Dax's Top 15 of the 2010s

After a rough start with seemingly endless shitty remakes in the early aughts, the 10s really brought the heat when it comes to (mostly original) horror movies. With each passing year, there were more and more great horror films to choose from, which made making this list really difficult. I didn’t want to limit my choices based on year, so I decided to pit every film of the decade against each other, Battle Royale style. I couldn’t pick just 10.

When you see the themes of the movies I’ve listed, I know what you’ll think: Wow, this guy needs therapy. Listen, I’m working on it. I just really love a great downer. I identify so deeply with horror films that tackle ideas like tragedy, loss, and mental health, and it so happens that the 10s were rife with wonderfully somber stories that hit the silver screen.

This was pretty tough. I’m sad to say some really great films didn’t make the cut. Films like Train to Busan, The Invitation, and Creep were definitely in the top 25, and maybe in another decade would have broken my top 10. Ultimately, though, they just couldn’t contend with the powerhouses that follow.

15) A Dark Song

Liam Gavin’s A Dark Song tells the story of Sophia (Katherine Walker), a grieving mother, and Joseph (Steve Oram), an occultist, who attempt to perform an elaborate, months long ritual to conjure Sophia’s guardian angel.

Right off the bat, It should also be mentioned that Walker’s portrayal of Sophia is harrowing, and her grief is palpable. Similarly, Oram’s depiction of Joseph is perfectly surly and barbarous. The two are a match made in, well, some terrifying underworld. It is quite a feat for only two actors to keep a film from ever becoming dull.

This film ultimately makes me list because it is not for the faint of heart. It’s moody, methodically paced, and downright brutal at times. A Dark Song’s most prominent feature, for me, is likely its memorable imagery. More specifically, the film takes its time showcasing black magic in a way that is eerily beautiful. Its scenery gets under your skin with its cold, grey bleakness. A Dark Song is a must-see for anyone who loves a good, slow burn.

14) Happy Death Day

Happy Death Day is, in a word, a trip. Jessica Rothe plays Tree, a thoroughly unpleasant college student stuck in a time loop after she is murdered. She relives her last day alive over and over, each time searching for clues to figure out who her killer is so she can stop them from killing her, once and for all.

Rothe is such a standout, not only because she carries the entire film, but because HDD displays her range through Tree’s character arc. She goes from rude and self-absorbed to completely unhinged to vulnerable, and every emotion in between. Rothe is so fun to watch and she makes the film even more of a blast than it already is.

Happy Death Day makes the list because I love how gleefully Landon commits to the premise and takes us all for a hilarious ride. Not only that, but when it’s time to build tension, the film puts the laughs on hold just to remind us that this is still a movie deserving of the “horror” distinction. Happy Death Day puts fun back into the slasher genre, and it’s a joy every single time I watch it.

13) You’re Next

In Adam Wingard’s You’re Next, Crispian (AJ Bowen) is bringing his girlfriend, Erin (Sharni Vinson), to meet his very wealthy family in celebration of his parents’ (played by Rob Moran and the iconic Barbara Crampton) anniversary. During dinner, the entire Davison family comes under attack, and they realize they’re being hunted by masked men with crossbows. Erin, a survivalist, springs into action and attempts to save everyone from the attackers.

This movie is both playful and gory, like a very bloody version of Home Alone for adults. You’re Next was the first film that made me appreciate the blending of humor with horror, and for good reason. The film is riddled with memorable one-liners, but never takes a break from the blood. You have to respect it.

My favorite part of this movie is, by far, Sharni Vinson’s portrayal of Erin. She’s badass, merciless, and ingenious. Erin is everything you could want in a final girl, and more! Erin’s traps for the killers are so fun to watch, every single time, and they’re a huge part of why I always have a blast watching You’re Next. It deserves all the love it gets!

12) Evil Dead

This reimagined version of Evil Dead by Fede Alvarez sees Mia (Jane Levy) and her friends, along with her estranged brother, David (Shiloh Fernandez), off to a remote cabin in the woods so that Mia can detox from drugs. However, the plan goes south when the group finds a mysterious book in the basement, and when one of the incantations within it is read aloud, they are plagued by demon possession and total, hellish mayhem.

A repulsive treasure, Evil Dead is a rare remake that just may be (dare I say it) better than the original. Admittedly, I find some of the dialogue to be a bit melodramatic at certain points, but overall this is the best remake any horror fan could ask for. It’s got something for everyone: possession, gore, demons, a strange engineering montage, literal blood rain, problematic trees (if you’re into that), and a phenomenal final girl in Jane Levy.

