Here Are 9 Horror Movies From The Last Decade To Watch, And 7 To Absolutely Not Watch
Hello, my darling fans. Today we will be discussing my own favorite horror movies from the past ten years...as well as the ones I didn't particularly care for.
A24 / Via media.giphy.com
"But Julia, I don't even like horror movies!" you might be saying, already terrified. And to that, I answer, "Exactly!" But someday, you will be with a friend, or a date, or some other weirdo who wants to watch a horror movie. And by giving you this list, I am telling you exactly which movies will be bearable — even enjoyable! — and which ones you ought to steer clear of. If, on the other hand, you do like horror movies... feel free to sit back, scroll, and judge my opinions.
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So here are the scary movies I believe unequivocally slay (pun intended), and those to which I advise you to say "nay".
1.SLAY: X, and Pearl (2022), dir. Ti West
I will say, Pearl has gotten its well-deserved accolades across the internet since it's come out, with young women especially flocking to watch the film. And X, West's 2022 film to which Pearl is a prequel, deserves just as much love.
IF YOU LIKE: Extremely remote, creepy Texas farmhouses, Mia Goth, cute eye makeup, creepy old people, the 1970s, and loads of suspense Then watch this movie!
Where to watch it: X is on YouTube with a Primetime subscription. For Pearl, you'll have to rent it, from $3.99.
Honorable Mention: If you're a horror fan reading this post, and you've already seen and liked both of these, you should check out Ti West's 2009 film The House of the Devil.
2.NAY: The Nun (2018), dir. Corin Hardy
Now, I did not particularly care for this movie, so I cannot recommend you watch it. BUT, there is something intriguing about the combination of its being the second highest-grossing horror film of the 2010s (at $365.5M!) and its meager Rotten Tomatoes score of twenty-five percent. What drove the people to see this movie in such numbers?! You'll have to watch it to find out. (Or just look at the Letterboxd reviews?)
IF YOU LIKE: Cheap, gimmicky 2010s horror (I'm not judging you, I swearrr!) Then watch this movie.
Where to watch it: HBO Max.
3.SLAY: Barbarian (2022), dir. Zach Cregger
This is maybe one of my top horror movies ever, which is saying a lot. And it's definitely a movie that can be enjoyed by non-horror fans, too! It's the perfect mix of suspenseful, scary, and funny, and the plot will totally keep you on your toes.
(That second act break will stay with me forever. I remember I got up in the theater to go pee and my back was sooo sweaty from how stressful the first act was...TMI?)
IF YOU LIKE: Old houses with terrible secrets, actual good uses of modern technology, bad men getting what they deserve, or Bill Skarsgård, this movie is for you!
Where to watch it: Stream it on HBO Max.
4.NAY: The Mummy (2017), dir. Alex Kurtzman
If you thought it was impossible for a Tom Cruise movie to be poorly received, think again. It seems as though a screenplay about unleashing the wrath of an Egyptian mummy should be a sure-fire formula for success... and I guess, in a way, that's true. Despite failing critically, the movie made $410M at the box office. So if you liked it, I guess you're not alone.
The silver lining of The Mummy is that when the trailer was uploaded, they accidentally left out all of the sound effects. So if you want a laugh, you can look up the original trailer, it's still out there somewhere.
IF YOU LIKE: Tom Cruise to a weird degree, and movies about mummies exacting revenge on unethical archaeologists, sure, check it out!
Where to watch it: You'll have to rent this one, for $3.99 on YouTube, Redbox, or Apple TV.
5.SLAY: Nope (2022), dir. Jordan Peele
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One of the most original movies on this list, Nope is a classic monster movie with amazing creature design and wonderful performances from the entire cast. It fuses together three of my favorite genres (horror, sci-fi, and my beloved westerns) to create a thrilling, armrest-clenching blockbuster.
IF YOU LIKE: Cowboys, Keke Palmer, strong and silent protagonists, horsies, themes about entertainment and surveillance, and alien movies that are actually good, then watch this movie!
Where to watch it: Stream it on Amazon Prime.
