Dread Central’s 10 Hidden Horror Gems of 2024

Welcome to Dread Central Unearthed 2024, where we’re sharing our favorite films, moments, kills, scares, and more from this year in horror. Today, Mary Beth McAndrews is sharing ten of the most need-to-watch hidden horror gems from 2024.

I watch a lot of horror movies every year, as I’m sure is true for many of you reading this list. We all watch the buzzy titles, but the real fun comes when finding the year’s hidden gems, innovative and weird films that are unafraid of trying something new. Some of the best horror films of any given year come from this category, flying under the radar but shocking the lucky few who gave it a chance. Picking just ten of these films from 2024 is its own challenge. It was an incredible year for queer filmmakers pushing boundaries (yes, I still need to watch Louise Weard’s Castration Film) and filmmakers who aren’t white men trying to make their mark on the genre through their own unique visions of terror.

But, I feel confident that these ten films represent the power of indie horror, guerilla filmmaking, and just going for it with a skeleton crew and buckets of passion (and blood, of course).

10. MadS (dir. David Moreau)

Shudder always knocks it out of the park with their original programming and productions and 2024 was no exception. Their best release of the year was also perhaps their least talked about, despite an incredible central conceit and a stunning central performance that should be discussed on more top 10 lists. French director David Moreau, who previously directed Ils, returns to horror with his one-take zombie film that follows three people through a hellish night full of party drugs and violent bodily transformations. Sure, there’s hype for the upcoming 28 Years Later, but if you want a new kind of zombie film now, seek out MadS immediately.

9. The Becomers (dir. Zach Clark)

Zach Clark’s body-swapping alien romance epic The Becomers was a beautiful, heart-warming surprise that understands the power of the body-swapping alien narrative while transforming it into something more romantic than ever seen in the genre. Clark takes a lo-fi approach here, keeping the alien design simple and only having their eyes reveal if someone is human or not. But this lo-fi approach lets this unconventional love story—which takes some detours through conspiracy theories and domestic terrorism—truly shine. It’s fun, weird, and so obviously from the heart that you can’t help but fall in love with Clark’s vision.

8. Departing Seniors (dir. Clare Cooney)

Departing Seniors is like if Janice Ian from Mean Girls was placed in the lead role of a slasher film and given psychic powers. This 2024 queer slasher follows openly gay high school senior Javier (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio) who’s in a secret relationship with a football player. And of course, that football player just happens to be best friends with Javier’s bully, their class’ valedictorian who has it out for Javier and swears his success is just in the name of diversity. But when students start turning up dead and a bullying incident grants Javier psychic abilities, he and his best friend Bianca (Ireon Roach) set off to figure out who’s killing boys around campus.

Director Clare Cooney and writer Jose Nateras take slasher expectations and play with them for a 2024 context, never trying to dip into nostalgia to craft a scare. Instead, they innovate and focus on character rather than kills to recenter the slasher from the spectacle of each murder to the journey of discovering the killer’s identity.

7. Birder (dir. Nate Dushku)

2024 was an incredible year for queer genre films, from the success of Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw The TV Glow and Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker to films like Todd Verow’s You Can’t Stay Here and Sam Freeman and Ng Choon Ping’s Femme. But one title that wasn’t shown enough love was Nate Dushku’s Birder, a queer erotic thriller about a serial killer (Michael Emery) who infiltrates a local nudist camp under the guise of being a birder. As he integrates himself into this small community, he begins to dismantle their sense of comfort through his own brand of erotic mind games.

In an era where cinema is more and more prudish, Dushku and writer Amnon Lourie lean into casual sex and kinky hook-ups, trying to normalize such a lifestyle rather than sensationalize it. Emery shines as the handsome but mysterious new guy with aplomb, placing you under his spell before ripping the rug out from under you.

6. An Angry Boy (dir. Andrew Fitzgerald)

As it currently stands, the rape-revenge genre is virtually only focused on women’s experencies with sexual assault. Often, films in this subgenre forget about the male survivor, which unfortunately mirrors reality as male survivors are often disregarded. But not in Andrew Fitzgerald’s An Angry Boy. Starring a spectacular Scott Callenberger as Owen, this is a film about the very real network of pedophiles in the United States and what it means to escape that network as a young child. There’s a grindhouse sensibility here, but not how you may expect. This isn’t about watching a boy’s torture, but rather experiencing PTSD alongside Owen as both he and the viewer learns about Owen’s repressed memories. It’s a film that needs to be experienced, so I’ll let you go on this journey and see what this boy is so angry about.

