Top 30 Ranked

The Greatest Horror Movies of 2016

Petrifying Masterpieces and Supernatural Thrills

Explore the ultimate list of scary cinema. From supernatural hauntings to intense psychological thrillers, discover the best genre hits and cult classics.

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About 2016 Horror Movies

If you look back at the cinematic landscape of 2016, you might remember it as a year of massive superhero brawls and neon-soaked musicals. But for those who prefer their entertainment with a side of dread, 2016 was nothing short of a watershed moment. It was the year horror finally shed its reputation as a bargain bin genre and reclaimed its seat at the table of high art. We were witnessing the birth of what many now call the prestige horror era, a time when the scares became as intellectual as they were visceral.

The film that truly fired the starting pistol was Robert Eggers’ The Witch. Though it technically premiered at festivals earlier, its wide release in early 2016 sent shockwaves through the industry. With its meticulous period accuracy and oppressive atmosphere, it challenged audiences to endure a slow burn of folkloric terror. It did not rely on loud noises or cheap thrills. Instead, it focused on the disintegration of a family under the weight of religious paranoia. It announced a new kind of filmmaking where the monster in the woods was often a metaphor for the monsters within our own homes.

But the brilliance of 2016 lay in its variety. While Eggers was busy elevating the genre, Mike Flanagan was perfecting the traditional thriller with Hush. By stripping away a protagonist's ability to hear, Flanagan turned a standard home invasion setup into a masterclass of tension and spatial awareness. It was lean, mean, and proved that a clever hook could be just as effective as a big budget.

We also saw the arrival of Train to Busan, a South Korean masterpiece that reminded Western audiences that the zombie subgenre still had plenty of heart left. By confining the apocalypse to the high speed carriages of a locomotive, the film created a sense of kinetic urgency that most big budget Hollywood disasters fail to achieve. It was a tear jerker just as much as it was a heart pounder, proving that horror works best when we actually care if the characters survive.

Then there was Don’t Breathe, a film that flipped the script on the victim and victimizer dynamic. Fede Alvarez crafted a claustrophobic nightmare that weaponized silence and darkness in ways that left audiences gasping for air. It was a cynical, sweaty, and deeply uncomfortable watch that reinforced the idea that humans are often far more terrifying than any supernatural entity.

The year also gave us Raw, a French coming of age tale that used cannibalism as a visceral metaphor for awakening desire. It was provocative and stomach churning, yet undeniably beautiful in its execution. This was the common thread of 2016. Horror was no longer just about the jumps. Use of the genre became a way to explore grief, puberty, isolation, and systemic rot.

Looking back, 2016 acted as a bridge. It took the experimental energy of the early 2010s and refined it into something commercially viable and critically adored. It was the year that forced the mainstream to stop looking down on scary movies. Whether it was the neon pulse of The Neon Demon or the quiet grief of I Am Not a Serial Killer, the genre showed a level of sophistication that we are still riding the wave of today. It was a year where the shadows felt a little longer and the stories felt a lot deeper.

The Complete Rankings

Based on the top picks in drafts on SnakeDrafts

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30
2016 Horror in Green Room (2016)
Green Room
2016

A punk rock band is forced to fight for survival after witnessing an act of violence at a skinhead bar.

Horror
Crime
1h 35m
Jeremy Saulnier
Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Patrick Stewart, Alia Shawkat
29
2016 Horror in The Witch (2016)
The Witch
2016

In 1630, a farmer relocates his family to a remote plot of land on the edge of a forest where strange, unsettling things happen. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, each family member's faith, loyalty and love are tested in shocking ways.

Horror
Fantasy
1h 32m
Robert Eggers
Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw
28
2016 Horror in Shin Godzilla (2016)
Shin Godzilla
2016

When a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and tears through the city, the government scrambles to save its citizens. A rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster's weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side - the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.

Action
Science Fiction
2h 0m
Shinji Higuchi
Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, Satomi Ishihara, Kengo Kora

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27
2016 Horror in The Legend of the Chupacabras (2016)
The Legend of the Chupacabras
2016

Leo San Juan and his team of "ghostbusters" continue with their adventures, this time fighting against the mexican monster himself: "El Chupacabras".

