2024 has been another fantastic year for horror films. Whether it’s provocative indie gems like In a Violent Nature and I Saw the TV Glow, or mainstream scares like The First Omen and A Quiet Place: Day One, there’s been something to quench the appetite of every horror fan.
Throughout the year so far, there has been no shortage of genuinely creepy pictures delivering some of the most twisted moments of gore the genre has ever seen. And at the core of so many of these flicks, there have been some truly outstanding performances from amazing actors.
While horror performances often tend to come second to the amount of blood onscreen, 2024 has shown how crucial a role actors have in the genre. Whether it’s giving as physical a performance as possible to make audiences scared of a character, or enabling viewers to empathise with the horrifying ordeal a protagonist is going through, the following stars put an incredible amount of work and dedication in.
While each of these films is excellent for an assortment of reasons, they wouldn’t be as good if it weren’t for some truly stellar performances.
- Halle Berry - Never Let Go
- Aisling Franciosi - Stopmotion
- Carolyn Bracken - Oddity
- James McAvoy - Speak No Evil
- Nell Tiger Free - The First Omen
- Mia Goth - MaXXXine
- Sydney Sweeney - Immaculate
- David Dastmalchian - Late Night With The Devil
- Nicolas Cage - Longlegs
- Demi Moore - The Substance
“Late Night With The Devil” is technically from 2023, which I don’t care about, I’m just using it to justify mentioning that Juliette Gariépy’s performance in ‘Red Rooms’ is really impressive. It’s a slow-burning, ambiguous film, but worth watching, especially if you’ve seen ‘Strange Darling’ recently, and are looking for another take on women and serial killers.