10 Greatest Supernatural Thrillers of the Last 25 Years, Ranked

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By

Ryan Heffernan

Published Apr 20, 2026, 7:09 PM EDT

Ryan Heffernan is a Senior Writer at Collider. Storytelling has been one of his interests since an early age, with his appreciation for film and television becoming a particular interest of his during his teenage years. **

This passion saw Ryan graduate from the University of Canberra in 2020 with an Honours Degree in Film Production. In the years since, he has found freelance work as a videographer and editor in the Canberra region while also becoming entrenched in the city's film-making community. 

In addition to cinema and writing, Ryan's other major interest is sport, with him having a particular love for Australian Rules football, Formula 1, and cricket. He also has casual interests in reading, gaming, and history.

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The mystique of the supernatural has always been a pressing interest in cinema, spanning as far back as the medium’s earliest days of horror. There are several reasons for this constant intrigue, ranging from logistical factors—movies about unseen forces are typically cost-effective to produce and cater to a pre-existing audience—to the thematic intensity that can underline such stories. This approach allows them to mirror and analyze contemporary anxieties while still delivering heart-stopping thrills and chills ad nauseam.

The past 25 years have been a golden era for supernatural cinema**, defined by a perfect combination of immense financial success and several pop-culture sensations, and a pressing, timely relevance. Filmmakers have used the ever-growing range of technical tools at their disposal to delve deeper into the paranormal with both attentive, worldly resonance and visceral suspense. Ranging from eerie and unnerving slow-burns to frightful and frenetic horrors, these are the best supernatural thrillers of the past 25 years.

COLLIDER Collider · Quiz

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World_ Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars

Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive.

💊The Matrix 🔥Mad Max 🌧️Blade Runner 🏜️Dune 🚀Star Wars

TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →

QUESTION 1 / 8INSTINCT

01 You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.

APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 2 / 8RESOURCE

02 In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.

AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 3 / 8THREAT

03 What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of.

AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 4 / 8AUTHORITY

04 How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.

ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 5 / 8ENVIRONMENT

05 Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.

AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 6 / 8ALLIANCE

06 Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.

AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 7 / 8MORALITY

07 Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of.

AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 8 / 8PURPOSE

08 What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.

AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot.

REVEAL MY WORLD →

Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In… Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.

The Resistance, Zion

The Matrix You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things.

• You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.

• You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare.

• You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.

• The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door.

The Wasteland

Mad Max The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you.

• You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.

• You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three.

• You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.

• In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.

Los Angeles, 2049

Blade Runner You'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.

• You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.

• In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.

• You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either.

• In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything.

Arrakis

Dune Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.

• Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools.

• You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.

• Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect.

• In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it.

A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Star Wars The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way.

• You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.

• You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken.

• You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of.

• In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

10

'The Others' (2001)

_ Nicole Kidman with a little girl covered in white in The Others.Image via Warner Bros

2026 marks 25 years since The Others_ premiered back in 2001, and while the movie was a significant box office hit that earned widespread critical acclaim, its status has only risen over the years since its release. Presenting as a haunted house horror, it follows a mother and her two children in a remote country house, encountering bizarre and inexplicable occurrences. Grace (Nicole Kidman) grows convinced that the house is haunted, but the truth may be even more enigmatic than it first seems.

Inspired by traditional Gothic horror, The Others doesn’t rely on jump scares or visual terror to conjure up its suspense, but rather a festering atmosphere of psychological tension that preys on the audience’s imagination. It’s patient and poised, with director Alejandro Amenábar confident in the methodical pacing he employs to be able to conjure an air of intrigue and dread through every stage of the movie. Complemented by astute sound design, scoring, performances, and period-detail production, The Others now stands as a modern masterpiece of Gothic suspense and supernatural angst that features one of the greatest twist endings in cinematic history.

9

'Tigers Are Not Afraid' (2017)

_ The tiger symbolism in the dark fantasy, Tigers Are Not Afraid_.Image via Shudder

One of the boldest uses of supernatural suspense cinema has ever seen, Tigers Are Not Afraid uses the simmering tension of the unknown to immerse viewers in the life of a child left to fend for herself in the midst of a cartel war in Mexico. After the disappearance of her mother, young Estrella (Paola Lara) falls in with a small band of street orphans struggling to survive the violence that fills their world. She is granted three wishes, but the dark ramifications of her desires set off a tragic chain of events.

