A24 Horror Movies Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst and hand out assorted superlatives. In honor of the release of "Men" in theaters on Friday, I'm profiling A24's horror movies. 

A24 Horror Movies Ranked:

13.Tusk (D-)

12.Slice (D)

11.Hereditary (D)

10.False Positive (D+)

9.It Comes at Night (B-)

8.Saint Maud (B)

7.Climax (B)

6.The Witch (B)

5.The Killing of a Sacred Deer (B+)

4.X (B+)

3.Midsommar (B+)

2.The Lighthouse (B+)

1.Green Room (A-)

Top Dog: Green Room (2016)

Green Room has so much adrenaline rushing through its veins that it makes Jeremy Saulnier's other films look like a relaxing weekend at a beach house. For roughly the final 75 minutes, Green Room is a brutally relentless thrill ride that masterfully uses its confined space (A Nazi-owned club nestled deep in the rural Oregon woods) and dangerous antagonists (murderous Nazis) to create a visceral atmosphere where an overwhelming sense of danger is always present. 

Lowlight: Tusk (2014)

Here lies the current rock bottom of Kevin Smith's disheartening post-Zack and Miri Make a Porno decline. Tusk tries embarrassingly hard to be funny, weird and gross and that abundant desperation shockingly backfires as the film only succeeds at being an insufferable, obnoxious slog that overstays its welcome by about 90 minutes.   

Most Underrated: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Being wedged between the particularly controversial The Lobster and major awards player The Favourite has made The Killing of a Sacred Deer the odd film out in Yorgos Lanthimos' current trio of English-language releases. This relegation to the back burner is really hard to grasp since it's a really great, deeply unnerving film that fits nicely into the boundary-pushing Greek auteur's filmography. The performances from Colin Farrell as the patriarch who's finally forced to confront his past demons and Barry Keoghan as an awkward, inquisitive teen boy who has a hidden sinister agenda are awe-inspiring and Lanthimos' trippy, unusual shot selections paired with the wise decision to have the seemingly perfect family at the center of the story slowly unravel gives this film an uneasy surrealist atmosphere that forces the viewer into an increasingly tight vice grip. 

Most Overrated: Hereditary (2018)

If Hereditary was solely a psychological drama about a family struggling to come to terms with their grief after experiencing a shocking loss for the duration of its runtime, it would've been a pretty decent movie. Pretty much as soon as it takes a hard left into the realm of supernatural horror, the movie collapses in stunningly abrupt and monumental fashion. The horror elements feel like they were aimlessly forced into a very human story, which sets up an atrocious final act that is deeply disjointed, nonsensical and unintentionally hilarious.    

Probably the Most Unsettling Movie I've Ever Seen: Midsommar (2019)

On the other side of the Ari Aster spectrum from Hereditary, lies Midsommar. Ironically, Midsommar also blends meditations on grief with horror-except this time the scary stuff is completely rooted in reality and the film is a cohesive, cathartic nightmare that ends with an unforgettable bang. Cults scare the shit out of me and having this particular group be a largely affable bunch of individuals that carry out their gross/violent rituals during an extended period of continuous daylight in Sweden amplified the horror of their actions to the point where I don't want to ever visit the countryside in any Nordic nation.