The restlessness is enveloping, but with style. Without liters of blood, plenty of gore and jumping on the seat
No liters of blood, profuse gore and incessant heart-pounding seat jumps. In the horror films we have selected here for Halloween, tension flows like a karst river, it is in the air and envelops us without filling our hands with stratagems of horrifying impact. Here are the 10 best atmospheric horror films of the new millennium, in our opinion.
Let me in (2008) by Tomas Alfredson
Two kids meet, in their different solitudes, while the Stockholm snow is stained with corpses and blood. Let me in it is a film that enters the heart deeply, so as not to let go.
The cold lights of Northern Europe stand out with charm and mystery on the story of the vampire girl (Lina Leandersson), bloodthirsty out of necessity, who becomes friends with the very blond and pale twelve-year-old victim of bullying (Kåre Hedebrant). Two tragic and touching characters, in a deeply human story.
Weapons (2025) by Zach Cregger
All the children in the same class, except one, leave home in the middle of the night, at the same time, and disappear. This is the premise of the intriguing horror WeaponsAll mystery and gripping intrigue. With sprinkles of comedy too.
Outside the box and decidedly original, a film to let flow.
Run away – Get out (2017) by Jordan Peele
There is something obviously shady in the air, but the beginning seems to simply set the scene for a pleasant family reunion, with one obvious peculiarity: the protagonist (Daniel Kaluuya), invited by his girlfriend to meet his parents, is the only black person present. This is the disturbing premise for a horror film sui generis which combines the tension with the social criticismin a test on racism between satire, irony and horror.
Oscar for best original screenplay.
The Host (2006) by Bong Joon-ho
Part family drama, part bizarre monster movie. From the excellent Oscar-winning South Korean director with Parasitesa film that mixes genres and also sends a clear environmentalist message.
An American soldier throws chemicals into the Han River in South Korea. Several years later, a ravenous creature emerges from the contaminated waters.
Hero Song Kang-hoBong Joon-ho’s fetish actor, in the role of a neglectful father who instead finds unexpected determination.
Presence (2024) by Steven Soderbergh
It was one of the most interesting films to arrive in theaters this year. Between thriller and atmospheric horror, Presence it is a ghost story that gives the viewer a fascinating and original perspective: that of the ghost. The camera is the gaze of presence. Together with her we look from above, from a window of a beautiful house in the suburbs, at the family that is about to undermine itself, led by Lucy Liustrong-willed mother and wife. With her we spy on her teenage daughter (Callina Liang), in her bedroom, still shocked by the loss of her best friend.
The tension meanders, it is underground and present, in a simple but magnetic construction. There is no gore violence, there are no malicious jumpscares. Presence it’s a delicate, short (just 85 minutes) and truly beautiful horror film that isn’t scary.
Under the skin (2013) by Jonathan Glazer
Scarlett Johansson she has never been so dangerous and cynical. With raven hair and bright lipstick, her beauty is the alien bait that captures lonely men to be swallowed by a mysterious petrol-colored magma.
Set in a Scotland with iron tones, long silences, Under the skin it never bends to a didactic logic. Between existentialist sci-fi and atmospheric horror, inspired by the novel Under the skin by Michel Faber, is fascinating and elusive. Like its protagonist.
The Others (2001) by Alejandro Amenábar
More than a horror, a cult. A ghost story that seems like one of many until the wonderful final twist, which turns everything upside down.
Nicole Kidman she is a devout and religious mother who, immediately after the end of the Second World War, lives in a huge house on the Island of Jersey together with her two children shocked by the conflict, who must avoid sunlight for their health. But disturbing presences seem to populate their home.
Without great special effects and set-piece pools of blood, the tension rises thanks to the disturbing atmosphere. Until the splendid twist.
Midsommar – Village of the Damned (2019) by Ari Aster
Overlooking the Italian subtitle given to the film, in Midsommar the horror becomes bucolic, arcane and naive. «I think Ari Aster delivered the most idyllic horror of all time»: said Jordan Peele, another significant contemporary creator of auteur horror.
Florence Pugh she is the young protagonist who, together with her boyfriend and a group of friends, decides to go to Sweden to participate in a famous midsummer festival.
Even if a little discontinuous, the narrative becomes disturbing and sinister, but at the same time enveloping in its rural notes.
A quiet place – A quiet place (2018) by John Krasinski
Lots of suspense in John Krasinski’s revelation horror thriller. And so much silence. An acute and intelligent film in its simplicity.
A family lives an isolated existence (with Krasinski himself ed Emily Blunt as parents), in the constant and disturbing concern of not making noise. There is in fact an unknown threat that only follows sound and attacks any buzz.
It follows (2014) by David Robert Mitchell
It follows It’s high-octane horror that embraces terror rather than sudden jump scares and gore. It’s scary, but with style.
Hero Maika Monroe. She plays a nineteen-year-old who, after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, begins to be tormented by strange visions and the inevitable feeling that someone, or something, is following her. In its own way, a metaphor on the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases.
