2 Movies Like Grimcutty (2022)

It's rare to see a prequel surpass its antecedent, but Pearl is that exception. You can watch it before or after X and still get the same satisfaction from piecing together the puzzle of Mia Goth's many roles (three in total across the trilogy). If the first film owed a lot to slasher classics like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the second (surprise!) channels The Wizard of Oz and nods to the splendiferous melodramas of Douglas Sirk. The jarring form-content opposition here makes sense, as we're seeing through the eyes of the main character, who most of all dreams of being in a movie. Because of that very same whimsy, everything has to change: the violence is not as explicit and the role of sex is brought to the forefront. All hail the new kind of final girl: a farm girl-turned-star.

Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller

Actor: Alistair Sewell, Amelia Reid, David Corenswet, Emma Jenkins-Purro, Gabe McDonnell, Matthew Sunderland, Mia Goth, Tandi Wright, Todd Rippon

Director: Ti West

Rating: R

Rarely do we get horror movies that are as dedicated to toying with audience expectations as Barbarian. Even rarer is a horror movie that pays so much attention to setting, and how men and women approach and interact with physical spaces in different ways. It's a film that's ultimately about entitlement—except it's delivered to us with jet-black humor and manic energy, shifting from romantic to ridiculous to raving mad. But with instantly charming performances from Georgina Campbell and Bill Skarsgård—and Justin Long doing a brilliant job playing an absolute jerk—Barbarian never leaves you grasping in the dark, even if it leads you deeper into hell.

Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Actor: Bill Skarsgård, Brooke Dillman, Derek Morse, Georgina Campbell, J.R. Esposito, Jaymes Butler, Justin Long, Kate Bosworth, Kate Nichols, Kurt Braunohler, Matthew Patrick Davis, Rachel Fowler, Richard Brake, Sara Paxton, Sophie Sörensen, Trevor Van Uden, Will Greenberg, Zach Cregger

Director: Zach Cregger