The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview

‘Abigail,’ ‘Late Night With the Devil,’ and the 10 Best Horror Movies of 2024 … So Far

April 23, 2024/ 83 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan · Amanda Dobbins

Sean and Chris run their twice-a-year horror check-in with reviews of Late Night With the Devil and Abigail. Amanda Dobbins drops in to recount Imaginary scene by scene, then it's a dig through the 2024 indie pile and an argument over which non-horror director should try the genre.

21 films across 6 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

The state of horror in 2024strong but aimless

Night Swim 2024

Sean's pick for the softly underrated hit of the year so far, sitting around $35M. The show already did a whole episode explaining it to Amanda.

Immaculate 2024

The Sydney Sweeney nun horror, which Sean notes did solid business for a very small movie.

‘Late Night With the Devil’the found-footage talk show

Late Night with the Devil 2023

Colin and Cameron Cairns' film, framed as a recovered tape of a 1977 Halloween talk-show broadcast that goes wrong live on air. David Dastmalchian's first lead role gets raves from both. Chris watched it alone late at night house-sitting in Portland and loved the mood; Sean felt the third act lost him. Their shared complaint: the movie stacks trauma and a secret-society conspiracy on top of an idea that was already gripping, a 'hat on a hat.'

‘Abigail’they kidnapped the wrong girl

Abigail 2024

Radio Silence's (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett) vampire movie for Universal, a soft remake of Dracula's Daughter. A kidnapping crew (Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Kevin Durand, Giancarlo Esposito, and Angus Cloud in his final role) grabs a girl (Alisha Weir) who turns out to be a vampire. Both find it enjoyable but forgettable; the marketing gave the twist away, and the third-act gore should have been the whole movie's energy. The film is dedicated to Angus Cloud.

Ready or Not 2019

The earlier Radio Silence film Sean keeps comparing Abigail to, and likes more: a leaner one-house horror-comedy with explosive gore.

Dracula's Daughter 1936

The 1930s Universal horror Abigail loosely remakes, though the finished film backpedals on the Dracula mythology.

‘Imaginary,’ recapped for ChrisElvira Jr. grinds tape

Amanda Dobbins on

Imaginary 2024

Amanda drops in to narrate the whole Blumhouse creepy-teddy-bear movie for Chris, who refused to watch it. DeWanda Wise plays a stepmom whose youngest, Alice, befriends a bear named Chauncey found bricked up in the basement; the bear sends the kid on a scavenger hunt. Everyone agrees on the one great scene: a child therapist films the session and reveals 'Jessica, there is no bear.' Then, per Amanda, it goes completely off the rails into a Beetlejuice-style imaginary world. She would not recommend it, aside from that one scene.

Digging through the 2024 indie pileconcept vs. execution

The First Omen 2024

Arkasha Stevenson's prequel, which Chris calls a dead-on recreation of 1970s horror that doesn't feel dated. Sean is high on Stevenson as a filmmaker; the claw-through-the-birth-canal image gets the running Biden-campaign-poster bit going.

Infested 2023

Sébastien Vaniček's French spider horror, heading to Shudder: an apartment-block siege Sean likens to Attack the Block with spiders, with an Aliens-y team-in-the-cave feel. Bug horror always works on him; he recommends it, spiders and all. Vaniček is reportedly attached to the next Evil Dead.

Lovely, Dark, and Deep 2023

Georgina Campbell as a forest ranger alone at a remote station. Strong concept and opening (people vanishing in national parks) that Sean feels gets lost in dream logic, his least favorite horror crutch.

Somewhere Quiet 2023

Marin Ireland and Jennifer Kim in an off-season Cape Cod thriller: a kidnapping survivor grows paranoid about her husband and his cousin. Effective use of the setting, though Sean wishes it had a little more life in it.

Stopmotion 2023

Robert Morgan's debut with Aisling Franciosi as the daughter of a tyrannical stop-motion animator. After the mother dies, the creations start to come to life and torment her. Sean calls it the flipside of Imaginary, impressive as a small debut even if it frays near the end.

Blackout 2024

Larry Fessenden's werewolf movie. Sean started it but hadn't finished; it's the hook for a long appreciation of Fessenden as the godfather of mumblecore-plus-a-monster indie horror.

The Seeding 2023

Barnaby Clay's canyon horror with Kate Lyn Sheil, about a man trapped at the bottom of a desert canyon, harassed by feral children. Sean's pitch: what if Denis Villeneuve made The Hills Have Eyes. Well made and creepy but, he says, not actually scary.

Arcadian 2024

Ben Brewer's post-apocalyptic creature film with Nicolas Cage and Jaeden Martell, about a father and two sons surviving a nightly monster siege. Worth it for the creature design: clearly digital but with a snapping, clapping ferocity Sean hadn't seen before, on an obviously tiny budget.

Who should make a horror movieplus the rest of the year

MaXXXine 2024

Sean's most-anticipated: Ti West's third Maxine film, out July 5, even if it plays more like an L.A. thriller than a horror movie.

Alien: Romulus 2024

Fede Alvarez's entry, which both think looks terrifying. Sean is coming back from vacation just to podcast about it and plans to dodge all pre-release buzz. He wants extreme terror, not xenomorph timeline.

Longlegs 2024

Oz Perkins's Nic Cage serial-killer movie with a great trailer.

Cuckoo 2024

Tilman Singer's follow-up to Luz, with Dan Stevens and Hunter Schafer. Sean's heard it's extremely strange, which tracks.

Nosferatu 2024

Robert Eggers' remake, which they frame as the year's big test: the one Eggers gets to scare everyone with.

Smile 2 2024

Coming in the fall and, in a lean Paramount year, one of the studio's most important releases. Reportedly leaning more psychological than the first, which worries them a little.

Also mentioned raised along the way

The box-office rundown Talk to Me Five Nights at Freddy's Saw X Thanksgiving The Exorcist: Believer Smile Barbarian Terrifier 2 The Black Phone Civil War Ghostbusters Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Love Lies Bleeding

Films they invoked The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Green Room Paranormal Activity Scream Scream VI V/H/S Hardcore The Blair Witch Project Alien The Usual Suspects M3GAN Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Pocahontas The New World The Sound of Music Attack the Block Aliens The Watchers The Nightingale You're Next The House of the Devil Baghead Wendigo Woman in the Dunes The Hills Have Eyes The Creator Enemy

Directors who should make a horror movie Cat People Oppenheimer Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein The Bride!Lisa Frankenstein Oldboy Thirst Men Night Moves Meek's Cutoff The Menu

Also coming to theaters Speak No Evil It's What's Inside Presence The Strangers: Chapter 1 The Strangers Blink Twice Terrifier 3 Luz The Witch The Northman The Lighthouse Die Hard 2 Cliffhanger Deep Blue Sea Cutthroat Island Devil's Pass

Everything-but-horror tangents Deadpool & Wolverine Eternals Killers of the Flower Moon

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV The Walking DeadStranger ThingsThe SympathizerEuphoriaShogun

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