Top 10 Horror Movies of The 2020s (So Far)

The 2020’s may have only been going for less than 3 years but it has already produced a wealth of fantastic films in the horror genre. Some big screen box office hits, and some smaller indie flicks have provided an interesting blend of subject matters and stylings in this short time frame. Since we’re already coming up to Halloween 2022, I decided to put together a list of my favourite ultra-modern horrors. This list is a walkthrough of ten of my personal favourites so far this decade; but before we get into all that there are a few caveats that I’ve imposed. There are a few absolutely incredible films released this decade that I would classify as more horror-adjacent than actual horrors, so in order to keep the list more focused I’m going to list them up top, but not actually include them in the rankings.

The honourable mentions are:

• Nope - Jordan Peele

• Lamb - Valdimar Jóhannsson

• Spontaneous - Brian Duffield

• The Humans - Stephen Karam

These films all include certain aspects of the horror genre in one way or another, but are more heavily invested in the stylings of another for me to truly class them as ‘horror films’ even though they may contain scenes of horror. I highly recommend all of these films regardless of their genre, they’re some of the best this decade has to offer. That being said, here are the top 10 horror movies of the 2020’s (so far):

10. Seance

Set in an all girls boarding school this stylish ghost story has some great kills, some interesting characters, and a really strong script. Never losing sight of it’s wry humour or unique stylings within the genre, Seance manages to combine gripping narrative work with the classic kill after kill horror format. The film was also promoted with one of the coolest posters I’ve ever seen - even though it obviously has nothing to do with the final film itself, I think it definitely bears mentioning.

9. Censor

Following a censor for the BBFC in the 80’s, we spiral into a trippy, violent world when she watches a film and believes an actress within to be her sister that went missing years ago. Luxuriously fashioned in the 80’s style, the lighting complements the whole aesthetic excellently, and the story itself takes so many interesting routes through telling what could have otherwise been quite a conventional story.

8. Willy’s Wonderland

A blatant Five Nights at Freddy’s rip-off before Blumhouse can get their upcoming production of the real deal into theatres, but when you’ve got Nicolas Cage fighting an animatronic gorilla, how can you complain? The narrative to this film is almost non-existent, it’s actually slightly refreshing to not be able to predict exactly where a film will go because it doesn't fall into generic clichés. A very fun, stupid, but well crafted little horror.

7. Freaky

An absolutely hilarious turn by Vince Vaughn as, and bear with me on this one, a 17 year old girl transported into the body of a 50 year old serial killer; and vice-versa by Kathryn Newton. The comedy that envelopes the first half is very strong, Vince Vaughn perfectly captures the mannerisms of a 17 year old talking to her friends. This comedy is replaced with equally well done horror sequences in the second half. The ability to so deftly handle both sides of the coin is extremely impressive.

6. The Black Phone

Based on a short story by Joe Hill, The Black Phone’s charm lies in the ingenuity of it’s main character Finney Blake, social pariah in his high school, and eventual abductee. A very atmospheric, creepy film; Ethan Hawke’s performance as ‘The Grabber’ is insane, truly like nothing else he’s done before but he hands himself over to the unhinged, powder keg of a character so well. A fantastic abduction story, tied together with such well utilised moments of classic horror brilliance.

5. Wrong Turn

One of many films that I watched on Halloween 2021, this was certainly the most fun. My friends and I actually ended up rooting for the villain of this crazy, folk horror. You truly cannot predict where it’s going to go next. The production design is really strong all the way through and the morally grey characters make for a more interesting social dilemma than the final girl vs masked slasher trope of Good vs. Evil that has become a standard within the genre.

4. X

Ti West’s X is nothing revolutionary in the horror genre but it never claims to be; a revisitation to some of the tentpole tropes and clichés of the style is the driving force behind the film. Each and every moment that you’ve seen countless times before, however, has been lovingly given new life. Plot twists or narrative directions that you could easily write off as stale or predictable become so engaging and interesting under West and his cast led so ably by Mia Goth. A fun, gory thrill ride that is getting a prequel released within the same

year - after the success of X I cannot wait to watch Pearl in the coming months.

3. The Invisible Man

A remake of the 1933 classic of the same name (also well worth checking out), by Leigh Whannell (Upgrade, Insidious 3). This film is so tense, perfectly utilizing the film’s premise. Paranoia and suspense linger through every scene. Whannell has such a clever trick throughout this film in which he’ll sometimes leave the camera focusing on an empty space, or pan a bit too far past a subject - each time he does this could indicate the presence of the antagonist, or it could not. We as an audience are completely enveloped in the same second guessing that the characters in the film are thanks to the masterful direction.

2. Malignant

From James Wan (The Conjuring, Insidious, Saw) comes an absolutely obscene, hilarious, cheesy ode to old horror B-movies. Over the top character reveals and plot points add so much texture and character to what could’ve been standard horror fare. A couple of moments of intensity had me groaning “what the fuck” in disgust, while a couple of moments of genius had me whispering “what the fuck” in amazement. Truly a movie entrenched in it’s own duality that manages to master the serious scares as well as the ridiculous winks to classic horror audiences. Malignant also features, and this came as a surprise to me even the second before it starts, one of the most inventive, brilliant action sequences in a modern movie.

1. Host

Presented as a screen recording of a Zoom call, Host is THE best pandemic movie that was made, completely embracing its restrictions and tapping into the public zeitgeist, it gets so much right about those early days of quarantine , the zoom sessions with friends, all the jokes about social distancing, but the true genius of Host comes in it’s writing. The film is very short, 65 minutes to be exact, but every single second of it is spent furthering the plot or our characters. Because we are locked into the screen, there are no distractions or digressions, everything that we are shown is important. Even the absence of characters from the screen means so much more than a normal movie. Not the first film to do ‘FaceTime Horror’ but far and away the best.