Top 10 Films of 2024 - the best of the year

Horror, heartbreak, and humanity: these are the 10 films that defined a groundbreaking year in cinema.

2024 is almost over, and it’s been an incredible year for film. Of course, there are still things to look forward to—Robert Eggers’ much anticipated adaptation of Nosferatu being chief among them. Indeed, it is from within the seemingly well-trodden horror genre that arguably the most exciting of 2024’s films have emerged. Historically, it has been in times of sociopolitical upheaval and unrest that the horror genre has undergone significant developments. I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that we are seeing something similar happening right now.

I feel compelled, before diving into my top 10 films of 2024, to offer the quick disclaimer that this list has (unfortunately) been compiled on the basis of UK release dates. Here’s to 2025 being another great year for film, and a better year for UK film distribution.

1. The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024)

I don’t think anyone will be surprised to see Coralie Fargeat’s exquisite feminist body horror film The Substance opening this list. Going into The Substance, you feel as though you know exactly what to expect. When Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) turns 50 and ages out of Hollywood, she is offered the substance—an experimental drug that promises to create a new version of herself—younger, more beautiful, more perfect. The power of the film lies in Fargeat’s adroit execution of this deceptively simple story, and in Demi Moore’s heartbreaking portrayal of Elisabeth. As with her first feature film Revenge (2017), Fargeat fuses highly aestheticised images with over the top gore, playing with the extremes of seduction and disgust to deliver one of the most upsetting horror films I have ever seen.

2. I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun, 2024)

Second on the list is Jane Schoenbrun’s genre-defying masterpiece I Saw the TV Glow. Schoenbrun’s follow up to 2021’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair features Justice Smith as Owen, an outsider who gloomily recalls his adolescent obsession with a late-night TV show called The Pink Opaque. Sharing atmospheric similarities with Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001) and littered with references to cult classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon, 1997-2001), I Saw the TV Glow is a haunting allegory for the transgender experience which fuses coming-of-age tropes with genuinely effective psychological horror. Schoenbrun’s film resonated with me as a nuanced exploration of the allure of fantasy for unhappy teenagers, and a poignant cautionary tale about the perils of denying one’s true identity, regardless of the risks associated with embracing it.

3. Kinds of Kindness (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2024)

Yorgos Lanthimos’s black comedy triptych Kinds of Kindness features three distinct stories linked by their thematic concern with the power dynamics between people and the recurrence of the minor character R.M.F. Kinds of Kindness was one of the most divisive films of 2024, and it’s not hard to see why; though sharing with Poor Things (2023) and Dogtooth (2009) the blunt and detached dialogue by now characteristic of Lanthimos, the ambiguity of Kinds of Kindness makes it less accessible than his previous feature films. This ambiguity works particularly well in the film’s second installment, ‘R.M.F. is Flying’, which chronicles the changing relationship between Daniel (Jesse Plemons) and Liz (Emma Stone) following Liz’s mysterious return home after she has been presumed dead at sea. Though the final story fell flat for me, Kinds of Kindness is a deliciously dark and funny film which is well worth a watch.

4. The Holdovers (Alexander Payne, 2023)

The Holdovers is a film which I am certain will join the likes of Love Actually (Richard Curtis, 2003) and It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) as a beloved Christmas classic. Set in 1970, Alexander Payne’s comedy drama features Paul Giamatti as strict school teacher Paul Hunham. Disliked by his peers and students, Hunham is compelled to look after the boarding school’s ‘holdovers’—the privileged rich boys whose parents can’t take them over the Christmas holidays. Equal parts hilarious and devastating, The Holdovers was definitely the most surprising film of 2024 for me. Payne deals with a range of difficult subject matters, from mental illness and loneliness to death and grief, with a degree of subtlety and care that is both rare and special.

