Worst2First: My Top Ten Horror Films of the 2010s

Worst2First:
My Top Ten Horror Films of the 2010s

The 2010s saw a new resurgence of the horror genre, offering a plethora of different types of horror for every person's liking.  Like ghost films?  2010s had them.  Like tense psychological horror?  They had that too.  Like Stephen King?  Yep, he's still going strong.  The decade also shed light on important real-life tensions such as race and safe sex through the lens of horror, crafting some ingenious work that earned a film in this list an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.  The decade also saw a slew of intellectual independent filmmakers who brought their unique vision to the big screen in ways otherwise unheard of, since horror cinema lost iconic directors such as Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and George Romero in the 2010s.

Before I get to the top ten, here's those that didn't quite make the list:
#25 - Ready Or Not (19)
#24 - Midsommar (19)
#23 - Green Room (16)
#22 - Happy Death Day (17)
#21 - The Autopsy of Jane Doe (17)
#20 - The Final Girls (15)
#19 - Insidious (11)
#18 - The Conjuring 2 (16)
#17 - Frozen (10)
#16 - Trollhunters (11)
#15 - It: Chapter Two (2019)
#14 - You're Next (13)
#13 - Us (19)
#12 - Halloween (18)
#11 - The Witch (16)

And now my top ten horror films of the 2010s...




**THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS**

#10

The Invitation
2015

Karyn Kusama directed the acclaimed "Jennifer's Body" in 2009, and in 2015 she delivered another knockout directorial work in "The Invitation," a film that's sleek, intelligent, and filled to the brim with continual tension, dread, and fear of impending doom.  When an ex-husband is invited to his ex-wife's special dinner party, he's rightfully skeptical - and his skepticism only grows as the night progresses and things become more and more weird...but is it all in his head?  The film is packed with tremendous performances with a shocking conclusion that's stuck with me years after seeing it.

#9

The Babadook
2014

Director Jennifer Kent exploded onto the horror scene with 2014's "The Babadook," a film centering on a single mother and her young son being tormented by a mythical being found in a book known as the Babadook - but it's so much more than just your traditional haunted ghost story.  It's a deep psychological look into the psyche of a woman who's wrestling with her own inner demons and inadequacies while also trying to take care of a child who's slowly driving her mad.  Essie Davis gives a tremendous performance in this more than by-the-books horror film.

#8

A Quiet Place
2018

On paper, nothing about this film should've worked.  Directed by a man best known for playing the goofball Jim on "The Office?"  A movie whose sole premise is that the characters have to remain quiet?  The return of a creature feature film in a cinematic world where said creature feature films haven't been successful in decades?  Yet somehow everything came together beautifully, magically, and masterfully.  John Krasinski's directorial debut finds him and his family under attack by an alien race that can only sense by hearing, as they try to survive and find a way to defeat the aliens for good.  Krasinski and his real-life wife Emily Blunt star as the parents, and exceptional child actors Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmons (who plays a deaf girl and is also deaf in real life), and together they provide an unforgettable family drama enveloped in terror, set in an uncomfortable setting of almost total silence.

#7

It
2017

Stephen King's most iconic book saw a made-for-TV screen adaptation in the 1990s, and the result is still a mixed bag, as most people adore Tim Curry's portrayal of the pan-dimensional terror Pennywise, but whose effects are extremely dated (and the less said about the giant spider the better).  In 2017, Andy Muschietti brought the novel to the big screen, and the result is nothing short of astounding - becoming the highest grossing R-rated horror movie of all time.  In the small town of Derry, Maine, a group of kids known as the Losers Club must rally together to stop the evil Pennywise from taking the souls of the children of the town.  Bill Skarsgaard takes the Pennywise mantle and makes it uniquely his own, and the cast of then-mostly-relative unknowns to play the children was a stroke of seer genius, as they performed more than admirably and gave a sweet reminiscence of 1980s youthful innocence in the midst of the horrors around them.

#6

It Follows
2015

The most terrifying game of tag ever, "It Follows" is a modern allegory about the dangers of unprotected sex, a story that is equal parts terrifying and enlightening, using a simple tactic that maintains the dread and terror throughout.  When a young girl has unprotected sex, she's informed by her partner that she'll now be hunted by an evil entity that takes the form of anyone, but all it can do is follow her slowly from behind.  However, if the thing gets to her, she'll die, and the only way to get rid of it is to have sex with someone else.  It's a completely unnerving concept, filmed to perfection as you feel the impending doom in every scene, strictly from a silent killer that only follows the main protagonist.

