Best of the 2010s: Horror

What do we call this decade? The Tweenies? The Teens? The Onesies? Or simply The Tens? Whatever we call this decade, there is no denying it is coming to a close with this year. By year's end, you'll notice professional critics and bloggers looking back at the decade that was. But, being as how there's been over 6,000 films released this decade, doing a proper retrospective can be a bit daunting. Therefore, it is time for the return of my Best of the Decade series!

Every month I'm going to focus on a particular genre of film and count down the 10 Best of the Decade from that genre. This will, ultimately, lead to a 100 Best list. In addition to this, our podcast, The Movie Lovers, will have a corresponding segment monthly during the Film Faves portion of the show wherein we count down our favorite films.

This month it had to be all about horror movies. How could it not?! And boy, was this a big decade for horror!

Okay, so the year is almost over - but not quite yet. We still have Zombieland: Double Tap, Doctor Sleep, Black Christmas, and a handful of others still to come. I've also yet to see Ready or Not, The Girl with All the Gifts, It: Chapter Two, The Final Girls, or Happy Death Day. Feel free to take this list with a grain of salt, if you must. But if any of those films are viewed and considered exceptional then you might find them on the Top 100 list in a couple of months.

Horror didn't quite have as big a decade as superheroes or even women in film, but it was definitely one of the strongest genres of the decade. Supernatural horror especially had a heyday this decade. Movies like Oculus, Lights Out, The Woman in Black, The Babadook, the Paranormal Activity sequels, and several others on this list all did very well this decade. The most successful of these was James Wan's The Conjuring. It spawned a series of films and became the only series to attempt to emulate the Marvel Cinematic Universe's branched-out template and find success financially and critically, raking in $617.8 million and scoring an average of 54.7% on Rotten Tomatoes (compared to Insidious' 49.25% and Paranormal Activity's 40.6%). However, no horror franchise could maintain its quality or box office.

Let's take a look at which horror films made the cut...

10. Raw(2018)

So this, the only foreign entry on the list, is one that has been praised here and on The Movie Lovers plenty of times. Because of that it almost didn't make the cut - especially since it made two previous Best of the 2010s entries! For those of you who haven't heard or seen us blather on about this movie, yet, it is about a teen who leaves home to attend the same vet school her sister currently attends. She is shy and staunchly vegetarian. All of that slowly goes out the window as she is put through the ringer in the students' hazing rituals. She then begins to feel... cravings.

Raw is a fascinating horror drama with coming of age metaphors and chilling body horror. It is one of the decade's most unforgettable films.

9. It (2017)

So, Stephen King's stories have had a bit of a resurgence this decade and it's probably due to this film. It's unclear why it was made in the first place. But it immediately rose to the ranks of the best Stephen King adaptations (unfortunately, Chapter Two is reportedly not so worthy). There's a few reasons why this film is so effective. For one it chooses to go chronological and focus only on the events that transpired when the main characters were preteens (the book apparently bounces time periods). This simplifies the storytelling and makes it sharper, as a result. It also allows this group of friends, dubbed The Losers Club (played by Jack Dylan Grazer, Chosen Jacobs, Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Martell, Wyatt Oleff, Jeremy Ray Taylor, and Finn Wolfhard), to breathe.  Some members are more successful at making their characters shine than others. That cast, topped off by a terrifying performance by Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise, is another reason. They lay the groundwork so you care what happens to them - and what happens to them as adults, too. The direction by Andy Muschietti, whose previous work was pretty much just the moderately successful Mama with Jessica Chastain in 2013, may not be the most economical, but sure does give time to play with our nerves and sufficiently creep its audience out. It isn't a perfect film (you wonder why Pennywise targets these kids in particular in the first place), but it is iconic and pretty much a textbook example of how to do a Stephen King film right, let alone any horror story.

