A few incredible horror films headed to theaters and streaming services in 2022. Some of these horror movies were in the mainstream and garnered the attention of casual theater-goers. Unfortunately, many of the best horror movies of 2022 have flown under the radar for some fans.

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The year began with highly anticipated horror movies like The Black Phone and X while Jordan Peele's Nope and Dan Trachtenberg's Prey surprised fans later in the year. 2022's horror films impressed fans with original stories and exciting, quality additions to classic franchises.

Updated on December 18, 2022, by George Voutiritsas: The box office has seen a resurgence this year, as a number of films have had successful runs. The horror genre has done especially well in 2022, thanks to classic franchises like Hellraiser and Predator receiving new and well-made entries. Several horror films, like Barbarian, also caught audiences' attention despite not being part of a franchise. Most horror movie enthusiasts can easily make a list of the year's best horror movies, and most of them deserve the praise, but there are other films that deserve to be acknowledged as well, especially now that 2022 is coming to an end.

18 Tinja Becomes An Unexpected Mother In Hatchling

Runtime: 1h 27m

Hatchling may not have done well at the box office, but it is still a decent movie. The Finnish psychological body horror film debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and hit theatres on April 29. It centers around a 12-year-old gymnast, Tinja, who finds a mysterious egg. It hatches into a creature that she names Alli, and it gradually transforms into Tinja.

Throughout the film, Tinja tries to please her mother, a woman who is obsessed with showcasing her "perfect family" on her blog. Siiri Solalinnadoes does a great job as Tinja and Allie, especially in the film's later stages when everything goes wrong.

17 Noa Falls For A Cannibal In Fresh

Runtime: 1h 54m

Fresh is a black comedy horror thriller that premiered at Sundance before debuting on Hulu on March 4. Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Noa, a young woman who has been left disappointed by online dating because of all the rude men she encounters. One day she meets a man named Steve, played by Marvel's Sebastian Stan, and they quickly hit it off.

Noa believes that Steve is a great guy, but he soon reveals his sinister side when he kidnaps her with the intention of eating her. There is a surprising amount of chemistry between Edgar-Jones and Stan, and the movie does a great job of balancing horror with romance.

16 An Entity That Feeds On Trauma Wreaks Havoc In Smile

Runtime: 1h 56m

Smile is a psychological horror that premiered on September 30 and features a non-human antagonist that feeds on trauma. Sosie Bacon plays Dr. Rose Cotter, a psychiatrist who witnesses one of her patients take her own life while grinning.

Rose begins to see people grinning all around her, and unsettling things occur. When she explains the supernatural threat to her fiancé, Trevor, played by Jessie T. Usher from The Boys, she is forced to turn to her ex for help. When the supernatural entity finally reveals itself, it does so with one of the best practical effects in recent memory.

15 Tess Marshall Survives A Deformed Horror In Barbarian

Runtime: 1h 42m

Barbarian hit theatres on September 9th, and it is easily one of the best horror films of the past five years. Georgina Campbell plays Tess Marshall, an unemployed woman who books an Airbnb while looking for a job. She meets Keith, played by Bill Skarsgård, and although she is initially unnerved by him, he proves to be a genuinely good guy.

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They eventually find a hidden corridor in the basement that leads to a tunnel system. They encounter a deformed woman who is the result of generational incestuous inbreeding caused by decades of assaults. Justin Long plays AJ, and he provides his best horror performance since Jeepers Creepers.

14 Sister Ann Exorsizes Past Demons In Prey For The Devil

Runtime: 1h 33m

Prey for the Devil was released on October 28 and centers around Sister Ann, played by Jacqueline Byers. The modern world has seen a massive rise in demonic possessions, forcing the Catholic Church to train exorcists once again.

Nuns are not allowed to receive this training, but Sister Ann is given the opportunity because of her special gifts. She attempts to save the soul of a young girl named Natalie, played by Posy Taylor, and Ann soon realizes that the demon once possessed her mentally unstable mother.

