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I found myself thinking this while watching the fantastic just-released Weapons the other night. @Dragonlordxxxxx has a thread for that movie here:
Zach Cregger's WEAPONS (Passes $100 Million)
Because I think most on Sherdog agree that Hollywood is in a pretty dismal place. I'm focused on movies, not TV, but I suppose it's fair to consider it all because many of the best movies aren't reserved for the silver screen, anymore. I definitely think we're in a dark age.
Except for horror. Horror is lit af. It's been killing it for the past two decades while every other genre has been on a steep decline, especially comedy, which is at an all-time nadir because everyone is too afraid to tell a goddamn joke. It feels like horror is King Louie in the classic Disney cartoon version of The Jungle Book desperately straining single-handedly to hold the palace up. In the spoiler below is a partial copy/repaste of a list I've shared several times that highlights some of the better horrors from 2010 until 2019 when I made the list. Since that time here are some standouts.
- Weapons (2025)
- Companion (2025)
- Bring Her Back (2025)
- The Substance (2024)
- Late Night with the Devil (2023)
- Talk to Me (2022)
- Smile (2022)
- The Menu (2022)
- Megan (2022)
- The Black Phone (2021)
- Midsommar (2019)
In addition to these, there are some that were just downright phenomenal for the first half, but fell apart before bringing it home, or had tremendous mood-setting that just didn't bring it together. Still pretty damn good. I'm talking about movies like Sinners, Longlegs, Us, The Innocents, The Invisible Man, The Empty Man, Gretel & Hansel, X, 28 Years Later, A Quiet Place: Part II, Platform. There is some that I've left off because they're equal parts Action/Sci-Fi like Prey, Alien: Romulus, and The Gorge (although the second horror half of that movie was garbage). Similarly, I don't think of movies like Cronenberg's terrific Crimes of the Future as horror.
There's also a ton of acclaimed horrors in just the past five years I still haven't seen. Just in the last year there's The Monkey, The Long Walk, Heretic, Together, Speak No Evil, Heart Eyes, Dangerous Animals, Presence, Oddity, The Rule of Jenny Pen, Blink Twice, The Ugly Stepsister, The Devil's Bath, Clown in a Cornfield, Terrifier 3, and tons more. It's crazy how many there are, too, because compared to other genres, when I see high critic scores, once I watch the movie, I find horrors are far more likely to actually deserve it, and aren't just being praised to promote an agenda.
- 2019's Parasite was terrific. One of the greatest films in history.
- 2019's Doctor Sleep was a worthy successor to what many believe is the greatest horror ever made.
- 2019's Ready or Not was surprising fun.
- 2018's A Quiet Place was magnificent. What a tremendous conceit for a horror movie.
- 2018's Annihilation was one of the most interesting films of that year.
- 2018's Bird Box was a damn good movie. Sorry your Mom liked it, too. That doesn't mean it wasn't a good horror.
- 2018's Hereditary is a Sherdog favorite. You miss originality in films? Here it is.
- 2017's The Ritual is another thinking man's horror, and the closest thing I've ever seen to a masculine-themed version of The Descent. It's a meditation on courage, and the lingering effect a traumatic incident can have on the dynamic between a close-knit group of friends. It was directed by the same man who did the most famous vignette of V/H/S, "Amateur Night", the one that arguably launched that franchise to serial popularity.
- 2017's Life was a classic, pure space horror. Anyone who hasn't seen it is missing out.
- 2017's Get Out may not have deserved a Best Picture nomination, but I don't care what anyone says, it was amazing.
- 2017's Ravenous brings the French sensibility to zombie survival horror. It's weird, and nobody can complain it isn't thought-provoking.
- 2017's It and the sequel It: Chapter 2 easily surpassed the first iteration with Tim Curry. King's magnum opus finally got its due.
- 2016's Split was Shyamalan in peak form.
- 2016's 10 Cloverfield Lane had me gripped and guessing most of the way.
- 2015's The Visit is M. Night Shyamalan's scariest movie. Hands down.
- 2015's The Witch was a refreshing departure from most period pieces of any genre. I felt like I was on an elementary school field trip to one of those small cultural preservations of early American life.
- 2015's Bone Tomahawk was brutal western horror.
- 2014's Ex Machina I found to be one of the more fascinating thinking-man's horrors made.
- 2014's Babadook offers one of the most astonishing performances in film history by Essie Davis.
- 2014's The Maze Runner was goddamn spectacular up to the ending. It's still worth it for everything before that Hindenburg finale.
- 2013's Odd Thomas is the primary reason I was gut-punched when Anton Yelchin died. Now we'll never get the sequels. Awesome movie.
- 2013's The Conjuring is a classic, and its 2016 follow-up is also great. Spare me the 'by-the-numbers' criticism. Sometimes it's about execution, and these films execute.
- 2013's The Purge was a brilliant study of America's growing internal strife derived from wealth stratification, how this is often a matter of petty envy between first-world-problemers, as if they lived in an episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians, and how the increasingly unhinged younger generation's most privileged is cannibalizing the very generation that nurtures & suckles it.
- 2012's The Woman in Black is underrated. That movie was terrifying. Give it a fair chance. Watch it alone at night in the dark.
- 2012's Sinister was creepy as hell. The lawnmower. The fucking lawnmower. The sequel was good, too.
- 2011's Kill List is one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen. You can accuse it of a litany of flaws, but you can't say it caters to the lowest denominator, or that it doesn't take risks.
- 2010's The Crazies improved on the original. Anyone with a pulse loves Timothy Olyphant.
- 2010's Insidious was spectacular. The Further was terrifying.
- 2010's The Human Centipede was too decadent and unapologetic for culture to ignore.
- 2010's Monsters is a hidden gem. It's a story carrying commentary on the immigration crisis without a heavy-handed political sermon. It's almost impossible to imagine that's possible.
- 2010's Stake Land was a very cool, very different spin on the post-apocalyptic subgenre. Worth it.
- 2010's Troll Hunter came out of nowhere, and surprised everyone by delighting them.
Maybe I'm just a grump, so I made a poll asking which genres you guys think is in a good place right now. Vote for as many as you like. Also, what are your favorites not on my lists?
