The Perfect List, As Defined By Me, Of The 35 Best A24 Movies
It's been 10 years since it was founded, and A24 has established itself as one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed film studios in the world.
With over a hundred films and over 25 Oscars under its belt, A24 continues to make outstanding auteur films while showing no sign of slowing down. Their horror films are certainly some of the best hitting the screen as well. As a longtime fan of the studio, I am happy to give you my ranked list of the 35 best A24 films.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
35.Lamb
Even amongst the studio's other slow-burn horrors, this film is something different. This film follows an Icelandic couple who find and adopt a human/sheep hybrid. Though this strange film isn't big on scares, Lamb serves as an allegory for humanity's dangerous abuse of nature, conveying the frightening lengths that people will go to for the life they desire. This all culminates in a shocking ending that'll make you treat animals with a lot more respect.
34.It Comes at Night
This story follows two families struggling to live together in a world ravaged by a lethal virus. Though many audiences came into this film expecting a supernatural threat, It Comes at Night excels in displaying how the monster really lies within its characters, as their paranoia over who has the virus quickly tears them apart. And this film has only gotten more frightening in the years since its release.
33.Enemy
Long before he directed sci-fi masterpieces like Dune and Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve made his double-feature debut in 2013 with Prisoners and his tale of a man who becomes obsessed with his newly-found doppelgänger. Like the tarantulas that appear in this film, Enemy crawls underneath the audience's skin with its unnerving and perplexing story, all the way to its shocking ending.
32.The Killing of a Sacred Deer
This film follows a surgeon whose family becomes deathly cursed by a vengeful boy whose father died during a botched operation. The catch is that the father must sacrifice one member of his family to save the rest. Based on Euripides' Iphigenia in Aulis, this acclaimed film is a strange but unsettling tragedy that isn't quite everyone's taste. But it is still worth watching due to Barry Keoghan's breakout performance as the film's young but troubled antagonist.
31.Green Room
Green Room follows a punk band who finds themselves being hunted by a group of racist skinheads after seeing them murder someone after one of their gigs. This edgy horror flick amps up the frights with a variety of unsettling scenes, as well as an unusually villainous performance by Sir Patrick Stewart.
30.Swiss Army Man
Gilligan's Island has got nothing on this. In the Daniels' debut film at the studio, a man on a desert island survives with the help of a corpse whose farts act as a jet ski and erection acts as a compass. At first glance, this film sounds gross and ridiculous, but it also features a loving story about two men who become friends and go on a fantastic adventure together.
29.Amy
This Academy Award-winning documentary explores the life of singer Amy Winehouse, who died at the young age of 27. This film poignantly captures the tragedy of the late singer's life as it was wrought by the pressures of fame and addiction, which will make you sad all over again, watching this bright light fade at the peak of her unparalleled music career.
28.Bodies Bodies Bodies
This Gen Z horror flick follows a group of friends who begin dying off one by one as they play the titular game during a hurricane party. A hilarious whodunnit for the Internet Age, Bodies Bodies Bodies delivers many well-crafted scares and laugh-out-loud moments that effectively satirize the generation it portrays.
27.The Disaster Artist
This hilarious biopic depicts the production of the best-worst film of all time, The Room. Ironically, this film is lightyears better than the movie it's about, with James Franco disappearing into the persona of The Room's enigmatic star/creator, Tommy Wiseau.
26.Locke
Before Tom Hardy found glory riding on the Fury Road, he raced through our minds in this unconventional road drama. Directed by Steven Knight, this film focuses on a man racing to see the birth of his child and the numerous calls he receives along the way. Despite its bottled setting, the film goes above and beyond to present a thrilling journey through the protagonist's life as he rides through the night.
25.The Lobster
Set in a dystopian world, Yorgos Lanthimos' The Lobster follows a man forced to find a romantic partner within 45 days, or else he'll be turned into an animal. This highly unusual film satirizes society's constant pursuit of companionship while presenting a hilariously absurd tale of battling loneliness and finding romance.
