After having to sit through some boring horror movies on Letterboxd’s “Best of the Decade” list, I realized the bar was so on the floor I might as well make my own list.

So here it is: the 25 best horror movies of the decade (2010-2019). I haven’t seen every horror movie made in the past 10 years, but I’ve come close enough to feel confident in saying I have an authority on this topic. Also, this doesn’t totally align with my ratings on Letterboxd, because while I might think the movie on its own is good, I might feel like a lower rated movie is better in terms of “horror”. Get it? Kinda? Fair enough!

You’re welcome.

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#25: Midsommar (2019)

Bear? Bear! One thing I really love about this movie is that things which are shown early on that seem random and accepted by everyone for no reason end up having really strategic (and surprising!) roles in the finale, so that there can be a surprising sense of closure for a movie that begins with the death of one young woman’s entire immediate family.

#24: The Conjuring (2013)

This list wouldn’t be complete without a good house haunting flick. While normally not my horror preference, this one really knows how to build an atmosphere. It has some of the best jump-out-of-my-seat moments out of any horror I’ve seen recently, so I felt the need to at least mention it.

#23: Good Manners (2017)

I needed to have a werewolf movie on this list, so why not a Brazilian werewolf? The movie takes a hard left turn towards the middle which really kept me focused on it. Would there be another left turn? Will there be more lesbianism? Who was this woman’s architect?

#22: The Babadook (2014)

Gay! Icon! People who get this movie, get this movie, and everyone else finds it boring. It’s meant to be an analogy for mental illness (specifically postpartum depression and the phases of grief) and I really appreciated how this film incorporated that without demonizing the person who was mentally ill. I really love the meaning of the ending, and I will explain it to literally everyone is given the chance, but I won’t spoil it here- if you haven’t already seen the movie, I’ll let you come to your own conclusions first.

#21: Under the Shadow (2016)

A war movie set during the Iran-Iraq war, this one focuses on Shideh, a mother with a young daughter, who refuses to evacuate their apartment building after it was hit by an unexploded missile. Left completely alone in the building, shit begins to hit the fan. I love the sense of paranoia and dread this film creates, as well as consistently asking the question “did Shideh make the right choice or did she just guarantee her daughter’s death by staying here?”

#20: 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

Another solid paranoia movie, I have a soft spot for films that make the audience question everything. in 10 Cloverfield Lane, Michelle wakes up locked in a strangers bunker, with no memory of how she got there. Howard, the builder of the shelter (played by John Goodman), tells her that the outside world has become a nuclear wasteland, and they (along with another guy in the shelter named Emmett) are likely the only survivors. Should she believe him? Can she believe him? As questions and uncertainties pile up, Michelle begins to wonder if whether the real danger is outside the shelter, or locked inside with her.

#19: It (2017)

I’m so biased towards this movie, because it managed to take 1000 pages of absolute nonsense and bigotry and turn it into something decent. Also Bill Skarsgård is a fucking phenomenal actor, and was able to create a perfectly terrifying monster out of one that fought a phantasmal and immortal turtle in the original source material. Major props to him.

#18: The Skin I Live In (2011)

I couldn’t not put an Almodóvar film on this list. The Skin I Live In will be the most horrifying, disgusting, nightmare-inducing film to anyone who has a penis (and wants to keep it that way). Everyone else? Eh. It’s mainly on my list because it’s incredibly well acted and I appreciate the complexities/originality of the script. Also, Almodóvar and Antonio Banderas are a film match made in heaven.

#17: Hereditary (2018)

Another movie about mental illness! This one is about the fear and guilt that comes in families where mental illness is “hereditary” (get it?). I am still floored by the perfection that was this film and it’s marketing teams talent of misdirection. You go in expecting one story about one character and then BOOM! That character’s dead but you still have an hour left of movie. What happens now? Well…

#16: What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

This movie has some of the best one-liners in history, though I wouldn’t expect anything less of a Taika Waititi film. If you haven’t seen it already it’s obviously worth the view (and I promise I won’t judge you for coming late to the party).

Some of my favorites:

• “We’re werewolves, not swear-wolves”.
• Vladislav: “Leave me to do my dark bidding on the internet!”
  Viago: “What are you bidding on?”
  Vladislav: “I am bidding on a table”.
• “I’m doing an erotic dance for my friends. You ruined it. I was in the zone. My friends were loving it.”
• “Vampires don’t do dishes!”
• Deacon: “I think we drink virgin blood because it sounds cool.”
  Vladislav: “I think of it like this. If you are going to eat a sandwich, you would just enjoy it more if you knew no one had fucked it.”

#15: Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017)

This one is as scary as it is sad. It focuses on a group of orphaned children whose parents were killed by the reigning cartel. Not sobbing on the floor yet? Estrella is given three “wishes” by her teacher (aka three pieces of chalk) as a way to calm her down during a loud bout of gunfire just outside the school during class. Her first wish is to bring her mother back, as she’s been missing for days/weeks, leaving Estrella completely alone. But of course, that doesn’t go according to plan. The fact that these children weren’t actors is incredibly difficult to believe, because even in such a harrowing story not once did they feel anything less than completely real.

#14: Black Christmas (2019)

Men hate it, so you know it’s good. This movie is a remake of a different movie I’ve never seen, but this one is wildly feministic and funny and depicts frat bros as the assholes we all know them to be (especially in the special way you know this fact as someone in a sorority). It deals with so much that I’m worried saying any more will give something away. But it’s good. Plus, that one parody song called “Up in the Frat House”? *Chefs kiss* Magnifique.

