The 2010s was an incredible decade for horror films.
With the newfound prominence of A24, Blumhouse, resurgence of classic franchises, and directors such as Mike Flanagan, Jordan Peele, and Ari Aster coming to the fore.
Now then is a great time to look back on 10 of the scariest films from the last decade.
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This list is sure to have something that will put the fear in even the most veteran of horror watchers.
The 10 on this list are from a list of the scariest films of the decade according to the BFI.
It Follows
2014’s It Follows has a remarkably simple concept when boiled down to it – a demonic STI.
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While the film is obviously more than that moniker, it’s all I needed to be convinced to watch this brilliant horror film.
The tension throughout is outstanding, the twists will shock you, and you will be tempted to join a monastery after watching this.
The Town that Dreaded Sundown
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Some people are just immediately talented to an unfair level, and this film being director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon.
A spiritual sequel to the 1976 film of the same name, this literally opens with a local drive-in theatre hosting a screening of the original.
While the name may indicate a supernatural vampire flick, this is in actual fact a terrifying and tense slasher film, based on a real-life serial killer. Scary and brilliant, it’s well worth a watch.
The Invitation
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This movie proves two things. If your ex-wife invites you to a dinner party, never go. If your ex-wife and her new husband start talking about the cult they joined, run.
This lesser known horror mystery is an underrated watch that sadly flopped at the box office.
Hopefully though it will find a second life as a cult classic, with an outstanding 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Under the Shadow
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Under the Shadow combines some of the most terrifying aspects of the real world, with a hauntingly scary otherworldly creature.
Created by a British-Iranian filmmaker, it follows a mother and daughter in 1980s Tehran hiding from bombing during the War of the Cities between Iraq and Iran.
While hiding out they are haunted by a Djinn, with the BFI calling this 'the most purely frightening film on this list', and it's available on Netflix.
Gerald’s Game
An adaptation of a Stephen King novel long thought to be ‘unfilmable’, Gerald’s Game kicked off Mike Flanagan’s run of non-stop horror bangers.
From the Haunting of Hill House series to Dr Sleep and Midnight Mass, Flanagan is one of the best in the world at making filmgoers sh*t themselves, and this is no exception.
So scary it had audience members literally passing out from fear, Gerald’s Game is not for the light hearted.
Get Out
My personal favourite, Get Out is one of the greatest announcements to the horror scene that any director has ever pulled off.
Jordan Peele’s directorial debut was a worldwide phenomenon, this fact means that it can often be lost in the buzz how purely scary Get Out is.
Similarly to Under the Shadow, Get Out is brilliant at combining supernatural elements with aspects that are heightened by our real-life knowledge of the world the characters live in.
Good Manners
With a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 96 percent, the BFI calls this the ‘greatest contemporary horror film you’ve never seen’, and we are tempted to agree with them.
Having never seen it prior to this list, I can confirm it had me hiding behind the sofa.
Best experienced with as little details as possible, the 2017 horror by Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra is a lesser known gem.
One Cut of the Dead
While they’ve been desensitized massively by shows such as The Walking Dead, between One Cut of the Dead and The Last of Us – there is life yet in genuinely scary zombie films.
As funny as it is scary, it is bizarre, unique, and one of the scariest ‘horror-comedy’ films of the decade.
Following a film crew tasked with shooting a one-take film of zombie horror film, it shows them being genuinely attacked by real zombies. If that pitch doesn’t get you out of bed, I don’t know what will.
Hereditary
Far more than the two scenes that went viral of it, Hereditary was so good it had people calling for an Oscar nomination for Toni Colette.
One of A24’s multiple outstanding horror films of the 2010’s, the psychological horror will have you seeing ghosts in your living room.
Scary, tense, and lives up to the hype.
The Lighthouse
The final one on the list is the most bizarre, as many Robert Eggers' films are.
Starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattison as lighthouse keepers, it stretches across various genres.
Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, always scary – The Lighthouse is a must watch scary film.
Topics: Horror, Film and TV
Michael Slavin