movie review one true thing

Review: 'One True Thing' is one fine movie

Hurt good at self-involved, mother-daughter, daughter-dad relationships.

ONE TRUE THING

"an emotional journey".

What You Need To Know:

In ONE TRUE THING, a Northeastern family takes a momentous emotional journey when it is forced to come face to face with the prospect of losing a loved one to cancer. The story begins with Meryl Streep playing domestic mom Kate, dressed up like Dorothy from THE WIZARD OF OZ, at a costume party for her husband’s 50th birthday. We soon learn that Kate is not physically well, stricken with cancer, and her health slides rapidly in the months to come. Kate’s husband George, played by William Hurt, enlists their daughter Ellen, played by Renee Zellweger, to take care of Kate. Ellen learns to accept her mother’s domestic lifestyle. Finally, long-hidden family secrets are revealed at Kate’s worst moment, culminating in the possibility of euthanasia.

(Pa, C, LL, V, S, A, D, M) Pagan worldview of culturally Christian family dealing with dying family member, including self-sacrifice, prayer before dinner & singing “Silent Night”; 6 obscenities & 4 profanities; no violence but implied suicide; no sex but implied adultery; no nudity; smoking; drinking; and, implied corrupt boss, anger & attempted euthanasia.

More Detail:

While Streep and Hurt act solidly, Zellweger strikes a powerhouse performance. Carl Franklin’s direction gives a straightforward, no frills exposition. There are also positive Christian values in this movie including self sacrifice, prayer and hymn singing. However, this is definitely a philosophically liberal movie. All of the men are ineffective or insignificant. Plus, the ugly aspect of euthanasia is explored and would have occurred if the would-be mercy killers had enough courage to do it.

September 18, 1998 'One True Thing': A Time to Hold, a Time to Go Home Related Articles The New York Times on the Web: Current Film Video Movie clip and trailer By STEPHEN HOLDEN hen Meryl Streep first appears in "One True Thing," she is clownishly dolled up to look like Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz," in a billowing blue-and-white-checked dress and ruby slippers, her hair knotted in pigtails strung with ribbons. Eli Reed/Universal City Studios Frustration and grief: Renee Zellweger, left, and Meryl Streep as her dying mother in "One True Thing." Ms. Streep's character, Kate Gulden, the supermom to end all supermoms, is throwing a surprise costume birthday party for her husband, George (William Hurt), a college professor and author of some note. Entering this suburban Oz, Kate's daughter, Ellen (Renee Zellweger), an ambitious New York journalist, visibly winces when Mom entreats her to join the jolly carnival and dress up as something, anything. From this giddy moment, the film, directed by Carl Franklin in a style that shrewdly blurs the line between tear-drenched suds and serious drama, strips away the frills and pleasures of Kate's life. The day after the party, Kate learns she has cancer and undergoes surgery. Ellen, sternly goaded by her father, reluctantly takes a leave of absence from her high-powered job as a political reporter for New York magazine and moves back home to care for her increasingly ill mother. That old phrase "You can't go home again" echoes through the rest of the film as Ellen finds herself in the excruciating position of being a grown-up child in the house where she grew up, forced to care for an ailing parent who is reluctant to surrender control. As Kate's condition deteriorates, Ms. Streep's face turns ashen, her eyes seem to sink into her increasingly hollow cheeks, and a wool cap covers the stringy remains of her once lustrous hair. In one of the film's most painful scenes, Ellen picks up Kate, naked and emaciated, from a bathtub that her mother has become too weak to get out of on her own, and carries her to bed. Ms. Streep's performance is as uncompromised as any she has given. Once disease has reduced Kate into a huddled ball of misery and she announces in a dull hopeless tone, "This isn't living," you feel her despair and wish her a speedy end. "One True Thing," adapted from the best-selling novel by Anna Quindlen, a former columnist for The New York Times, deserves enormous credit for plainly portraying and exploring the treacherous emotional depths of a situation that most of us must face at some point in our lives. Ms. Zellweger's Ellen registers all the attendant emotions -- the spasms of grief, sadness, helplessness, frustration and anger both at the universe and at the dying parent for forcing her to interrupt the independent life she was leading to go back home and deal with a possibly hopeless situation. But since the Guldens are a loving, closely knit clan with abundant resources who live in a roomy suburban dream house, this may still be the best possible scenario for a story about terminal illness. Because it's a square-in-the-mainstream Hollywood film, with Bette Midler songs inserted to juice up the suds factor, "One True Thing" isn't as powerful as "Marvin's Room" or "Longtime Companion," two relatively recent films that gazed unflinchingly at mortality. The movie is also saddled with a mechanical structure so unwieldy you can hear it clank. The story is told in flashbacks from Ellen's interview with a grim district attorney who is conducting an informal inquiry after an autopsy has disclosed that Kate died from an overdose of morphine. Right up until the end, the film plays an annoyingly coy game of whodunit to drum up a spurious suspense that taints the essential human drama. If everything to do with Kate's illness and death and the feelings they stir up cuts to the bone, the screenplay, by Karen Croner, is far less convincing in evoking the texture of the Guldens' family life and the reverberations surrounding the revelation that over the years George has carried on a succession of flings with younger women. The scenes of Ellen in her office and of her accosting a scandal-ridden senator for an impromptu interview feel false and trumped-up. The movie gives Ellen a boyfriend and a younger brother who are so superficially developed they might as well not be in the film. Eli Reed/Universal Pictures Family denials: Meryl Streep and William Hurt in "One True Thing." Although George is a serious intellectual, the Guldens' table talk fails to capture the elevated conversational tone of an academic household. And Hurt, saddled with dialogue that sounds at once clunky and evasive, seems miscast as George. He is too suave by half. The screenplay does, however, capture the closeted egotism and hero worship that grown-up intellectuals tend to camouflage under high-flown academic airs. When a famous writer who was George's college mentor descends on the household at an inopportune moment, George turns into a gushing groupie who is crushed when his idol can't remember encouraging him to write his first novel. But in outlining the psychological dynamic of Ellen and her parents, "One True Thing" is bluntly, poignantly believable. Ellen, who is Daddy's Little Girl, is loath to follow her mother's example and be another supermom, yet she turns out to be a better caretaker than she had expected. Faced with her father's infidelities, denial and selfishness, she reacts like an uncontrollably angry child. In evoking Ellen's professional brass and the part of her that can still dissolve into hurt rage when disappointed, Ms. Zellweger gives a performance that is understated and entirely credible. Yes, Ms. Streep's Kate is a bit too noble to be true and Hurt's George a little too dashing, and Ms. Zellweger's Ellen a trifle too resilient. But "One True Thing" is still real enough to be a film you can believe in. PRODUCTION NOTES: ONE TRUE THING Directed by Carl Franklin; written by Karen Croner, based on the novel by Anna Quindlen; director of photography, Declan Quinn; edited by Carole Kravetz; music by Cliff Eidelman; production designer, Paul Peters; produced by Harry Ufland and Jesse Beaton; released by Universal Pictures. Running time: 120 minutes. This film is rated PG-13. WITH: Meryl Streep (Kate Gulden), Renee Zellweger (Ellen Gulden), William Hurt (George Gulden), Tom Everett Scott (Brian Gulden), Lauren Graham (Jules) and Nicky Katt (Jordan Belzer).

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One True Thing

Time out says, release details.

• Duration: 127 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Carl Franklin
• Screenwriter: Karen Croner
• Meryl Streep
• Renée Zellweger
• William Hurt
• Tom Everett Scott
• Lauren Graham

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One true thing.

Directed by Carl Franklin

Love What You Have.

A career woman reassesses her parents' lives after she is forced to care for her cancer-stricken mother.

Meryl Streep Renée Zellweger William Hurt Tom Everett Scott Lauren Graham Nicky Katt James Eckhouse Patrick Breen Gerrit Graham David Byron Stephen Peabody Lizbeth MacKay Mary Catherine Wright Sloane Shelton Michele Shay Bobo Lewis Marylouise Burke Marcia Jean Kurtz Diana Canova John Deyle Hallee Hirsh Jeffrey Scaperrotta Todd Cerveris Anna Carolina Alvim Julie Janney Susan Stout Greg Hedtke Christian James Lauren Toub Show All… Ashley Remy Saul Williams Julianne Nicholson Amber Kain Yolande Bavan Benjamin Andrews Kathryn Walsh

Director Director

Carl Franklin

Producers Producers

Jesse Beaton Harry J. Ufland

Writer Writer

Karen Croner

Original Writer Original Writer

Anna Quindlen

Cinematography Cinematography

Declan Quinn

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Leslie Morgan William W. Wilson III

Production Design Production Design

Paul Peters

Art Direction Art Direction

Jefferson Sage

Choreography Choreography

Jerry Mitchell

Composer Composer

Cliff Eidelman

Costume Design Costume Design

Donna Zakowska

Universal Pictures Monarch Pictures Ufland

Releases by Date

18 sep 1998, 18 mar 1999, 15 dec 1999, releases by country.