13 Maika Monroe Confronted A Stalker In Watcher

Runtime: 1h 35m

Watcher premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival in January and came to streaming in June 2022. Written and directed by Chloe Okuno, Watcher follows a woman who moved to Romania with her husband. She soon comes to believe she's being followed.

Watcher starred Maika Monroe, known for her role in another horror movie about being followed called It Follows. Maika believed her stalker (Karl Glusman) was a local serial killer, dubbed "The Spider," who'd been beheading women. While some critics disliked the story's slow burn, the tense plot built to an epic finale that impressed fans who stuck it out.

12 The Black Phone Reunited Hawke & Derrickson

Runtime: 1h 43m

Scott Derrickson and Ethan Hawke's most recent collaboration came in 2022's The Black Phone, based on the short story by Joe Hill. The supernatural horror followed a teenager named Finney (Mason Thames) and his struggle to survive a serial child abductor known as "The Grabber" (Hawke).

During Finney's captivity, he had a few discussions on the titular phone with previous victims of The Grabber. The Black Phone was emotionally impactful, suspenseful, and truly terrifying. While the movie stood on its own, there were a few similar horror movies for fans of The Black Phone to enjoy.

11 Crimes Of The Future Is Body Horror At Its Best

Runtime: 1h 47m

Crimes of the Future, written and directed by David Cronenberg, is a science-fiction body horror film. Pollution has caused humans to lose the ability to feel pain and sometimes grow novel, useless organs in a dark future. Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux play Saul and Caprice, a pair of performance artists who surgically remove Saul's organs in a world-renowned act.

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Crimes of the Future addressed the topics of bodily autonomy, climate change, and government control, all packaged in a visually stunning film. Cronenberg's latest horror was full of impressive practical effects and strong performances from Mortensen, Seydoux, and Kristen Stewart.

10 Men Is A Beautiful Surrealist Nightmare

Runtime: 1h 40m

2022's Men is Alex Garland's third directorial effort after his debut Ex Machina, which he followed with Annihilation. Men starred Jessie Buckley as a widow named Harper on a solo holiday in a small village after the death of her husband. However, she quickly becomes disturbed by the various men in the village, who are all played by Rory Kinnear.

Men starts out fairly realistic, but the last act devolves into a surrealist nightmare. It's a horror movie that makes audiences question reality throughout the first two-thirds of the story. The performances and visuals are also excellent, adding to the eerie feeling of Men.

9 X Is A Fantastic Slasher Revival

Runtime: 1h 45m

Ti West's X served as a revival of the slasher genre. X followed a group of performers and filmmakers who rented a farmhouse on an elderly couple's property to produce an adult film. They quickly discover there may be a killer threatening them on the property. X has been praised for its haunting story and for being "a love letter to the slasher genre."

X starred Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Kid Cudi, and Brittany Snow. Goth played an actress known as Maxine Minx and will also star in the sequel. Pearl was secretly filmed back-to-back with X and explores the life of the new and incredibly competent slasher villain, who was introduced in X.

8 Hellbender Is A Great Low-Budget Folk Horror

Runtime: 1h 26m

Hellbender is a captivating spiritual horror film that follows a lonely teen and her mother who live quietly in the woods while making metal music together. Through a chance encounter, the teen discovers with "outside" friends that her family has ties to witchcraft.

John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser created and produced Hellbender. During the height of the pandemic, they made a horror film based on their real-life music project. Hellbender is a coming-of-age story that combines aspects of folk horror, witchcraft, and teen angst.

7 Master Is An Engrossing Horror Picture

Runtime: 1h 39m

Master premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival before it was released on Amazon Prime Video in March. Written and directed by Mariama Diallo in her directorial debut, Master starred Regina Hall, Amber Gray, and Zoe Renee. Master followed Gail (Hall) as the first Black master of a prestigious New England university.