Animation
Adventure
1h 23m
Alberto Rodríguez
Benny Emmanuel, Emilio Treviño, Eduardo España, Mayté Cordero
26
2016 Horror in The Jester (2016)
The Jester
2016

The Jester is the titular main antagonist of the horror/thriller analogy short films of the same name. He is an enigmatic and malevolent being who enjoys inducing suffering to individuals he comes across who don't appreciate his own tricks or break the rules of Halloween.

Mystery
Horror
10m
Colin Krawchuk
Colin Krawchuk, Michael Sheffield
25
2016 Horror in I Am a Hero (2016)
I Am a Hero
2016

A man witnesses a fatal traffic accident on his way home from work, and the victim is clearly killed on impact. A moment later, when the corpse stands up and walks away, it could be a hallucination or something far more extraordinary.

Action
Horror
2h 6m
Shinsuke Sato
Yo Oizumi, Kasumi Arimura, Masami Nagasawa, Hisashi Yoshizawa
24
2016 Horror in Abattoir (2016)
Abattoir
2016

A reporter unearths an urban legend about a home being constructed from rooms where horrific tragedies have occurred.

Horror
Thriller
1h 38m
Darren Lynn Bousman
Jessica Lowndes, Joe Anderson, Lin Shaye, Dayton Callie
23
2016 Horror in The Remains (2016)
The Remains
2016

After a family moves into an old Victorian home, they discover a chest in the attic containing antiques tainted by a malevolent spirit. As the antiques slowly possess each family member, the spirit grows stronger, hellbent on kidnapping the children.

Horror
Thriller
1h 25m
Thomas Della Bella
Todd Lowe, Lisa Brenner, Brooke Serene Butler, Ashley Crow
22
2016 Horror in Blair Witch (2016)
Blair Witch
2016

Students on a camping trip discover something sinister is lurking beyond the trees.

Thriller
Horror
1h 29m
Adam Wingard
James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Corbin Reid
21
2016 Horror in The Darkness (2016)
The Darkness
2016

A family returns from a Grand Canyon vacation with a supernatural presence in tow.

Horror
Thriller
1h 32m
Greg McLean
Kevin Bacon, Radha Mitchell, David Mazouz, Lucy Fry
20
2016 Horror in Incarnate (2016)
Incarnate
2016

An exorcist comes up against an evil from his past when he uses his skills to enter the mind of a nine year old boy.

Horror
Thriller
1h 27m
Brad Peyton
Aaron Eckhart, Natalija Nogulich, Keir O'Donnell, Catalina Sandino Moreno
19
2016 Horror in The Disappointments Room (2016)
The Disappointments Room
2016

A mother and her young son release unimaginable horrors from the attic of their rural dream home.

Horror
Thriller
1h 32m
D.J. Caruso
Kate Beckinsale, Mel Raido, Duncan Joiner, Lucas Till
18
2016 Horror in Shelley (2016)
Shelley
2016

Louise and Kasper want to become parents, but Louise cannot have children. She seals a pact with her Romanian maid, Elena, to bear her child, but things don't turn out quite as planned...

Drama
Horror
1h 32m
Ali Abbasi
Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Cosmina Stratan, Peter Christoffersen, Björn Andrésen
17
2016 Horror in The Other Side of the Door (2016)
The Other Side of the Door
2016

Grieving over the loss of her son, a mother struggles with her feelings for her daughter and her husband. She seeks out a ritual that allows her say goodbye to her dead child, opening the veil between the world of the dead and the living. Her daughter becomes the focus of terror. She must now protect against the evil that was once her beloved son.

Horror
Thriller
1h 36m
Johannes Roberts
Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto, Sofia Rosinsky, Logan Creran
16
2016 Horror in The Forest (2016)
The Forest
2016

Set in the Aokigahara Forest, a real-life place in Japan where people go to end their lives. Against this backdrop, a young American woman comes in search of her twin sister, who has mysteriously disappeared.

Horror
Thriller
1h 33m
Jason Zada
Natalie Dormer, Eoin Macken, Stephanie Vogt, Osamu Tanpopo
15
2016 Horror in Before I Wake (2016)
Before I Wake
2016

An orphaned child's dreams—and nightmares—manifest physically as he sleeps.

Drama
Fantasy
1h 37m
Mike Flanagan
Kate Bosworth, Jacob Tremblay, Thomas Jane, Annabeth Gish
14
2016 Horror in The Monster (2016)
The Monster
2016

A mother and her 10-year old daughter are trapped in a forest. There is something in this forest. Something unlike anything they have heard before. Something that lurks in the darkness and it’s coming after them.

