The best horror movie is one that sticks with you long after watching. Some horror films scare the life out of us with jump scares and shock and awe, whereas others unsettle and disturb us so much that we can’t stop thinking about them. 2025 has been a successful year for horror movies, with box office hits like Sinners and Weapons proving audiences still have an appetite for the genre.
While trying to decipher the best horror movie of all time may be nearly impossible, picking the best from a single year is a little easier to do. Of course, this is all subjective. However, this list breaks down the best horror movie of every year from the last decade. Some are critically lauded terror flicks, and others are underrated gems that subverted genre expectations.
2015: Green Room
The contained thriller genre has proven to be a mainstay in cinema over the last two decades. Every now and then, a movie comes along that is so tense it catapults the picture from a thriller to a horror. Green Room did just that. This A24 gem follows a punk rock band who lock themselves in the green room of a venue after witnessing a murder at the hands of a group of ruthless neo-nazis.
Visionary filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier had already proven himself as an artist unafraid to push the boundaries with his revenge thriller Blue Ruin, but with this anxiety-inducing horror flick, he upped the intensity tenfold. When the blood and guts come in, it’s visceral and stomach-turning. But the sheer terror comes from the claustrophobic feel that doesn’t let up for a second, leaving the viewer in a constant state of panic akin with the characters.
2016: Train to Busan
Train to Busan succeeded where countless zombie films failed: it made us care deeply about who lives and who dies. The plot centres on a zombie outbreak that erupts across South Korea, and we chart a father and his young daughter boarding a high-speed train to Busan, hoping to reach safety. In increasingly tight quarters, passengers must battle for survival as the virus spreads across the carriages at rapid speed.
Yeon Sang-ho‘s masterpiece elevated the zombie genre by grounding relentless action in genuine emotional stakes. While the horror is often overshadowed by breathtaking set pieces and visceral combat, this balance becomes the film’s greatest strength. The brief respites between carnage don’t offer relief – instead, they amplify the creeping dread, never allowing the audience to take a breath. These quieter moments reveal humanity at its best and worst, from selfless sacrifice to cruel self-preservation, resulting in a movie that shouldn’t be unique, but is.
2017: Get Out
For a horror movie to make its way to the Oscars, you know it did something right. To many, Get Out would be the obvious choice for the best horror movie of 2017 – it was critically adored and made a massive stomp at the box office. However, the real success here is with how it has stayed relevant nearly a decade later.
Jordan Peele effortlessly changed paths from comedy to horror with this mysterious slice of terror, and through his expertly woven social commentary, he managed to create a horror movie that got people talking as well as scared the life out of them. Get Out was nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year, making it the seventh horror movie to land such a feat. While it didn’t take home the gold in that category, Peele won for Best Original Screenplay.
2018: Hereditary
Widely considered to be the best horror movie of 2018, Hereditary is possibly the most shocking as well. The plot focuses on a grieving family haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences. After honing his craft with a string of short films, writer/director Ari Aster made his feature debut with this masterful blend of psychological horror, supernatural dread, and family drama, creating something genuinely original in the process.
What starts off as a slow-burn study of grief meticulously unravels into occult terror, with each revelation more unsettling than the last. Toni Collette delivers a career-defining performance, her anguish so raw it becomes almost unbearable to watch. The film’s brilliance lies in its refusal to offer any comfort whatsoever. With this relentlessness, Aster weaponizes everyday spaces – a car ride, a dinner table – transforming them into stages for unspeakable and unimaginable horror.
2019: Midsommar
Ari Aster quickly followed up Hereditary with another horror film the following year. This time, he upped the sense of dread tremendously. As another slow-burner, Midsommar has the audience in a state of anxiety from the very first frame, holding them in a vice like grip until the horrific violence bursts onto the screen.
The movie centres on a group of friends who, at the invitation of one of their own, travel to a Swedish midsummer celebration, but things quickly turn sinister. What makes Aster’s sophomore feature so disturbing is its radical contrast: mostly set during the day with lighting akin with an upbeat movie, it is actually this daylight that starts to feel unrelenting. There are no shadows to hide in, no darkness to blame – just endless sunshine illuminating every disturbing ritual and act of violence in vivid, inescapable detail.
2020: The Invisible Man
For many years, The Invisible Man was considered a fun slice of camp entertainment fit for the whole family, most famously represented by the eccentric comedy of Chevy Chase. Expectations were completely reversed, however, with Leigh Whannell‘s 2020 reimagining, which turned the concept into a chilling examination of abuse and gaslighting. The movie centres on Cecilia, a woman psychologically tortured by her ex-boyfriend, an abuser who uses high-tech invisibility tools to methodically dismantle her life.