Evil Dead stands out as one of the most gruesome films I have ever seen. The special effects are sickening even to the most hardened horror fan. It’s over-the-top and fun, but also truly taxing on your nerves. If ever you were looking for a grandiose display of horror, this is it.

11) The Cabin in the Woods

Five students (Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams) vacation at a cabin where, not long after their arrival, some strange things begin to happen. Simultaneously, two scientist-types (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) control the sinister goings on at the cabin from the safety of an underground lair, in order to appease a larger entity.

There’s a lot to love about The Cabin in the Woods. It’s a horror comedy that gets both the humor and the scares right, and it lovingly pokes fun at our beloved genre. The creature designs and effects are excellent, and the film is an overall breath of fresh air at the tail end of a time when the genre was feeling a bit stale. My favorite part of The Cabin in the Woods, however, is that it simply urges horror filmmakers to do better and for horror fans to welcome original content.

10) Get Out

In Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Daniel Kaluuya plays Chris, a man in an interracial relationship with Rose (Allison Williams), who is taking him to meet her family for the first time. Chris’s best friend, Rod (Lil Rel Howery) a proud TSA agent, attempts to warn his friend that he should be cautious trusting Rose and her white, upper class family. It is only once Chris arrives at their suburban home that he realized he should have listened to Rod’s warning.

Admittedly, I was not as high on Get Out as everyone else seemed to be upon its initial release. I liked the movie overall, but didn’t find it to be astounding. I had a few problems with the story that I just couldn’t get past. It was only on re-watch that I came to fall in love with Peele’s directorial debut.

From the very beginning, when Chris and Rose are interacting with a police officer, Peele does an amazing job of building an ominous tension and toying with the audience. The direction, acting, cinematography, writing - they’re all proof that when you’re watching Get Out you are fully in Peele’s world. Get Out also changed how the average film goer sees horror movies, and not only brought attention to the fact that horror films are often political, but made it cool. Get Out will surely go down in history as a horror classic.

9) The Conjuring

In 2011, James Wan terrified audiences with Insidious his funhouse-style take on the possession film and created a franchise that lasted nearly all of the 10’s. However, it is Wan’s 2013 release, The Conjuring, that cemented him in the list of great horror filmmakers. The Conjuring tells the stories of two families, the Perrons and the Warrens. The Perrons have recently moved into a new, severely haunted home and Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous demonology experts, attempt to rid the Perron home of demonic entities.

In a Facebook post back in 2013, I described The Conjuring as “relentless”, and that may be the best descriptor I can come up with to date. Insidious gave us a taste of what Wan can do, but with The Conjuring, he perfects the tricks up his sleeve and never stops unleashing them upon your nerves. Where Insidious feels like a creepy funhouse, The Conjuring is straight up terrifying and foreboding almost the entire way through. Wan uses this opportunity to define his own directorial style and aesthetic, and subsequently influenced the entire haunted house subgenre for the rest of the decade.

8) The Babadook

Jennifer Kent’s melancholic The Babadook follows Amelia (Essie Davis), a struggling single mother grieving the loss of her late husband, as she tries her best to care for her rambunctious son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman), who has an obsession with preparing for an attack by monsters. The two mysteriously receive a children’s book about the title character, a monster, which begins to appear outside the book’s pages.

I love The Babadook because it’s one of the most moving examinations of depression and grief that I’ve seen on film. Though I can’t speak to the terrors of parenting, as someone who has experienced tragic loss and who lives with chronic depression, I find the depiction of Amelia’s plight disturbingly accurate. Kent takes something that so many grapple with and gives it a face, showing how ugly and destructive a mental illness can be. I also love the idea of this being a dark fairytale, as we come to understand how Samuel views his mother’s struggle with mental health. The Babadook got under my skin and to my very core in a way that few movies before or since have been able to do.

7) 10 Cloverfield Lane

Few films are as tightly wound as Dan Trachtenberg’s 10 Cloverfield Lane. After Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) gets into a car accident, she wakes up in an underground shelter manned by Howard (John Goodman) and Emmett (John Gallagher, Jr.). The two men tell her the outside air has been poisoned in some sort of attack, and Michelle is unsure whether to trust this information or the men who shared it.

10 Cloverfield Lane is a masterclass in suspense. Both Howard’s and Michelle’s paranoia bubbles just under the surface, which keeps the pressure mounting throughout the film. Trachtenberg keeps the audience guessing the entire time, up until the very end, when the movie goes completely bananas. I couldn’t get over how much fun I had trying to guess what was going on, and the feeling has stayed with me since the first time I saw it. The terror of not knowing who you can trust, and subsequently feeling alone, is a theme that never gets old to me, and 10 Cloverfield Lane nails the premise so, so well.

6) Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is another stunning portrayal of mental illness and the toll it can take on one’s life. Natalie Portman plays Nina, a dedicated ballerina seeking a bigger role in her dance company. The company is putting on a production of Swan Lake, and she competes against herself and against the newest addition to the company, Lily (Mina Kunis). As Nina tries to prove herself, her sanity is tested.

Black Swan has always stuck with me because of its disorienting nature. The camera moves almost as much as the bodies of the dancers, often circling, shaking, or tilting so that the audience is always just slightly off-balance. The cinematography is a constant reminder that nothing is certain in Nina’s mind, so nothing is certain in ours, either. I appreciate a psychological horror film that keeps me thinking about everything I’ve just seen, which is exactly why I love Black Swan so much.

5) Green Room

In Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room, the late Anton Yelchin stars as Pat, the bassist of a hardcore punk band playing small shows to get by. They accept a gig at a remote venue, and upon arrival realize it’s a Nazi punk bar. After witnessing a horrific crime, the band and Amber (Imogen Poots), a young skinhead, come under siege at the behest of the leader of the skins, Darcy (Patrick Stewart). What ensues is a tense and bloody battle for survival.

The thing that has always stuck with me since I saw Green Room was how real it felt. It felt lived-in, unlike most other “punk rock” films. Jeremy Saulnier has stated that he pulled from his own experience of fronting a punk band, and it shows. As someone who grew up in the punk scenes of South Jersey and Philadelphia, I always roll my eyes when I watch something having to do with “punk rock” and it’s just simply a bunch of kids wearing spiked jackets and Sex Pistols shirts. Green Room was the first time I felt like I was watching a younger version of myself, playing the same shady venues for the same shady crowds, being obnoxious, and fighting with Nazi punks. It was both exciting and unsettling to me.

Besides the amazing acting on the parts of Yelchin and Poots, besides the disturbingly realistic special effects, and the precise attention to detail, what I love most about Green Room is how such understated dread builds throughout the film until, finally, all Hell breaks loose. From the moment the band sets eyes on the venue, it’s evident that they’re in over their heads. They’re outnumbered, they’re progressive, and they are so young and inexperienced in comparison to the militant Nazis. You see the band’s situation growing more and more dangerous, and it’s hard to watch at parts, but there’s nothing you can do. You are under Saulnier’s spell, and the final results of Green Room will linger in your mind well after the movie has ended.

4) The Witch

The Witch, directed by Robert Eggers, is the story of a pious, Calvinist family torn apart by mistrust and superstition. Anya Taylor-Joy is remarkable as Thomasin, a teenage girl on the cusp of self-discovery. Thomasin tries to please her family by dutifully obeying, but is tested when they begin to suspect she is a witch causing the destruction of her family and their plot of land.

This film makes it feel like you’re peeking through a window at the weird family next door. At times, it feels too close for comfort, like you’re a guest at a dinner party and the hosting couple begins arguing with each other. It’s unsettling as Eggers works his magic and strings us along. Is there an actual witch, are they just collectively delusional, or both? Eggers gives us a clear answer, and yet it’s easy to continue questioning what we’re seeing because it’s so shocking.

I hold this film close to my heart because it is, essentially, about a young person struggling to find their independence and their own belief system- whether or not it aligns with what their family deems “correct”. As Thomasin is finding her inner strength, she is also figuring out her identity and coming to grips with her own sexuality. We’ve all been there, and it’s a tale as old as time, but The Witch does it in a way that depicts this search for self as it really is: terrifying.

In the end, Eggers’ research and meticulous attention to each and every detail pays off in a big way. It truly does feel like you’re living inside a New England folktale. The natural lighting, dismal landscape, costuming and set design, and, of course, the Olde English language used throughout all come together to create this creepy occult masterpiece. The Witch is an instant classic, in my book.

3) Midsommar

After a devastating loss, Dani, played masterfully by Florence Pugh, and her emotionally-distant boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor), embark on a trip to Sweden with a few of Christian’s college friends. Christian’s buddy, Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), is a part of a commune, and he takes the group to his village to celebrate Midsommar. At first, the members of the Pagan commune warmly welcome the visitors. However, it soon becomes clear that Dani and her group will not only witness the celebration, but become unknowing participants.

