A Decade of Terror: The best horror films of the 2010s

Hereditary–Courtesy of A24

Hereditary (2018)

From one panic-inducing film to another.

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If we were ranking films by how scary they are, Hereditary would undoubtedly claim the top spot. Ari Aster’s masterful debut feature is quite simply a work of genius. The director scatters little nuggets of foreshadowing throughout the film’s two-plus hour run-time, and in doing so, has crafted a horror flick that merits multiple viewings despite it being hard as hell to sit through.

The horror of Hereditary works so incredibly well because Aster catches the viewer off guard with it. For more than an hour, the filmmaker delivers body shot after body shot as we witness a harrowing, utterly devastating portrait of familial grief. Then, once we adjust our expectations, Aster socks us right in the mouth with extreme, unrelenting demonic terror.

From top to bottom, Aster’s cast extraordinarily hones in on the mental state of a family in brutal turmoil. Toni Collette delivers the greatest performance of 2018 as Annie Graham (despite what the Academy may think), whose grief is at once nauseatingly sad and frighteningly ferocious. Alex Wolff, too, is tremendous in the role of Annie’s son Peter, who just about steals the entire movie with his portrayal of shock after a certain event in the film takes place.

Hereditary is a legitimately terrifying film worth losing your head over. It’s one of the very best horror films of the 2010s. With Midsommar due out later this year, Ari Aster may just find himself on a revamped list twice.