30 Best Horror Movies of the 2010s You Must Watch
The 2010s were a renaissance for horror—bold, artful, and wildly inventive. Filmmakers fused intimate drama with razor-sharp scares, found new monsters in grief and guilt, and proved that terror can be as thoughtful as it is blood-chilling. Whether you crave slow-burn dread, creature mayhem, or reality-warping mind games, this decade had a nightmare with your name on it.
Below is a countdown of standout horrors from the decade. Each one earns its place by delivering memorable images, muscular storytelling, and the kind of fear that lingers long after the credits. Dim the lights, silence your phone, and let these thirty modern classics crawl under your skin.
30. ‘The Endless’ (2017)
A pair of brothers returns to the off-grid cult they escaped years ago, only to find the place stranger—and far more dangerous—than they remembered. ‘The Endless’ threads cosmic unease through a grounded, brother-centric drama, letting the mystery simmer until it curdles into existential dread.
With smart world-building and quietly unnerving loops of fate, the film earns its scares through ideas as much as shocks. It’s the rare indie chiller that trusts you to connect dots, then punishes you for doing it.
29. ‘The Visit’ (2015)
‘The Visit’ finds terror in the everyday by giving two kids a simple task—visit the grandparents—and watching it spiral into madness. The humor is disarming, the performances unnervingly committed, and the found-footage framework keeps the menace intimate.
Beneath the laughs and awkward family dinners, there’s a sharp meditation on boundaries and the fear of not recognizing the people who should feel safest. It’s lean, clever, and sneakily mean.
28. ‘Goodnight Mommy’ (2014)
Twin boys suspect that the woman who returned from surgery isn’t their mother, and ‘Goodnight Mommy’ plays that paranoia like a violin. The pristine, sun-bleached setting makes every scrape, whisper, and bandage feel wrong.
What begins as a puzzle hardens into a brutal examination of trust and identity. The film’s icy restraint makes the horror hit twice as hard when it finally cracks.
27. ‘Kill List’ (2011)
Starting as a crime drama about a freelance hitman, ‘Kill List’ descends into ritualistic terror with jaw-dropping confidence. The tonal shift is so controlled that by the time you realize what kind of story you’re in, it’s already too late.
Visceral and grim, it blends domestic tension with folklore-tinged menace. It’s not just frightening—it feels cursed.
26. ‘The Ritual’ (2017)
Four friends take a memorial hike through a Scandinavian forest and stumble into something ancient. ‘The Ritual’ turns grief into a stalking presence, using towering pines and creaking nights to amplify the isolation.
The creature design is unforgettable, but what lingers is the guilt clawing at the group’s fragile bond. Survival here is as much about confession as it is about escape.
25. ‘Bone Tomahawk’ (2015)
A frontier rescue mission mutates into grisly horror in ‘Bone Tomahawk’, a western that starts with dusty camaraderie and ends in nightmare. The dialogue is sharp, the pacing deliberate, and the violence—when it comes—utterly shattering.
By setting savagery against rugged decency, the film finds dread in the gap between what civilization promises and what the wilderness delivers. It’s a genre mashup with a spine of steel.
24. ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’ (2014)
This Persian-language vampire tale floats through a monochrome dreamscape where a chador-clad drifter hunts predators. ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’ is cool, lonely, and oddly romantic, a nocturne about hunger and power.
Its hypnotic style conceals sharp fangs—the film reclaims the night for the vulnerable and turns predation against itself. It’s as stylish as it is dangerous.
23. ‘The Autopsy of Jane Doe’ (2016)
A father-son coroner team examines an unidentified body, and everything starts to go wrong. ‘The Autopsy of Jane Doe’ traps you in a basement where every clue deepens the mystery and every discovery feels like a dare.
The film’s scalpel-clean setup evolves into claustrophobic terror, using small spaces and quieter beats to suffocate the viewer. Dead things shouldn’t move; here, even silence twitches.
22. ‘Gerald’s Game’ (2017)
A romantic getaway turns into a handcuffed nightmare in ‘Gerald’s Game’, a bottle thriller that weaponizes memory and survival instinct. The film mines raw trauma without exploitation, finding horror in a mind cornered by its own history.
What could feel static becomes intensely cinematic, and one infamous set piece is the stuff of legend. It’s empowerment forged in a furnace of fear.
21. ‘Mandy’ (2018)
A love story ruptures into cosmic vengeance as ‘Mandy’ bathes grief in fire and hallucinatory color. It’s heavy-metal horror—part myth, part fever dream—anchored by ferocious commitment.
Beneath the wild imagery is a surprisingly tender heart, which makes the descent all the more harrowing. You don’t watch this one; you let it swallow you.
20. ‘Hush’ (2016)
A deaf novelist fights for her life when a masked intruder invades her isolated home. ‘Hush’ strips the home-invasion template to its essentials and rebuilds it with clever blocking, crisp sound design, and ruthless efficiency.
The protagonist’s ingenuity turns the film into a chess match where every move counts. It’s brisk, brutal, and crowd-pleasing without cheating.
19. ‘Don’t Breathe’ (2016)
A trio of burglars underestimates a blind homeowner, and ‘Don’t Breathe’ makes that mistake ours. The film weaponizes darkness and stillness, squeezing suspense from every footstep and stifled breath.
Twists arrive like sprung traps, pushing the scenario into nastier territory without losing momentum. It’s a masterclass in tension control.
18. ‘The Invitation’ (2015)
An ex is hosting a dinner party with an unsettling new philosophy, and ‘The Invitation’ lets dread seep into every polite toast. Social niceties become shackles as the night slides from awkward to apocalyptic.
It’s horror as emotional checkmate, asking how far we’ll go to keep smiling while alarms scream. When the truth arrives, it’s devastating and weirdly inevitable.