• Physical 12+
• Theatrical 12
• Theatrical R

127 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by matt lynch ★★★½

What could be just a soapy melodrama (not that that would be bad) instead slowly gathers details and lets its characters subtly articulate themselves and so accumulates its power in the aggregate. Also Streep is just crazy good here, showing you a woman movies frequently perceive as somehow not full, then showing you her fullness, then showing you that fullness being taken away.

Review by Randa ★★★½

The best thing about it is that it is not an ordinary movie about a person with a terminal illness, it does not seek to be tearful and that you feel sorry for the character of Meryl Streep , which is great. She has some questions and fights from the characters around her that could very well happen to you and that's why she feels close.

Final Score : 78% 🍎

Review by alan ★★★★★ 1

renée zellweger and meryl streep, that's all.

Review by Amy Andrews ★★★½ 1

*Best Actress Nominee Project: Part 10*

Nominee - Meryl Streep at Kate Gulden

A collection of real time thoughts:

~ Here I am back in Meryl melodrama city. ~ Renée Zellweger back when she looked like Renée Zellweger. ~ Woah instant coffee and Coca Cola that is rank. ~ Yaaaay Lauren Graham! ~ Argh awkward mother daughter relationship. ~ I'm so uncomfortable already. ~ Dad's a bit of a dick to be honest. ~ DOCTOR TALK ALERT. ~ Both Renée and her dad are bloody selfish. ~ What type of cancer does she have? ~ She idolises her father. She's gonna find out he's a scumbag cheater or something. ~ What the fuck, asking her to wash his shirts! Knob!…

Review by finchsam ★★★½

Finally gave this a watch now that I'm working my way through Carl Franklin's filmography, and I liked it, it was a lot less schmaltzy than I thought it'd be. Great casting, I’ll say that much. Streep, Hurt, and Zellweger all knock it outta the park.

Review by Jay ★★★★ 3

One True Thing is in my watchlist since Big Little Lies 2 ended. I wanted to watch more Meryl Streep.

Earlier today, mama texted me to come home. Told her I will at the end of the month for Papa’s birthday.

Watched this film. Screwed my plan. I’m on my way home.

Movies are magic.

Review by Des Saint ★★★★ 2

Made in 1998, this movie examines the role of women in American society, through a modern and successful family. In a way it is a transition from old fashioned America to the new modern age. Ellen Gulden, portrayed brilliantly by a young Rene Zellwege, is an aspiring New York journalist, the daughter of a famous writer and lecturer, George Gulden ( William Hurt ) and the ideal housewife (Meryl Streep ). When her mother is diagnosed with cancer, Ellen, at the behest of her father, leaves her job and her boyfriend to come home and take care of her mom. Ellen has always been at awe of her successful father and is shocked to find out that he is having…

Review by Ruth Scouller ★★★★

It is what it is, yet is elevated considerably by a fantastic cast ensemble.

One True Thing is essentially a film about a career-minded woman having to negotiate the changes involved when her selfless family-minded mother falls into a cancerous downward spiral, and how her observances and feelings throughout this process force her to reassess her relationship with both of her parents, and life in general. In other words, you've seen this sort of thing before and it may not be for everyone. A grandma friendly cancer film where biscuits become saturated with tears.

Streep is absolutely spellbinding in one of her warmest and earthiest roles (it's the type of performance which should convert her naysayers), whilst Hurt and Zellweger…

Review by kj ★★★★★

can't talk I'm busy booking a flight home to hug my mom and kick my dad in the balls

Review by G ★★★★ 2

One True Thing is a movie that can be characterized as a holiday movie as well as a drama capable of standing on its own two feet. 

I watch it every holiday season because it works better for me that time of year and because it has all the elements I look for in a good drama...acting, realism, story and the arc of a character's journey that allows the viewer to watch that character end up back in the same place they started...but changed.

Movies have given us such a large, valuable reservoir of content regarding generational trauma from the more blatant PTSD we see in movies like Precious  or Honey Boy  to the more latent and difficult to spot form we…

Review by filmmovielovers ★★★½

I stand by my opinion that Meryl Streep is the greatest actress of all time. Of course many come close to her standard (i.e. Katharine Hepburn) but for me Meryl has done too many great performances that I just can’t not think she’s the greatest. She’s just good in the first hour and a half but it’s the last 40 minutes where she goes full Meryl Streep and knocks out one of the best performances of a Cancer patient i’ve ever seen. Renée Zellweger is great in this as well and the film is good but it’s Meryl that’s the main speaking point.

Review by Eliza ★★★★

Shocked how much I liked this. I thought this was just an extremely captivating drama. Great performances, great writing. Great movie.

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One True Thing

Where to Watch

Meryl Streep (Kate Gulden) Renée Zellweger (Ellen Gulden) William Hurt (George Gulden) Tom Everett Scott (Brian Gulden) Lauren Graham (Jules) Nicky Katt (Jordan Belzer) James Eckhouse (District Attorney) Patrick Breen (G.A. Tweedy) Gerrit Graham (Oliver Most) David Byron (Senator Sullivan)

Carl Franklin

A career woman reassesses her parents' lives after she is forced to care for her cancer-stricken mother.

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When the plot of a movie can be described succinctly as "Meryl Streep dies of cancer," it's probably going to be …

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Metacritic reviews

One true thing.

• 100 San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle Though Mom is ditzy and, at times, irritating, we come to recognize her as the family's most original creative spirit.
• 78 Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten A formulaic family melodrama whose craftsmanship and sensitivity to its characters raises it to the level of sublime group portrait.
• 75 Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt This is not a happy tale, and its ending will have moviegoers reaching for every handkerchief they can find. But its compassion is as clear as the talents of the folks who made it.
• 70 Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan Admirably restrained melodrama.
• 70 The A.V. Club Keith Phipps The A.V. Club Keith Phipps It's a film whose virtues--particularly its rare, intelligent portrayal of the relationship between two generations of women--outweigh its faults.
• 70 TV Guide Magazine Maitland McDonagh TV Guide Magazine Maitland McDonagh The framing story is pointless and almost insulting, even though it's part of former New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen's novel.
• 63 San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego You may find yourself weeping toward the end, and, later, you may also find yourself wondering why. The revelations are staggeringly obvious.
• 50 Village Voice Michael Atkinson Village Voice Michael Atkinson Quindlen's book is wry and deeply sad in its prose, but watching actors run this very simple maze is significantly less entertaining, or convincing.
• 40 Slate David Edelstein Slate David Edelstein The movie's themes are enormously resonant, which makes its doddering tastefulness that much more frustrating.
• 38 Rolling Stone Peter Travers Rolling Stone Peter Travers Even director Carl Franklin, an artful purveyor of sterner stuff in "One False Move" and "Devil in a Blue Dress," can't prevent One True Thing from descending into chick-movie hell.
• See all 25 reviews on Metacritic.com
• See all external reviews for One True Thing

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Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times : Its strong cast and restrained direction lift it above the Kleenex. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News : Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times : One True Thing is real enough to be a film you can believe in. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times : One True Thing demonstrates that the power of simple things, the transcendent nature of the ordinary, can make for riveting filmmaking. Read more

Paul Tatara, CNN.com : Streep is luminous as the hypermaternal Kate. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly : An emotional drama! Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail : A well-oiled machine manufactured to tap our welled-up ducts. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews : Although the plot rarely excels, the actors bring enough to their roles to transform this motion picture into a satisfying weeper. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times : It is the craftsmanship that elevates One True Thing above the level of a soaper. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com : Franklin seems ill-suited to this cast and this material. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle : Streep shines! Read more

Time Out : The script shifts audience sympathies about quite adroitly, though it's a pity all the men had to be such humbugs. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety : Sensitively written, fluidly directed and expertly acted! Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice : Streep and Hurt, two of the best gestural actors working, let the showboating tics fly fast and thick. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post : One True Thing celebrates the very things you don't miss, or even know exist, until they are gone. Read more

One True Thing (1998)

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Netflix’s new comedic thriller “Bodkin” opens with the show’s protagonist, Gilbert Power ( Will Forte ), stating, “When I started this podcast, I didn't expect to solve anything. I didn't expect it to change my life.” It sets up the characters' preoccupations well, and also exposes the main problem with the genre their fictional series is embedded in. The series follows American true crime podcast host Gilbert and his researcher Emmy ( Robyn Cara ), who team up with journalist Dove ( Siobhán Cullen ) to uncover the mysterious disappearances that plagued the Irish town of Bodkin decades prior. 