Mixing elements of dark fairytale fables and brutal crime realism, Tigers Are Not Afraid stands as a confronting story of hope and loss, one that plays with the notion of “be careful what you wish for” with a compelling sense of innocence and tragedy. Buoyed by the excellent performances of its young stars, the Mexican film is an emotionally stirring and thought-provoking gem of supernatural suspense and drama that is both an overlooked psychological thriller and a criminally underrated illustration of real-world horrors.

8

'The Babadook' (2014)

_ Amelia holding on to Samuel and screaming in fear and anger in The BabadookImage via Umbrella Entertainment

Excelling at using supernatural mystique as a catalyst for thematic exploration, The Babadook_ doubles as both a nerve-shattering monster movie and a compelling examination of grief, depression, and maternal resentment. An outstanding **Essie Davis **plays Amelia, a single mother still reeling from her late husband’s death. Her internalized feelings of anger and sorrow begin to manifest when her son starts behaving erratically, claiming that a monster has come into the house from a disturbing children’s book.

Like many of the best and most effective supernatural movies, The Babadook adopts a less-is-more approach, allowing it to fester in the imagination of viewers as well. Its ability to marry an eerie and creeping sense of paranormal dread with real-world issues of trauma and contained emotional turmoil makes for a viscerally rattling supernatural thriller as well as one of the best movies Australia has produced in decades.

7

'The Autopsy of Jane Doe' (2016)

_ Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch by a microscope in The Autopsy of Jane Doe.Image via IFC Midnight

Featuring elements of forensic investigation and mystery, terrifying supernatural horror, and petrifying claustrophobic tension, The Autopsy of Jane Doe_ is something of a modern cult classic that coasts on the claustrophobic confines of its morgue setting. Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch play two coroners, a father and son, whose efforts to determine the cause of death of an unidentified Jane Doe lead to a series of sinister paranormal events taking place as every discovery they make only complicates their investigation.

It leans heavily into the graphic gore its premise allows for, but it refuses to be defined simply as a squeamish spectacle of visual horror, instead thriving with its psychological suspense and gradually-building atmosphere of inescapable evil. Also laced with a strong sense of character drama that benefits from the strength of the two leads, The Autopsy of Jane Doe excels as a cerebral and genuinely unpredictable thriller that explores the possibilities of supernatural chills in new and interesting ways.

6

'Talk to Me' (2022)

_ Image from 2023 horror hit 'Talk to Me'Image via A24

Clever and creative, Talk to Me_ became an instant horror hit upon release in 2022, with the Australian movie reinventing possession terror and ghost story tropes. The result is a movie that is exuberant and exciting while still packing a fierce, dramatic and thematic punch. A group of young friends discovers an embalmed hand that allows them to communicate with spirits and begin using it as a source of party entertainment. However, when Mia (Sophie Wilde) connects with her dead mother, her obsession sees the irreverent antics devolve into something far more sinister.

Merging supernatural terror with deft character drama all while accentuating the thrills with piercing practical effects, Talk to Me works on multiple levels to deliver an outstanding horror/thriller that is both dramatic and suspenseful. The reckless behavior of the teens creates a sense of party fun that is not only an enjoyable addition to the genre but also does plenty of work to ground the movie in a sense of realism. As this irrationality mixes with deep emotional beats like grief, loss, and abandonment, the film finds a pressing authenticity that makes it one of the greatest supernatural horrors of all time.

5

'A Tale of Two Sisters' (2003)

_ A Tale of Two SistersImage Via Cineclick Asia

South Korean cinema has been a goldmine of masterful films throughout the 21st century so far, with the nation producing everything from genre-defining horror movies to awe-inspiring action, Oscar-winning drama, and gripping psychological thrillers. A Tale of Two Sisters_ stands as one of the country’s greatest triumphs, thriving as a piercing combination of supernatural angst and rich character drama. It follows two reunited sisters who share a disdain for their new stepmother. The family situation escalates as it becomes clear their country house is being haunted by the ghost of the sisters’ late mother.

Suffocating with its slow-burn intensity that conjures a palpable air of atmospheric discomfort and claustrophobia, A Tale of Two Sisters delivers a pulsating yet patient suspense that is complemented by stunning filmmaking and a thoughtful story of loss and family dysfunction. Also featuring twisting and psychologically probing storytelling and a host of great performances, A Tale of Two Sisters stands as a masterpiece of international cinema and a chilling ghost tale that demands multiple watches to be grasped in its entirety.