24.Mid90s
Written and directed by Jonah Hill, this nostalgic drama follows a young boy who starts hanging out with a group of skateboarders in 1990s LA while enduring life with his dysfunctional family. In an age when more and more comedic actors have transitioned into directing, Hill made a terrific first impression with his rough but endearing debut film.
23.Eighth Grade
This coming-of-age film follows a teenage girl living with anxiety who tries to make more friends before the end of the school year. It's an incredibly relatable film for those who struggle socially in school, and director Bo Burnham effectively crystallized his own experience with anxiety to create a glowing indie gem.
22.20th Century Women
Exploring the lives of women in the late '70s, 20th Century Women is a comedic but riveting study of its characters as they come to terms with female sexuality following the decade's cultural changes. That scene of everyone just saying the word "menstruation" is hilariously transformative. Director Mike Mills completely immerses the audience into this long-gone era with its realistically odd characters, making it a must-see for any indie buff.
21.Under the Skin
Scarlett Johansson portrays an alien masquerading as a human woman who seduces and kidnaps unsuspecting men. Featuring haunting imagery and a spine-chilling score, Under the Skin explores and upends societal gender roles while exploiting the audience's fear of the unknown. Not everything on-screen is clearly explained, leaving the film's meaning open to interpretation. But the fact that we don't comprehend the alien's actions makes the story all the more terrifying.
20.Spring Breakers
Though this wasn’t A24’s first film, Spring Breakers pretty much put the studio on the map. This surprisingly deep film features vibrant colors and immersive music that adds to the characters’ drug-induced adventures, making it the right film to introduce yourself to the studio's distinctive brand of cinema.
19.Room
This film follows a young woman who tries to escape captivity with her young son and the duo's eventual struggles in the outside world. Despite the film's dark subject matter, Room presents itself as a fantastic adventure, as seen through the eyes of 5-year-old Jack. Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay give unforgettable performances as mother and child, with the former winning the award for Best Actress at the Oscars.
18.X
A24 sure knows how to do horror. This slasher film throws audiences back to the '70s as it follows a film crew who find themselves being hunted by an elderly couple while making an adult film. Paying homage to classics like Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, veteran director Ti West delivers a disturbing slaughter-fest that any horror fan can't help but enjoy.
17.The Farewell
This film follows a Chinese-American family who learns their grandmother isn't long for this world, but they decide not to tell her and make the most out of her remaining time. Beautifully heart-wrenching, The Farewell explores cultural differences between China and America as the protagonist questions whether or not her family's doing the right thing, with Awkwafina delivering an outstanding performance that earned her a Golden Globe.
16.Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
When A24 branches out into animation, they give audiences something really special. Based on the short film of the same name, this stop-motion picture mockumentary follows an orphaned shell who, after becoming an internet sensation, seeks out his long-lost family. Just like in the movie itself, audiences everywhere fell in love with the titular shell, due in part to Jenny Slate's heartwarming performance, making this film an animated masterpiece unlike any other.
15.First Reformed
Ethan Hawke stars in this film as a pastor who suffers a crisis of faith after the death of his son, eventually becoming a radical environmentalist. Harkening back to his work writing Taxi Driver, director Paul Schrader takes audiences on a bleak and depressing odyssey through a dying world while presenting them with a glimmer of hope right at the last minute.
14.The Tragedy of Macbeth
This joint project with Apple TV+ brought a fresh take on a Shakespearean classic. Directed by Joel Coen of the Coen brothers, this film brought a distinct look and feel to the tale of Lord and Lady Macbeth, who were played to perfection by Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, respectively.
13.Good Time
Most people are familiar with this film due to the meme of Robert Pattinson in a tracksuit that spawned from it. Nevertheless, Good Time is a thrilling and visually stunning crime film directed by the guys behind Uncut Gems. Pattinson also gives an enthralling performance as the film's protagonist that helped turn the tide in his career as a versatile actor.