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Gail's story intertwined with Jasmine (Renee), a Black freshman. The pair experienced racism from both the staff and students. Jasmine's classmates believed that the ghost of a woman accused of witchcraft and hanged nearby cursed the university. Master featured supernatural horror aspects and themes of racism, all packed into an engrossing horror picture.

6 The Innocents Is A Spooky Norwegian Film

Runtime: 1h 57m

The Innocents is a Norwegian supernatural horror film that follows a group of children who discover they have supernatural powers. In this artistically shot film, the children begin testing and stretching their abilities' limits when adults aren't looking.

Written and directed by Eskil Vogt, The Innocents featured impressive performances from its child actors and received critical acclaim. The Innocents spookily looked at the delicate balance between good and evil. It also showcased how easy it is to move between each with "innocent" children who may not know the difference between the two.

5 You Won't Be Alone Is Both Beautiful & Creepy

Runtime: 1h 49m

You Won't Be Alone from Goran Stolevski was a great directorial debut that premiered at Sundance in 2022. The film follows a young girl named Nevena who lives in an isolated Macedonian village in the 19th century. A woman named Maria kidnapped and turned Nevena into a witch before abandoning her.

Because of You Won't Be Alone's Macedonian language, it might've flown under the radar. Nevertheless, it was beautifully shot and told a terrifying tale. Rotten Tomatoes rated the film at 92%, and the critical consensus celebrated the artsy film that put a fresh spin on classic horror tropes.

Runtime: 1h 54m

With legacy sequels making a mark in the film industry, Scream is one that ranks highly among fans. The duo known as Radio Silence directed the film, which starred a massive ensemble that included Jenna Ortega, Dylan Minnette, Courteney Cox, and Neve Campbell.

Scream took place 25 years after the first film as Ghostface made their return to Woodsboro. The new entry outdid some of Ghostface's best kills from the Scream franchise. The masked killer set their sights on a new group of teenagers with connections to the original murders. Critics cited the film as a successful Scream sequel and applauded the cast's performances.

3 Jordan Peele's Nope Explored A Close Encounter

Runtime: 2h 15m

Writer/director Jordan Peele has revolutionized cinema with his fresh take on horror. Films like Get Out and Us terrified uncomfortable fans while telling horror stories through a new and important lens. Peele continued this trend in 2022 with the theatrical release of Nope.

Peele re-teamed with Get Out's Daniel Kaluuya, who played a Hollywood horse trainer struggling to keep the family business alive. He starred alongside Keke Palmer and The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun in the surprising horror that brought a new element to close alien encounters that both terrified and entertained fans.

2 Prey Was A Hit Prequel In The Predator Franchise

Runtime: 1h 40m

Despite the lackluster reception for 2018's The Predator, fans still eagerly awaited the release of Dan Trachtenberg's Prey prequel, which released on Hulu in 2022. The prequel followed warriors of a Comanche tribe in 1719 dealing with colonialism. They were some of the first to encounter a dangerous Predator alien as it tested itself on Earth.

The movie succeeded in breathing fresh air into the stalled horror action franchise. Amber Midthunder delivered an impressive performance as a woman attempting to prove she could hunt just as well as the rest of her party while facing impossible odds. Prey left fans wanting more with the tease of a potential sequel that could continue the celebrated storyline.

1 Hellraiser Updated A Classic With A New Pinhead

Runtime: 2h 1m

Clive Barker's original Hellraiser surprised fans and became a horror classic in 1987. The dark and gory horror introduced the terrifying character, Pinhead, played for years by Doug Bradley. Hulu released a modern reimagining of the classic horror in 2022 called Hellraiser that introduced a new version of Pinhead to fans.

Sense 8's Jamie Clayton took over the role of the celebrated horror villain and made it her own for 2022's Hellraiser. The reboot followed a group of friends who discover the mechanical puzzle box that opens the door to the Cenobites hellish dimension. Hellraiser modernized the franchise while giving fans an exciting new take on a class horror character.

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