10 Highest-Rated Horror Films of 2023, According to Letterboxd
From Hollywood horror movies to French and Indian ones, they are all here.
What is the surest way to find the movies that really deserve attention? Of course, Letterboxd.
Still not read to fully say goodbye to 2023, we collected a list of Letterboxd-approved horror movies of the previous year.
1. Talk To Me
Letterboxd Rating: 3.6 out of 5
Talk To Me is the debut of Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, who run the popular YouTube channel RackaRacka. The young authors made the movie, showed it at Sundance and attracted the interest of the producers of the A24 studio.
A young girl named Mia has to deal with the death of her mother. Her father, who is also having a hard time, has become almost a stranger to her, so her family now consists of her best friend Jade, and her younger brother Riley.
One of the ways to fill the emptiness in Mia's soul is a new entertainment in the company of her peers – a kind of spiritualistic séance. Teenagers take turns holding the ceramic hand and allowing spirits to enter their bodies.
2. When Evil Lurks
Letterboxd Rating: 3.6 out of 5
Two brother farmers from Argentina outback hear gunshots at night and go to investigate. Under their feet they find a body cut in half and strange tools scattered about.
They knock on the door of a nearby house, and a frightened woman leads them into the room of her son, a man chained to a bed and covered in monstrous tumors. The woman reports that her son is rotting alive because he was possessed by a demon, and the dead man is the one who was supposed to fix everything.
When Evil Lurks is the first Spanish-language project that horror streaming service Shudder has not only shown, but also produced. The company's bet on the Argentine director was fully justified – Hollywood has never seen such horrors.
3. Infested
Letterboxd Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Arachnophobes, brace yourselves, because if you are afraid of spiders, you should definitely NOT watch this movie. According to the plot, almost thirty-year-old Kaleb is a fan of exotic insects, so when he finds a rare poisonous spider at a fair, he brings it to his apartment.
However, the spider, which can kill an elephant with one bite, escapes into the ventilation system of an apartment building and begins to actively breed, turning the house into a death trap for the residents.
4. Sleep
Letterboxd Rating: 3.5 out of 5
The newlyweds are happy and expecting a new addition to their family. One day, the husband starts showing symptoms of sleepwalking and almost throws himself out of the window, so the couple goes to a clinic. The doctor diagnoses REM sleep disorder and prescribes treatment, but it seems that the couple's problem is much more serious.
A pregnant woman, a high-rise apartment, and the lead actor's ASMR snoring – is that enough to create a creepy horror? As it turns out, yes.
5. Romancham
Letterboxd Rating: 3.4 out of 5
This movie is suitable for those who are tired of Hollywood or even European horror movies because it is an Indian production. And guess what? It's scary in a brilliant and hilarious way.
One day, seven friends, tired of ordinary gray days, decided to use an Ouija board and call the spirit into their home. Rumors spread and people flocked to their apartment to solve their problems. Time passed, and the friends understood that it was a mistake to get involved with evil spirits.
6. Scream VI
Letterboxd Rating: 3.4 out of 5
If you haven't followed the franchise, here's a quick recap: the first four movies featured a masked maniac chasing Sidney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell. The fourth movie was released in 2011, and only in 2022 the fifth part was released – with new main characters. This time, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega escaped from the killer.
In the new movie, the sisters and their two friends from the fifth part move to New York. Of course, the masked madman returns. Neve Campbell is no longer there, but Courteney Cox ’s character is now responsible for the connection between the generations.
7. Vincent Must Die
Letterboxd Rating: 3.3 out of 5
One day, Vincent is attacked by his colleagues – they hit him in the face with a laptop and stab him in the wrist with a pen. The man gets a leave of absence and goes out of town to visit his parents. At a gas station, Vincent meets a homeless man who tells him that people like him are called satellites: they provoke others to violence with just a look, and therefore live isolated from society.
Vincent is a rather unusual horror movie for those who are tired of ghosts in closets and monsters in the woods, as it also contains elements of satire, rom-com and black comedy.
8. Birth/Rebirth
Letterboxd Rating: 3.3 out of 5
Rose has actually destroyed her personal life for the sake of what she believes to be a scientific breakthrough: in pursuit of new discoveries, she barely has time to feed the pet pig, who was "resurrected" after her experiments, and now Rose desperately wants to continue these tests, but on humans.
Celie's shifts in the maternity ward leave her little time to spend with her daughter Lila, and soon she will lose her – Lila will die within a day from an outbreak of meningitis. But the end is just the beginning, and soon the radically opposite members of the medical field will be fighting for someone else's life, ignoring the ethics of what is happening.
9. The Passenger
Letterboxd Rating: 3.3 out of 5
Randy, a shy young man with an overprotective mother, works at a fast food restaurant. Because he is an outsider, he is regularly attacked and bullied by Chris, another employee. When Chris goes too far and forces Randy to eat an expired hamburger, the janitor Benson comes to the guy's aid and shoots the entire cafe staff, except Randy, with a shotgun. Before the police can find the bodies, Benson decides to hit the road and find out just why his hostage is such a weakling.
The Passenger is a thrilling psychological thriller, in which a certain idea is clearly visible: everyone has a past, often a difficult one, and it is not what defines you, but how you handle it.
10. Huesera: The Bone Woman
Letterboxd Rating: 3.3 out of 5
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Valeria finds out that she is pregnant. The seemingly joyful news quickly turns into irrational fear – Valeria is constantly haunted by ominous images of a woman with broken arms and legs. The hallucinations intensify with each month of pregnancy, and her family begins to worry about Valeria's mental health.
Those who watch Huesera for the story of a demonic child and the coming apocalypse will be disappointed. The director is most interested in the condition of the main character – a future mother, who is faced with a painful choice: to submit to the will of another or to surrender to faith in herself.