Horror
Drama
1h 31m
Bryan Bertino
Zoe Kazan, Ella Ballentine, Aaron Douglas, Christine Ebadi
13
2016 Horror in The Wailing (2016)
The Wailing
2016

A stranger arrives in a little village and soon after a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman is drawn into the incident and is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.

Horror
Mystery
2h 36m
Na Hong-jin
Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, Chun Woo-hee, Jun Kunimura
12
2016 Horror in Under the Shadow (2016)
Under the Shadow
2016

After Shideh's building is hit by a missile during the Iran-Iraq War, a superstitious neighbor suggests that the missile was cursed and might be carrying malevolent Middle-Eastern spirits. She becomes convinced a supernatural force within the building is attempting to possess her daughter Dorsa, and she has no choice but to confront these forces if she is to save her daughter and herself.

Drama
Horror
1h 24m
Babak Anvari
Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Ray Haratian
11
2016 Horror in Hush (2016)
Hush
2016

A deaf woman is stalked by a psychotic killer in her secluded home.

Horror
Thriller
1h 22m
Mike Flanagan
John Gallagher Jr., Kate Siegel, Michael Trucco, Samantha Sloyan
10
2016 Horror in The Shallows (2016)
The Shallows
2016

While surfing on a secluded beach, Nancy finds herself in the feeding grounds of a great white shark. Though stranded only 200 yards from shore, survival proves to be the ultimate test of wills, requiring all of her ingenuity, resourcefulness, and fortitude.

Horror
Drama
1h 26m
Jaume Collet-Serra
Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen, Janelle Bailey
Why it ranks

Jaume Collet-Serra strips the survival thriller down to its barest essentials, pitting human ingenuity against a primal force of nature in a bright, azure nightmare. The film thrives on its spatial clarity and a stripped-back narrative that maximizes every ounce of its isolated stakes.

9
2016 Horror in The Boy (2016)
The Boy
2016

A young American woman takes a job as a nanny in a remote English village, soon discovering that the family's eight-year-old son is a life-sized doll that comes with a list of strict rules.

Horror
Mystery
1h 38m
William Brent Bell
Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans, James Russell, Jim Norton
Why it ranks

While it flirts with gothic clichés, this uncanny piece of puppetry horror succeeds through its unsettling technical execution and a commitment to psychological unease. It manages to sustain a bizarre, skin-crawling energy that distinguishes it from more conventional slasher fare.

8
2016 Horror in The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
2016

Father and son coroners receive a mysterious unidentified corpse with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to examine the "Jane Doe," they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key to her terrifying secrets.

Horror
Mystery
1h 26m
André Øvredal
Emile Hirsch, Brian Cox, Ophelia Lovibond, Olwen Catherine Kelly
Why it ranks

A masterpiece of forensic minimalism, this film derives its power from the methodical unraveling of a mystery within the confines of a morgue. The deliberate pace and clinical cinematography create an inescapable aura of ancient, encroaching doom.

7

After a catastrophic car crash, a young woman wakes up in a survivalist's underground bunker, where he claims to have saved her from an apocalyptic attack that has left the outside world uninhabitable.

Thriller
Science Fiction
1h 44m
Dan Trachtenberg
John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr., Douglas M. Griffin
Why it ranks

This taut psychological pressure cooker thrives on the friction between its three leads, utilizing a single setting to cultivate a suffocating sense of paranoia. It is a masterful study in tonal ambiguity, keeping the audience perpetually off-balance until its final, jarring pivot.

6
2016 Horror in Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
Ouija: Origin of Evil
2016

In 1967 Los Angeles, a widowed mother and her two daughters add a new stunt to bolster their séance scam business and unwittingly invite authentic evil into their home. When the youngest daughter is overtaken by the merciless spirit, this small family confronts unthinkable fears to save her and send her possessor back to the other side.

Horror
1h 39m
Mike Flanagan
Parker Mack, Annalise Basso, Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson
Why it ranks

Mike Flanagan achieves the impossible by transforming a lackluster IP into a sophisticated, period-accurate exploration of grief and atmospheric dread. Its success lies in a commitment to classical craftsmanship and a chilling central performance that anchors the supernatural chaos.

5
2016 Horror in Lights Out (2016)
Lights Out
2016

Rebecca must unlock the terror behind her little brother's experiences that once tested her sanity, bringing her face to face with a supernatural spirit attached to their mother.