Ari Aster’s second film, Midsommar, is a drug-fueled nightmare, and a gripping meditation on loss, and toxic relationships. While the film’s focus is mostly on the relationship between Dani and Christian, I found myself zeroing in on the depiction of grief and anxiety. Florence Pugh is so believable as someone who is constantly on the verge of a panic attack, a feeling I can relate to all too well. She is constantly trying to talk herself down and hold herself together, despite the fact that she is coming completely unglued. She reaches out for a lifeline, but Christian is too self-absorbed to help. The gap between the couple grows larger as the film goes on, and it’s heartbreaking to see Dani experiencing yet another loss.

I saw this film 3 times in the theater, including the director’s cut. It was so relatable and so visually stunning, I wanted to see it as many times as I could to get all that the story had to offer. I don’t think that’s possible, though. There are so many interpretations to take away from Midsommar, so many new lenses through which to watch it, and so many minor details that take multiple viewings to finally notice. For me, the controversial, iconic, and so very cathartic ending, in particular, takes on new meaning each time and is reason enough for me to watch Midsommar over and over again. Midsommar, despite its bright and cheerful appearance, is one of the most grueling, cerebral, and uncomfortable cinematic experiences I’ve endured, and I love every second of it.

2) It Follows

David Robert Mitchell’s anxiety-inducing It Follows sees a young woman, Jay (Maika Monroe) terrorized by a supernatural entity after a sexual encounter with Hugh (Jake Weary). Hugh explains that he’s passed this entity on to her, and that it can take the form of anyone. He tells her that unless she has sex with someone else and passes the sexually-transmitted curse on to them, the being will follow her, constantly and slowly, until it finally catches and kills her. Jay eventually finds that this threat is real, and she relies on her friends to help her try to get rid of it without hurting anyone else.

This film floored me the first time I saw it. It filled me with so much angst that I was trying to push back into my theater chair to get away from the movie, without taking my eyes off the screen. The most notably unsettling element of the film is the score, a synth-heavy, pulsing, electronic 80s throwback by Disasterpeace. Additionally, the camera often has a wide lens, and the background is full of potential threats, since we’re not sure what form the creature has taken on. The set design is purposely timeless, and the costuming often makes no sense. This makes for a disorienting thrill ride.

There has been many a debate over what the meaning is behind the STD (sexually transmitted demon). Is it just an HIV metaphor? Is it describing the fear of death or getting older? I have my own interpretation about trauma and the cycle of abuse, but I won’t get into that here. The point is that there really is no wrong answer. You can interpret It Follows any number of ways, which is the beauty of its premise. There is always something new to take away from this chilling gem, which is why it’s one of my all-time favorite horror films.

1) Hereditary

Ari Aster’s debut, Hereditary, revolves around the grieving Graham family. After an unspeakable tragedy, Annie, played by the incomparable Toni Collette, begins to discover her mother was dealing with dangerous supernatural forces. Now, her family is facing the repercussions of the curse their grandmother has passed on to them.

There aren’t enough words for me to describe my love for Hereditary. This movie really struck a nerve with me and I’ve been thinking about it since the first time I saw it. It’s an uncomfortably realistic examination of a family barely keeping it together, and how the aftermath of trauma seeps into the cracks forming between each person. This was beyond distressing to me when I first saw Hereditary. I wasn’t prepared to confront the inner workings, or rather dysfunctions, of the Graham family dynamic. And I DEFINITELY was not prepared to be reminded of my own.

Hereditary, in my opinion, is the very definition of unnerving. The film is riddled with now iconic scares, not to mention Aster steadily creates a sense of foreboding from the very first shot and doesn’t give us a release until the last 15 minutes of the movie. What then ensues is so fucking bonkers and outright astonishing, it’s nearly traumatizing. In addition, Hereditary is another film on this list that leaves small details in all the corners and shadows, so each time you watch it there’s a new thing to terrify you.

What stays with me more than the horror is how Aster depicts grief. Annie scream-crying on the floor haunts me almost more than any of her later scenes. Her son, Peter (Alex Wolff), is so pained by loss that he seems to be in a daze, and later suffers from an anxiety attack that he can’t reconcile as such in his head. Annie’s husband, Steve (Gabriel Byrne) just ignores his own feelings altogether and tries to continue on as though things are normal.

I found it refreshing to see a film display the many complex sides of mourning a loved one. It was harrowing to witness the intimate moments shared by a family that just doesn’t know what to do with themselves. What’s more, it didn’t matter what they chose to do in this case. Even if they had come out the other side stronger than ever, their fates are pre-determined - and we’re along for the ride.

Hereditary is quite possibly my favorite movie ever. It’s as emotionally charged as it is absolutely frightening, and I will probably never stop talking about it. To me, it’s a damn-near perfect movie, and, without question, my pick for best of the decade.