8. Insidious (2011)

For whatever reason, James Wan's films always get run into the ground. Saw resulted in an endless stream of sequels. Insidious, while spawning only three sequels, certainly also got beat to death with none of its sequels measuring up to the original. The original seems like another haunted house movie. It reveals itself to be something else altogether - with plenty of creeps and scares along the way! Patrick Wilson, a terrific actor who spent this decade in no less than seven (7!) horror films, does a fine job here as a man who retreats from any sign of trouble, but must muster up some courage to protect his son. Rose Byrne, an actress who refused to be pigeon-holed this decade by starring in films of every genre, is the terrified mother who first becomes aware of the monstrous danger her family is in. Both are spectacular. All of the elements combine for a riveting and frightening tale with a few surprises under its sleeve - and one of the most prevalent horror franchises of the decade.

7. What We Do in the Shadows (2015)

There weren't a whole lot of horror comedies this decade, I don't think. The ones that did come about - Anna and the Apocalypse, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, The Dead Don't Die - were conceptually creative, not just rote plotting with clever dialogue. Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's What We Do in the Shadows takes the cake. It's a Big Brother-like mockumentary about vampires living in a flat together. Each vampire represents a different archetype from film history; there's the Nosferatu, the Lost Boy, the Dracula (Coppola recipe), and the Lestat. Hilarity certainly does ensue, but largely from dialogue and the ideas behind what the conditions of a vampire apartment would look like. It even touches on werewolves (not swearwolves!). There were few comedies this decade as sharp and brilliant as this one.

6. A Quiet Place (2018)

So, there's this family who lives in silence. They take great care in making sure they don't make a sound. They even use knitted pieces of cloths as game pieces on board games. Why? Because the last time they slipped up their youngest son was killed in front of them. There is a species of alien creatures that has invaded the planet. They hunt by sound. And they can hear really well. This family, led by John Krasinski (who co-wrote and directed) and Emily Blunt, must go on living - surviving - this new reality on their farm. There is no help to hope for. No deus ex machina. This brilliant premise Krasinski brought to life made A Quiet Place the most original sci-fi horror film of the decade. It did something few movies can do: silence a theater. Nobody wanted to even stuff their mouths of popcorn for large stretches of the film for fear of making a sound. It's quite a fascinating phenomena: a popcorn film that often discourages one from eating popcorn!  In a time when theater etiquette is stumbling as the streaming culture blurs the lines of what is appropriate behavior at home versus the theater, this is a remarkable by-product of the film's experience! A sequel is set to hit theaters next year. It remains to be seen if Krasinski can recapture the magic of the original's simplicity, elegance, and terror. But in 2018, Emily Blunt's face as she silently gave birth in a bathtub was everything we didn't know we needed in a horror film.

5. It Follows (2015)

Imagine: you have sex with someone for the first time. You learn that your partner passed something on to you - a sort of horrific game of tag. Something only you can see will be coming for you. If it gets you then you're dead and it will go back for your fling. If you pass it on to someone else and they die it will come back for you. For the rest of your life you will always be on the lookout for signs of this thing; you'll never be fully comfortable again. This is the premise behind David Robert Mitchell's ingenious sophomore effort. Maika Monroe plays the girl whose sexual encounter ends with the iconic image of being strapped and gagged to a wheelchair. She lucks out in actually having a tribe of friends who believe her and help her fight for survival, unlike the willfully ignorant dopes in a long line of horror films.

It Follows is a fun film that takes elements of The Ring, plays with the sex trope in horror films and injects a safe sex metaphor.

4. The Witch (2016)

Director Robert Eggers sure did make quite the entrance with his 2016 Calvinist period piece. With an older language that requires tuning an ear to comprehend and a dour, bonnet-and-lace setting just outside a forest, Eggers weaved a tale that immediately makes its audience uneasy. A baby disappears under the supervision of its eldest sister (Anya Taylor-Joy, making quite the debut here) shortly after their family is excommunicated from their congregation and forced to move to land outside of a dark forest. Grief strikes the family, as well as blame. Tensions rise to a boiling point as the witch responsible further meddles with the family.

