Maika Monroe is one of the most popular horror actresses around right now. While many of us have been here since the early days of her career when she did movies like The Guest and It Follows, Monroe really cemented her status as a scream queen with last year's hit Longlegs.
The actress already has several more exciting projects lined up, including the remake of The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and she will re-team with Watcher director Chloe Okuno for Brides, a new take on Dracula's brides.
For those who want to delve further into Monroe's filmography, we've created a list ranking some of her best horror movies from least scary to scariest.
5. Significant Other
Significant Other is Monroe's only foray into the world of sci-fi horror and I think it also happens to be one of her most underrated movies. She and Jake Lacy star as a couple, Ruth and Harry, on a camping trip together.
Unbeknownst to them, an alien invasion has begun, as shown in the opening scene when a deer is taken by a tentacled creature. Significant Other has its fair share of creepy moments, but it doen't live up to the intense tension and suspense created by the other movies on this list. It's still a good movie, but if you're looking for something scary, you could do better.
4. The Guest
Since The Guest and It Follows released during the same year, this thriller co-starring Dan Stevens was mostly overshadowed by the latter film. But The Guest is an excellent cat-and-mouse movie. Stevens and Monroe are well cast as opposing forces here and their scenes are the highlight of the film. Stevens plays a soldier who claims to be a friend of the Petersen family, claiming he had befriended their son while in Afghanistan. Once they welcome into their home, a series of mysterious deaths occur and the Petersen daughter, Anna (Monroe) suspects that this man might not be who he says he is.
3. Watcher (2022)
Watcher isn't necessarily scary in the traditional gory-jump-scare way we see in many horror movies, but there is a palpable sense of dread throughout the entire movie ushered in by Chloe Okuno's savvy direction. Monroe plays Julia, a former actress who relocates to Bucharest with her husband and feels completely alienated there because she doesn't speak the language.
She also begins suspecting that a man is watching her from his apartment across the street, but her husband doesn't believe her. Okuno keeps the film tight on Monroe's performance to amplify her claustrophobia and unease in this strange place. The suspense makes Watcher an engrossing watch and I'm sure most women can relate to Julia's experience of not being believed.
2. Longlegs (2022)
Neon's marketing for Longlegs is a significant part of why people expected it to be one of the scariest movies ever made, and for some, it certainly was. While I don't know that I would go quite that far, I did think Oz Perkins did a phenomenal job at creating a deeply disturbing and atmospheric horror movie.
Monroe's character FBI agent Lee Harker is assigned to investigate a horrific series of crimes perpetrated by a serial killer known as "Longlegs," played by Nicolas Cage in one of his most unsettling roles to date. Longlegs is very good at inducing dread in viewers and because of that I think it ranks highly on this list and certainly has become one of Monroe's best films and acting showcases.
1. It Follows (2015)
Like Longlegs, It Follows has seen some polarizing opinions, though perhaps less so than Perkins' film. I remember seeing It Follows in theaters and being deeply affected by it. The film presents the idea that the sinister entity in the film could be masquerading as anyone, at any time.
Walking out of the building after the credits rolled, I couldn't help but side-eye total strangers, anyone who appeared to be walking in a straight line in my direction. The unease created by this movie and the concept of a fatal curse jumping from one person to another through sexual intercourse is seriously unnerving. It Follows remains one of my all time favorite movies and I think it's Monroe's scariest film to date.