Coming out of the 2000s, many were ready to declare the horror genre dead. Even the biggest horror franchises were failing to make a significant impact at the box office, particularly towards the end of the decade, and the movies weren’t faring much better critically, either.
The 2010s, however, saw something of a horror resurgence. Between Conjuring franchise, and an increase in mainstream interest in intelligent horror, the 2010s were a great time for fans, with each and every single year in the decade delivering a tonne of great genre content.
Black Swan (2010) – 8.0
Although many have contested its status as a horror movie over the years, Black Swan is officially considered a psychological horror, with many of its scenes standing out as the most disturbing of 2010.
The movie chronicles the psychological tug-of-war between ambitious ballerinas Nina and Lily—played by Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis respectively—when they’re both considered for the prestigious role of the White Swan. Nina’s obsession with perfection soon begins to erode her sanity, however, and she falls into a deep, hallucinatory madness, unable to differentiate fantasy from reality.
Sleep Tight (2011) – 7.2
Directed by acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Jaume Balagueró, most known for his work on REC and REC 2, Sleep Tight tells the story of a sadistic apartment concierge, Cesar, who takes great pleasure in tormenting the residents of his complex in subtle, undetectable ways.
When he develops a twisted obsession with the innocent Clara, however, Cesar reaches new depths of depravity. The movie is tremendously unsettling, with Cesar’s disturbing violation of Clara’s privacy feeling all too real. In short, Sleep Tight is a movie that’s sure to make you sleep with one eye open.
The Cabin in the Woods (2012) – 7.0
With 2012 being relatively light on truly great horror movies, The Cabin in the Woods’ smart, hilarious, and lovingly -crafted deconstruction of the horror genre stood out as one of the year’s very best. Though the movie is first and foremost a humorous examination of horror tropes and clichés, the movie still somehow manages to tell a compelling—and often genuinely scary—story.
Boasting one of the most insane, chaotic third acts ever produced for the big screen, The Cabin in the Woods is undoubtedly a modern classic.
The Conjuring (2013) – 7.5
A movie so popular that it spawned an entire cinematic universe, none of The Conjuring’s follow up movies have managed to recapture the perfect mixture of horror and heart that made their progenitor so successful.
Based on the real-life case files of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, The Conjuring tells the story of the Perron family, a tight-nit group who find themselves at the mercy of a sadistic supernatural entity when they move into an old Rhode Island farmhouse.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) – 7.0
Drawing on a variety of cinematic influences while also managing to carve out its own distinct sense of style, Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night tells the story of a wrathful female vampire who stalks and feeds on men.
Though it’s plot is relatively bare-bones, the movie’s fresh take on the stereotypical vampire tale is complemented by its gorgeous cinematography and great performances, ing the likes of Let The Right One In as the vampire sub-genres most compelling entries to date.
Bone Tomahawk (2015) – 7.1
With violence being a common thread in both the horror and Western genres, it’s surprising the two don’t intersect more often. 2015’s Bone Tomahawk blends the two genres extremely effectively, starting out as a more traditional Western before morphing into something altogether more terrifying.
The story centers around a group of men from Bright Hope, who unite to rescue several of the town’s residents when they’re kidnapped by vicious cannibals. While the movie is primarily ed for one infamously gruesome sequence—if you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know—Bone Tomahawk deserves credit for so much more than that, standing as a brutal and often nihilistic take on the traditional Western story.
Train to Busan (2016) – 7.5
Just edging out Na Hong-jin’s atmospheric paranormal thriller The Wailing for this spot on the list, 2016’s Korean zombie movie Train to Busan stands out as the year’s most surprising horror movie. Exploring the fractured relationship between workaholic father Seok-woo and his daughter, Train to Busan sees the pair fight for survival after finding themselves trapped on a train overrun with zombies.
Don’t let the fact that it’s a zombie movie put you off, however, since Train to Busan finds a way to take a stale, oversaturated sub-genre and make it fresh again. It’s not often you see a horror movie with characters this likable, which lends a tremendous amount of weight to the cataclysmic events unfolding in the movie, with its ending standing out as particularly poignant.
Get Out (2017) – 7.7
One of the most Get Out follows college student Chris Washington, who travels to meet his white girlfriend’s affluent, liberal parents only to sense that there’s something very, very wrong taking place behind the scenes.
Boasting the kind of meticulous attention to detail found in few horror movies, as well as some sharp, nuanced social commentary, the movie was nominated for several Academy Awards, eventually taking home the statue for Best Original Screenplay.
A Quiet Place (2018) – 7.5
Although it stings not to place Ari Aster’s near-perfect directorial debut Hereditary here, 2018’s A Quiet Place is ittedly more of a crowd-pleaser. The movie takes place in a world overrun by grotesque, gangly-limbed creatures who hunt using sound, with even the slightest noise resulting in certain death.
A Quiet Place focuses on the Abbott family, who must find a way to survive in the new world after tragically losing their youngest son to the monsters. Wringing every last drop of tension out of its brilliant premise, the movie was embraced by audiences worldwide, making almost $350 million. Naturally, a sequel is on the way but has recently been postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Lighthouse (2019) – 7.6
Though it’s certainly not for everybody, director Robert Eggers’ follow up to The Witch is amongst the boldest, weirdest, and most visceral horror experiences you’re ever likely to have. Following a pair of troubled lighthouse keepers stationed on a remote island, the movie sees the duo struggle with their sanity—as well as each other—as the tension between the pair gradually boils over into madness.
Slowly building to a beautiful, terrifying, kaleidoscopic crescendo, The Lighthouse is a chaotic horror masterpiece, bolstered by two criminally overlooked performances from Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe, both of whom turn in career-best work.