As these amateur detectives continue to dig deeper for answers, they garner the attention of the town's various inhabitants. Some are fans of the show, while others are more than hostile to the new visitors. Despite this, Gilbert and Emmy are determined to get another hit on their hands, while Dove becomes entwined with the mystery and will stop at nothing to expose their identity. The three of them start off on the wrong foot, but as the series unfolds, they grow to care for one another, and surprisingly, their different methods of interviewing and interrogating work in the group's favor. 

From the first glares the trio receives, it’s clear that Bodkin and its community are hiding some big secrets. On their first few days in the town, this causes a malicious hit-and-run (thankfully, it doesn’t end in death) and their driver’s car to be set on fire. The town’s charming scenery, which often catches Gilbert off guard, covers up a woven bed of secrets that each member of the community wants to keep hidden. This is the main point of contention in the series and works well to showcase the failings of the true crime genre.

The series, in its first few episodes, is about the repercussions that come with telling a story about a place you’re not originally from and a place whose people don’t trust outsiders. Whether it be a podcast or a documentary, the relationship that listeners or viewers have with the media they consume is one filled with discord. Right off the bat, Gilbert says to Emmy that “the best stories are always mysteries,” showing us that he himself doesn’t understand that the stories he’s telling belong to real people. Dove on the other hand aptly compares true crime podcasts to “public hangings” putting her and Gilbert and Emmy on opposite sides of the play field.

As the series further unfolds, the themes it was attempting to juggle aren’t necessarily gone from “Bodkin’s” inner workings. Still, they do take a backseat compared to the actual mystery at hand. However, with episode 4, the show begins to give a voice to the supporting characters, giving a voice to the people whom the trio of protagonists unknowingly exploit. The most interesting here is undoubtedly Seamus (David Wilmont), one of the town's most illusive, and powerful members. While Dove is convinced that he is responsible for the disappearances of the three people who went missing during the Samhain festival, Gilbert isn’t so convinced. 

In an attempt to get more information from the man, Gilbert spends the better part of episodes 4 and 5 with Seamus. In their time together, it becomes apparent to Gilbert and us that there’s more to him than meets the eye. The growing relationship between the two is almost heartwarming – if such a word can exist in a black comedy like this – and the chemistry between Forte and Wilmot is electric. As they drive around to settle a debt Gilbert has with a bar patron, the two confide in each other about their romantic and life failings. As their relationship becomes more sincere, Gilbert becomes increasingly desperate for Seamus not to be the evil man Dove is convinced he is. It’s the best relationship in a series that hinges on brief or extended conversations and truly allows the show's writing and acting to shine.

Ultimately, “Bodkin” succeeds in a landscape of thrillers and true crime expansions. It expertly crafts a riveting mystery but also fleshes out its central – and supporting – characters. A series like this hinges on the chemistry of the show’s cast, and thankfully, each and every player gives it their all. Dove’s determination and coyness mix well with Gilbert and Emmy’s sweet disposition and, in turn, allow the Americans to become detectives in their own right. The difference in how they not only see the world but see their professions allows them to crack the case wide open and expose that this cold case might not even be lukewarm. 

Instead, the case at hand is a simmering beast waiting to be exposed, lying dormant beneath the soil of Bodkin for decades. It’s been waiting to be unearthed, and with the work of Dove, Gilbert, and Emmy, it soon will be. Each secret is mentioned by a passerby fleetingly, though the biggest ones stay hidden between the tight-lipped mouths of the show's most important players. The story never overstays its welcome and instead unfolds into one of the most entertaining shows of the year. Underneath it all is a warning that perhaps some things don’t need to be uncovered, and perhaps they’re left better off dead. 

All episodes were screened for review. On Netflix now.

Kaiya Shunyata

Kaiya Shunyata is a freelance pop culture writer and academic based in Canada. They have written for RogerEbert.com, Xtra, Okayplayer, The Daily Beast, AltPress and more. 

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The true story behind Hit Man , Richard Linklater's new Netflix caper comedy

Based on a real undercover operative, Gary Johnson was known as the best professional assassin in Houston.

Matt Lankes / Netflix

Richard Linklater ’s acclaimed Netflix caper comedy Hit Man follows Gary Johnson ( Glen Powell , also co-writer), a mild-mannered police staffer who goes undercover as a would-be assassin for some of the more unseemly characters in New Orleans. But when a young woman (Adria Arjona) wants to enlist his services against her abusive partner, Johnson finds himself torn between his professional duties and true love.

Though it sounds like a wild work of fiction, Linklater’s latest picture is nominally based on fact. A rousing Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth from October 2001 portrayed Johnson as a renegade law enforcement official with a knack for character work who, over 30 years, reportedly nabbed more than 60 people looking to procure a hit man. 

Linklater’s film spins a fictional plot out of Johnson’s life, but Powell’s character shares the real man’s name and some of his particular quirks. To unravel the larger-than-life story and unbelievable characters that inspired Hit Man , Entertainment Weekly looks into Gary Johnson’s life and compares it with Linklater’s stylish comic thriller, which is streaming on Netflix now.

Join EW as we explore the true story behind Hit Man .

Who was Gary Johnson?

Gary Johnson was a law enforcement official who enjoyed tending to his garden, listening to classical music, and meditating. Born in 1947, he was raised by his mother, a homemaker, and his father, a carpenter, in a tiny Louisiana burg where he was one of 12 students in his high school class.

Johnson was deployed to Vietnam as a military police officer before he headed back to Louisiana and found work with a sheriff’s office. After a few years, Johnson left that post for a police officer position in Port Arthur, Tex., playing a supposed drug addict who would try to score from street dealers.

“I don’t think the drug dealers ever suspected I might be a cop because my personality was so weird to begin with,” Johnson remarked to Texas Monthly .

After returning to school for a Master’s Degree in psychology, Johnson moved to Houston intending to get a PhD in psychology from the University of Houston. Johnson wasn’t admitted into the program but was soon hired as an investigator for the Houston District Attorney’s office.

When people asked Johnson what he did for a living, his answer was brief and vague: “human resources.” Though he taught human sexuality and general psych classes twice a week at the local community college, his full-time job consisted of reviewing tapes for Harris County prosecutors in dark, windowless rooms for hours at a time.

“If you saw Johnson at the district attorney’s office, you would probably mistake him for a low-level clerk,” the Texas Monthly article explains. “He spends most of his days in a little room filled with video- and audio-recording machinery, where he duplicates or enhances tapes (such as a videotape shot on a department store camera of a shoplifter or an audiotape made of a criminal’s confession) for prosecutors to use in their various court trials. He is a precise, fastidious man.”

What was Gary Johnson’s profession?

Neighbors, co-workers, and students alike agreed Johnson was the epitome of a normal, perhaps even slightly boring guy. However, he was known to Texas’ underworld as “the greatest professional hit man in Houston.” He was also “the Laurence Olivier” of undercover murder-for-hire cases. By all accounts, the investigator was uniquely suited to win over those looking to pay someone to snuff out their cheating wife, nagging husband, or greedy business partner. Johnson crafted multiple aliases and personas. While masquerading as a hardened biker to woo rough-hewn males seeking his services, he’d go by Mike Caine; assuming the identity of a “pleasant-looking” problem solver, he offered a listening ear and warm shoulder to society grand dame Lynn Kilroy when she wanted her husband whacked. He ended up busting her, and Killroy received probation for her dalliance with the so-called assassin.

“He’s the perfect chameleon,” lawyer Michael Hinton, who worked as one of Johnson’s supervisors, told Texas Monthly . “Gary is a truly great performer who can turn into whatever he needs to be in whatever situation he finds himself. He never gets flustered, and he never says the wrong thing. He’s somehow able to persuade people who are rich and not so rich, successful and not so successful, that he’s the real thing. He fools them every time.”

Johnson took on his first undercover assassin assignment in 1989 and proceeded to seek wetwork for the next three decades, putting more than 60 criminals behind bars in the process, according to All That’s Interesting . Despite his high-pressure job, Johnson was reportedly “the chillest dude imaginable,” according to a note in the film, and he shared an equal love for his cats (named Id and Ego, respectively), the words of Gandhi, and Buddhist teachings.

He was also a confirmed loner, having been married and divorced three times. His second wife, Sunny, told Texas Monthly she was astonished he could switch personas for his job. “He’ll show up at parties and have a good time, and he’s always friendly, but he likes being alone, being quiet. It’s still amazing to me that he can turn on this other personality that makes people think he is a vicious killer,” she mused.

Is Adria Arjona’s character based on a real person?