Horror
1h 21m
David F. Sandberg
Teresa Palmer, Maria Bello, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia
Why it ranks

By weaponizing the primal fear of what lurks in the shadows, this lean feature expansion turns a simple visual conceit into a relentless technical triumph. The film excels through its disciplined editing and a refreshingly tactile approach to its supernatural antagonist.

4
2016 Horror in The Neon Demon (2016)
The Neon Demon
2016

When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.

Horror
Thriller
1h 58m
Nicolas Winding Refn
Elle Fanning, Karl Glusman, Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote
Why it ranks

Nicolas Winding Refn delivers a polarizing, strobe-lit descent into the cannibalistic nature of the high-fashion industry. Every frame vibrates with a lethal elegance, offering a grotesque yet hypnotic meditation on the vanity that devours from the inside out.

3
2016 Horror in Train to Busan (2016)
Train to Busan
2016

When a zombie virus pushes Korea into a state of emergency, those trapped on an express train to Busan must fight for their own survival.

Horror
Thriller
1h 58m
Yeon Sang-ho
Gong Yoo, Kim Su-an, Jung Yu-mi, Don Lee
Why it ranks

Resuscitating the stagnant zombie genre with a shot of pure adrenaline, this South Korean powerhouse prioritizes kinetic motion and heartbreaking social commentary. It is a rare feat of genre filmmaking that balances high-octane spectacle with a profound sense of human desperation.

2
2016 Horror in The Conjuring 2 (2016)
The Conjuring 2
2016

Lorraine and Ed Warren travel to north London to help a single mother raising four children alone in a house plagued by malicious spirits.

Horror
2h 14m
Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe, Frances O'Connor
Why it ranks

James Wan further solidifies his status as a modern maestro of the jump-scare by blending expansive world-building with deeply felt character stakes. This sequel transcends typical paranormal tropes through its operatic scale and the introduction of truly nightmare-inducing iconography.

1
2016 Horror in Don't Breathe (2016)
Don't Breathe
2016

A group of teens break into a blind man's home thinking they'll get away with the perfect crime. They're wrong.

Horror
Thriller
1h 29m
Fede Álvarez
Stephen Lang, Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto
Why it ranks

Fede Álvarez crafts a masterclass in claustrophobic tension that weaponizes silence and subverts the home-invasion subgenre with ruthless efficiency. Its visceral choreography and relentless pacing make it the year's most suffocatingly effective exercise in predatory terror.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about this list and SnakeDrafts

The horror movies of 2016 frequently explored themes of psychological terror, supernatural hauntings, and survival under extreme conditions. Films like 'The Conjuring 2' delved into paranormal investigations, while 'Train to Busan' combined horror with intense action and emotional survival drama.

Many 2016 horror movies combined elements of thriller, mystery, and drama to create richer narratives. For instance, '10 Cloverfield Lane' incorporates science fiction and psychological thriller aspects, while 'The Neon Demon' infuses horror with stylish thriller and art-house aesthetics, increasing the genre’s sophistication.

'Hush' is widely praised for its innovative use of sound and silence to build tension. The film’s plot centers on a deaf protagonist, intensifying the suspense as typical horror auditory cues are cleverly manipulated or absent.

Yes, 'Train to Busan' from South Korea is a standout international horror film, offering a fresh take on the zombie genre with emotional depth and action-packed sequences. Another international contribution is 'The Wailing,' also South Korean, known for its eerie atmosphere and complex mystery.

Supernatural horror was a significant trend in 2016, with movies like 'Ouija: Origin of Evil' and 'The Conjuring 2' showcasing haunted houses and demonic presences. These films balanced classic scares with modern cinematic techniques to refresh traditional ghost story formulas.

Psychological horror was pivotal, with movies like 'The Neon Demon' and 'The Boy' exploring internal fears, identity, and manipulation. This approach added layers of complexity, positioning horror as a genre capable of intellectual engagement alongside scares.

'The Shallows' blends horror with survival thriller by focusing on a lone protagonist stranded near a great white shark. The film emphasizes realistic tension and fear of nature, which complements traditional horror by delivering visceral, edge-of-your-seat suspense.

Absolutely, 2016 is considered a turning point where horror films achieved 'prestige' status. Works like 'The Neon Demon' received critical attention for their artistic visuals and narrative depth, marking a shift towards horror being appreciated for both craftsmanship and cerebral storytelling.
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