The 21 best horror films on Now TV and Sky Cinema

Many of the most memorable horror flicks stick in the mind so well because there’s some kind of killer (literally) gimmick in place. That’s very much the case with the enjoyably tense Don’t Breathe.

When a trio of tearaways get together to break into and rob the house of an elderly blind man, they don’t realise he’s a pitiless ex-soldier with preternatural hearing, a vicious guard dog and an intense interest in keeping the contents of his basement a secret. And when he locks the doors and cuts the power, they immediately transform from predators into prey. Cue 90 minutes of cat and mouse tension in the gloom.

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A teenager is given a cute, cuddly fuzzball of a creature as a Christmas present, warned not to get it wet or feed it after midnight – but not what happens if he breaks those rules. And of course break them he swiftly does, forcing him to spend the rest of the film dealing with the terrifying consequences.

Gremlins isn’t your typical horror movie, despite its grotesque baddies and delight in ratcheting up the tension. It’s actually a remarkably light-hearted, family-friendly take on the genre, with little visible violence and a wholesome Christmas setting. It’s almost, dare we say it, cosy. In fact, it skirts the line so well that it actually inspired the MPAA to create the PG-13 rating.

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Considered by many critics to be the best horror film of all time (and according to Mark Kermode, the best film full stop), The Exorcist’s memorable depiction of the demonic possession of a young girl made it an instant cult classic upon its 1974 release.

In fact, when released on home video in the UK in the 1980s, the BBFC considered it too ‘robust’ to even grant an 18 certificate. That’s a decision that seems laughable 35-odd years later, where its content comes across as tame compared to even 15-rated horror films.

That’s not to say The Exorcist lacks bite. It’s a delightfully creepy movie with a fine cast, expertly directed by William Friedkin and simply dripping in occult atmosphere. If you’ve yet to experience the events surrounding Regan McNeil’s possession, we suggest you add this to your watchlist post-haste – it’s certainly one of the best horror films on Now TV. But you should save it for a dark, quiet night, of course.

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David Cronenberg’s directorial career is filled with movies that, while they might not fall neatly into the “horror” genre, are certainly horrifying. Graphic violence, psychosexual trauma, body horror and more are very much on display in Videodrome, Cronenberg’s 1983 exploration of the power of television.

A bomb at the box office, it’s now considered one of Cronenberg’s finest, with its depiction of a man beset by hallucinations (or are they?) after watching a troubling late-night broadcast drawing the viewer into a grim, cryptic world of corporeal corruption, sadomasochism and murder.

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Serving as a prequel to his own 2022 slasher X, Ti West’s psychological horror tells the origin story of Pearl, a young woman struggling with isolation and an oppressive family dynamic during the early 20^th century. She longs for something beyond her mundane rural existence but, when her dreams of becoming a famous dancer collide with her dark impulses, she begins down a twisted path of ambition and violence.

Mia Goth is outstanding in the title role, cementing her status as a bona fide scream queen with the performance of her career. If you enjoyed both X and this, don’t forget that West and Goth have since reunited for the third and final instalment in their trilogy: 2024’s Maxxxine, in which Goth plays an aspiring adult movie star navigating the mean streets of 1980s Los Angeles.

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A lifelike, AI-powered robot best friend for your child, able to entertain, educate and empathise? It’d be the toy of the century, surely, as well a far more suitable babysitter than the stoner kid from next door. But what if this robot – let’s call her M3GAN – was protective to the point of psychosis, and capable of subverting its programming in order to deceive and ultimately kill?

This lightweight sci-fi horror is exactly what you expect it to be, but is no less entertaining for that. If you want to see a creepy, sassy robo-child dealing out death, it’s here in spades. Camp, fun and slightly satirical stuff.

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To say too much about Rosemary’s Baby would spoil it but let’s be very clear, it’s not all antenatal classes and choosing which colour to decorate the nursery. When young couple Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and her husband Guy (John Cassavetes) move into a New York apartment block they decide to start a family, despite warnings about the building’s murky past.

Farrow’s BAFTA-winning performance is a masterclass in how to shock and unsettle an audience without resorting to blood, guts or projectile vomiting.

