10 Best Horror Movies On HBO Max, According to Metacritic

The horror movie is a genre that has at times struggled to gain critical acclaim, especially since so many entries in the genre are made on small budgets. However, some manage to rise above the rest, attaining a strong score on such review aggregators as Metacritic. Those looking for a horror movie that has been well-received by critics are in luck because there are quite a few such movies streaming on various services, including HBO Max.

These movies manage to be both disturbing and thought-provoking at the same time, signifying horror’s ability to challenge what viewers think they know about the world.

10 It (2017) – 69

Stephen King’s famous book It has been adapted more than once for the screen, most recently in 2017. The movie manages to stay true to King’s book while also taking some risks creatively, and there’s no question that Bill Skarsgård’s performance as the terrifying Pennywise is one of the movie’s highlights.

It’s a small wonder that this adaptation has come to be seen as one of the best movies based on a Stephen King book. The sequel was also  met with relatively strong praise.

9 The Evil Dead (1983) – 71

The cabin in the woods is a horror trope that has been used repeatedly, but rarely with such effect as in The Evil Dead, from director Sam Raimi, a filmmaker with quite an impressive filmography. This movie is at times incredibly brutal, featuring blood and gore and violence that still maintain their power to shock.

It would go on to become an enormous critical success, which is all the more extraordinary considering that it was an independent movie with a relatively small budget. It also maintains a strong score on Metacritic, coming in at 71.

8 Evil Dead 2 (1987) – 72

Given the success of the first movie, it’s not surprising that it would generate a sequel, Evil Dead 2. Like the original, it’s full of gore that is somehow both incredibly excessive and yet also disturbing.

However, what makes it such an extraordinary movie is that, beneath all of the violence, there’s a satiric edge that sets it apart and allows it to become something more than just another piece of low-budget shlock. Its ending is also unique, setting up more sequels to come.

7 28 Days Later (2003) – 73

There are, of course, numerous zombie movies out there, but there are relatively few that manage to do something new or creative with the tropes of the genre. Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, however, dares to take some chances. Among other things, it focuses more on character than is usual for zombie movies, giving its cast time to fully develop.

This lends their struggle to survive in a rapidly collapsing world an emotional depth and richness not always in evidence in zombie movies, making it one of Boyle’s best.

6 A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) – 76

Few horror franchises have as much longevity and success as A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Freddy Krueger is one of the most iconic villains to have ever appeared in a horror movie. The original film, which debuted in 1984, maintains much of its power, even though slashers have changed a lot since then (as has the franchise itself).

Robert Englund remains one of the most formidable actors to have taken on the role, and it’s no wonder that it maintains such a high score on Metacritic.

5 Poltergeist (1982) – 79

Like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist has become one of the canonical horror movies, even in a decade such as the 1980s that was a golden age of the genre. It also set the stage for the many ghost movies that would come after, and there are many pastiches of it in the world of popular culture.

Part of what makes the movie so frightening–and what explains its longevity–is that it turns the home, the one place where everyone should feel safe, into nothing less than a portal into another world, where darkness awaits.

4 Freaks (1932) – 80

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, movie studios in Hollywood pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable to show on the screen, and Freaks is one of the most extraordinary movies to have emerged from the period.

Focusing on a traveling “freak show,” it asks viewers to see the residents of the show as not just outcasts, but as human beings as well. The movie maintains its power to shock even now, so many years after its debut, earning it a high score on Metacritic.

3 Corpse Bride (2005) – 83

Tim Burton is widely regarded as one of the most unique filmmakers in Hollywood, with hallmarks that are uniquely his own. Corpse Bride is a stellar example of his style, in that it manages to be both deeply unsettling–particularly with its animation style–and yet also touching.

It has often been described as a whimsical movie, and it’s easy to see why, since it manages to blend together a romance with a horror plot that allows it to be both bittersweet and, at times, quite beautiful.

2 Eraserhead (1978) – 87

Like Burton, David Lynch has also established a reputation as a director with his own particular (and peculiar) vision of the world, with many strange movies to his credit.

Though the movie’s visuals are disturbing enough–drawing on surrealism–Eraserhead is also notable for the way that it uses sound. This is the sort of movie that is designed to get into the mind of the viewer and to stay there, unsettled and disturbed and yet unable to look away.

1 Eyes Without a Face (1960) – 90

Eyes Without a Face earns its place as the highest-rated horror movie on HBO Max. Though its story about a plastic surgeon determined to give his disfigured daughter a face transplant would seem to call for gore, the movie largely eschews that simple approach, focusing instead on powerful performances and a truly disturbing story.

What’s more, it features a poignant ending, in which the doctor’s daughter, freed at last from her father’s maniacal attempts to “fix” her, at last finds freedom.

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