#13: One Cut of the Dead (2017)

Possibly the least “horror” related film on this list, but it provides an impeccable look behind the scenes of a horror shoot, is incredibly creative, and really funny to boot. It’s a good time from start to end, and gets better the further you get into it. One thing that’s wild about it? The film opens with a 34 minute single shot take. Meaning that everything had to go just right for 34 minutes in a row. That one shot took them like 4 days, and I’m surprised it didn’t take longer.

#12: The Perfection (2018)

I literally had no idea what was happening right up until the very end, and it was marvelous. The first act is incredibly strong, and you’re left wondering how there’s still plot left. Then, you’re hit over the back of the head and knocked to the ground, and you’re left trying to figure out who hit you and why. What can I say? I like movies that leave me disoriented.

#11: Haunting on Fraternity Row (2018)

This is going to be the unpopular opinion on this list. Everyone else rates this movie like trash, but I love it (and the friends I’ve shown it to love it too). It’s funny, it’s scary, it’s not taking itself too seriously. I feel like people see “Fraternity” in the title and automatically rate it 1 1/2 stars. I say it builds ambiance and lures the audience into a false sense of security, other reviews say nothing happens until the last 20 minutes. To each is own, I guess. 

#10: Tumbbad (2018)

Since I went into this movie totally, completely, 100% blind, I have no idea how much of this movie’s lore is actually real legends and how much of it was fabricated solely for this movie. All of it could be real, or all of it could be fake, for all I know. That being said, this is an incredibly original and haunting story of generational greed and what a father is willing to go through to provide for his family what he feels they “deserve”. The reveal of what is actually in that well is one of the best horror reveals of all time and more people need to watch this immediately.

#09: Creep (2014)

As a woman-aligned person, I could not believe the stuff the protagonist guy happily and naively put up with. When shit started to get crazy (which, believe me, it does), and he finally tries to dip, I couldn’t believe he let it get as far as he did. Of course, it still wasn’t over… There are so many bizarre facets of this movie (the tub scene is one, the wold mask is another) that it’s one of the most memorable films I’ve seen. And it’s short! It’s like 80 minutes! What an impact.

#08: American Mary (2012)

A young medical student falls into the seedy underbelly of extreme body modification. This movie is fantastic, and incredibly gory, but for a change all of the gore is consensual. This guy asked for his arm to be amputated. Another one wants his tongue forked like a snake. It’s a nice twist on the genre, because the one doing the cutting isn’t the antagonist, she’s the hero. 

#07: The Eyes of My Mother (2016)

Incredibly underrated film. This is essentially the polar opposite of the one before. It’s phenomenally impressive in its use of audience imagination; it’s extremely horrifying and gory, but none of that is ever shown on screen. You have to imagine it, and your imagination is visceral. 

#06: Us (2019) 

This movie is fucking terrifying. I saw a midnight showing of it with my friend Kylie and she asked to come over and cuddle my cat because she was too scared to go home alone.

#05: The House that Jack Built (2018)

This movie is my worst nightmare, which is why I consider it to be one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen, even without any jump scares. It’s narrated on serial killer Jack, as he talks about some of his notable murders. It features a lot of gore and some of the darkest subjects I’ve ever seen portrayed. I want to recommend this, but I don’t think it’s possible for this film to be liked by anyone, which is how it got its spot here. 

#04: The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

One of my favorite films of all time, it goes heavy on the horror and throws some comedy in for good measure. This one is 1000x more enjoyable if you’re a fan of horror, as its essentially just one long homage to the genre, with references to classic films in virtually every scene (Friday the 13th, The Shining, Evil Dead, etc.).

#03: Tucker & Dale Versus Evil (2010)

Another horror comedy, this is another one of my favorite films of all time. It centers on two “hillbillies” who are scapegoated by a group of college kids who believe them to be backwoods serial killers, when in reality they’re just trying to enjoy their new summer cabin in peace.

#02: Get Out (2017)

I don’t really need to sell anyone on watching this, because we all know it’s goddamn amazing. The cinematography is beautiful, the writing is complex and natural, the soundtrack is spooky. In some ways, it’s such a cathartic movie. In others, it’s infuriating. I’ve written three essays on this movie so it simply had to be included near the top.

#01: Train to Busan (2016)

I was hesitant to put a movie that I literally just saw for the first time as my number one. What if it doesn’t hold up when I look back on it? What if I missed something crazy awful about it the one time I watched it? What if my memory’s a lie? But I don’t realistically see that happening with this one, because even while I was watching it, I kept having one thought: this is the best zombie movie I have ever seen. Those of you who know me (which is basically all of you), know that I am a huge fan of zombie movies. I’ve seen too many of them not to be. So you know it can’t be an exaggeration when I say this. The stakes are perfectly high. The location is suffocating and hopeless. The zombies are fast, furious, and frantic. These zombies have rules and (get this!) THE MOVIE STICKS TO THEM. Everything is purposeful. Nothing is guaranteed.Plus, he characters have personality and feel real. That COO is how I would imagine most to all high ranking executives to act; like their lives mean more than others, because they say so. Speaking of: I love how honestly these characters act. Nobility and honor can not co-exist with zombies, and this movie honestly portrays that. It’s heartbreaking and awful, but it’s true and Train to Busan refuses to shy away from that fact.

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What do you wish you saw on this list? What horror movies do you recommend I check out? Which are your favorites? Let me know! Happy Watching!