14. Barbarian
Horror breakout Barbarian was a word-of-mouth sensation where the word was “Don’t read anything about it before you watch it!” It’s not a spoiler to say it used its diverse influences—which seemed to include, but were not limited to, The Gift of Fear, Twitter threads chronicling Airbnb nightmares, the MeToo movement, a fascination with gentrification and abandonment in Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood, and old-fashioned “Don’t go in the creepy-ass basement!” vibes—to potent effect, with a story that upended itself more than once and kept audiences gasping until the end.
