The 2010s were a decade of slicing, dicing, and monstrous thrills, and horror fans were
treated to a whole host of legitimately terrifying films.
From satanic thrillers to psychological suspense flicks, these were the best horror movies
of the last decade.
One of Darren Aronofsky's best films, Black Swan is a fever dream that follows Nina, a
solid corp ballerina in an esteemed New York ballet company with dreams of one day dancing
the lead.
When she does finally get her big break, Nina begins to crumble under the pressure to embody
perfection, and her already-tenuous grasp on reality slips from her grip entirely.
And that's where things start to get a little bit freaky.
In reference to Nina's penchant toward self harm, as well as the film's body horror, The
Guardian writes:
"Fantastically deranged at all times, Darren Aronofsky's ballet psycho-melodrama is a glittering,
crackling, outrageously pickable scab of a film."
In a rare event for a horror movie, Black Swan went on to sweep during awards season.
And lead actress Natalie Portman walked away with the Oscar, BAFTA, Critic's Choice, and
SAG Award wins for her nuanced portrayal of a mentally ill artist teetering on the brink
of sanity until her eventual and terrifying fall.
Arguably one of the most self-aware horror movies since Wes Craven's Scream, The Cabin
in the Woods follows a group of gorgeous youngsters and their one goofy stoner friend during a
long weekend at a cabin in the woods owned by a distant relative.
But as The Sydney Morning Herald's Jake Wilson put it:
"It sounds like the oldest horror story in the book but from the first scene of The Cabin
in the Woods, it's clear that the director, Drew Goddard, and his co-writer, Joss Whedon,
are bent on turning the formula upside down."
"The hair dye."
"Dumb blonde, very artistic."
"Works its way into the blood, through the scalp.
Very gradual."
Things get incredibly bloody and funny, and the movie works as a genuine horror flick,
a comedy, and a fantastic critique of the slasher genre.
Exquisite Terror's Naila Scargill wrote:
"Much will be lost on those less accustomed to the classic horror film, but this is not
to say it won’t be enjoyable; in fact it’s a perfect introduction to the genre, accessible
enough to reel folk in."
When twin brothers Elias and Lukas' mother comes home to their quiet lake house after
cosmetic surgery on her face, the boys begin to suspect this woman isn't actually who she
says she is at all.
Goodnight Mommy quickly takes a dark and grotesque spiral into madness as the boys test the woman
in horrifying ways, trying to prove that she is or isn't their mother.
Needless to say, this movie is pretty rough.
As Lenika Cruz of The Atlantic writes:
"Beneath it all is the nagging and heartbreaking feeling that these boys have lost their protector.
That vulnerability, combined with their isolation, their confusion, can be harder to stomach
than some of the more graphic scenes."
North Shore News' Julie Crawford agrees, saying:
"Ripped straight from the pages of your therapist's notebook, Goodnight Mommy is a thoroughly
terrifying fairy tale with a killer twist."
After one of the most terrifying opening scenes in horror history, we're introduced to Jay,
a young girl who has an uncomfortable romantic tryst with a dude named Hugh.
The affair results in Jay becoming the vehicle for a monstrous creature that will kill her
and the person it haunted before her if she doesn't pass it on to someone else through
intimate contact.
The shape can only be seen by the person infected, making this a gritty film not just about relationship
paranoia, but also the old-fashioned kind of paranoia where Jay questions her very hold
on her sanity.
"This thing.
It's gonna follow you."
Further, It Follows' backdrop of a crumbling Detroit adds yet another level of social commentary
about cultural disintegration, along with mental and physical degradation.
BuzzFeed's Alison Willmore asks:
"It's a testament to how scary a movie It Follows is that for days after watching it,
you walk around thinking up survival plans should you hide, stay on the move forever,
pass the haunting on to someone else?"
Is there a third option?
Not get infected at all?
Let's pick that one instead.
Fede Álvarez's taut invasion horror with a twist, Don't Breathe features three young
thieves who decide to rob a blind man rumored to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars in
cash in his house.
Little do these inept robbers know, the homeowner is ex-military, and his blindness hasn't affected
his physical prowess or tactical abilities in any way, shape, or form.
The New Yorker writes:
"The suspense is built as carefully as it is in a good John Carpenter movie; Alvarez
uses the camera like a stealth weapon, exploring dark corners and hidden areas of the house
with devilish glee."
Father Son Holy Gore agrees, saying:
"There's so much to enjoy, even when we're taken down the rabbit hole of depravity after
the secrets of the house are finally revealed."
The premise of Train to Busan is pretty straightforward.
A father and his estranged young daughter get on the train from Seoul to Busan, where
they come to find out a zombie virus has been unleashed.
But this is more than just a zombie movie, even for all its gore and violent action as
the humans struggle to survive.
Written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho, the story is a character study of a man and his
fractured relationship with his daughter and ex-wife.
It also manages to create three-dimensional characters quickly within the other humans
battling for and mostly losing their lives, which only makes the story even more wrenching.
RogerEbert.com' Brian Tallerico raves:
"The most purely entertaining zombie film in some time, finding echoes of George Romero's
and Danny Boyle's work, but delivering something unique for an era in which kindness to others
seems more essential than ever."
In rural New England, decades before the Salem Witch Trials and subsequent panic that continues
to haunt the region, a farmer and his family are forced to relocate to an even more remote
area after unwarranted suspicions about them threatens full-out banishment by the church.
