As hard as it may be to admit, we are at the halfway point of the not-so-Roaring 20s. Which means if you’re a cultural critic like me, you start preparing your lists for the best of the decade. After all, at least some films, shows, etc. will make the cut in five years time. But considering horror has been so abundant in the last five years, I thought it would be a good time to take a look back and come up with the best scares and thrills we’ve encountered thus far in the decade. So let’s take a look at the Top Ten Horror Films of the 2020s (So Far).
In creating this list, I considered a litany of factors. There’s the impact the film had as a work of art. There’s the zeitgeist that surrounded it as a moneymaker. Was the story uniquely structured, was the villain memorable, were the scares sufficient, etc? These were all taken into account in narrowing down a massive list into ten succinct options. I also tried to balance the different types of horror, so as to avoid frontloading a specific subgenre (like slashers) and give balance to the nuances of the genre. There’s monster films, slashers, body horror films, vampires, psychological thrillers, and beyond.
I considered dozens of films for this list, even films that audiences liked, yet I’m relatively lukewarm on. In that vein, you won’t be seeing Skinamarink, Host, Censor, either Smile film, Gretel and Hansel, or any of the Fear Streets make the cut. Yet even films I liked a great deal were still relegated to Honorable Mentions. Psychological thrillers, like Nanny or my #1 film of 2020 I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Possession thrillers like When Evil Lurks and Evil Dead Rise (and even Candyman, in a sense). Films with more European sensibilities, like Palme winner Titane, cannibal love story Bones and All, and the giallo inspired Cuckoo. And grindhouse inspired works of nasty joy, like M3GAN and the highly underrated Resurrection and Unhinged.
Some films with a great amount of acclaim miss out simply because I didn’t have time to see them. I never finished the original Speak No Evil, and haven’t had a chance to see Prey yet. The Empty Man is notoriously hard to find, and therefore I have yet to see it. And I won’t be watching We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV GLow comes in approximately #11 or #12 on this list). And then there are the films I truly love, and it breaks my heart to cut them from this list. Freaky is a masterful horror comedy featuring a stellar Vince Vaughn. Fall is a terrifying survival thriller trapping two girls at the top of the world’s tallest structure. Final Destination Bloodlines is a high point in a beloved franchise, while X and Pearl redefined the slasher genre. And I’m devastated that 28 Years Later misses the cut – it’s one of the best films of 2025. Yet with these films relegated to mere Honorable Mentions, let’s take a look at the Top Ten Horror Films of the 2020s (So Far).
10. Terrifier 2
For a brief moment, I almost picked the Christmas-themed Terrifier 3 to fill the slasher slot on this list. But there’s something truly feral about Terrifier 2 that makes it the only clear choice. Not only is this the one that introduces lore into the Terrifier universe (as opposed to the truly evil work on display in the first film), but it also is the one that feels more complete overall. Not only does it introduce lore into the universe and cement Art the Clown as the greatest modern slasher villain, it also finds the best balance of nastiness and innovativeness. Terrifier was memorable for the mean-spiritedness of the hacksaw murder. Here, there’s more of a balance – a girl is brutally attacked, and Art literally rubs salt in the wound. Nasty, but still fun, Terrifier 2 is the series’ best entry, and one of the best of the decade.
9. Godzilla Minus One
It’s rather surprising to have a Godzilla film appear on a list of the best films, let alone a list of the best horror films of the decade. Yet Godzilla Minus One is no ordinary Godzilla film; instead, it returns to the monster movie terror of the original Gojira. Exploring the wounds of Imperial Japan, the film returns the King of the Monsters to his rightful place. Whether he’s attacking an army camp, chasing a fishing boat, or finally devastating Tokyo, Minus One takes the realities of the terrifying lizard serious, building up to a thrilling, chilling climax. Not only does the film look gorgeous, but it finally captures that early magic that made Godzilla an icon, and that alone is enough to make Godzilla Mius One the best monster movie of the decade, and one of the best horror films to boot.
8. Possessor
Body horror is one of two genres on this list to receive two accommodations, and it makes sense to start things off with Brandon Cronenberg (yes, David’s son) and his stunning debut Possessor. Much as his father explores the human psyche and dissociation through his body horror films, the younger Cronenberg explores the Uncanny Valley and the inability to control yourself. Cronenberg’s story of an assassin who controls people’s minds hones in on everything Freud defined as humanity’s greatest fears (in particular, the Death Drive, seen in every target being forced to graphically kill themselves after a hit), and crafts a story deeply disturbing, particularly nasty, and altogether stunning as a horror debut. Aided by Christopher Abbott’s committed, terrified performance, Possessor easily emerges as one of the best horror films of the decade thus far.
7. Nosferatu
One day, it should be studied why there have been far fewer great Dracula films than entries inspired by Murnau’s copyright infringement knockoff. Yet here we are, in 2025, talking about Robert Eggers’ haunting, immaculate newest entry. Eggers likes to use horror to explore human conditions, and Nosferatu is no exception. He revamps the story to explore grooming, toxic relationships, the barrier between religion and science, and lust in a world where the very act (especially in women) was considered a sin. From these themes, Nosferatu is able to become many things at once: a monster film, a commentary on dread, and, in Lily Rose-Depp’s committed performance, a body horror. Technically immaculate, Nosferatu was one of the best films of 2024, and easily one of the best of this decade.
