Matt Hill

6. Barbarian (2022)

What starts as an Airbnb mix up nightmare pivots into something much more bizarre. Incredibly effective in suspense building and then slapping you in the face with one of the largest plot twists ever, this holds as one of great horrors of the 2020s even with its absurd final act

7. Smile 2 (2024)

Arguably one of the best horror sequels. Naomi Scott carries this with an all time great performance of a pop star who inherits the cursed entity. So many great aspects of this movie, the opening single shot scene, the car accident, the dance troupe An anxiety inducing mind fuck.

Tom, your beard fell off

8. The Substance (2024)

Demi Moore gives a career defining performance as an aging starlet who takes a mysterious substance to create a younger/better version of herself. While a solid allegory of fading beauty, its the wild body horror twists and turns in the final act that take this to greatness.

9. Strange Darling (2024)

Using a fractured narrative structure and inconsistent chronology, this feels like if Tarantino made a serial killer movie through a Brian DePalma lens. Carried by two incredible lead performances, this is a masterclass in making you second guess your expectations.

10. Host (2020)

At a lean 60 min run time, Host is the most brutally effective webcam style horror movies ever. The quintessential pandemic movie, this was filmed and released all within the first few months of lockdown and follows a group of girls who run a seance over zoom with horrific results.

11. Sinners (2025)

Sinners is the rare combination of an epic level studio horror as well as a cerebral movie that uses the horror medium to comment on larger societal issues, and surprisingly succeeds at both. Full throttle entertainment from start to finish with the best movie soundtrack in years

12. Redux Redux (2025)

While not released yet, keep this on the radar for when it does. An incredibly unique take on a multiverse, here we follow a woman who is jumping through universes to continually hunt and kill the man who murdered her daughter. Non stop action and tension with a lot of heart.

13. The Dark and the Wicked (2020)

Two siblings return to their family farmhouse as their ailing father approaches death, unaware of a dark presence that has befallen them. This is bleak and uncompromising, but incredibly effective. Plus, you will never look at chopping carrots in the same light.

14. Red Rooms (2024)

This is one of the most complex and fascinating character studies I've seen. It follows a model who becomes obsessed with an ongoing trial of a horrific murderer. You become engulfed in her world as she takes increasingly risky and bizarre actions to immerse herself in the case

“Come play with us Maggie, come play with us forever”

Maggie got to play Danny Torrance from the Shining with the perfect Shining twins played by @mayoonthebrain.bsky.social adorable girls for a Dog Halloween costume party.

15. 28 Years Later (2025)

I can appreciate that this movie did not work for everyone. For me it was the amazing cinematography and the surprising emotional depth of the humanity and coming of age story coupled to the allegory of the Brexit fallout and isolationism in modern society that landed.

I have not heard of it so thanks for the rec!

16. The Lodge (2020)

From the directors of Goodnight Mommy, comes a similarly bleak horror filled with a rich aesthetic. A father leaves his two children with his young new girlfriend, who was raised in a cult, in a remote lodge over the holidays. Anxiety inducing with a devastating conclusion.

17. Influencer (2023)

I love movies that seem to be about one thing and suddenly pivot to be about something totally different. Influencer slaps you in the face about 20 min in and you realize the ride you're in for. Cassandra Naud carries this with a stellar performance as a viper in disguise.

18. The Invisible Man (2020)

Elisabeth Moss carries this blend of Sleeping with the Enemy and the classic invisible Man as an abused spouse who escapes only to be hunted by her vicious ex after the fakes his own death. Great visual effects and effective jump scares make this a modern classic.

19. Watcher (2022)

A stylized, modern Hitchcockian film that follows a young actress who has recently moved to Bucharest with her Romanian husband, and becomes fixated on a man across the street in a window who watches her, while a serial killer roams in the background. Suspenseful and atmospheric.