Arjona’s character Maddy is inspired by a real individual who is introduced at the end of the Texas Monthly article. In the source, Johnson was tipped off to an unnamed woman who felt she had no choice but to kill her violent boyfriend.

While researching the suspect before making contact, Johnson “learned that she really was the victim of abuse, regularly battered by her boyfriend, too terrified to leave him because of her fear of what he might do if he found her.”

Instead of setting up a sting to catch the woman, Johnson “referred her to social service agencies and a therapist to make sure she got proper help so she could leave her boyfriend and get into a women’s shelter.”

It was a change of heart that was highly unusual for the regimented professional, one which prompted Hollandsworth to tell Johnson, “The greatest hit man in Houston has just turned soft.”

“Just this once,” Johnson shot back, which is where the article ends.

The exchange was Linklater’s spark of inspiration, crafting his semi-fictional opus around an invented relationship between Johnson and the young woman. What really tickled the director, though, was the idea of Arjona’s character falling in love with one of Powell’s alter egos rather than the real man himself, laying the groundwork for a classic screwball comedy.

“He’s trapped in his hit man persona, which is fine because he’s finding it much more of a fun way to go through the world, particularly in relation to her,” Linklater explained in a Netflix interview. “So it becomes a body-switch comedy in a weird, strange way.”

Courtesy of Netflix

How much of Hit Man is based on Johnson’s real life?

Linklater’s film is largely rooted in the facts of Johnson’s career, though it predictably takes creative liberties. Most of Hit Man takes place after the point where the Texas Monthly article ended, with Powell’s Johnson meeting Arjona’s Maddy. Linklater told Netflix that this was a rather obvious choice, as he’d long been fascinated with the article but was unsure what the central relationship should be.

“What would happen if a woman got back in touch with him, even went so far as to thank him?” the director queried. “What if she asked him out? What if they got together?”

The movie offers an alternate version of Johnson’s life, keeping many of the article’s facts to structure the narrative's spine while spinning a plot, which suggests the investigator’s life took a very different turn after he met the mysterious young woman.

The movie’s primary embellishment involves Powell’s character actually killing someone in the third act, which the real Gary Johnson certainly never did. Linklater makes this clear in a postscript at the end of the film, but the choice is indicative of the surrealistic spin Linklater gave Johnson’s life story.

Brian Rondel / Courtesy of Netflix

Was Gary Johnson involved with Hit Man ’s production?

Johnson, who died in 2022, was not directly involved in Hit Man ’s production, despite Powell saying Linklater had “a lot of reverence” for the law enforcement official and his colorful life. 

However, Linklater and Powell did plenty of research into both the hitman profession and Johnson’s peculiar niche before heading to set. “I never got a chance to talk to the real Gary Johnson,” Powell told Netflix. “I listened to him a lot in old recordings and read a lot of what he did in police debriefs.”

Powell explained the process was easier without involving Johnson because the film was “creating a moment in time for Gary” that was a snapshot of the article rather than “where he is now. Sometimes when you meet the real-life people, you meet them in a different phase of their life and it can taint who they used to be,” the Anyone but You star considered. 

Although Johnson never got to see the film, Powell believes Johnson would have “really appreciated the story.”

“I’m really glad we have that tribute to him at the end of the movie,” Powell added.

Related Articles

The Von Erich Family’s Tragic True Story Inspired The Iron Claw

The movie, now streaming on Max, stars Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White as two brothers in the Von Erich wrestling family that is haunted by personal tragedy.

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Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers about events related to the movie The Iron Claw .

The relationships among the Von Erich family—including brothers Kevin , David, Kerry, and Mike—are at the core of the 2023 biopic The Iron Claw . Now streaming on Max , the movie stars Zac Efron , Jeremy Allen White , Harris Dickinson, and Lily James .

The Iron Claw provides a dramatized look at the Von Erichs’ rise to stardom, as well as the troubling circumstances outside the ring that led to a series of deadly family tragedies. This string of personal turmoil has led many fans and observers to conclude the Von Erichs must have been “cursed,” a notion Kevin Von Erich (played by Efron) refutes.

In fact, Kevin and his family rose from humble beginnings in rural Texas to become Hall of Famers at the highest level of wrestling. The only thing that would stop them is death itself.

Beginnings of a Dynasty

To start, we should say Von Erich wasn’t the family’s real last name. And, it turns out, Fritz wasn’t actually Fritz. He was Jack Barton Adkisson, husband to Doris and father of six boys. He took on the Von Erich persona after becoming an established professional wrestler.

Fritz was born August 16, 1929, in Jewett, Texas. Speaking in the Vice Studios docuseries Dark Side of the Ring , Kevin described his father as “a big kid for his age” but not necessarily strong. Jack’s father, who was the town sheriff, helped set up bare-knuckle boxing matches with other children in Jewett to toughen up his son.

Before his time in the squared circle, Jack was a promising discus thrower and football prospect who played tackle at Southern Methodist University. He married Doris, his high school sweetheart, in June 1950, but their marriage cost him his scholarship. He transferred to Corpus Christi University and briefly joined the NFL’s Dallas Texans out of school. But his pro career never took off, and following a failed tryout in the Canadian Football League, Jack began training in Edmonton, Canada, under Stu Hart—patriarch of the Hart family that later produced five-time heavyweight champion Bret “the Hitman” Hart .

Returning to Texas, he began wrestling at the Sportatorium in Dallas as the ring character Fritz Von Erich, a villainous Nazi from Berlin that crowds hated and promoters loved. Soon after, he added his signature attack the Iron Claw, in which the hulking figure grabbed and squeezed the temples of his opponent with one hand to devastating effect.

Fritz toured the country as a bona fide heel (that’s wrestling speak for the bad guy), sometimes performing for as little as $5 per night according to D magazine . While he set the foundation for the Von Erich wrestling dynasty, he and his family would soon face a horrific tragedy that foreshadowed their calamitous legacy.

A Shocking Death

As Von Erich’s notoriety grew, so did his family. He and Doris welcomed sons Jack Jr. in September 1952, Kevin in May 1957, and David in July 1958. But only a year after David’s birth, they lost their oldest child.

With Fritz away wrestling in 1959, Jack Jr. was playing in the trailer park where the family was staying in Niagara Falls, Ontario, when he touched an exposed electrical wire. The unconscious boy fell face down into a puddle of melting snow and drowned.

His death left his parents reeling, with Doris telling her husband she also wanted to die. According to D Magazine , for years, she cataloged events from her life based on their proximity to Jack’s passing.

Always want the inside scoop? Us too. Subscribe to our free newsletter to get Biography.com articles delivered to your inbox.

Even at his young age, Kevin could see his father suffered greatly. “I came in and saw my dad punch a car window that just shattered,” he told Dark Side of the Ring . “He came out of that different. He was still an honorable man on the outside, but I think inside he wanted to die. He was suffering… He was at war with the world. He wanted to make everyone suffer like him.”

Fritz tried to channel this turmoil inside the ring and through his role raising his still-growing family.

Rise of the Von Erichs

Not long after Jack’s death, Fritz bought 115 acres of land in rural Texas so he could be more involved with his children. His and Doris’ fourth son, Kerry (played by White in the movie), was born in February 1960, followed by Mike and Chris in March 1964 and September 1969, respectively.

Fritz alternated between loving dad and strict disciplinarian. He taught his sons to hunt, ride a motorcycle, and fight back against bullies. If any of them acted out of line, he also didn’t hesitate to use corporal punishment.

Not surprisingly, he introduced his children to wrestling, building a homemade ring behind their house and setting up a home gym for them. Kevin, David (played by Dickinson), and Kerry became star high school athletes in various sports that included football, basketball, and track and field. Kerry even set a world junior record in discus.

All three attended college but eventually dropped out to become wrestlers. “To be honest, we didn’t even know if we’d like wrestling that much. I mean, wrestling was filled with these old, out-of-shape men, going from one small town to another, looking miserable,” Kevin said in 1988. “But we all knew what was going to happen in the end. It was inevitable. We were going to go into wrestling, because we wanted to be just like our dad.”

Years later, Mike followed a similar path as his older brothers into pro wrestling. Even Chris , who suffered from severe asthma growing up and had extremely brittle bones, eventually climbed over the top rope and into the ring.

With his sons ready to carry on the Von Erich family legacy in the late 1970s and early ’80s, Fritz had dropped his heel persona and showed off his skills as a master promoter. He wanted the Von Erichs to be rugged fighters but also a squeaky clean family relatable to fans.