6. Nope
It’s rare to think of alien films as “horror” – despite The War of the Worlds and other genre beginnings, aliens are typically seen as an exploratory tool, or a war metaphor, leaving action and drama as the primary narratives. Yet Jordan Peele’s third terrific outing, Nope, turned his alien movie into a Western horror, and a parable for the dangers of working with animals. The clever twist here turns the UFO into the alien, a gorgeous, nearly invisible floating cloud, masterful to look at, even as it devours people whole. It’s hard to think of a sequence more unsettling than the folks lined up at the rodeo sucked up into what they think is a UFO, only to realize they are being digested, or the creature’s burp creating a rain of blood. And I haven’t even talked about Gordy the ape. Jordan Peele never misses, and Nope is no exception.
5. The Invisible Man
Leigh Whannell’s retelling of The Invisible Man was the last true hit before the pandemic. At least theaters shut down on a high note, as his psychological thriller take on the classic tale thrilled both audiences and film lovers alike. Whannell incorporates themes unfortunately timeless and timely, restaging the story of a man driven wild with power from the oft-underwritten woman’s perspective, adding a domestic violence and gaslighting angle as a tech billionaire sets out to drive Elisabeth Moss insane. Much like the original Halloween or the works of psycho, the terror comes from what the characters can’t see, whether it’s the inprint of a hand, cold breath emitting from the void, or a floating knife. The Invisible Man’s legacy was gobbled up by the pandemic, and it doesn’t get its due far often enough, but make no mistake: it is one of the best horror films this decade.
4. Malignant
The joy of James Wan’s Malignant (his effort to combine his skills with a love letter to his wife, who wrote the script) is how it never fully embraces one particular genre, instead flipping the script to keep audiences guessing. The first twenty minutes is a ghost story; the next hour is straight giallo; the finale is a gonzo mix of slasher and creature-feature. Wan approaches the story of a woman who can see a masked figure’s murders all over town with an almost-silliness, keeping the thrills sharp, yet never fully embracing the darkness. It’s the right touch, as it emphasizes the film’s final act – a conjoined twin reveal mixed with contorting body horror and super-silly carnage – as the best act of horror-comedy since Evil Dead 2. Few horror films were as original, daring, and enjoyable as Malignant all decade, and it deserves its slot on this list.
3. The Substance
Thus far, only one horror film has been nominated for Best Picture this decade, the wickedly wonderful body horror extravaganza The Substance. And truthfully, it’s hard to argue that Coralie Fargeat’s Hollywood satire doesn’t deserve it’s spot near the top. Not only do Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley give all-time great gonzo performances, but Fargeat doesn’t shy away from the nastiness of the work. From withered limbs to dissolving bodies, the film doesn’t let up in its worst-case scenario of cosmetic surgery, all the way to its final act, which starts as a real-life nightmare and transforms into a Cronenberg-ian nightmare. Monstro Elisasue is still the greatest makeup work of this decade. From it sharp script to the dedicated makeup work to the dedicated performances, The Substance delivers, even if it focuses more on screams than on shrieks.
2. Sinners
If The Substance is the first horror film this decade to be nominated for Best Picture, it is increasingly likely that Sinners will be the second. Sinners is many things all at once: a terrific action thriller, a musical, a treatise on the importance of culture and community, but above all, Ryan Coogler’s film is simply a great vampire story. It’s not quite a looming sense of dread, like our pending #1 film, or gonzo gore like some entries. Instead, it’s a constant state of uncertainty, from Jack O’Connell’s striking first appearance to the unnerving nature of “Rocky Road to Dublin.” The film’s impact can’t be denied, blending several genres and mastering all of them. It’s one of the best films of the year, best films of the decade, best soundtrack of the decade, and if it weren’t for the absolute terror of the #1 film(s), it would be the hands down choice.
1. Barbarian/Weapons
It felt wrong choosing between Weapons and Barbarian, Zach Cregger’s two breakthrough horror films. On the one hand, Weapons is the breakthrough hit of 2025, already a massive moneymaker and a ballsy, sweeping epic of a horror film. It’s a film that oozes terror, deeply unsettling from beginning to end. Yet there’s something more terrifying in the more uneven Barbarian, a film consistently changing the horror genre throughout, to great effect (someone on Twitter best described it as “Fincher Upstairs, Raimi Downstairs”). Ultimately, I think it makes the most sense that Cregger’s two outings share the top spot: Barbarian as a literal nightmare brought to life, and Weapons as a journey into Hell. They are true embodiments of terror – not elevated horror, not horror-as-metaphor, but a dive into what it means to be afraid. And they equally deserve the top slot.
Well, that wraps up our look at the Best Horror Films of the 2020s to date. Sacred Walloween is rapidly coming to an end, but I’ll be back next week with one more list (this one far sillier), as well as a few more write-ups. In the meantime, comment below with your favorite horror films from the 2020s thus far, and always remember to stay spooky!
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