The past 5 years have produced some impeccable horror movies, including new franchises, revived franchises, and several unconventional projects.
The horror genre has always been one of the greatest cinematic innovators and a place to find new, visionary talent. However, the past few years have been especially rewarding when it comes to horror’s contributions and the wild risks that movies have been willing to take.
The past five years have included the revival of dormant franchises, the birth of new ones, and plenty of unconventional projects that blend genres and establish new traditions. It’s easy to celebrate the evergreen horror titles that still stand out after several decades, but there is also a new breed of horror that’s just as worthy of attention and accolades.
The past decade has turned into an encouraging time for comedic talents to successfully transition over to horror, both in front of and behind the cameras. John Krasinski proves himself to be a triple threat as he directs, co-writes, and stars in the incredibly tense 2018 movie, A Quiet Place.
A struggling family goes above and beyond to stay together and survive against an extraterrestrial threat with super-sensitive hearing. Both A Quiet Place and its sequel have come out in the past five years, but the original has the most to say, both cinematically and thematically.
2022's Barbarian is a relatively recent release that's helped close out the year, but it's already become one of 2022's biggest horror movies. Zach Cregger successfully channels his experience in comedy with a pitch-black horror hybrid that's as unpredictable as it is disturbing and hilarious.
A simple misunderstanding regarding a double-booked Airbnb slowly unravels a sinister tale that needs to be seen to be believed. Anchored through strong performances by Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, and Justin Long, Barbarian is a testament to experimental storytelling and straying from a formula.
There are an increasing number of emotionally exhausting horror films that turn to phenomenal actors who commit to their tortured characters. Rebecca Hall stars in The Night House as a raw widow who's still numb to her husband's suicide, and her performance is a tour de force in pain.
Beth's attempts to mourn her husband reveal an unsettling piece of architecture and a supernatural entity that's more alarming than any secrets from her husband. Director David Bruckner has gone on to channel the heavy grief that's omnipresent in The Night House into his reboot of the Hellraiser series.
Matthew Holness' Possum is a British horror film and a delicate meditation on repressed trauma that's expressed through a troubled man's return home and the grim object that he embraces. There are shades of The Babadook in Possum as this pained puppeteer is psychologically tortured by one of his creations and the memories of his past.
There are a lot of horror films like Possum out there. However, it’s rare that they actually stick the landing, let alone with Possum's level of intensity and impact.
Ari Aster has only completed two feature films, but they've already proven him to be one of this decade's most exciting voices in horror. 2018's Hereditary is an aggressive ordeal that’s too much for some. 2019's Midsommar is still an intense experience, but it's also thematically deeper and more palatable than Hereditary.
Florence Pugh stars as Dani, a woman within a group of friends who celebrate a community's midsummer festival, only to learn that they’re the sacrifices for the terrifying cult. Midsommar excels through tone, world-building, and its performances, and it's the rare horror film that plays out almost exclusively during the day.
Jordan Peele made major waves with his feature film directorial debut, Get Out, but after 2022’s Nope, he’s proven himself to be three-for-three when it comes to his cinematic efforts. Get Out and Us are both effective socially-minded horror films, but they feel indebted to other genre classics and filmmakers. Nope, on the other hand, is a truly original idea.
There are endless horror and sci-fi movies that deconstruct the concept of aliens and man’s desire to communicate with and control the unknown. Nope grounds itself in authentic characters and dreams, all of which become just as essential to the film’s success as its chaotic spectacle of a finale.
Ti West has always been fascinated by style and genre, which is particularly prevalent in X and Pearl. Both function as heightened slashers, but X functions as a gritty grindhouse exercise in 1970s exploitation while its prequel is a throwback to the Technicolor musicals of the early 1920s.
X is a more mainstream slasher with a higher body count, but Pearl is arguably the overall better film for the risks it takes and Mia Goth's performance in the titular role. MaXXXine is on the way in 2023 and Ti West will extend his 2020s horror hit into a full-on trilogy.
Exorcism and possession stories are among the most popular ideas in horror so it's always exciting when a film pushes these classic plots to genuinely new places. Anything for Jackson looks at a "reverse exorcism" where grieving grandparents hope to combine black magic and a pregnant woman for a volatile ceremony.
There's a real sense of heart in Anything for Jackson. That being said, the film also unleashes deeply upsetting ghosts and demons that are on par with any of the big-budget boogeymen to come out of The Conjuring.
The Invisible Man is a horror figure who has fascinated audiences for more than 100 years, but Leigh Whannell's 2020 update of H.G. Wells' famous novel finds tremendous strength by telling a story about gaslighting. Elisabeth Moss' Cecilia Kass applies a feminist slant to this story where she feels invisible and helpless when she believes her husband is invisible. In actuality, he possesses invisible stealth technology.
It's a terrifying perspective that takes this archetypal character and makes it feel genuinely fresh. The special effects, storytelling twists, and aggressive score all give The Invisible Man extra bite.
The fifth entry in the self-aware Scream slasher franchise is aptly titled just Scream, instead of “Scream 5,” as a way to emphasize its criticism toward legacy sequels and reboots. The Scream films have a good track record when it comes to consistency.
However, 2022’s Scream feels incredibly rejuvenated as a new cast of up-and-coming actors, which includes Jenna Ortega, lead the way while series staples like Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox take a bit of a step back. 2022’s Scream is both a passionate revival of the iconic series as well as an effective slasher film in its own right.
Daniel Kurland is a freelance writer, comedian, and critic, who lives in the cultural mosaic that is Brooklyn, New York. Daniel’s work can be read on ScreenRant, Splitsider, Bloody Disgusting, Den of Geek, and across the Internet. Daniel recently completed work on a noir anthology graphic novel titled, "Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Noir: A Rag of Bizarre Noir and Hard Boiled Tales" and he’s currently toiling away on his first novel. Daniel's extra musings can be found @DanielKurlansky on Twitter.
Subscribe to the CBR newsletter for exclusive comics, TV & movie news, reviews, interviews & much more!
About Summ
Check Also
The best movies leaving Netflix, HBO, and more in March to watch now – Polygon
Use your Google Account Forgot email?Not your computer? Use a private browsing window to sign …