It paid off, as older brothers Kevin, David, and Kerry became the centerpiece of Fritz’s promotion, World Class Championship Wrestling. Their shows aired across the United States and even in Japan and the Middle East. This helped the entire family build a devoted fan base, even though the brothers had varying degrees of success in the ring. David was considered the best wrestler among the group, but Kerry had the most memorable victory, beating superstar Ric Flair for the NWA World Championship in 1984.

However, their time at the pinnacle wouldn’t last long.

The ‘Curse’ Takes Hold

In time, the physical demands of wrestling and the pressure of carrying on the Von Erich legacy seemingly took their toll on the brothers. By 1993, four of them had died under conditions that were equally mysterious and heart-wrenching—leading to the notion the family was cursed.

In late 1983, David began to experience periodic stomach sickness but continued performing. The 25-year-old was on a tour with All Japan Pro Wrestling when he unexpectedly died on February 10, 1984. Medical officials in Tokyo said the cause of death was acute enteritis or inflammation of the intestines. However, rumors have persisted that David actually died of a drug overdose that was covered up.

In August 1985, Mike—determined to fill the void left by David’s death—was wrestling in Israel when he suffered a dislocated shoulder and underwent surgery. A week later, he was hospitalized with toxic shock syndrome. Despite losing the function of his kidneys and facing a fever of 107 degrees, he survived and returned to wrestling. However, he reportedly suffered brain damage from the ordeal and struggled outside the ring. Four days after a DUI arrest in April 1987, Mike died by an apparent suicide caused by an overdose of a sleeping aid. He was only 23.

Chris reportedly suffered from depression following the deaths of his brothers and struggled to achieve in-ring success. He died by suicide in 1991 at age 22 from a gunshot wound.

Kerry achieved the most of the brothers, eventually joining Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation —now WWE—in 1990 under the name the Texas Tornado. However, his bigger battle was out of the ring. In June 1986, Kerry dislocated his hip and badly injured his right leg and foot. He returned to the ring the next February with “enough Novacaine to numb Secretariat’s hoof,” according to Irv Muchnick’s book Wrestling Babylon: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal . He won the comeback match but had broken his ankle again. Eventually, doctors tried to fuse his foot into a walking position but ultimately determined Kerry required an amputation.

Kerry managed to hide his prosthesis from fans and most of his competitors for years. However, he became addicted to painkillers and, by February 1993, was out of wrestling and the target of an arrest warrant for cocaine possession. On February 18, he died from a self-inflicted gunshot at age 33.

The Von Erich Family Legacy

Fritz and Doris divorced in 1992. The deaths of his sons took a mental toll on the proud father, and lung and brain cancer eroded his physical well-being. Fritz died on September 10, 1997. “I was glad he died. I wanted him to quit suffering,” Kevin said in Dark Side of the Ring .

As the last Von Erich brother alive, Kevin has had to listen to myriad rumors about his family and references to the so-called curse that lingers over them. But he doesn’t buy it. “Not only have I lost a brother, I lost all of them,” he said . “There was talk about there being a curse on the family. It’s ridiculous. A curse. What happened was just a terrible thing, but no curse.”

Kevin has admitted he also battled suicidal thoughts but managed to find peace. Today, he and his wife, Pam, have four children and 11 grandchildren.

WWE posthumously inducted the Von Erich family into its Hall of Fame in 2009, ensuring their accomplishments inside the ring would be remembered by generations of fans. Today, a new branch of Von Erichs is continuing the family legacy. Kevin’s sons Ross and Marshall compete as a Von Erich tag team and have worked in promotions like Major League Wrestling.

According to TMZ , Kevin talked to director Sean Durkin a few times about The Iron Claw but wasn’t involved in any significant way behind the scenes. Still, he commended Efron’s physical transformation for the role. Even White, who put on 40 pounds of muscle for the movie, called Efron a “maniac” with his training and diet. “I think they’re going to do great,” Kevin said.

Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or self-harming behaviors, call or text 988 to get help from the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline .

Watch The Iron Claw on Max Now

In a first look video from the movie’s distributor, A24, co-stars Zac Efron , Jeremy Allen White , and Harris Dickinson shared the special connection they developed while learning the high-flying maneuvers that made the real Von Erich family famous:

“The support and true love between the brothers, that was really special,” White explained . “Harris, Zac, and I, there’s a brotherhood now.”

You can catch their high-flying performances as Kevin, Kerry, and David Von Erich with The Iron Claw now streaming on Max . The movie also stars Lily James as Kevin’s love interest, Pam; Holt McCallany as Fritz; Maura Tierney as Doris; and Stanley Simons as Mike.

Tyler Piccotti first joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor in February 2023, and before that worked almost eight years as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he's not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, catching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.

Movies Based on True Stories

Inside Amy Winehouse’s Downward Spiral and Death

The Real-Life Hannibal Lecter

‘The Iron Claw’ Leaves Out a Von Erich Brother

Where Is Kevin Von Erich Today?

The True Story of Pop-Tarts and ‘Unfrosted’

Prince Andrew’s ‘Scoop’ Interview, Explained

Napoleon and Josephine Had a Stormy Relationship

The True Story of Bob Marley’s One Love Concert

The True Story of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

The Oppenheimer Cast And Their IRL Counterparts

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The best horror movies you can watch right now

From Netflix to Hulu to Max, the eeriest, scariest, and best horror to watch at home... or else

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Whether it’s something gory and macabre, silly and irreverent, or eerie and unsettling, the genre of horror is as rich and varied as the multitude of ghosts, ghoulies, and homicidal maniacs that go bump in the night.

Looking for the best horror films available to stream on Netflix, Hulu , Max , and Paramount Plus ? No worries, we’ve got the goods. We’ve combed through the libraries of each of the major streaming platforms to bring you a list of our most recommended horror movies. Here are the best horror movies you can stream right now, from old classics to new hits. Our latest update added Invasion of the Body Snatchers , Sinister , and Totally Killer.

Editor’s pick: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Director: Philip Kaufman Cast: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy Where to watch: Prime Video

Invasion of the Body Snatchers has a timeless, perfect premise: What if the people you know weren’t themselves anymore? What if they had been replaced by something that looked like them, talked like them, and remembered like them, but didn’t feel the same? It’s viscerally upsetting, even as an idea, which is probably why this story has been remade nearly a dozen times since the original was released in 1956.

But for all the remakes, the 1978 version of the movie stands out as a particular highlight. Starring Donald Sutherland and Leonard Nimoy, Philip Kaufman’s version of the story imagines a San Francisco slowly overrun by aliens who steal the faces of humans. The lurking paranoia of the original movie is similarly on display in this one, but its real step up is in the effects department.

Where the original movie left the body snatching mostly to the audience’s imagination, this version shows the process in all its gross, gooey, alien detail. Fresh, formless bodies slide out of pods while sentient threads of plant fur creep across victims, giving details and features to the newly printed doubles, all before the person’s old body disintegrates. It’s a wildly effective, extremely off-putting effect that the movie makes tremendous use of to both heighten its paranoid atmosphere and justify it. All that, and the movie has one of the greatest endings in horror movie history. — Austen Goslin

Annihilation

Director : Alex Garland Cast : Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez Where to watch: Paramount Plus, free w/ ads on Pluto TV

Annihilation might be the creepiest movie about plants ever made (with all due respect to The Ruins .)

Annihilation follows a group of scientists (played by a phenomenal group of actors) investigating an area struck by a meteor. The area that was hit has slowly spread and grown into what’s now known as The Shimmer, an area where nature seems to be taking over everything around it, but it’s a different kind of nature; strange, unnaturally green plants grow over everything, and creatures (animals and humans) slowly merge with the vegetation around them. At the center of all of this is a lighthouse the group must reach. Annihilation helps realize this strange Earth-but-not incredibly well, with beautiful and haunting production design and a finale as memorable as any horror movie on this list. — AG

Blair Witch

Director: Adam Wingard Cast: James Allan McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott Where to watch: Prime Video, Hulu

Sequels to The Blair Witch Project are very dicey propositions. After Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 was greeted as a disaster immediately after release, the franchise stalled out and the idea of returning to the black forest faded from the minds of aspiring horror filmmakers. But in 2016, writer Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard, the duo behind the excellent You’re Next , went back into the woods for a new Blair Witch sequel. And it’s actually pretty great.

The movie follows James Donahue, the brother of Heather from the first movie, as he sets out to investigate what happened to his sister. James and some friends, including film student Lisa, set out on an adventure through the Maryland woods and, of course, run into some very creepy activity when they get there.