 

#5

The Cabin in the Woods
2011

Leave it to the likes of Joss Whedon to make a film that's truly meta and makes fun at everything that horror fans have been complaining about for decades.  A group of young adults rent an isolated cabin in the woods for a weekend of fun, but find themselves at the mercy of pretty much every horror trope from every horror movie ever made, and the reasoning behind it all is truly spectacular.  This comedy-horror hybrid doesn't hold back any punches, as it literally unleashes every type of horror on these hapless victims while offering biting social commentary and possibly offering a reason why almost every horror film follows the traditional tropes - in a purely humorous, yet earth shattering, way.

#4

Doctor Sleep
2019

The 2010s can be defined by different horror directors, one of whom is Mike Flanagan.  "Absentia," "Oculus," "Hush," "Ouija: Origin of Evil," "Gerald's Game," and the critically acclaimed series "The Haunting of Hill House," Mike Flanagan forever shaped the 2010s as an amazing decade of horror cinema, but his crowning achievement was his take on Stephen King's continuation of his "The Shining" novel with "Doctor Sleep," where he managed to blend both King's original novel with Stanley Kubrick's vision with the expertise of a surgeon.  Ewan McGregor stars as the older Danny Torrance, who's haunted by his childhood and the ghosts from the Overlook Motel, as he tries to help a young girl with the same "shining" power he has learn how to use them and protect her from a group of shining-sucking vampires led by the tyrannical Rose the Hat, played with sheer elegance and terror by Rebecca Ferguson.  Smartly written and directed, with fantastic visuals and one particularly unnerving scene that will remain etched in your mind for years to come, "Doctor Sleep" serves as the perfect continuation of one of horror cinema's most prolific films and horror novel's most terrific writers.

#3

The Conjuring
2013

While previous horror decades were known for long-running franchises, the 2010s were mostly franchise-free with the exception of "The Conjuring Universe," a film series that spans several movies and spin-offs that tell the real-life investigations of the famous Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.  The first film in "The Conjuring" universe looks at one of the Warrens' most terrifying cases - the haunting of the Perron family in the early 1970s.  The film garnered audience and critical praise, as director James Wan morphed the traditional haunted house film with a sleek, no-holds-barred feel that'll leave you terrified from start to finish, and thinking twice about playing any game involving the clapping of hands.

#2

Get Out
2017

Before "Get Out," Jordan Peele was best known for being half the comedic duo Key & Peele, but after "Get Out," Jordan Peele is now known as one of horror cinema's most intellectual directors, crafting uniquely unforgettable films that do more than just scare, but also incite conversation about real-life terrors.  "Get Out" is his directorial debut, and the film went on to garner four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay (which Peele won, the first for an African American to win), and shed light on racism that still runs rampant in America.  The film tells the story of Chris and Rose, an interracial couple who travel to Rose's parents to meet for the first time.  From the moment they step foot on their land, Chris has an uneasy feeling about Rose's parents, and learns that there's an ulterior motive for them to meet Chris, resulting in a shocking twist that's equal parts unnerving and unrelenting, packed with tremendous performances and tongue-in-cheek humor mixed with the racial tensions throughout.

#1

Hereditary
2018

Ari Aster absolutely blew up the horror genre in the 2010s, with "Hereditary" and "Midsommar," two films filled to the brim with psychological horror, fearless performances, unforgettable images, and shocking twists.  "Hereditary" is his crowning achievement, a film that's equal parts family drama and tense psychological thrill ride, a film that you won't soon forget.  Toni Collette was not just robbed of an Academy Award nomination, but win, as the strained mother of a family slowly falling apart after the death of her own mother who may or may not had been a part of a satanic cult.  Not only did Collette provide a captivating performance, but so did everyone else involved in the film, especially Alex Wolff as her longsuffering son and newcomer Milly Shapiro as her daughter Charlie, whose incessant tongue clicking provided a small but highly effective horrifying sound effect that echoed throughout the film.