17. ‘Insidious’ (2010)
A family fights a parasitic presence, and ‘Insidious’ drags the haunting beyond the veil into a lurid astral realm. The film’s jump scares are legendary, but it’s the playroom-level eeriness that gets under your skin.
By giving its evil a textured mythology, it turns domestic spaces into launchpads for the uncanny. It’s fun-house terror with real bite.
16. ‘Sinister’ (2012)
A true-crime writer moves into a house with a box of unsettling home movies. ‘Sinister’ turns grainy Super 8 reels into portals of pure dread, each short film worse than the last.
The slow rot of obsession pairs with a myth that feels ancient and hungry. Once those projectors start humming, it’s already too late.
15. ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ (2012)
Five friends, one cabin, and a puppet-master twist—’The Cabin in the Woods’ gleefully dissects the genre while delivering the goods. It’s a carnival of tropes that still finds room to scare and surprise.
By asking why we tell these stories—and what they demand of us—the film earns its wild finale. It’s both love letter and detonation.
14. ‘It’ (2017)
A small town’s kids band together to face a shape-shifting predator, and ‘It’ captures friendship as a weapon against terror. The ensemble crackles, the set pieces throb with energy, and the monster is nightmare fuel.
It’s as much about found family as fear, balancing big-hearted warmth with sewer-dark menace. You’ll float, too—straight into a great coming-of-age chiller.
13. ‘Raw’ (2016)
A sheltered student discovers disturbing appetites after a hazing ritual, and ‘Raw’ treats metamorphosis with empathy and shock. The body horror is intimate, tactile, and rooted in identity.
Beneath the provocation lies a sharp tale of sisterhood and self-discovery. It’s tender, vicious, and impossible to shake.
12. ‘Under the Skin’ (2013)
‘Under the Skin’ follows a predatory wanderer through an alienated city, dissolving the line between hunter and human. Minimal dialogue, maximal unease—the images feel stolen from another consciousness.
It’s horror by way of hypnosis, inviting you into a void where empathy flickers like a dying star. The spell it casts is cold, beautiful, and terrifying.
11. ‘The Wailing’ (2016)
When a village succumbs to inexplicable sickness, a bumbling cop finds himself in a spiritual war. ‘The Wailing’ layers humor over creeping doom, then rips the floorboards up.
Folklore, faith, and fear collide in a finale that feels both mythic and merciless. It’s sprawling, ambitious, and utterly haunting.
10. ‘The Conjuring’ (2013)
‘The Conjuring’ revitalized classic haunting vibes with meticulous craft and old-school showmanship. Every clap, creak, and corridor is staged to perfection, building to set pieces that lodge in the brain.
The human core—two investigators who genuinely care—grounds the spectacle. It’s popcorn terror made with artisan care.
9. ‘A Quiet Place’ (2018)
Silence becomes survival strategy in ‘A Quiet Place’, where sound itself can kill you. The premise forces inventive filmmaking, turning everyday noises into loaded gunshots.
At its heart is a family portrait of sacrifice and communication. Few films make you hold your breath this long—or this hard.
8. ‘Train to Busan’ (2016)
A father and daughter board a train at the worst possible moment, and ‘Train to Busan’ never lets up. The kinetic action is matched by big feelings, proving that character depth and breakneck pacing can coexist.
It’s a crowd-pleaser with claws, turning tight spaces into relentless gauntlets. Bring tissues and nerves of steel.
7. ‘The Lighthouse’ (2019)
Two keepers, one island, and a storm of madness—’The Lighthouse’ is a pressure cooker of salt, sweat, and myth. The imagery is stark and mesmerizing, the performances towering.
It’s as funny as it is deranged, shifting from folklore to farce without losing menace. You can almost taste the brine and feel the sanity peeling away.
6. ‘The Babadook’ (2014)
Grief takes the shape of a nursery-book monster in ‘The Babadook’, a tale that turns parenting into battleground. The creature’s design is simple and perfect, but the real horror is emotional.
By treating sorrow as something to manage rather than banish, the film lands with rare compassion. It’s catharsis with claws.
5. ‘It Follows’ (2014)
A curse that walks—slowly, endlessly—powers ‘It Follows’, a masterclass in concept and atmosphere. The camera glides, the score hums, and paranoia blooms in every background.
Its metaphor invites endless readings without breaking the spell. Few films make empty sidewalks feel this dangerous.
4. ‘Midsommar’ (2019)
Daylight becomes a weapon in ‘Midsommar’, a breakup saga wrapped in floral ritual. The bright, pastoral setting only sharpens the knife, and the dread builds like a drumbeat.
It’s equal parts grotesque and gorgeous, a community pageant with a void at its center. When it smiles, you shiver.
3. ‘The Witch’ (2015)
Banished to the edge of the wilderness, a family turns on itself as ‘The Witch’ whispers temptations from the trees. Language, landscape, and faith fuse into a spell of historical horror.
The film’s patience pays off in imagery that feels archetypal and forbidden. It’s austere, intoxicating, and deeply unsettling.
2. ‘Get Out’ (2017)
‘Get Out’ threads razor satire through white-knuckle suspense, exposing a predatory politeness that curdles into violence. Every joke is a setup, every smile a trap.
It’s a cultural lightning bolt that also functions as a crowd-pleasing thriller. The final act is cathartic without losing its sting.
1. ‘Hereditary’ (2018)
A family tragedy opens a door that should have stayed shut, and ‘Hereditary’ walks through with absolute conviction. The performances are raw, the images indelible, and the dread inexorable.
It’s a modern classic because it marries intimate devastation to cosmic terror, letting the two amplify each other. Long after the lights come up, the house still feels occupied.
Share your own favorite 2010s scares in the comments—what did we miss, and which picks do you think deserve a higher spot?