Blair Witch isn’t interested in trying to recapture the formal magic of the first movie, exactly. There’s no mistaking this one for a documentary, and there’s clearly a lot more going on production-wise than a few kids in the woods with a video camera. It’s decidedly a studio version of found footage, but that isn’t a bad thing; it means the movie is full of delicately framed shots that really capture and amplify the terror of this new group of kids stuck in the woods. And when things really start to pop off in the second half, it means that we get careful, tantalizing, terrifying glimpses of whatever lurks in the darkness, but never too much to ruin the scare. —AG

Director : Gaspar Noé Cast : Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub Where to watch: Digital rental/purchase on Amazon, Apple

Climax isn’t for the faint-of-heart — and we’re saying that in the context of a horror movies list. The movie is set at an all-night dance party inside a gymnasium, which turns sour after someone spikes the sangria with a little too much LSD. Climax is told in beautifully disorienting long takes that go from dozens of minutes of uninterrupted and propulsive dance sequences to hazy walks through hallways as the camera mimics the dizzy stumbling of the movie’s characters. As the psychedelics kick in, so too do some of the attendees’ long-held feuds, leading to disastrous and horrifying consequences. It’s rare that a movie truly defies description, but if you’ve got a strong stomach and a will to see something you haven’t before, Climax is the perfect movie for you. — AG

Crimes of the Future

Director: David Cronenberg Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart Where to watch: Hulu

Microplastics: They’re everywhere !

They’re in our lungs , our blood , our food and drinking water ; even the air we breathe . What the fuck is it doing to our bodies? We don’t really know, but David Cronenberg’s 2022 body horror drama sure has an idea of what it might mean for our children. Crimes of the Future imagines a world where humans have lost the ability to feel pain. In addition to that, several people have developed a disturbing disorder which causes their bodies to spontaneously spawn new organs.

This new reality has spawned a trend: Live surgery, wherein performance artists plagued with this condition tear into their own bodies in an effort to shape meaning out of this strange new biological fact. Viggo Mortensen stars as Saul Tenser, a world-renowned performance artist who, alongside his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux), stands on the cutting edge — both literally and figuratively — of this cultural phenomenon. When Saul’s activities catch the attention of a mysterious group of evolutionary activists, as well as the lascivious eye of a government employee named Timlin (Kristen Stewart), he’s forced to confront what he — and everyone else around him — is changing into, and whether what that is can even be considered “human” anymore.

As macabre as it is moving, grotesque as it is sensuous; Crimes of the Future is an exquisite work of science fiction horror where surgery is the new sex and our very bodies have rebelled against us for the incalculable destruction we have inflicted on the planet. It’s a film that exists in intimate conversation with the anxieties of our present, as well as one that represents a stunning return to form for one of cinema’s most forward-thinking directors. Howard Shore’s growling, guttural score is engrossing, while the leading trio of performances by Mortensen, Seydoux, and Stewart are a virtual match made in heaven in bringing to life this speculative slice of post-human hell on Earth. In short: It’s a great film and highly recommended, but whatever you do, don’t see it on a full stomach. Trust me. —Toussaint Egan

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Cast: Kōji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa Where to watch: Criterion Channel

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 1997 horror masterpiece Cure follows Kenichi Takabe (Kōji Yakusho), a Japanese detective frustrated by an inexplicable rash of seemingly unconnected murders that nevertheless all appear to be connected, despite none of the perpetrators having known each other or having any recollection as to what possessed them to do it. When Takabe’s investigation leads him to a suspect, a student of psychology and mesmerism known as Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara), he finds himself plunged into a conspiracy that threatens to engulf anyone who gets too close.

In Cure , violence is less an act of premeditation or passion as it is a virus, coursing its way through the bloodstream of society, corrupting innocent bystanders not unlike aberrant cancer cells attacking from within without ever understanding why they did so in the first place. How do you confront a horror like that, much less stop it? The answer is as simple as it is terrifying: You can’t. —TE

Encounters of the Spooky Kind

Director: Sammo Hung Cast: Sammo Hung, Chung Fat, Dick Wei Where to watch: Criterion Channel

This Halloween , I had one goal: Finally watch Sammo Hung’s jiangshi ( Chinese hopping vampire ) martial arts comedy Encounters of the Spooky Kind. It was finally added to streaming via the Criterion Channel earlier this fall after years of being unavailable digitally. And reader, my priorities were correct, because this movie is an absolute blast.

Best known for his collaborations with childhood friends Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, Sammo’s excellence as a director, choreographer, and performer are on full display in what is frequently a one-man show.

Sammo directed the movie, co-wrote it, choreographed the action, and stars as Bold Cheung, a pedicab driver and skilled martial artist who’s also kind of a dolt. He is dared to spend the night in a haunted house with a hopping vampire — a dare he accepts, because he is “Bold” Cheung, after all. What follows is a Looney Tunes-style slapstick action horror movie with legitimate scares (the vampire makeup is terrific: gray with a gross texture, like a wet papier-mâché mask), dazzling rhythmic martial arts choreography, and perfectly placed dashes of comedy (there’s even an extended Duck Soup homage).

Sammo is truly one of the greatest directors to ever do it, but he doesn’t get the proper credit globally because of the genres (and nation) he’s primarily worked in. The jaw-dropping choreography and onslaught of funny bits are outstanding, but it’s his skill with the camera that has always separated Sammo from his counterparts.

Bringing it back to his old friend Yuen Biao for a second — Biao co-stars as the silent vampire, and does a terrific job selling the undead creature’s fight sequences with stiff limbs and startling hops. This movie is colorful, funny, scary, tense, and an incredibly fun time. If you like the Evil Dead movies, this is one you must check out; Sam Raimi basically directly ripped one of Spooky Kind ’s fight sequences for Evil Dead II . — Pete Volk

Eyes Without a Face

Director: Georges Franju Cast: Pierre Brasseur, Édith Scob, Alida Valli Where to watch: Max, Criterion Channel

Georges Franju’s influential 1960 film is a master class in supernatural fantasy horror. An unsettling tale about a plastic surgeon (played by Pierre Brasseur) who kidnaps young women and performs surgery on them to try and find a face replacement for his daughter (Édith Scob), Eyes Without a Face is equal parts haunting and beautiful. Scob’s iconic face mask in the movie was later referenced in her role in the also-excellent Holy Motors many decades later. — PV

Director: Clive Barker Cast: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence Where to watch: Prime Video, AMC+, Tubi, Pluto, Hoopla

Clive Barker’s 1987 directorial debut adapts his 1986 novella The Hellbound Heart to tell the story of Larry (Andrew Robinson) and Julia Cotton (Clare Higgins). The Cottons are a married couple who move into the home of Larry’s recently deceased brother, Frank (Sean Chapman), with whom Julia had a previous affair. After inadvertently being resurrected by a drop of blood spilled by Larry on the floor of the house’s attic, Frank seduces Julia into luring new men to the house so that he can drain their life force and fully regain his mortal form. Surrounding this core narrative is the the story of the Lament Configuration, a puzzle box Frank acquired before his untimely death. When solved, it conjures hellish beings known as Cenobites to the mortal plane of existence, which indulge in hellish exercises of sadomasochistic mutilation. Easily the best and most enduring of the Hellraiser movie series, Barker’s 1987 original is a must-watch for horror fans. —TE

Director: Ari Aster Cast: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro Where to watch: Max, Kanopy

Hereditary is a victim of its own success. The poster child for the misguided term “elevated horror,” and the subject of more than a few memes (particularly around telephone poles), the thing that often gets lost about Hereditary is that it’s actually really fucking good. And it’s damn scary too.

The movie follows Annie Graham, a difficult mother of two, who just lost her mom. During the funeral service, Annie notices quite a few people are here to mourn the mother she thought had no friends. She eventually learns this group of old people all belonged to the same bizarre semi-cult her mother did. And that’s where the witchy stuff starts.

From there everything descends into a complicated mishmash of tightly coiled family drama, supernatural plotting, and years-old resentments, and it’s absolutely excellent. Who’s to say which is scarier in this movie, the verbal immolation or the literal one?

Even if you’ve seen it already, you probably owe this movie a rewatch. You definitely remember that it’s good, but you probably don’t remember just how great it really is. Hereditary is elegantly creepy, right up until the point that it becomes terrifying. You can’t really ask any more from a horror movie than that. — AG

Director: Bong Joon-ho Cast: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il Where to watch: Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock, Mubi, Hoopla, Kanopy, Crackle

The Host was Bong Joon-ho’s follow-up to the smash success serial killer drama Memories of Murder . A critical and commercial success, it was the highest-grossing South Korean film ever after its release and won Best Film at the Asian Film Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Awards.

Years after chemicals are dumped into the Han River, a huge mutated fish monster emerges and kidnaps a young girl. Her father (Song Kang-ho) sets out to find and rescue her, before being kidnapped by the American scientists responsible for its existence. A fun monster thriller that doubles as insightful commentary on U.S. intervention, ecological disasters, and much more, The Host is a high mark in Bong’s impressive filmography. — PV

Director : Nobuhiko Obayashi Cast : Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo, Kumiko Ohba Where to watch: Max, Criterion Channel

Few movies are as weird and excellent as Nobuhiko Obayashi’s House .