6.NAY: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022), dir. David Blue Garcia
This remake just lacks the grime and gritty feel of the '74 original. It fails to make viewers care about the main characters, the plot, or even the villain, and without those, there's no reason at all to watch a bunch of people get sliced up with a chainsaw in the middle of the desert. If you want a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, just skip this one and just watch the original.
IF YOU LIKE: Making fun of less-than-stellar remakes, cringing at bad one-liners, and gratuitous violence without any good payoff, then I guess check this movie out.
Watch it on: Netflix.
7.SLAY: Green Room (2015), dir. Jeremy Saulnier
Any time I ask someone "Have you seen Green Room..?" there are only ever two answers. It's either, "No... what is that?" or "OH my God yes. It's sooo good!"
This is one of those movies where you should go in with as little information as possible. What I will say is that it is intense, raw, and has Patrick Stewart in the role of the head evil Nazi. What more could a girl ask for in a film?
IF YOU LIKE: Creepy, remote Pacific Northwest forests, punk rock, and killing loads of Nazis, this is the movie for you!
Where to watch it: HBO Max.
8.NAY: Ouija (2014), dir. Stiles White
This movie has a five percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. That's all.
IF YOU LIKE: The premise of an Ouija board horror movie, watch Ouija: Origin of Evil instead. It's a prequel to Ouija set in '60s Los Angeles, and it's pretty good! (For comparison, this film has an impressive score of eighty-three percent on good ol' RT.)
Watch Ouija: Origin of Evil on: Netflix.
9.SLAY: Ready or Not (2019), dir. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
I watched this movie and was like "fun and classic horror is BACK!" (And whether it ever left is a debate you all can have in the comments.) Grace (pictured here) is the epitome of "and she did it all in heels!" except it's even better, because she did it all in a wedding dress. This is the rare horror-comedy that really did make me laugh out loud in some parts, and also had me terrified in others.
IF YOU LIKE: The huge, yawning houses of exorbitantly wealthy people; creepy, multi-generational families; horror-comedies; a healthy dose of satanism!; and women getting revenge and looking hot; then watch this movie.
Where to watch it: Stream it on Hulu.
10.NAY: Don't Worry Darling (2022) dir. Olivia Wilde
Don't get me wrong; I love movies about wives in spooky marriages and in unnerving settings. Almost any gothic melodrama will do it for me. And TBH, for the first two-thirds of this movie, I was ready to ignore the haters and say this movie was good and fun despite the fact that it was a little lacking. Unfortunately, the ending just did not bring it home.
But, I still really liked a lot of the film. (The visuals, the acting, and the premise were all great.) So if you're the kind of person who will watch a movie just for vibes, or for good acting in the face of a script that still wanted for some revisions, give it a watch!
IF YOU LIKE: Florence Pugh being hot, Chris Pine being hot, Gemma Chan being hot, Harry Styles, or dreamy '60s Stepford-esque dystopias, give this movie a try!
Where to watch it: You can stream it on HBO Max.
Honorable Mention: If you like gothic melodramas (what Don't Worry Darling ought to have been a shining example of), some really great old movies to check out are The Innocents (1961) and Rebecca (1940).
11.SLAY: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014), dir. Ana Lily Amirpour
I have seen so many vampire movies. I have probably seen, like, a quarter of all the vampire movies ever made. And THIS movie is what I suggest when people ask for an especially artsy movie. It's muted, it's lonely, and it explores every side of what it is to live as a vampire. I cannot recommend it enough.
IF YOU LIKE: Vampires, moody black & white dramas, cute cats, female leads, neo-westerns, romantic feelings between lonely people, and skateboarding, watch this movie!
Where to watch it: Rent it from Amazon Prime Video for $2.99.
12.NAY: The Invitation (2022), dir. Jessica M. Thompson
Everything about this movie screeeams that I should love it. The setting? The vampires? The premise? The overall aesthetic and vibe?! This is my sh*t. I mean, any movie about going to the English countryside and being "seduced by the sexy aristocratic host" (as described in Google's synopsis) SHOULD automatically be amazing! Unfortunately, its Rotten Tomatoes score of twenty-nine percent tells us that the critics were real haters on this one. So we can't really say that it slayed; but...
