It’s hard to believe it, but Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Doctor Strange, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them are all about to turn one decade old. It didn’t even feel all that long ago that they were playing on the big screen. Audiences were taken by surprise when Vader started swinging his lightsaber in Rogue One, and when Johnny Depp popped up at the end of Fantastic Beasts, and when Dawn of Justice ended up being quite the slog. But in terms of genre output, 2016 was one of the truly excellent years for horror, and it’s impressive how fresh its best still feel to this day.
Not all of 2016’s horror movies were winners, though. For instance, The Darkness, The Boy, and Cell. But there was far more good than bad. So many, in fact, that we couldn’t include them all here. To that point, just missing the cut were Lights Out, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, The Belko Experiment, Hush, Terrifier, and The Purge: Election Year.
7) Ouija: Origin of Evil
A vast improvement over its predecessor, Ouija: Origin of Evil is everything that movie tried and failed to be. It has a haunting ambiance, it makes its possessions feel real, and it’s bolstered by some very impressive performances.
Origin of Evil was one of the earlier displays of Mike Flanagan’s firm grasp over the horror genre. If he could take an extremely lackluster film and turn it into something that doesn’t feel like one feature-length gimmick, he could do anything.
6) The Conjuring 2
It isn’t quite as effective as the film that kicked off the franchise, but The Conjuring 2 is nonetheless one of the better installments of the overarching spooky franchise. Once more it excels by focusing on Ed and Lorraine Warren and a likable, relatable family in equal measure.
The only thing that holds The Conjuring 2 back from true greatness is its tendency to replicate some of the original’s spooky beats. And, while a great new addition to the overall lore, Valek is somewhat underutilized here. Even still, when she is on screen, Bonnie Aarons makes her the ultimate Conjuring villain (besides Annabelle, of course, not that we ever see her actually doing much of anything).
Stream The Conjuring 2 on HBO Max.
5) Don’t Breathe
There’s seldom a remotely relaxing moment in Don’t Breathe. It’s basically an exercise in ratcheting up tension from moment one and never letting up until the credits roll.
But none of it would work if the right actor wasn’t selected to play its visually impaired antagonist, and Avatar‘s Stephen Lang hits every note. We aren’t sure until the third act how to feel about his Norman Nordstrom. After all, he was blinded in the Gulf War and is just chilling at his home only to have a trio of thieves try to run off with his life savings. So, while we like the trio well enough (two of them, anyway), we don’t particularly see them as the protagonists. Then, in act three, a very controversial twist comes around that confirms that, yes, of this whole dynamic, Nordstrom is the worst person of the bunch.
Stream Don’t Breathe on Hulu.
4) The Shallows
Easily one of the best shark movies not titled Jaws, The Shallows is a thrilling single-locale intensity fest with a tour de force performance from Blake Lively. And to rise towards the top of its subgenre all it had to do is what was always obvious with these types of films: don’t show much of the shark until act three.
The brilliance of The Shallows is relegating Lively’s Nancy Adams to extremely restrictive locations, e.g. a whale carcass and a buoy. We continuously question how she’s going to escape, and that keeps the hairs on your neck standing throughout the majority of the brief 86-minute runtime.
Stream The Shallows on Starz.
3) Train to Busan
One of the most visceral and entertaining Asian horror movies of the past few decades, Train to Busan is a top-tier zombie movie. It’s like World War Z if that 2013 movie was actually character-focused, and that is a factor Busan absolutely does not short its audience on.
We care about this movie’s characters, we understand who they are and who they would put their lives on the line for. And that’s going to be necessary, because the vast majority of the narrative takes place in either a train or train station. Neither locale is a particularly safe one in the middle of a running zombie apocalypse.
Stream Train to Busan on Netflix.
2) Green Room
As soon as Green Room (which premiered in 2015 but released wide in 2016) starts you get the sense you’re in for a brutal time. That sense is correct, because this is not the type of film to pull its punches.
We follow a punk band who takes a gig at a Nazi bar only to accidentally witness a murder, which makes them witnesses…witnesses the Nazis will do anything to silence for good. Horror is often at its best when it’s showing just how depraved some human beings can be, and this one makes the case for that more than any other 2010s entry in the genre’s history. It was also one of Anton Yelchin’s better leading man roles and, as far as inventive casting, it’s hard to beat the usually lovable Patrick Stewart as a leader of a hate group.
1) The Witch
One of the very best horror films of the 2010s, Robert Eggers’ The Witch was an immediately embraced folk scare fest that was championed by audiences and critics alike for feeling wholly fresh. Not to mention, it made stars of Anya Taylor-Joy and director Eggers and gave Ralph Ineson his meatiest role to date.
The Witch is not an in-your-face movie; it’s one that envelops you in its ominous mood. It’s entirely unconcerned with providing audiences a happy resolution or even the occasional moment of safety for the family we follow throughout. And, yes, while The Witch did premiere in January 2015 at Sundance, it wasn’t seen by a wide audience until February 2016, so we’re counting it as a 2016 movie.
Stream The Witch on HBO Max.
What was your favorite horror movie of 2016? Let us know in the comments.