The 21st Century’s Most Acclaimed Horror Films
INTRODUCTION to the 21st Century’s Most Acclaimed Horror Films
Current Version: May 2026 (7th edition)
Welcome to the seventh edition of the 21st Century’s Most Acclaimed Horror Films list! While I’ve been updating the iCM list over the years, I haven’t updated the website version since 2020. Previously, this list was created only using lists specifically for years/decades 2000+, but now this is just filtered directly from the main list and it has also been expanded to a top 500.
There is a Facebook page for this site in case anyone wishes to keep updated through Facebook. The full list of films can also be found on iCheckMovies.
Currently 4,379 lists have been compiled into the final result. Weighting each list based on its type and source and using a few formulas, I’ve managed to narrow down 9,763 films into possibly the most definitive guide to the best horror films with 4,183 of those films being from the 21st century. As with any consensus list, it’s never going to be perfect and it’s always going to be partly a popularity contest but hopefully this list will help to guide your horror diet and discover some new films.
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