10 Most Terrifying Horror Movies Released In 2021 So Far

5. Spiral: From The Book Of Saw

Saint Maud
Lionsgate

Of all of the movies featured on this list, Spiral: From the Book of Saw is easily the film with the biggest budget, the most well-known cast, the greatest hype behind it and obviously a whole lot of name value to it.

Many wondered what to expect when it was first announced that funny man Chris Rock was relaunching the Saw brand with an idea he himself had created. And to Rock's credit, Spiral hits so many of the right beats required for this picture.

Given how the film has been in cinemas for literally a week at this point, the ins and outs of Spiral will be held back on here. What can be said, though, is that the feature manages to carve up an offering that is both familiar but refreshingly new - all while having the gruesome, grizzly scares and mangled bodies one would expect from a Saw movie.

Rock plays a police detective forced to work with a new rookie (Max Minghella), just as a Jigsaw copycat starts to target the city's immoral, corrupt cops. Very much in the same vein as previous Saw offerings, traps and life or death scenarios lie in wait for those in the crosshairs of this 'new' killer.

Spiral stands as one of the better offerings in the Saw franchise, and it brings the sinister scares and gut-wrenching tension by the bucketload.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.