What is more disturbing than the terror of being stalked is witnessing a sadistic man exploit invisibility to control and isolate Cecilia, even making her friends and family question whether she is going insane. Elisabeth Moss gives the performance of her career, striking the perfect balance of terror and resolve. Her rendition of a timid woman who rises to the occasion and empowers herself takes the film from a creepy horror flick to an important and relevant work of art.
2021: The Black Phone
The horror genre arguably works best when the protagonist is an innocent child, unequipped to defend themselves properly. Right out of the gate, this increases tension and anxiety as we desperately cling to our arms rests hoping that they will defeat the evil in front of them. 2021’s The Black Phone thrusts us into a situation that feels impossible to get out of, especially as we learn of all of the other children who didn’t, ones that warn the young Finney (Mason Thames) of the peril he is in.
Then there’s Ethan Hawke. In a performance completely unlike anything he’s done before, Hawke transforms into “The Grabber,” a predator whose shifting masks reflect his fractured psyche. His soft-spoken menace is paralyzing; he doesn’t need to shout or rage to terrify. Every interaction crackles with unpredictability, making him one of horror’s most unsettling villains in years – a chilling reminder that true monsters often hide behind disarming calm.
2022: Barbarian
Barbarian is another example of how a comedy writer can cross over into horror and actually bring some flair with them. A comedy horror by no means, Zach Cregger still manages to infuse subtle dark comedy without taking away from the terror and suspense. What starts out as a contained horror film about a woman who has inadvertently double-booked an AirBnb apartment with a complete stranger, soon morphs into something else when they both face an inexplicable threat lurking beneath them.
Cregger doesn’t just stick to one plot here. There are important messages sprinkled in throughout, ones that make us care for the characters, and others that make us hope they meet their demise. The result is a horror movie that feels totally fresh. It’s suspenseful, creepy, mind-bending, and immensely thought-provoking, arguably making it the best horror movie of 2022.
2023: Late Night with the Devil
Late Night with the Devil is easily 2023’s most original horror offering, and one of the more unique horror films of the last few decades. While it could be categorized as a found footage vehicle, it is lifted above the rest through its exploration of various perspectives. Simply put, the film’s genius is its format: we’re watching both a television show and its behind-the-scenes reality, blurring the line between performance and genuine terror.
Presented as lost found-footage from a 1970s late-night talk show, Late Night with the Devil follows desperate host Jack Delroy as his ratings-starved program descends into chaos during a Halloween special meant to prove the supernatural is real. What makes this film exceptional is how it weaves together devil worship, cult activity, possession, psychic research, and sacrificial magic into a cohesive nightmare. Directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes capture the retro aesthetic perfectly, but beneath the period authenticity lies a scathing examination of ambition and sensationalism.
2024: The Substance
The Substance is the eighth horror movie to land a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. It is also the only ever body horror to land such a nomination. Coralie Fargeat‘s visceral film follows Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), an ageing celebrity who injects a mysterious serum that creates a younger, “better” version of herself. The catch? They must switch bodies every seven days, sharing one existence between two forms.
What begins as a Faustian bargain spirals into grotesque body horror as the balance collapses. Fargeat doesn’t just shock here, she dissects society’s pathological obsession with youth and beauty, particularly how it devours women. Demi Moore delivers a fearless performance, embodying the desperation of someone watching their relevance evaporate in an industry that worships only the young. The film asks how far we’ll go to stay desired, and answers with increasingly horrific imagery that’s impossible to forget. So, just like Get Out did in 2017, The Substance throws a fresh spin on the horror genre, one so shocking and thought-provoking that it makes it nearly impossible to forget.
2025: Sinners
Sinners set a precedent for horror movies in 2025, one that was quickly followed by films like Weapons and Together. What it did was show of us that horror is far from dead, it just needs to be given the originality treatment from time to time. Starting off as a period crime drama, Ryan Coogler quickly transports viewers into a terrifying standoff between a group of revellers and a herd of blood-sucking vampires, led by the oddly captivating Remmick (Jack O’Connell).
By the time the epic showdown ensues, the audience has been given plenty of time to care for the characters in danger. All the while, we’re immersed in not just outstanding original music, but an important message of how music has shaped people and cultures for decades, even in the most harrowing of times. Although it is too soon to tell, Sinners has been a frontrunner for the 2026 Oscars ever since its release in April 2024. So, it could potentially become the ninth horror movie to land a Best Picture nomination.
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