The Best Horror Films Of The 21st Century Ranked

Best Horror Films of the 21st Century

No, it’s not that time of the year when ghosts and goblins and witches roam the streets, but we decided to get a jump on it. We are 23 years into the 21st Century and there have been numerous chilling horror films splattered with blood and gore and filled with jumps galore, thrilling audiences young and old.

It has been a century that began with those nauseating torture films that led to the advent of Blumhouse, more Stephen King, a horror movement from arthouse films, thrilling blockbusters, and even some solid horror entries from international filmmakers.

All of this leads to the list that follows. We have put together a solid horror movie list that, we hope, can be debated until the next century. Here are the best horror films of the 21st century. 

10. The Descent (2005)

How would you like a little bit of claustrophobia mixed in with your creature features? Well, that is exactly what you get with The Descent, a very well-put-together horror movie that offers thrills, chills, gore, and tight spots.

The film tells the story of Sarah Carter who, a year prior, lost her husband and daughter in a horrible car accident. Fast forward one year and Sarah, her friends Juno, Beth, Sam, Rebecca, and newcomer Holly, meet in the North Carolina Appalachians for a little bit of spelunking. What they get is a cave-in and the realization that they are not alone.

9. The Conjuring (2013)

Filmmaker James Wan, known for horror movies like Saw, Dead Silence, Death Sentence, and Insidious, had another 21st Century horror hit on his hands when he introduced horror lovers to Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, the real-life paranormal investigators. In the first film in The Conjuring Universe, Ed and Lorraine arrive at a farmhouse in 1971 Rhode Island to help Perron Family who are dealing with increasingly troubling paranormal events.

8. 28 Days Later (2002)

28 Days Later takes the ever-popular zombie apocalypse and turns it on its head. Instead of getting the usual slow-moving flesh-eaters, this horror movie from director Danny Boyle instead introduces a virus called “Rage” that turns people into uber-aggressive zombies that can run. And run fast. Boyle expertly ramps up the suspense for Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, and Brendan Gleeson as they look to survive the highly contagious virus while seeking safety.

7. The Witch (2015)

If you like your horror movies at a slow boil pace, then Robert Eggers’ The Witch is the perfect film. Eggers made his directorial debut with this film which was also the debut of Anya Taylor-Joy. To keep his film as realistic as possible, Eggers only used natural light, he put his film’s characters in clothing made from antique cloth, and he wrote the film using authentic Puritan language. The film told the slow-burning story of an evil in the woods that is truly evil. That demonic goat, Black Phillip, is also quite creepy.

6. It Follows (2014)

A critical and fan favorite, It Follows seems to be taking a shot at the sexual revolution and sexually transmitted diseases in this horror movie that uses sex as a way to pass along a supernatural entity from one person to another. David Robert Mitchell wrote and directed the film and has since made it clear his motivation simply came from a nightmare.

The story “follows” Jay, a young woman who discovers that after having sex with Hugh, he informs her that she is going to be pursued by an entity that only she will be able to see. The only way for her to get rid of it is to have sex and pass it on to another person. Perhaps Mitchell was telling the truth about his nightmare, but you can’t turn away from the notion of having random sex and the consequences it might hold.

5. Hereditary (2018)

You knew exactly what type of filmmaker Ari Aster was going to be when he presented his debut horror movie to an unsuspecting audience. Severed heads, a man lit on fire, a thoroughly disgusting self-decapitation, and massive weirdness follows. Toni Collette leads a cast that includes Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, and Milly Shapiro as a family dealing with grief and death.

4. The Babadook (2014)

This particular nasty creature feature comes from Australian writer/director Jennifer Kent, who makes her directorial debut with The Babadook. This horror film follows a single mom, Amelia, who is raising her 6-year-old son, Sam, after the death of her husband, who died in a car accident driving her to the hospital while she was in labor with her son. Sam begins to experience troubles with an imaginary monster, who may not be so imaginary after all. You may not be prepared for the ending.

3. A Quiet Place (2018)

John Krasinski wrote and directed this taut, suspenseful, horror movie, A Quiet Place, that answers the question of how far parents will go in protecting their children. Featuring a truly heartbreaking opening, Krasinski has put together a great film that he stars in along with his wife, Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, and the fantastic Millicent Simmonds. There are long moments of silence in this film as it tells about a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by blind aliens who have super keen hearing and a fondness for munching on humans.

2. Let the Right One In (2008)

It is a very rare occurrence when a horror movie offers a happy ending, but in this Swedish vampire flick, that is what viewers get. That is not to say that there aren’t thrills, chills, blood, and gore going on, because there are. The film follows Oskar, a quiet 12-year-old boy, who suffers at the hands of bullies at his school. Things begin to change for Oskar when he meets a young-appearing girl, Eli, who moves into the apartment next to his with an older man named Håkan. What Oskar doesn’t realize, but soon will, is that his new neighbors are vampires.

1. Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele thrilled audiences with his horror movie, Get Out, which was also his feature film directorial debut. Peele, who also wrote the film, touches on many subjects (racism, brainwashing, and body swapping) while piecing together a wonderfully complex horror tale that stars Daniel Kaluuya, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Lil Rel Howery, LaKeith Stanfield, and Allison Williams. Peele goes for broke in his commentary, but also in his thrills with a story that brought him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. This is one horror movie you should not miss.