Sinners: How Does Ryan Coogler & Michael B Jordan’s Film Compare With Rotten Tomatoes’ Top 10 Scariest Horror Movies?

Ryan Coogler’s period horror movie Sinners starring Michael B. Jordan in the lead role(s) was released in theatres on April 18, 2025, and has received a terrific response from critics and audiences alike. Sinners has a Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of 98%, which is unusually high for a horror film. It will be interesting to see how Sinners’ Rotten Tomatoes score compares with the scores of the scariest horror movies of all time (as per Rotten Tomatoes’ 2024 poll).

Here are the top ten scariest horror movies ever, per a list published by Rotten Tomatoes (based on a poll conducted by RT last year). We have curated our list from the Top 10 horror movies, mentioned in Rotten Tomatoes’ poll and ranked them based on their Rotten Tomatoes score. Let’s find out whether any of these films have a higher RT score than Sinners.

10. Sinister (Release Year – 2012)

• Rotten Tomatoes Poll Rank- 8 | Rotten Tomatoes Score – 64%

9. Insidious (Release Year – 2010)

• Rotten Tomatoes Poll Rank- 9 | Rotten Tomatoes Score – 66%

Directed by James Wan, the film’s underlying premise is about how a couple moves into a new house, but soon after, they begin to experience supernatural happenings. They desperately attempt to stop evil forces from using their comatose child to become a vessel for evil entities.

8. The Ring (Release Year – 2002)

• Rotten Tomatoes Poll Rank- 6 | Rotten Tomatoes Score – 71%

The psychological horror movie revolves around the story of a journalist, Rachel Keller (played by Naomi Watts), who tries to delve deeper into a mysterious videotape whose viewers die within seven days of watching it.

7. The Exorcist (Release Year – 1973)

• Rotten Tomatoes Poll Rank- 1 | Rotten Tomatoes Score – 78%

William Friedkin’s horror film, The Exorcist, follows the terrifying story of a movie star’s only child, possessed by an evil demon. The distressed mother takes the help of two priests, who must perform an exorcism before it’s too late.

6. The Shining (Release Year – 1980)

• Rotten Tomatoes Poll Rank- 4 | Rotten Tomatoes Score – 83%

The story follows a budding writer and recovering alcoholic, Jack Torrence, who takes up the job of a winter caretaker of a secluded hotel and takes his wife and son with him. Soon after, his son (a psychic) experiences disturbing visions while Jack begins to lose his mind, and he becomes very violent. Now the mother-son duo must find a way to save themselves from this maniac.

5. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Release Year – 1974)

• Rotten Tomatoes Poll Rank- 5 | Rotten Tomatoes Score – 84%

The film follows a group of five friends who travel to rural Texas and find a secluded house on the way. But soon they come to learn that the house has some psychopathic butchers who try to kill each one of them using chainsaws and other deadly weapons.

4. It (Release Year – 2017)

• Rotten Tomatoes Poll Rank- 10 | Rotten Tomatoes Score – 85%

Directed by Andy Muschietti, the movie is adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same name. The story is about how a group of kids must deal with a terrifying shape-shifting entity while coping with their own problems.

3. The Conjuring (Release Year – 2013)

• Rotten Tomatoes Poll Rank- 3 | Rotten Tomatoes Score – 86%

Directed by James Wan, the film follows a family who relocate to a new house but soon become a target of an evil presence. They seek the help of experienced paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine, but are they enough to save the family?

2. Hereditary (Release Year – 2018)

• Rotten Tomatoes Poll Rank- 2 | Rotten Tomatoes Score – 90%

After the death of their secretive matriarch, the Graham family begins to unearth dark and terrifying secrets about their ancestry. As they dig deeper, they find themselves trapped in a horrifying fate they can’t escape. Ari Aster directed the horror film.

1. Halloween (Release Year – 1978)

• Rotten Tomatoes Poll Rank- 7 | Rotten Tomatoes Score – 97%

Directed by John Carpenter, the film is about how a six-year-old kid brutally murders his elder sister, following which he is put in a mental hospital. But fifteen years later, he escapes from the facility and returns to his hometown to wreak havoc on the residents again.

So, as you can see from the above Rotten Tomatoes list of the scariest horror movies ever, even The Exorcist, which is considered the top cult horror film per the poll, is not even close in terms of its RT critics’ score of 78%, compared to Sinners’ 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. The only horror film that has come quite close is the 1974 slasher horror flick Halloween, which has a Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of 97% but stands at number 7 in the poll.

So, as of now, Sinners is the highest-rated horror movie according to its Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score, as it has surpassed the scores of all the films mentioned in the top ten list. Let’s see if any horror movie can surpass Sinners in the near future. Danny Boyle’s ’28 Years Later’ perhaps? What do you think?

What Is The Plot Of Sinners?

Directed by Ryan Coogler, Sinners is a period supernatural horror movie. The underlying plot revolves around twin brothers Smoke and Stack (played by Michael B. Jordan), who return to their hometown in the hope of a fresh start. But just when they assume they have escaped their troubled past, a far more dangerous force emerges.

Check out the trailer for Sinners below:

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