‘The Night House’ (2020)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.4/5
Spooky and atmospheric, The Night House is directed by David Bruckner (the man who tackled the 2022 Hellraiser reboot). While the film offers a few jump scares, it pounces on viewers’ emotions as they witness a widow wrestling with her late husband’s secrets.
Rebecca Hall performs masterfully as a woman plagued with visions as she processes complicated grief. Part cosmic horror and part haunted house story, fans of slow-burn movies will enjoy the sophisticated ride until the very end. The Night House is one of the best supernational whodunits, and one best seen with the lights on.
Watch on Prime Video
13 ‘Beau is Afraid’ (2023)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.5/5
Beau is Afraid follows the story of Beau (played by Joaquin Phoenix), who has been living with extreme paranoia for his entire life. When he sets aside time to return to his childhood home to visit his mother, he finds himself on a strange and terrifying adventure as he attempts to find his way back home.
Especially compared to director Ari Aster’s other directorial works, Beau is Afraid is much more comedic and self-aware in tone, almost as if Aster is creating a dark-comedy parody of his own signature style. The result is a film whose signature dark moments and underlying themes go hand in hand with a level of strange absurdist comedy, creating an unexpected match made in heaven.
Watch on Prime Video
12 ‘It Follows’ (2014)
Letterbox Rating: 3.5/5
While many horror movies rely on gore to scare viewers, It Follows uses supernatural elements to terrify fans. It tells the story of Jay (portrayed by Maika Monroe), a woman fighting to escape a fatal curse passed between people through intimacy.
A sinister entity follows her, and it’s beyond disturbing. Some critics claim the film is a metaphor for STDs. This isn’t your typical horror movie with fast-paced editing but has a creeping plot that sneaks up on viewers until the bitter end. People either love or hate this film, so it’s worth a watch to see what the hype is about.
Watch on Netflix
11 ‘Barbarian’ (2022)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.5/5
Unpredictable and shocking, Barbarian takes the elevated horror genre to the next level. A woman (Georgina Campbell) rents an Airbnb to discover it’s been double-booked by a mysterious man. She soon learns that he’s not the scariest person in the rental.
Bill Skarsgard (the terrifying face behind Pennywise in the 2017 reboot of It) does a superb job as a potentially menacing house guest. While the film features elevated horror tropes (plenty of dramatic close-ups and social themes), it also serves up jump scares and gory kills. Barbarian is one of those movies where the less you know going in, the better.
Watch on Hulu
10 ‘Annihilation’ (2018)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.6/5
The second film from director Alex Garland (who previously directed Ex Machina), Annihilation follows the story of a biologist who signs up for a dangerous secret expedition into a mysterious zone. Inside this zone, the laws of nature do not apply normally, as the biologist and their team of experts attempt to survive the onslaught of danger that faces them on their journey.
Following up on Garland’s knack for terrifying sci-fi concepts, Annihilation delivers an equally terrifying and beautiful alternate world, which only gets scarier when its origins are revealed. What helps Annihilation especially leave a lasting impact on its audience is its tremendous visual effects and heart-stopping score, which both elevate the material to masterful levels.
Watch on Paramount+
9 ‘Us’ (2019)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.7/5
Jordan Peele proves time and time again that he’s the best in the game when it comes to social horror, elevating the genre with every film. Us is Peele’s second movie (he’s the man who gave a modern spin to a classic story with Get Out). The director dominates again in a story about a family vacation gone wrong.
Lupita Nyong’o commands the screen as a mother fighting to protect her family from murderous doppelgängers that appear in the middle of the night. The supporting cast (Shaidi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, and Winston Duke) hold their own as a family fighting for their lives. Us is fast-paced bloody action with an intellectual bend for good measure.
Watch on Netflix
8 ‘Titane’ (2021)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.7/5
Titane is a French body horror family drama that follows Alexia, a mysterious figure who after committing a number of heinous crimes, disguises herself as a firefighter’s son who has been lost for 10 years. Now living in hiding in the firefighter’s home, the duo soon form a powerful family bond, culminating as Alexia’s crimes and actions begin to catch up to her in horrifying ways.
It’s a difficult line to be able to balance body horror and emotional familial bonds, yet it’s an act that Titane is able to accomplish with flying colors, bringing the most out of both styles of story. Even despite the film’s more chaotic and unbelievable plot points, it is able to keep it all self-contained enough to tell a powerful and passionate message about found family and acceptance.
