20 Most Highly Rated Horror Movies On Rotten Tomatoes

Rating: 98%

Actress turned filmmaker Jennifer Kent’s directorial debut The Babadook was the smash indie hit of 2014 and gave us moviegoers one of the best Australian horrors in recent memory.

The premise is simple but perfectly scary: a grieving and overwrought woman who became a mother the very night she was widowed is struggling to cope with her hyperactive (and, quite frankly, slightly annoying) son. Their situation is made even worse by the mysterious arrival of a rather terrifying kid’s book about the titular Babadook, a nightmarish character who starts to physically manifest and take over their lives.

It’s not all scary monsters though. At its core, The Babadook is a psychological horror that cleverly examines depression and grief while also managing to scare the hell out of horror fans. If you need any more reason to watch it, William Friedkin – director of classic horror The Exorcist – is a fan too.