5 Best Horror Films of the 2010's So Far

Halloween is merely a day away, which means that people around the globe will be mainlining their favorite horror flicks to get themselves in the spirit for this spooktacular holiday. While many purists will stick with long-cemented classics from the 20th century, recent fare like The Conjuring, Insidious and Mama have quickly become October favorites among the genre's legions of diehard fans. Below you'll find a list of my five favorite frightfests of the 2010's so far along with several  honorable mentions from the first eight years of this impressive decade for horror movies.

Note: At the time of this post, I had not seen a handful of 2017's most-acclaimed horror movies (It, Annabelle: Creation, It Comes at Night, The Void, Raw).
Honorable Mentions (listed alphabetically):
Crimson Peak (2015)
Happy Death Day (2017)
Let Me In (2010)
Piranha (2010)
Sinister (2012)

5.Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015): This criminally underseen gem from Happy Death Day director Christopher B.Landon is essentially the spiritual successor to Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland. In an era where jump scare-driven supernatural horror dominates the marketplace, it was awesome to see a tongue-in-cheek film filled with cartoonish gore, vulgar comedy and unexpected heart come along to break up the monotony.
  
4.Don't Breathe (2016): If it wasn't for a ludicrous plot twist at the halfway mark, this would be even higher on the list. Don't Breathe is a simple, efficient thriller that piles on the tension from the jump and doesn't take its foot off the gas until the final frame.

3.The Cabin in the Woods (2012): Horror films are so inherently absurd that they're pretty much begging to be made fun of and for my money, no film does a better job of skewering this tidal wave of genre clichés than The Cabin in the Woods. Joss Whedon and longtime collaborator Drew Goodard possess a deep love and knowledge of all things horror that allows them to deconstruct the genre in an incredibly clever and hilarious fashion.

2.You're Next (2013): Three years before they dropped the aggressively mediocre Blair Witch, screenwriter Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard crafted one of the most gleefully fucked-up horror films I've ever had the pleasure of watching. After a slow albeit necessary first act, You're Next morphs into an absurdly fun slasher movie full of inventive kills, pitch-black humor and suffocating suspense.

1.Get Out (2017): Could you argue that it's too soon to declare Get Out the best horror film of the decade? Sure. Is that going to prevent me from doing it? Absolutely not. Jordan Peele's brilliant directorial debut simultaneously succeeds as a laugh-out-loud comedy, unnerving psychological horror flick and sharp commentary on modern race relations. I'd be very surprised if any horror film that's released in the next two years can top the ambition, intelligence and craftsmanship that's on display here.