The Best Horror Movies of 2020

10. The Wolf of Snow Hollow

A fresh take on the old werewolf tale. Director, writer and star Jim Cummings does a great job as the bumbling drunk deputy in a town where a werewolf is seemingly on the loose. Successful horror comedies are rare but the cast makes this one happen. 

9. His House

His House is the story of a couple of refugees from South Sudan trying to escape the horrors of their past. They come to believe their house is haunted by an evil witch that is trying to reclaim a debt. Haunting imagery in the house as well as flashbacks from their past. 

8. Scare Me

Can Aya Cash just be in everything please? Two authors stuck in a cabin act out scary stories to each other, complete with sound effects. Very well written and strong acting all around. 

7. Impetigore

Two friends travel to a small village in Indonesia hoping to collect on an inheritance. What they find is a village full of people who believe their family has something to do with a curse that has fallen on the village. A gorgeous film with a lot of great practical effects. 

6. Vampires vs. The Bronx

2020 is apparently the year of the horror comedy.. Or maybe just the year I needed it. This movie is about a group of kids noticing that vampires and moving into the Bronx and trying to fight them off. All of the actors are wonderful and it’s a great story about being part of a neighborhood. 

5. The Dark and the Wicked

Gotta love a movie about the devil himself. Despite the overuse of stingers and an ending that doesn’t quite land, some of the shots in this movie have stuck with me still. 

4. Freaky

From the same director as Happy Death Day, I finally decided to give this a shot even as a $20 rental. Very glad I did. It starts off super gory and creatively so in the first few minutes and keeps that up throughout the film. Vince Vaughn is hilarious acting like a teenage girl. Another great horror comedy this year. 

3. The Rental

Dave Franco cemented his place as my favorite Franco brother with this film (it was never close). Two couples rent a cabin to get away when they find a hidden camera in the shower and it only gets weirder from there. You hate most of the people but that makes it easier when the plot twist comes. 

2. Host

If there was ever a movie to show someone in the future to describe what 2020 was like, here it is. It is incredible what director Rob Savage did while filming remotely, never mind that the movie is terrifying. 

1. Possessor

Wow this movie came out of nowhere for me. I liked the cast so decided to give it a shot and holy cow. I honestly don’t even know what to say. Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott are incredible in this movie. Director Brandon Cronenberg obviously has big shoes to fill and really knocks it out of the park with this film. 

Honorable Mentions: La Llorona, Sea Fever, The Mortuary Collection, The Deeper You Dig, Come to Daddy

Top 15 Horror Movies of the Decade

15. Southbound

My favorite anthology of the decade! Great stories that were all connected and incredible sound design.

14. I Saw the Devil

A South Korean flick about a serial killer and the man trying to exact revenge for his murdered fiance. Gets super gory within the first 10 minutes and doesn’t stop there!

13. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

An Iranian vampire western you say? And it’s black and white? I’m in!

12. Willow Creek

That 18-minute long shot of them in the tent just made the movie. Super awesome Bigfoot movie and very well-researched by Mr. Bobcat Goldthwait.

11. Absentia

The movie that made me a Flan-girl.

10. The Witch

For a while I wasn’t even sure this would be on my list. I was a damn fool.

9. Baskin

I learned Turkish for this god damn episode, you best believe it’s on the list. Plus the sing-along!

8. You’re Next

Favorite home invasion movie and best ensemble cast for me. Love these guys. Just typing the words Looking for the Magic gets the song stuck in my head.

7. The Babadook

I still think about this movie a lot. So well written, the pop-up book is incredible and I love the monster.

6. The Ritual

Best monster and one of the rare instances where the movie is better than the book (the book is very much still worth reading, it kept me up at night!).

5. What We Do in the Shadows

Best horror comedy, I swear I could watch this movie every week and never get sick of it.

4. Raw

3. It Follows

Loved the fresh take on the slasher trope of teenagers having sex and getting killed. Bonus points for being set in Detroit!

2. Us

Great acting from everyone involved, especially Lupita Nyong’o. Loved the story, loved everything about it.

1. Midsommar

If you would have told me after I watched Hereditary that the same director would direct my favorite horror movie of the decade, I would have punched you in the face. It’s got everything: awkward sex, comic relief, fun illustrations, menstrual mocktails and awesome acting by Florence Pugh.

Honorable Mentions: Train to Busan, The Visit, Bone Tomahawk, Evil Dead

Best Horror of 2018 | Jamie's Picks

It’s important to note these aren’t really in any particular order - but, here you have em - my favorite horror films of 2018.

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Upgrade

Upgrade was one of those 2018 horror movies that I had added to my list from the get-go, but then didn’t get around to watching it until the end of the year. As a long-standing fan of Black Mirror, the premise was right up my alley (artificial implants that cause super strength) and I was happy to see Logan Marshall-Green (The Invitation) stepping back in to the world of horror. Not usually a fan of Leigh Whannell, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie.

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Hereditary

I didn’t jump on the Hereditary hype-train right away. The first viewing wasn’t enough to really blow me away, despite there being two scenes that were delightfully shocking and completely unexpected. It wasn’t until my second watch that I really understood why people were raving about this movie. It’s a crazy story made real with solid camera direction and an amazing cast of actors. This will absolutely be a movie I revisit multiple times.

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Suspiria

Remakes and reboots have been all the rage for the last 5 years or so, and the announcement that Argento’s Suspiria would be getting the same treatment was enough to make many horror fans a wee bit nervous. Luckily, Luca Guadagnino’s vision was bizarre, visually captivating, and more than a little unsettling. I appreciate Argento’s original for what it is but, I enjoyed watching this reboot even more.

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Annihilation

Ex Machina has stuck with me since the first time I watched it and I have been waiting for director Alex Garland’s next movie ever since. Luckily, we got it last year in the form of Annihilation, a visually stunning movie that explored the idea that humanity’s destruction (and the destruction of all life on Earth as we know it) came as the result of some cosmic accident/genetic anomaly. Sure, some of the CGI is wonky but it didn’t take anything away from the movie - the story itself is more than compelling enough to keep you engaged and interested.

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Mandy

Oh, Mandy, you came and you gave…
This movie was a seriously wild ride from beginning to end. Visually, it was one of the most interesting movies I’ve seen in years - the colors, the sound, the acting, the costumes, etc., it’s all just so wonderful and I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Nic Cage is quickly become horror’s new darling and his performance in Mandy confirms that horror is where he belongs.

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The Ritual

The Ritual is easily my most re-watched movie on this list. It’s a tense and creepy story, set in the ancient woods of Sweden, and it just so happens to have the absolute coolest looking movie monster in the history of movie monsters. I highly recommend checking out both the movie and the novel it’s based on (The Ritual, by Adam Nevill) - you’ll find they have wildly different endings but they both work and I wasn’t disappointed in either.

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The Endless

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are quite the dynamic duo when it comes to film-making. I count Spring and Resolution among my favorite horror/thriller films, and their 2018 release, The Endless, is no different. Despite being a sort of companion piece to Resolution, The Endless is a seriously trippy — and often unsettling — ride that is perfectly capable of standing on it's own. It’s a truly bizarre story about two brothers, who receive a cryptic video that drives them to revisit the UFO death cult they had escaped when they were younger. If that’s not enough to pull you in, The Endless also shows us unsettling time loops, weird phenomenons that cause a “mirroring effect” in nature, and a night sky with three moons - you can’t say that doesn’t sound intriguing. Finally, if you’re a fellow fan of Benson and Moorhead, you’ll be pleased to know they have recently wrapped up filming on their next film, Synchronic.

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