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Journalist Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) investigates a mysterious video tape, said to inflict a curse on anybody who watches it, in this remake of the Japanese chiller. As a rule we’re not big fans of Hollywood remakes of foreign films here at Stuff, but Gore Verbinski does a good job of retaining much of the original’s shock value while adding some new elements to the story.

We won’t spoil anything further concerning the plot and the tape but suffice to say fresh-eyed viewers are in for a real treat when the effects of the curse become clear. One of the creepiest horror remakes around, and no mistake.

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Stephen King was among the first to recognise the extremely high creepiness potential of clowns. In his infinite wisdom, King chose to propagate this concept via his classic novel It, here adapted by Andy Muschietti in a movie that comes off like a cross between The Goonies and Halloween.

Packed with Kingian tropes (childhood trauma, small town America, loss of innocence, friendship, ancient evil) and a warm homage to the 1980s, It is a fine piece of crowd-pleasing horror in which seven misfit schoolkids are stalked by an entity that takes the form of their worst fears – and yes, in some cases this is a clown. While it doesn’t attempt to redefine the genre, it works within horror’s confines to produce a film that’s as full of heart and soul as scares.

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Saw director James Wan serves up another slick horror experience, this time of a supernatural bent. When a young family moves into a new home, they start to experience a series of disturbing events, seemingly centred around their son. With a winning blend of gradually building suspense, ratcheting tension and the occasional brilliantly delivered jump scare, Insidious succeeds in being both a crowd-pleaser and a genuinely unsettling movie. We can’t say the same for its many sequels, sadly.

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When a nerdy high school kid buys and fixes up a battered 1957 Plymouth Fury called Christine, his confidence begins to grow. But when that turns into cruel arrogance, his friends start to question the car’s influence: is Christine just a machine, or is something sinister lurking in her engine block?

Despite being one of the lesser-known Stephen King adaptations and lesser-known John Carpenter movies, Christine is well worth any horror film fan’s time. Carpenter’s trademark synth score juxtaposes cleverly with the uncharacteristically ominous 50s rock ‘n roll that wafts from Christine’s radio and, despite a lack of blood and gore or sophisticated visual effects, the demonic motor exudes a palpable sense of menace, even when parked harmlessly in a garage.

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This classic British ghost story, perhaps best known for its adaptation into a long-running stage play and a cult 1989 TV movie, is brought to the screen for the second time in this 2012 chiller starring Daniel Radcliffe. He plays a bereaved lawyer, sent to a remote coastal town to settle the affairs of a deceased client – who happened to live in a creepy mansion surrounded by even creepier marshes.

With the locals unfriendly and the weather inclement, our hero decides to spend some time at the house – and uncovers a tragic tale involving suicide, drowned children and lots of strange noises. To reveal more would risk spoiling the slow-burn build-up of an old-fashioned spooky story that feels pleasingly modern.

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The first ever summer blockbuster, and a movie that discouraged an entire generation from skinny dipping, Jaws is one of the most influential, most copied and most beloved films of all time.

The premise is beautifully simple: when a New Jersey seaside resort is terrorised by a killer shark, the local police chief decides to hunt it down. But it’s the film’s direction and iconic score that make it so special. Director Steven Spielberg cranks up the tension through his use of perspective and sound, leaving the audience constantly on edge, but Jaws isn’t afraid to contrast its scarier moments (and make no mistake: this counts as a horror movie) with great beats of levity and comedy.

The end result is that it’s still an incredibly rewarding and riveting watch more than 40 years after its release. Just do yourself a favour: avoid the sequels.

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In a near-future USA, crime has been all but eliminated, the economy is flourishing and everybody lives together in productive harmony. For 364 days of the year, at least. During the annual “purge”, crime becomes legal for one night.

The purge is society’s safety valve: an opportunity to release a year’s worth of pent-up aggression in an orgy of violence before returning to your law-abiding normal life. But when one wealthy family finds their security shutters inadequate and a murderous gang at their door, they’re forced to question their former beliefs.