Watch on Hulu
7 ‘Suspiria’ (2018)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.7/5
Suspiria is a remake of a 1977 supernatural horror film that’s both chilling and bewildering. Directed by Luca Guadagino (the mastermind behind the acclaimed Call Me By Your Name), the premise is about a dance school plagued by a nasty coven of witches.
The movie is a mix of body and psychological horror, which makes for a menacing combination. Dakota Johnson holds her own as an aspiring professional dancer (she performed most of the choreography). Tilda Swinton takes on three characters in the film, pulling off an impressive triple act. This version of Suspiria is a cult classic in the making.
Watch on Prime Video
6 ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’ (2017)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.8/5
The Killing of a Sacred Deer explores how far a cardiovascular surgeon will go to save his family when an orphaned teenage boy turns his life upside down. This film features a stellar cast. Colin Farrell takes the lead as the intrepid doctor while Nicole Kidman plays the cold wife with eerie precision.
Yet, Barry Keoghan steals the show as a troubled teen willing to take cruel measures in the name of revenge. Part horror, part drama, part mystery, this movie feels like a Greek tragedy for modern times. It’s violent, bloody, and agonizing to watch. Be prepared to cringe because The Killing of a Sacred Deer goes off the rails.
Watch on Paramount+
5 ‘Midsommar’ (2019)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.8/5
Ari Aster’ssophomore film, Midsommar feels like a trap. Viewers witness a Swedish cult festival gone awry, and it’s terrifying to watch. Florence Pugh plays Dani, a woman hurting from losing her entire family. She travels to Sweden with her boyfriend (portrayed by Jack Raynor) to escape but finds she’s in a waking nightmare.
While the setting and costumes are a feast for the eyes (Pugh’s floral get-up is something to behold), the brightness is almost blinding. Aster is the master of his craft, forcing viewers to terry down a perilous path in broad daylight throughout the horror movie. It’s unnerving in the best possible way.
Watch on Prime Video
4 ‘The Witch’ (2015)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.8/5
Robert Eggers set the bar high with his directorial debut, The Witch. It’s about a 1630s New England family whose newborn son vanishes. Everyone suspects the oldest daughter for his disappearance, and paranoia ensues. Anya Taylor-Joy shines in her first role, setting the stage for her to be the ultimate final girl.
The film features classic folk horror elements (an isolated setting with a dark presence lurking in the woods). Yet, it taps into elevated horror with metaphorical storytelling and stunning cinematography. It’s a slow descent into madness that stuns viewers into silence. The Witch is spellbinding movie-making at its best.
Watch on Max
3 ‘Hereditary’ (2018)
Letterbox Rating: 4.0/5
Aster’s debut film put him on the horror map and set the stage for many elevated horror movies to follow. Hereditary takes a horrifying look at a family dealing with supernatural forces after the death of their grandmother. Toni Collette embodies a grief-stricken woman after tragedy strikes the family.
Part of what makes this movie so stunning is how adept Aster handles death and family trauma. At the root, viewers witness the unraveling of a dysfunctional home. A word to the wise, be prepared to ruminate on Hereditary for days. It’s haunting long after the credits stop rolling.
Watch on Max
2 ‘The Lighthouse’ (2019)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.1/5
There’s no sophomore slump for Eggers, whose second film, The Lighthouse is a work of art. The movie features Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as two lighthouse keepers pushed to the brink of insanity in 18th-century New England. There’s undeniable chemistry between the lead actors who are both at the top of their game.
Shot entirely in black and white, The Lighthouse transcends the horror genre. It’s a survival movie sprinkled with fantasy elements and offers a mixture of suspense with mythology. The gloomy atmosphere lures the viewer into the characters’ unraveling sanity (everyone will think twice before drinking lamp oil). This one delivers an overflowing serving of madness.
Watch on Paramount+
1 ‘Get Out’ (2017)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.2/5
Get Out tells the story of Chris, who travels with his girlfriend Rose upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. While the visit initially is slightly awkward, yet expected, as Chris believes Rose’s family is overly accommodating in an attempt to deal with their interracial relationship, Chris soon realizes that the truth is much more sinister. As Chris makes a number of increasingly disturbing discoveries, he comes to realize a terrifying unbelievable truth, and must escape the home before it’s too late.
Jordan Peele’s directorial debut made a massive splash on the horror scene when it was first released, as it perfectly blended its terrifying premise, laugh-out-loud comedic moments, and powerful themes to create a perfect horror experience. It’s a film whose messages and themes continue to stay as powerful and relevant as when the film was first released, making for a one-of-a-kind achievement in horror filmmaking, and is considered by the Letterboxd community to be one of the best horror movies of all time.
Watch on Netflix