The bizarre ghost story follows a group of school girls who take a vacation to a haunted mansion in the countryside of Japan. Everything starts off well enough, but before long the kids are being attacked by demonic gates, getting eaten by pianos, or opening portals to hell — all with visually an inventive silliness few movies have ever matched. House isn’t all that scary, but it is weird in all the best ways, and nothing else looks or feels like it. — AG

In the Mouth of Madness

Director : John Carpenter Cast : Sam Neill, Julie Carmen, Jurgen Prochnow Where to watch: Digital rental/purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, YouTube

Among the wildest movies John Carpenter has ever made (and that’s saying something), In the Mouth of Madness follows insurance investigator John Trent (Sam Neill), who is hired to find a missing fame horror novelist. Things become increasingly unhinged as the plots of the author’s books and the various monsters seem to invade the real world. Neill, a staple of this list, is absolutely fantastic responding to the horrors of hell, slowly becoming exactly as off-kilter as they are. By the time the movie makes it to the third act, the door to hell is halfway open and Trent is ready to dive headfirst into the void, which is honestly how every movie’s third act should go.

This is also the third in Carpenter’s apocalypse trilogy, which also includes two other stone-cold classics, The Thing and Prince of Darkness . They aren’t on this list, but you should watch them anyway. — AG

Let the Right One In

Director: Tomas Alfredson Cast: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar Where to watch: Hoopla, Kanopy, Plex

A 12-year-old Swedish boy finds a friend in a vampire who looks roughly his age, but is actually an old vampire permanently trapped in the body of a young child. The film is kaleidoscopic, each viewing revealing something different than the last. The first time I saw the film, I was a pessimistic college student, and I read the central relationship as a warning about the parasitic nature of love. After college, the children’s bond reminded me of the impermanence of youth, and why growing up is a mixed blessing. This past year, I was far more focused on the girl’s relationship with her caretaker, an older man who sacrifices everything for her existence.

The film was adapted from John Ajvide Lindqvist’s 2004 novel of the same name, which inspired not just this Swedish film, but a 2010 American adaptation, a comic-book prequel, and two stage plays. The latter has its own legacy — it was adapted by the magnificent National Theater of Scotland, and it eventually had a run at St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2015. Few books inspire so much additional great art. So I suppose I’m recommending the book just as much as the film. — Chris Plante

Director: James Wan Cast: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young Where to watch: Max, Tubi

There was just no way to see it coming. After the Conjuring and Insidious franchises, plus blockbuster turns with Furious 7 and Aquaman , James Wan could have cashed in chips to make another moody franchise-starter to stretch his jump-scare muscles. Instead, he made Malignant , a high-emotion giallo stuffed into dingy ’90s direct-to-video pastiche like some kind of horror-movie turducken. Wan pulls back the layers in an almost tedious fashion: The pregnant Madison (Annabelle Wallis) is first the victim of domestic abuse, then she encounters another killer, and then she starts dealing with psychotic episodes tied to her childhood imaginary friend Gabriel, and theeeeen it’s revealed… Well, please go behold it.

Strung together with a melodramatic cover of The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind,” reveling in horror tropes to the point of parody, the final twists of Malignant are some of the most gratifying lunacy of the year, and the acrobatic actor Marina Mazepa brings it all home in a display of gruesome ballet. I won’t explain anything more out of fear of spoilers — just get on the Malignant train. Wan put his dream (nightmare?) on screen for us all to enjoy. — Matt Patches

Director: Frank Darabont Cast: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden Where to watch: Freevee

Any fan of Stephen King worth their salt knows that the so-called king of horror has a lot of movie adaptations of his work . Few films have managed to eclipse, let alone successfully adapt, King’s capacity for horror storytelling, with the exception of (a) Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and (b) Frank Darabont’s The Mist .

Darabont’s third adaptation of a Stephen King story, the film stars Thomas Jane ( The Expanse ) as a Hollywood poster artist living in Maine who, along with his wife and son and the rest of his neighbors, takes shelter in a supermarket in the wake of a mysterious storm that covers the town in a deadly mist.

Supernatural, otherworldly horrors abound throughout The Mist , but the greatest horror of all is — you guessed it — humanity itself, as seen in the way the townspeople succumb to the temptation to scapegoat those among themselves under the influence of a local religious fanatic. The ending is a gut-punch and sincerely one of the most chilling in any mainstream horror film of its time. If you’ve managed to go unspoiled until now, I won’t ruin the surprise, but needless to say, it’s worth it. —TE

Night of the Living Dead

Director: George A. Romero Cast: Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Marilyn Eastman Where to watch: Max, Peacock, Criterion Channel, Shudder, Kanopy, Tubi, Pluto TV

The movie that launched the modern zombie film in the United States, George A. Romero’s debut feature was written, directed, photographed, and edited by the nascent zombie film master on a shoestring budget, which only adds to the eerie atmosphere and grounded terror. In this film, a group of survivors hide out in an abandoned house in western Pennsylvania at the start of a zombie apocalypse. Led by the level-headed Ben (Duane Jones), the group not only has to deal with the conflict of zombies trying to break in, but internal conflicts stemming from disagreements on how to handle their precarious predicament.

Night of the Living Dead is the first example of Romero’s typical blend of jaw-dropping (and stomach-churning) practical effects and astute social commentary. Fun fact: This movie came out a month before the MPAA film rating system, which meant a heaping amount of controversy when children were able to see the quite graphic movie in theaters. And another fun fact: Night of the Living Dead was never copyrighted and is in the public domain because of an error by the original theatrical distributor. — PV

Director: Andrzej Żuławski Cast: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Heinz Bennent Where to watch: Shudder

Outside of the most ardent of cinephile circles, Andrzej Żuławski isn’t a name that inspires enthusiastic recognition in the United States. Known for his transgressive brand of arthouse cinema, Żuławski’s career was stymied by Communist authorities in his homeland of Poland, with many of his early films being either heavily censored, banned, or, in one instance, nearly destroyed upon release. It also doesn’t help that the few films of his that have been released in the States have since gone out of print — though that appears to be changing soon .

If you do know Żuławski’s name, it’s likely for his 1981 psychological horror film Possession , a film whose cult status among horror connoisseurs has only been amplified in the decades since its release by its difficulty to obtain on physical media or to view online. Fortunately for everyone, that’s no longer the case.

Set in Cold War-era West Berlin, Żuławski’s film stars Jurassic Park ’s Sam Neill as Mark, a Russian spy who returns home to find that his wife, Anna (Isabelle Adjani), has left him and wants a divorce. When Anna refuses to divulge why, only saying that she has not left him for someone else, Mark grows suspicious and has her tailed. What he eventually discovers is a horrifying secret beyond his comprehension, one which awakens a long-dormant wellspring of anxiety, resentment, and despair between the two that threatens to tear apart not only their small family, but their very sanity as well.

Inspired by Żuławski’s own tumultuous divorce in 1976 and his subsequent struggles with suicidal ideation, Possession blurs the line between the autobiographical and the phantasmagorical, with hysterical performances by Neill and Adjani that vacillate between disturbing, comical, and disquietingly sympathetic. An inspiration for everything from Ari Aster’s Midsommar to the 2016 music video for Massive Attack’s “ Voodoo in My Blood ,” Possession is an essential watch for any serious horror fan. —TE

Directors : Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza Cast : Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Martha Carbonell Where to watch: For digital rental/purchase on Amazon, YouTube

One of the best and most disturbing found-footage movies ever, [REC] follows a TV reporter and camera person who follow emergency workers into an apartment building, only to discover the dark truth inside: Some of the residents are turning into monsters. Set squarely in the zombie-craze of the mid-2000s, [REC] ’s undead creatures owe quite a bit to the raving cannibal infected of 28 Days Later , but the Spanish movie’s flesh-eaters are quite a bit creepier and more disturbed than their predecessors. While many found-footage movies obscure their scariest moments, [REC] uses the format to enhance its creeping dread and drag out the character’s slow careful exploration of the apartment building, ramping the tension up to 11 just in time for the downright terrifying finale. — AG

Director: Scott Derrickson Cast: Ethan Hawke, Clare Foley, Fred Thompson Where to watch: Max

A desperate true crime writer, played by Ethan Hawke, moves his family into a house that once played host to an extremely gruesome crime in Scott Derrickson’s terrifically dark horror gem, Sinister . Despite the fact that this movie preceded the latest renaissance of true crime by several years, Hawke seems to have a perfect bead on the genre’s worst creators. He’s one of the all-time-bad horror movie parents, throwing his kids into untold danger all in the hope of writing a new book that could save his career.