5. The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer, 2023)

Jonathan Glazer continues to prove himself as one of the best directors working today with The Zone of Interest, a contemplative art film centred on the life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family. One of the things Glazer does so well in his films is sound, and The Zone of Interest is no exception. Because of the camera’s insistent focus on the Höss’s family life, the viewer does not see more than glimpses and suggestions of the concentration camp bordering their home. But what we do not see, we are forced to hear, subjected to the sinister sound of gunshots, barking dogs, and the endless motion of the crematorium. As much as The Zone of Interest is not an easy watch (or listen), it is certainly an important one.

6. Society of the Snow (J. A. Bayona, 2023)

In 1972, a plane carrying a team of Uruguayan rugby players and their families crashed in the Andes mountains. Two and a half months later, against all odds, 14 survivors were rescued. Society of the Snow tells the harrowing story of their survival. Director J. A. Bayona is no stranger to the biographical disaster genre, having previously recreated 2004’s devastating tsunami in The Impossible (2012). Thus, it is perhaps no surprise that Society of the Snow stands out for its avoidance of the sensationalism or gratuitousness often associated with such sensitive subject matter. Striking a delicate balance between realism and compelling storytelling, Bayona’s film offers a powerful meditation on human resilience and the will to endure.

7. Perfect Days (Wim Wenders, 2023)

German director Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days is a perfect film, and my overall favourite of 2024. This understated gem casts a benevolent gaze over the life of Japanese toilet cleaner Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho), whose quirks and daily habits the viewer quickly becomes accustomed to, such that even the smallest changes to his routine become glaringly obvious. As well as featuring an incredible soundtrack culminating, of course, in Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’, Wim Wenders’ latest feature film contains a final shot that rivals that of Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries (1957). High praise, I know, but well-deserved. If you have not already seen Perfect Days, I absolutely implore you to give it a watch.

8. MadS (David Moreau, 2024)

I was torn about whether this film would make my top 10 of 2024, but ultimately, I decided to include it because I can’t remember the last time I was so impressed by a film’s cinematography. Directed by David Moreau, MadS is a low-budget French zombie film that thrusts rich teenager Romain headlong into a drug-fuelled, hedonistic apocalypse. MadS takes place as one continuous long shot, a stylistic choice which creates a tangible sense of relentless momentum toward irreversible carnage and which pairs perfectly with the very physical performances of the film’s cast. A cross between Enter the Void (Gaspar Noé, 2009) and 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002), MadS offers a fresh twist on the zombie genre that horror fans are sure to enjoy.

9. Longlegs (Osgood Perkins, 2024)

Longlegs was arguably the most anticipated horror film of 2024, and for the most part, it did not disappoint. The film unfolds as a slow-burn thriller, following FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) as she investigates an unsolved serial killer case with satanic roots. Director Osgood Perkins is a master of atmospheric horror. Because of this, Longlegs is at its best in the first half, where Perkins uses his evocative visual style, replete with lingering wide shots, to unsettle through suggestion. While I was less satisfied by the film’s ending, which I thought was lacking from a narrative perspective, Nicolas Cage’s terrifying performance as glam rock serial killer Longlegs is worth watching this film for alone.

10. The Beast (Bertrand Bonello, 2023)

Rounding off my list of the top 10 films of 2024 is Bertrand Bonello’s sci-fi romance The Beast. Based on the Henry James novella ‘The Beast in the Jungle’, Bonello’s sprawling, startling and ambitious film is set in a dystopian future where the prevalence of AI requires people to undergo a procedure to strip themselves of emotion in order to work. The Beast spans centuries as it mines the past lives of Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) during her surgery. These past lives all share in common a doomed romance with a man called Louis (George MacKay), an ominous pigeon, and increasingly lifelike dolls. Deeply ruminative and slow-paced, The Beast may be Bonello’s magnum opus, but it certainly isn’t for the faint of heart.

Honourable mentions: Love Lies Bleeding (Rose Glass, 2024), La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher, 2023), Anora (Sean Baker, 2024), Monster (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2023), Cuckoo (Tilman Singer, 2024)

If you enjoyed this, you can read more Films To Watch Before You Die lists here.