At the request of the KBZ community, we’ve been asked to highlight the 25 Best Techno-Horror films. Also known as Tech Horror or Cyber Horror, Techno-Horror is a growing film subgenre where technology intersects with sci-fi and horror. The most popular themes of the Techno-Horror subgenre involve malfunctioning Artificial Intelligence and/or Robots, Psychological Horror in Augmented Reality or Virtual Reality simulations and Supernatural Horror invading new forms of communication through mobile phones, video chat and video conferences.
Most of the films we’ll outline in this article are from our collection of Technology Thrillers. This collection includes a variety of films where technology is the basis for a thriller, horror or sci-fi film. Examples of films in this collection includes everything from the malfunctioning killer robots of Westworld (1973) to an artificial intelligence implant taking over a human’s body in Upgrade (2018).
Before we dive into our rankings of the best Techno-Horror films we’re going to use some criteria to help define and refine our list. First, to be included on our list, the film must primarily be a horror film. This means that films like The Terminator (1984) will not be listed here. The Terminator is primarily a sci-fi action thriller involving time travel and has very few horror elements compared to a film such as Chopping Mall (1986) which is primarily a Slasher Horror film involving robots.
Second, the greater the danger of the technology shown in the film, the higher it will rank.
Third, we’re going to give priority ranking to films that show unique forms of Techno-Horror. Many of the films on our list will feature the killer robot dolls found in Child’s Play (2019) & M3GAN (2022) to the murderous AI-driven smart homes in Tau (2018) and Margaux (2022). However, we don’t want to leave out the unique technology horror of the amorous AI in Demon Seed (1977), a supernatural anti-gravity device in Silk (2006) and the technological reinvention of invisibility in The Invisible Man (2020).
Fourth, we’re only going to consider Found Footage horror where the technology itself plays a central role to Techno-Horror. An example here would be Host (2020) where a haunting occurs through use of the technological format and is not a passive horror experience like most found footage films.
And fifth, we had to follow our rule for all of KBZ’s film listings where we only list films that have a 4.0/10 or higher rating and were released after 1970. This means films such as FeardotCom (2002) won’t be listed here.
Our complete list of Techno Thrillers features over 429+ films from 1970– 2024 and contains all technology-based sci-fi, horror and thriller films. There are many great Techno-Horror films that won’t make this list so subscribe to our newsletter to get updated when we release additional articles of some of the best lesser-known Techno-Horror films.
We have embedded a compilation video of the Best Techno-Horror Films and more details on these films can be found in the list below. Note: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Best Techno-Horror Films
List of Techno-Horror Films that did not make our list: The Stone Tape (1972), The Terminal Man (1974), Holocaust 2000 (1977), Saturn 3 (1980), Evilspeak (1981), Murder by Phone (1982), BrainWaves (1983), Blind Date (1984), Dreamscape (1984), The Dungeonmaster (1984), Terminal Choice (1985), Interface (1985), Maximum Overdrive (1986), Deadly Friend (1986), Pulse (1988), Class of 1999 (1990), Homewrecker (1992), Death Machine (1994), Brainscan (1994), Screamers (1995), Trucks (1997), Strangeland (1998), Ringu (1998), ExistenZ (1999), Ringu 2 (1999), Tales of the Unusual (2000), St. John’s Wort (2001), My Little Eye (2002), The Collingswood Story (2002), One Missed Call (2003), The Card Player (2004), One Point O (2004), Rottweiler (2004), Cube Zero (2004), Hellraiser VIII: Hellworld (2005), Feed (2005), The Ring Two (2005), One Missed Call 2 (2005), White Noise (2005), Stay Alive (2006), Pulse (2006), One Missed Call 3: Final (2006), The Signal (2007), White Noise 2: The Light (2007), Sunshine (2007), Eden Log (2007), One Missed Call (2008), Ghost Machine (2009), Daybreakers (2009), 7th Dimension (2010), Panic Button (2011), Alexia (2013), The Den (2013), GirlHouse (2014), Ratter (2015), Unfriended (2015), i-Lived (2015), Scare Campaign (2016), Let’s Be Evil (2016), Kill Command (2016), Spectral (2016), Keep Watching (2017), Rings (2017), Bedeviled (2017), Ryde (2017), Like.Share.Follow (2017), Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018), Unfriended: Dark Web (2018), You Die (2018), H0us3 (2019), Countdown (2019), Spree (2020), Funhouse (2020), Triggered (2020), Follow Me (2020), Held (2020), Come Play (2020), Demonic (2021), Superhost (2021), Deadware (2022), Choose or Die (2022), Crimes of the Future (2022), Motion Detected (2022), Death Count (2022), The Audition (2022), #No_Filter (2022), Deinfluencer (2022), Unseen (2023), I’ll Be Watching (2023), Cabin Girl (2023), Elevator Game (2023), ROMI (2023), Maid Droid (2023), Ghost Project (2023), Krispr (2023), Dear David (2023), The Bridge Curse: Ritual (2023), Lumberjack the Monster (2023), V/H/S/85 (2023), Model House (2024), Latency (2024), Subservience (2024), Mr. Crocket (2024), Stream (2024), DarkGame (2024) and Succubus (2024).
Rank 25-1:
#25 Margaux (2022) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#24 Ghost in the Machine (1993) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#23 Chopping Mall (1986) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#22 Tau (2018) Where to Stream / Buy: Netflix
#21 Westworld (1973) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#20 Deadstream (2022) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#19 Hardware (1990) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#18 The Cleansing Hour (2020) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#17 The Lawnmower Man (1992) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#16 Silk (2006) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#15 Possessor (2020) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#14 The Cabin in the Woods (2012) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#13 Five Night at Freddy’s (2023) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#12 The Cell (2000) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#11 The Ring (2002) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