IF YOU LIKE: Gothic melodrama (!!!), young women dealing for the first time with the seductive mystique of aristocracy, sexy people of any gender, and vampires, feel free to try this movie out!
Where to watch it: Catch it on Netflix!
13.Slay: Train to Busan (2016), dir. Yeon Sang-Ho
I must be honest with my readers: I hate zombies, and I hate zombie movies. But I loved this movie. I think out of every movie I've seen, Train to Busan terrified me the most; literally, I had to leave and go to my room for 20 minutes for a little break in the middle (a sin, I know...I didn't like scary movies back then). But it is one of the best thrillers ever made. (That's according to me, the obvious authority on the subject). Also, that deer in the opening scene will stay with me forever.
IF YOU LIKE: zombie flicks, being terrified, strained father-family relationships, amazing action, and Korean movies, this is the movie for you!
Watch it on: Train to Busan is free on YouTube, Pluto TV, and Tubi. Please watch it.
14.NAY: Midsommar (2019), dir. Ari Aster
I know. I know it's iconic. And I also know that I'm wrong. But personally, I just didn't care for it! Individually, I liked a lot of aspects of Midsommar, but to me, those things failed to come together in the end to form a cohesive storyline. It's like the movie was about three things at once, and never decided which to settle on. I know that a lot of people loved it, but overall, I just cannot bring myself to call it a slay.
However...
IF YOU LIKE: Beautiful Scandinavian summers, cults, florals for spring, and watching horrible boyfriends get what they deserve, you should watch this movie.
Watch it on: Paramount+ or Showtime.
15.SLAY: Renfield (2023), dir. Chris McKay
I'm not going to read the comments on this post (she lied), so don't even bother disagreeing. "But Julia, how are you going tell us not to watch Midsommar, but then say that this movie rocks?!" And the answer is that I like to have fun. And Renfield is for fun people. Also, I totally respect if you didn't like the movie...but you can't say that Nicholas Hoult and Nic Cage didn't slay.
IF YOU LIKE: Campy horror comedies! Dracula! Dracula saying things in an aggressively 'Transylvanian' accent! Great action sequences! Having fun! Nicolas Cage obviously also having a lot of fun! Then this movie is for you.
Where to watch it: The big screen; this movie is still in theaters. Lucky you! But if you want to wait, it'll be streaming on Peacock pretty soon.
16.NAY: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, dir. Michael Chaves
Ok, a lot of people liked this movie, and a lot didn't. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga's roles were well-acted, but overall it seems as though the Conjuring franchise is headed in a generic, overly-jump-scare-y direction.
In terms of third movies in a horror film series (as if that is a specific set of criteria people search for), a great alternative would be The Exorcist III. But since this just a list of movies from the past ten years, I won't tell you that.
IF YOU LIKE: The Conjuring franchise, 2010s jump-scare horror, and sweating next to your crush because this is the movie your high school friend group decided to watch on Friday, this is the movie for you!
Where to watch it: All of the Conjuring films are available to watch on HBO Max.
17.SLAY: Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023), dir. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
A24's dead, and fun, campy classics are back! If you know me (which you don't) you know that I love the Scream franchise so, so much. The two new films are just as smart and just as meta as the Screams that came before, and I don't say that lightly.
But also, Paramount, bring back Neve Campbell.
IF YOU LIKE: Having taste, self-aware horror comedies, Jenna Ortega, plots that keep you guessing, or sequels where we are lost in New York, then these movies are for you!
Where to watch: Both films are available on Paramount+.
Honorable Mention: Midnight Mass (2021), dir. Mike Flanagan
Midnight Mass is a miniseries, so I can't really include it in the list, but I wish I could. It's not overly scary at all; you barely see the monster. It's about groupthink, religion, sin, and how the desire to bring goodness can actually be very corrupt... Watch it! Watch it! Watch it! (On Netflix.)