PacificNorthwestCore

🇨🇦 thanksgiving on Saltspring Island BC

yes totally agree

20. Smile (2022)

I had low expectations for this and assumed it was some Blumhouse trash, but instead this proved to be an incredibly effective movie about trauma, vulnerability and an insidious evil entity that feeds off of it. Strong performances, solid jump scares and a well executed aesthetic.

21. Oddity (2024)

Ireland has slowly emerged as producing some of Europes best horror. This unique film follows a medium, whose twin sister is murdered, who uses her psychic abilities to try and resolve what happened to her sister. Filled with great twists, turns and jump scares with a fitting end.

22. Infested (2024)

Another modern French classic, Infested is the best spider horror movie since Arachnophobia. Set amidst the backdrop of sociocultural commentary on wealth and segregation, this follows a low income high rise that is overtaken by a rapidly evolving and deadly spider infestation.

23. MadS (2024)

This incredibly chaotic and ambitious French horror is filmed as one single continuous take as we follow, in real time, the outset of a zombie apocalypse as it shifts from one person to another, the POV being passed with the infection itself. An insane wild ride.

24. You Won't Be Alone (2022)

The best way to describe this movie is that it feels as if Terence Malick made The Witch. This ethereal fairy tale of a witch moving from medieval village to village trying to find a form she can call her own is possibly the most aesthetic horror movie I've ever seen.

25. Terrifier 2 (2022)

The match that lit the powder keg of indie horror was a nearly 2.5h over the top gore fest slasher. While I openly disliked the original Terrifier, the sequel brought likeable characters, a surprisingly engaging story arc and solidified Art the Clown as a modern horror icon.

Interesting, this is the exact opposite of all the post mortem autoradiography studies from the 90s and the rodent studies using chronic stress, which found upregulation of frontocortical 5-HT2A binding.

The effect of methamphetamine and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine on peripheral endocannabinoid concentrations: a study in healthy adults - Psychopharmacology Rationale Stimulant drugs such as methamphetamine (MA) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) can impact neurobiological systems implicated in stress, reward processing, and drug use. Although recent preclinical evidence implicates the endocannabinoid (eCB) system in these processes, little is known about the acute effects of stimulants on eCB levels in humans. Objectives The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of acute administration of the prototypical psychostimulant MA and the psychostimulant-empathogen MDMA on circulating eCB levels in healthy adults. Methods Using a within-subject, double-blind design, this study assessed the acute effects of MA (20 mg), MDMA (100 mg), and placebo on plasma eCB levels in healthy human participants (N = 22) during three separate sessions. Blood samples assessing concentrations of the eCBs anandamide (AEA) and 2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) were collected between 150- and 180-minutes post-drug administration, and subjective measures of drug effects were collected at regular intervals. Results MA, but not MDMA, was associated with significantly lower 2-AG plasma concentrations compared to placebo. Neither drug impacted AEA concentrations. However, during the placebo condition, higher AEA concentrations were correlated with disliking the ‘drug effects’, suggesting a possible relationship between AEA levels and negative expectations of subjective drug effects. Conclusions These findings provide novel insights into how stimulant drugs act on the eCB system and may help to develop treatments for SUDs.

Congrats to @pact-lab.bsky.social PhD student @anadeutsch.bsky.social on her 1st first-author paper from the lab! 🎉

She explored how MDMA & methamphetamine impact cortisol, endocannabinoids, & BDNF levels in healthy humans and how this relates to the subjective drug experience 💊👇

26. Tinsman Road (2025)

3 years after a woman goes missing in rural New Jersey a man returns home to try and reconnect with his grieving mother and solve his sisters mystery. Robbie Banfitchs followup to The Outwaters is a 180 degree turn, replacing disorientation with restrained grief and anxiety.

To be honest I actually liked that they didn’t. I liked the little but we got that it involved some sort of cult but sometimes movies shit the bed when they try to explain things too much.

27. Together (2025)

Body horror is not a subgenre for everyone. Together does a very effective job of balancing the sheer discomfort of its premise (a couple who begin to physically meld to one another) with well timed humour and suspense. I definitely appreciated this more then I expected to.