4

'The Witch' (2015)

Robert Eggers immediately stamped himself as a filmmaker of uncommon talent with the grueling 2015 slow-burn thriller, The Witch. Everything from its dreary New England setting and meticulous use of natural light to its atmospheric sense of patient, predatory evil is nothing short of masterful. The dynamics of the family are propelled by a litany of outstanding performances, including Anya Taylor-Joy’s starring role in what would prove to be her major breakthrough.

Set in the 1630s, it follows a Puritan family as they are banished from their settlement and move into a remote farm on the cusp of a forest. When a series of strange events leads to the family’s infant child vanishing, the internal dynamic shifts towards suspicion and paranoia as young Thomasin (Taylor-Joy) is blamed for the disappearance and accused of collaborating with an evil witch from the woods. Moody, meticulous, and steeped in a weighted sense of dark mysticism, The Witch is a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling that is relentlessly chilling.

3

'Hereditary' (2018)

_ Toni Collette as Annie Graham screaming in fear at something unseen in Hereditary (2018)Image via A24

Another masterpiece that marks one of the boldest directorial debuts of the modern era, Hereditary_ has come to be viewed by the masses as one of the most terrifying and emotionally traumatizing movies ever made. Flaunting astonishing performances that bring to life the full emotional scope of Ari Aster’s screenplay, it excels as a ceaselessly disconcerting viewing, a movie that feels it has the essence of evil baked into the very fabric of its existence.

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After losing an elderly family member, the Graham family is struck by another devastating tragedy that tears at the core of their love for each other. When they decide to perform a séance to communicate with the spirit of their lost loved one, they find themselves besieged by a malevolent force. Soon, Annie’s (Toni Collette**) discovery of her mother’s disturbing connection to the occult plunges the family into a deeper, more sinister darkness. The epitome of skin-crawling terror, Hereditary_ is supernatural suspense at its absolute best, feeding on the humanity of the Graham family’s grief while delivering a story of the predatory cunning of evil, the inevitability of fate, and the emotional turmoil of loss and guilt.

2

'Let the Right One In' (2008)

_ Lina Leandersson as Eli covered in blood in front of a shadowy figure in Let the Right One In.Image via Sandrew Metronome

A transfixing marriage of supernatural darkness and the tenderness of young love, Let the Right One In_ is one of the most intriguing and rewarding vampire movies in recent years. Set in the bleak blue of suburban Sweden, it follows a bullied child who dreams of exacting his revenge on his tormentors. In his thralls of isolation and vindictiveness, he falls in love with a new girl in the area, but the nature of their growing bond changes when he learns she is a vampire tied to a string of bloody murders.

Akin to a dark fairytale, Let the Right One In transpires in a callous and unforgiving world. Yet, within this hostile tone, it finds a warm, beating heart in the form of an unlikely friendship and the angst of first love. The story further rises on the strength of the two outstanding performances of the young leads as well as deftly intelligent storytelling, an immersive mood of 1980s Sweden, and its revitalizing subversion of vampire thrills. Let the Right One In is a gorgeous concoction of coming-of-age romance and supernatural terror bolstered by elements of period glumness and stirring human drama.

1

'The Wailing' (2016)

_ People in rain gear walk through a muddy street with caution tape in the background in The Wailing (2016).Image via 20th Century Studios

Describing The Wailing_ as a supernatural thriller perhaps doesn’t do justice to the sheer enormity of its ambition. Indeed, the South Korean film tackles several different subgenres of horror cinema over the course of its 156-minute runtime. That being said, paranormal tension is something of a centerpiece of the picture. Set in a rural village in the mountains, it follows a policeman as he investigates a mysterious Japanese stranger new to the area, when his arrival brings a series of bloody murders and a deadly illness, one which has infected his daughter.

Another masterpiece of horror/thriller cinema that finds its suspense in its almost agonizing slow-burn pacing. The Wailing conjures an air of suffocating paranoia, infusing its spine-tingling supernatural tale with elements of possession horror, zombie gruesomeness, occult chills, and the full psychological might of detective mystery. Brilliantly working its vast array of influences into a seamless story of contemplative horror that tackles such themes as xenophobia, faith, cosmic terror, and the infectious nature of fear with aplomb, The Wailing is a true masterpiece of modern horror.

The Wailing

Release Date

June 3, 2016

Runtime

2h 36m

Director

Na Hong-jin

Cast

Jun Kunimura, Hwang Jung-min, Kwak Do-won

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