The Witch is creepy, unnerving, and one of the most unique horror films of the decade.

3. Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Cabin in the Woods is probably the most ingenious and exciting horror film to come out this decade. It's one of those movies that you genuinely describe to people as "a blast". Five teen friends gather in an RV for a long trip in the woods - and it all goes horribly wrong. A premise that feels rote and completely familiar quickly gets turned on its head and twisted into a meta commentary on the horror genre and its fans. Co-penned by Joss Whedon,

Cabin has his trademark wit and cleverness. Drew Goddard, a very talented writer who also went on to direct the lesser Bad Times at the El Royale, is the lucky guy who got to make his directorial debut with this film. He hasn't recaptured the magic, yet, and he's said to be working on some superhero movies next, but the spoiler-heavy ways in which this film works - and the way in which everything goes batshit crazy at the 65-minute mark - is nothing short of remarkable and guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

2. The Conjuring (2013)

It should come as no surprise that the film that unexpectedly kick-started the most successful horror franchise of the decade is so high on this list. Sure, the universe it spawned is a mixed bag with only half of the films considered to be any good by most. But a financial draw of over $600 million is nothing to sniff at. That's more than the Halloween, Alien, Scream, Saw, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises ever made - and most of those had more entries than The Conjuring! But, more importantly, the original is one of the most perfectly-crafted films of the decade. First of all, it's important to note that the film is rated R. There is no explicit sex. There is no extraordinary violence. And, shockingly, nobody dies (that may be a first in the horror genre - somebody check me on that!). Yet, director James Wan, who was previously known for being on the opposite end of the gore spectrum with the Saw series, crafts this haunted tale so expertly that it is rated R based on creep-factor caused by extraordinarily effective sounds, movements, and imagery alone. It is so fucking scary that the MPAA essentially broke their own guidelines to say, "this thing is so terrifying that we don't care that it adheres to the normal PG-13 guidelines - nobody should see this thing unless they are clinging to an adult! Hell, we don't even want to see it unless we're clinging to an adult!". There's not even a single F-bomb in the film! I think the word 'shit' gets uttered twice or something. The fact of the matter is, The Conjuring is an absolutely terrifying film anchored by fantastic performances by Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Lili Taylor, and Ron Livingston. It is a masterpiece. There is only one film this decade that could take it away from the top spot.

1. Get Out (2017)

When it came right down to it there really couldn't be any other film to take this spot. First of all, it's an instant classic. Second, it is pretty much a perfect movie and an incredible directorial debut. Third, it is probably the decade's most relevant and defining horror film. No other horror film so well spoke to issues our country faced this decade. In Get Out's case it was racism, if you'll forgive the broad strokes to avoid spoilers. And this was a tumultuous decade for the African American community.

Get Out hit some nerves. But let's for a moment take a step from the macrocosm of the film inward to some of the details. The cast is spectacular across the board: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener, Caleb Landry Jones (in a breakout post-X-Men role), Stephen Root, and Lil Rel Howery. Each of them perfectly serve their purpose in the story. What's also interesting is director Jordan Peele isn't interested in gore. What's terrifying is the ideas within the story and how a family presents them. Plus, there's an inherent fear of losing control of oneself that Peele expertly taps into. Peele became this decade's most shocking and promising talent behind the camera. Nobody expected a guy from a sketch comedy show to have the potential to be a master of horror. But he certainly cemented that with his follow-up, Us, and a remake of The Twilight Zone for CBS. We are all now glued to our seats awaiting whatever horrors he has for us next.

Honorable Mentions:

The Invitation (2016),

Us (2019),

You're Next (2011),

Halloween (2018),

Hereditary (2018),

The Babadook (2014),

Attack the Block (2011),

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2011)

Those are the best horror films of the decade. What do you think is the best? Comment below.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the Best of the 2010s series, including last month's F-Rated list.  Next month we'll move from movie genres to movie talents with lists for Actresses, Actors, and Directors of the decade. Who should be considered? Look for those in November!