5. Trim Season (dir. Ariel Baska)

I’m disappointed in the stoners of horror for not singing high (pun intended!) praises for Ariel Baska’s stoner witch movie featuring an incredible cast of freaky femmes and the coven leader of my giallo-soaked dreams. Baska poured in tons of research to get her representation of the modern weed industry right, especially when it comes to the world of trimming weed and the real people who do it. This is a new kind of stoner horror film, one where getting blazed isn’t just played for jokes; this isn’t dudes in terrible band shirts getting slaughtered. Instead, Baska navigates female friendships and matriarchy while also crafting a mythical strain of weed that’ll quite possibly ruin your entire life. It’s fun, freaky, and never afraid to inject some camp into what unfolds on screen. 

4. What You Wish For (dir. Nicholas Tomnay)

After everyone gushed about Mark Mylod’s culinary horror tale The Menu, I thought that guaranteed Nicholas Tomnay’s new film What You Wish For at least a brief moment in the spotlight. But sadly, after a great festival run, the film was released without much fanfare or rabid viewers who love Nick Stahl’s dirtbag chef performance, the incredible production design, Tamsin Topolski‘s turn as a Type A event planner for the reach, and the gnarly twist that exponentially raises the stakes of an already stressful experience. Ryan is a chef running from his gambling debts and trying to find a way to make enough money to keep himself alive. But desperation always leads down strange paths and this chef finds himself in quite the predicament. This is a gorgeous addition to the growing culinary horror subgenre and its central performances alone give The Menu a run for its money.

3. Things Will Be Different (dir. Michael Felker)

I ride hard for the Rustic Films family, which includes the work of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Their work is weird but thought-provoking, getting to the heart of being human while often confronting some brand of unknown, cosmic horror. This year, that family expanded with Michael Felker’s directorial debut Things Will Be Different. After working as an editor on almost all of Benson and Moorhead’s films, he stepped into the director’s seat to create a film I haven’t stopped thinking about since I saw it as part of SXSW earlier this year.

It’s one of the most authentic portrayals of a brother-sister relationship I’ve ever seen in horror, while also crafting a fascinating story about time travel. Adam David Thompson and Riley Dandy shine as they’re essentially the only two characters in the film and they effortlessly carry the story from one wild point to another while never losing sight of the empathy at the film’s core.

2. The Vourdalak (dir. Adrien Beau)

If you had told me that one of the biggest surprises of 2024 would be a French vampire film featuring an uncanny life-sized puppet that plays the titular Vourdalak, I would have laughed but also would have been incredibly excited to see it. It’s a strange premise, yes, but the result is strangely scarier than most vampire films I’ve seen of late. Instead of a tale about a bloodsucker searching for his true love, this is a story about a rotting patriarch who only wants to destroy his loved ones after instilling them with terror. It’s a bizarre period piece, but on purpose. The execution is strangely elegant and I promise if you loved Nosferatu, then you’ll adore The Vourdalak.

1. Booger (dir. Mary Dauterman)

Gross girls love gross girls, and that’s why Mary Dauterman’s Booger tops this list. Her film about friendship, co-dependency, and a black cat speaks so deeply about what it means to lose a best friend and how much it can destroy your psyche. Here, Anna’s (Grace Glowicki) best friend passes away, leaving Anna to pick up the pieces while also navigating a romantic relationship, a corporate job, and a recently escaped cat. There’s so much puke, so many hairballs, and plenty of festering wounds to make your stomach turn. And yet, there’s still a beautiful little heart at this film’s center that beats solely for the power (both destructive and restorative) of female friendship.

There are two films I’d be remiss not to at least give honorable mentions, but since they were released on major streaming platforms, I wanted to give a few other titles a chance to shine on this list. The first is Caddo Lake, a Max original film directed by Celine Held and Logan George and produced by M. Night Shyamalan. The trio previously collaborated on the underrated Apple TV+ series Servant. Here, Held and George craft a twisty and surprisingly heart-breaking lo-fi sci-fi story that takes place in a town on the titular lake involving the disappearance of a young girl. Starring a stunning Eliza Scanlen and the ever-impressive Dylan O’Brien, it’s 100% worth a watch, especially if you love more cerebral narratives.

Then, there is Mr. Crocket, director Brandon Espy’s feature film debut that was part of Hulu’s annual Huluween program slate. This film is analog horror meets Mr. Rogers as the titular Mr. Crocket (played by an incredible Elvis Nolasco) who just wants to protect children from evil parents. It’s another surprising combo, with Espy blending technicolor 90s puppetry and harrowing analog in this nasty and complex tale about parenting.

What were some of your favorite underrated horror gems from 2024? Let us know @DreadCentral on X, Bluesky, and Instagram.

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