Of course, by the time he realizes he’s actually put his family in the path of genuine danger and certain death, it’s already too late for him to write a single word. It’s a straight-over-the-plate premise that feels like you’ll see the scares coming a mile away, but Derrickson takes the story to darker and creepier places than you’d ever expect at first glance, turning it into one of the most terrifying horror movies of the 2010s. — AG

Director: Egor Abramenko Cast: Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk, Pyotr Fyodorov Where to watch: Digital rental/purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, YouTube

If you’re hungry for a great piece of contemporary Russian sci-fi horror (i.e., something not directed by either Andrei Tarkovsky or Yakov Protazanov), then Egor Abramenko’s 2020 directorial debut is just the film you’re looking for.

Set during 1983 at the height of Cold War tensions, Sputnik (which for your information is Russian for “fellow traveler”) centers on Tatyana (Oskana Akinshina), an uncompromising young psychiatrist with a staunch attitude with regard to the ends justifying the means. Tatyana is recruited by the Soviet military to treat Konstantin (Pyotr Fyodorov), a wounded cosmonaut and the lone survivor of a mysterious satellite crash. Only upon arriving at the remote hospital facility housing the patient and interacting with him does Tatyana come to realize the horrifying truth: Konstantin did not in fact return from space alone; rather, his body has now become the unwitting host to an organism unlike anything seen on Earth. Caught between her duty to study the creature and her desire to save Konstantin from further harm, Tatyana must make a hard decision upon which the very survival of all humanity may rest.

What makes Abramenko’s debut so compelling is how it takes the basic premise of the “trolley problem” thought experiment and twists it repeatedly (and successfully) to dramatic emotional effect. Akinshina ( The Bourne Supremacy ) delivers a convincing and compelling performance as Tatyana, a woman forced to confront and overcome the uncompromising attitude that had once assured her success but now threatens to endanger not only another man’s life, but potentially the lives of everyone on the planet along with her own soul. Fyodorov, for his own part, delivers a sympathetically complex (and on occasion, implicitly sinister) performance as Konstantin, a Russian “hero” torn between his perceived duty to his country and his emotional obligation to a loved one he all but abandoned before embarking on his most recent mission. The creature design in this movie is terrific, as is the cinematography and the film’s score.

Having previously been slated for a world premiere at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival and subsequently dumped on video-on-demand in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sputnik is exactly the kind of horror movie this list was intended to spotlight: a kind of rare gem of intellectually and viscerally stimulating horror that otherwise goes unappreciated if not given the opportunity to shine. —TE

Director : Dario Argento Cast : Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci Where to watch: Kanopy

One of the best-looking movies of all time with one of the best soundtracks of all time. What’s better than that?

Dario Argento’s Suspiria tells the story of Suzy Bannion, an American dancer who moves to Germany to study at the prestigious Tanz Akademie. It just so happens that the academy is run by witches. As the facade of the school unravels, Suzy’s fellow students slowly start going missing or dropping dead in increasingly bizarre and horrible ways.

While the plot for Suspiria is interesting, what really makes the movie great is how it looks and how it sounds. Everything about the production design, the costumes, and the colors is eccentric in ways no other horror movie has ever matched. Couple all that with the incredible and haunting soundtrack from European rock band Goblin, and Suspiria becomes an unforgettable horror classic that everyone should see at least once. — AG

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Director: Tobe Hooper Cast: Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Allen Danziger Where to watch: Peacock, Tubi, Freevee, Pluto TV

Another shoestring production gone huge, Tobe Hooper’s 1974 masterpiece made over $30 million at the box office on a budget of around $140,000. The movie follows a group of friends who find themselves hunted by a family of cannibals in the middle of Texas, and is a chilling, violent fever dream that permanently lodges itself in the minds of those who watch it.

Eight films have followed, including a Netflix version in 2022, but the original stands out as an unhinged encapsulation of pure chaos and terror. At a tight 83 minutes, the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre is well worth the small time investment to catch up on one of the most influential horror movies ever made. — PV

Director: John Carpenter Cast: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David Where to watch: Digital rental/purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, and YouTube

John Carpenter’s postmodern creature feature takes the idea of alien monsters and makes them simultaneously more recognizable and more gross and unworldly than in any other movie in history. The Thing , the second adaptation of the excellent novella Who Goes There? , remains thrilling, terrifying, and absolutely disgusting more than 40 years after its release.

The Thing follows a group of researchers working at an Antarctic base. Suddenly, a dog from a local Norwegian camp rushes into their base, with Norwegian men hot on its heels, trying to kill it by any means necessary. However, once the American crew takes the dog in and shelters it, they discover it’s an alien that can transform into any living creature, mimicking it perfectly — and that makes every one of them a suspect.

It’s one of the great paranoid thriller premises of all time, but it just so happens to also be filled with gross and fantastic alien gore. There’s nothing quite like The Thing . — AG

Totally Killer

Director: Nahnatchka Khan Cast: Kiernan Shipka, Olivia Holt, Charlie Gillespie Where to watch: Prime Video

Totally Killer is a slasher with a sci-fi twist, not unlike the fabulous Happy Death Day movies. The movie follows Jamie (Kiernan Shipka), who has to go back in time to the 1980s to stop a masked serial killer before he kills her mom in the future. When she arrives in the past, however, the high school versions of her mom (Olivia Holt), her dad (Charlie Gillespie), and every other adult in her life aren’t exactly who she thought they’d be.

While Totally Killer isn’t the scariest horror movie on this list, it is undeniably one of the most fun. The cast elevates an already funny script thanks to some fantastic and ridiculous line readings, and the movie has a few novel approaches to time-travel shenanigans that keep the concept from ever overwhelming the movie or dragging it down with too much science. Totally Killer is endearingly silly with just the right amount of sweetness, making it one of the most fun and unique slashers of the last several years. — AG

The Unfriended movies

Director: Levan “Leo” Gabriadze ( Unfriended ); Stephen Susco ( Unfriended: Dark Web ) Cast: Shelley Hennig, Moses Storm, Renee Olstead ( Unfriended ); Colin Woodell, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Betty Gabriel ( Unfriended: Dark Web ) Where to watch: Digital rental/purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, and YouTube

As many people have learned over the past few years, there aren’t that many things scarier than a video call you can’t leave.

A masterfully contained horror movie that makes full use of its (at the time) groundbreaking gimmick, Unfriended is a tense teen horror movie that takes place entirely on a character’s laptop screen. Definitely watch it on a laptop if you can, and check out the very good sequel Unfriended: Dark Web if you dug this one. — PV

From our list of the best horror movies on Netflix :

Levan Gabriadze’s Unfriended pulls the audiences through the screen — almost literally. Viewed entirely from the perspective of a computer desktop, 2014 supernatural horror film centers around a Skype call between a group of high school students who are joined by an unknown presence known only as “billie227.” What at first appears to be a prank swiftly morphs into something much more horrific, as the mysterious stranger begins to reveal terrifying secrets about each of the friends before killing them off one by one. Unfriended is thoroughly gripping extrapolation of our always-online world, a world where vengeful poltergeists and doxxing exist side by side and no secret or offense goes undiscovered or unpunished. —TE

Director: Jordan Peele Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss Where to watch : Digital rental/purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, YouTube

Jordan Peele’s already a horror master just three movies into his career, but Us probably still doesn’t have the reputation it deserves. His 2019 psychological slasher had the unfortunate fate of following up the cultural phenomenon of Get Out , so it had a hard time breaking through, in the way that sophomore projects often do. But taken on its own terms, Us is a fantastic little horror movie with tons of atmosphere and an underground society’s worth of great scares.

The movie follows the Wilson family, whose vacation is interrupted by the arrival of a group of doppelgängers who match up with each member of the family perfectly. The clones, it turns out, are called Tethered, and where they come from is very complicated. But before any kind of explanation of the Tethered, what we see is a parade of violent attacks, home invasions, and some very tense encounters between Lupita Nyong’o and herself.

Us may not be Peele’s best movie, but it is a fascinating mix of slasher thrills and world- building, supported by a fantastic cast all operating at their A games. While the entire cast is great, Elizabeth Moss is a particular standout for her extremely brief but extraordinarily loathsome role as one of the family’s friends. Her performance gives this movie so much of its weird off-kilter vibe, and leads to some of its most unstintingly and gleefully over-the-top violence. Alongside the terrifying tone, Peele manages to build an entire second world underneath our own, and will give you a very unhealthy fear of what you’re really seeing when you look in the mirror. — AG

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