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The standout stars of Clive Barker’s cult classic are the Cenobites, a quartet of leather-clad, body-pierced demons beckoned to the real world after a peculiar puzzle box is opened. Sadistic, masochistic and craving ever more extreme sensations, these beings appear to unleash hell on whoever solves the box – in this case a selfish, hedonistic and amoral man named Frank.

Veering away from the slasher movies that dominated 1980s horror, Hellraiser instead took its inspiration from S&M clubs and fetish culture rather than real-life serial killers. The result is a slightly ramshackle but memorably visceral movie that stands well apart from its contemporaries.

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Does horror get any schlockier than undead exotic dancers? It does when you don’t see them coming.

Robert Rodriguez’s endlessly enjoyable From Dusk Till Dawn starts out like a standard Tarantino crime caper (complete with an acting role from the motor-mouthed director himself): bank robbers, quotable dialogue, lots of swearing and Harvey Keitel. But before too long, things take a huge swerve to the left and the full-on vampire slaying begins.

Naturally, the cussing continues to an incidental soundtrack of gunfire and gruesome death. And the aforementioned vampiric stripping scene – an unforgettable appearance from Salma Hayek.

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We dig director David Gordon Green’s approach to rebooting the faltering Halloween frachise: ignore all the previous sequels (yes, especially that one starring Busta Rhymes), don’t make Michael Myers Laurie Strode’s secret brother, remove any hint of a supernatural element – and just generally smash that reset button.

Myers has been locked in a high-security mental institution since the killing spree depicted in the 1978 original movie, but 40 years behind bars hasn’t cured him of his desire to stalk around suburbia gutting babysitters. Meanwhile, Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie is a PTSD-addled obsessive, preoccupied with the notion of Myers slipping his bonds and returning for revenge. Her daughter and granddaughter think she’s a lunatic, but when her predictions prove prescient, all three generations of Strode women find themselves in a fight for their lives.

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In a world of Saws, Hostels and Human Centipedes, Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds might seem awfully quaint. What’s so scary about a flock of crows hanging out in a playground? Hasn’t anyone who’s ever eaten a chip by the seaside received some unwelcome attention from a seagull?

It’s exactly this supposed lack of menace that the master of suspense twists into a threat, cleverly eschewing music completely to instil an unsettling sense of dread. And without The Birds, we’d also never have had Big Train’s brilliant ‘The Working Class’ sketch – and for that we must be eternally grateful.

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Darren Aronofsky has never shied away from making challenging, cerebral movies, but Mother! might be the director’s most out-there work yet, particularly given the fact it stars one of the most bankable leading ladies on the planet.

Billed as a psychological horror, it’s a taut, disturbing and increasingly intense film that lays on its allegory with hard-to-miss heavy-handedness – and yet many viewers, apparently expecting a straight-up ‘Jennifer Lawrence in a creepy haunted house’ yarn, have declared it impenetrable, dull or just plain old hilariously bad. We’re a little more open-minded here at Stuff and, despite feeling that the director is a little too pleased with his own huge brain at times, it’s hard to fault the execution. A masterclass in controlled chaos.

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Perhaps the zenith of the “found footage” sub-genre of horror, Cloverfield succeeds by taking the concept and conceit – that the viewer is watching “actual footage” of the events, recovered after the fact – beyond its low-budget roots by setting the movie not in a creepy forest or secluded farmhouse, but in Manhattan during a massive, initially mysterious disaster.

So, the viewer essentially gets a first-person view of the apocalypse, complete with gory deaths, collapsing buildings and much, much worse. It’s a fun ride while it lasts, but those who suffer from motion sickness might well have to check out early – director Matt Reeves does love his shakycam footage.

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Zombies used to groan and shuffle slowly around in their hunt for tasty living flesh. Not so in the often-terrifying World War Z: the diseased inhabitants of this dystopian future are worryingly athletic. The result is a film that rarely lets you relax, serving up constant frights, some impressive CGI and just the right amount of Brad Pitt playing the hero.

As an adaptation of Max Brooks’ excellent book, though, it’s a huge failure – having almost nothing in common with it except for, well, being about zombies. Still, if you want an action-flavoured horror where the only brains on show are the ones being gobbled up, it fits the bill.

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