Soon enough, the community's distrust of the family seems to be justified as it turns out
there really is something evil lurking in the forest.
A grim installment of the folk horror sub-genre, The Witch is a truly scary film that deals
with far more than just the devil.
And according to The Dispatch:
"Its masterful blending of the sacred and the blasphemous makes it not
just a great horror film, but perhaps the first true horror masterpiece of the new century."
And as The Guardian's Benjamin Lee says:
"Like any outstanding horror film, its true impact only reveals itself once the credits
have rolled and it stays buried under your skin, breaking through every now and then
to remind you of its insidious power."
While Jordan Peele's seminal Get Out was far from the first important installment of black
horror, it was one of the first to garner mainstream attention that hasn't abated even
slightly in the years since its release.
This quietly menacing horror movie centers on a young black man as he discovers the nefarious
nature of his white girlfriend's family when he shows up at their secluded home.
Get Out isn't just a parable about the underlying racism that seeps into all corners of American
society, including supposedly progressive and liberal circles.
"By the way, I would've voted for Obama for a third term if I could've.
Best president in my lifetime, hands down."
It's also a scathing indictment of modern-day slavery as pertains to the commodification
of black bodies in America in particular.
For Cosmopolitan, Kendra James writes:
"In using both realities in his movie, Peele brings Get Out to a higher level of horror,
at least for any person of color in the audience.
We're all keenly aware of how possible it is."
No teacups allowed while watching this one, though.
Trey Edward Schult's sophomore feature It Comes at Night takes place in a post-apocalyptic
world, but don't expect a film like Zombieland or Mad Max: Fury Road.
Instead of zany laughs or wild action, this is a grim and atmospheric horror drama that
features a family doing its best to survive the end days after a deadly disease wipes
out most of the world.
Here, paranoia is as contagious as the deadly infection, and the surviving family living
in a remote cabin does what they need to do in order to survive... no matter what.
The movie features powerhouse performances from its small cast, and as Karl Delossantos
of Smash Cut Reviews notes:
"This is a morality play at its finest.
There are no heroes and no villains.
There are simply humans in a house."
Even though Andy Muschietti's adaptation of Stephen King's killer clown opus It diverges
wildly from the book in some problematic ways, that didn't stop the movie from becoming the
highest-grossing horror film of all time.
After all, in spite of its differences, the film is pretty awesome.
It follows seven youngsters who call themselves the Losers' Club as they navigate not only
the perils of childhood, trauma, school bullies, and abusive parents, but also a shapeshifting
alien monster named Pennywise, who eats children and has moved the seven Losers to the top
of his dinner list.
"Time to float."
While fans of the still-scary 1990 It miniseries were unsure how Bill Skarsgård could take
on Tim Curry's iconic performance as the murderous Pennywise, Skarsgård's old-world European
spin on the character has become one of the most terrifying monsters put to screen.
Cultured Vultures writes:
"It provides a worthy adaptation to one of King's best works.
It's scary as all hell, but has enough heart to keep even the most horror-averse audiences
engaged."
After the death of her overbearing mother, Annie Graham's grief and anger begin to spiral
out of control in Ari Aster's debut film, Hereditary.
It doesn't help matters any that her relationship with her son Peter and her daughter Charlie
aren't exactly the best.
And it's that rage and depression that prevents her from noticing that something is very,
very wrong with her kids until it's far too late.
And as the family dynamic begins to unravel, Annie begins to realize there might be supernatural
forces at play.
The result is a movie that's almost too disturbing to finish.
About this atmospheric film, Newsweek writes:
"Hereditary feels like an endless drawing out of that queasy, shocking, falling dream
sensation, as the ground beneath the Graham family, and the viewer, crumbles."
Toni Collette's nuanced and three-dimensional performance of a mother past the edge in particular
received accolade upon accolade.
Chicago Reader calls her, quote, "flawless," and The Times UK writes:
"It's an astonishing performance from Collette, a disorientating cocktail of humane, hurtful
and hysterical."
In a surprising twist worthy of a horror movie itself, The Office alum and comedian John
Krasinski wrote, directed, and starred in the family apocalypse horror drama A Quiet
Place, alongside his wife Emily Blunt.
In the film, the Abbott family is doing their best to survive in a world that's been ravaged
by aliens that kill anything that makes a sound.
The film opens with the grotesque snatching of one of the Abbott children, and it eventually
veers into body horror territory as Blunt's Evelyn gets pregnant.
Slate says of the film:
"There are moments when the movie takes us firmly by the hand and escorts us down a darkened
path, and they lead to one of the most profound of communal pleasures: the sound of a movie
audience screaming as one."
In a movie filled with jump scares that its cast can't vocalize, the only quiet place
is on-screen.
One of the few global truths women are taught is to avoid walking alone at night whenever
possible.
Ana Lily Amirpour takes that truth and spins it on its head in A Girl Walks Home Alone
at Night with her chador-and-Chucks-wearing skateboard-riding antihero, the Girl.
She walks whenever and wherever she wants to... because she's a vampire.
The film's logline, "the first Iranian vampire western," only partly encompasses the genre-bending
magic of the film, making it both as iconic as original vampire stories like Nosferatu
while simultaneously reinventing vampire movies altogether.
Alexa Dalby of Dog and Wolf raved:
"It has visual echoes of early Jarmusch and Lynch.
It's stunning to look at, slow paced, moody and haunting an original feminist reinterpretation
of vampire mythology and its gender politics."
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