12.The Florida Project
After breaking out into the indie scene with Tangerine, director Sean Baker presented audiences with this unusual fairy tale. This slice-of-life film follows a little girl and her mother living on the edge of poverty right next to Disney World, showing audiences the truth of what life is like just outside the Magic Kingdom. The film's vibrant colors perfectly contrast with the characters' living situations, which makes us all feel as if we're seeing the world through the eyes of a child.
11.Minari
This acclaimed film follows a South Korean family who struggles to get by on their new American farm. Every member of the Yi family gives a terrific performance in this heartbreaking and heartwarming film, and the emotional rollercoaster it puts its audience on will have them all cheering once the credits roll.
10.The Green Knight
There have been many retellings of Arthurian myths over the years, but The Green Knight is unlike anything that came before it. Exploring themes of integrity, the pursuit of glory, and humanity's relationship with nature, director David Lowery's film takes a classic tale and transforms it into something entirely his own.
9.Uncut Gems
This stressful but astonishing film proved to audiences that Adam Sandler’s still got it (with the right material, at least).
8.The Witch
Director Robert Eggers gave audiences a modern horror classic with his directorial debut. Set in the 1600s, The Witch follows a Puritan family who becomes tormented by supernatural forces dwelling in the woods. Eggers engrosses the film's audience with its old, dark world, slowly building up its scares as the family's witch hunt destroys them all.
7.Midsommar
This isn’t the kind of horror movie you’d want to watch with your date. Just after his frightening success with Hereditary, director Ari Aster shocked audiences with another scary masterpiece. Though it’s been widely compared to The Wicker Man, Midsommar stands out as an unnerving and visually stunning piece of folk horror that has already become a classic.
6.The Lighthouse
Robert Eggers made another horror masterpiece with his second film with A24. This black-and-white movie follows two lighthouse keepers who slowly lose their sanity as they become stranded on a remote island. Rife with religious and Freudian symbolism, this film takes its concept and morphs it into a psychosexual nightmare drenched by ocean waves, toxic masculinity, and good old-fashioned bodily fluids.
5.Ex Machina
If Spring Breakers put A24 on the map, then this film dominated it. This Alex Garland film follows a computer programmer tasked with testing to see if a humanoid robot can think like a human. With groundbreaking visual effects, terrific writing, and Alicia Vikander's scene-stealing performance as Ava, both A24 and Garland proved themselves to be cinematic forces to be reckoned with.
4.Lady Bird
Greta Gerwig made quite a first impression as a director with this Oscar-nominated dramedy. Lady Bird is a meticulously-crafted film that hilariously but poignantly portrays a young woman's journey into adulthood as she learns to forge her own path while embracing her roots. After receiving rave reviews and multiple Oscar nominations, Lady Bird will undoubtedly become a new teen classic.
3.Hereditary
Director Ari Aster’s debut film really made audiences lose their heads when it premiered (if you saw it already, then you’ll get the joke here). This film invokes horror classics like The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, but Hereditary is a beast all its own thanks to Aster’s unique and terrifying tale about a family that slowly decays from grief and repressed hatred, all while an evil presence plots their downfall from behind-the-scenes.
2.Moonlight
This one was the talk of Hollywood back in 2016. Barry Jenkins' critically-acclaimed film follows a Black boy's struggles growing up during three different periods of his life. Exploring ideas of masculinity, sexuality, identity, and vulnerability, Moonlight profoundly deconstructs America's expectations of who a Black man should be, making it the well-deserved winner of the Oscar for Best Picture.
1.Everything Everywhere All at Once
Films involving the multiverse have grown more popular in recent years, particularly in the superhero genre, but this film surpasses them because of how it takes full advantage of its wacky concept. Featuring themes of existentialism, nihilism, and the immigrant experience, this inter-dimensional extravaganza shows how an Asian-American family strives to find love and meaning in such a vast and chaotic world.
