Best Horror Films of 2010

Written by Michael Varrati, Jude Felton and Noel Penaflor

Choosing only ten movies that encompass the best of what a genre had to offer over the course of an entire year is never an easy task, especially in 2010 when the horror genre wasn’t too kind to its fans. Still, despite all the drudgery there were still some gems to be found this year…as long as you knew where to look. From killer Santas (Rare Exports) to sociopathic ballerinas (Black Swan), 2010 certainly offered an eclectic bunch of terrors for the discerning horror fan, giving those of us who are so inclined many different films on which to argue.

Below you will find lists from three separate writers of their picks for the top 10 horror movies of 2010. Each film highlighted below has contributed to our ever-expanding appreciation of the genre that we all love. Though subjective and based on personal preference, we hope the selections below will inspire you to check out films otherwise missed or dismissed, or at the very least inspire spirited dialogue.

Though there are titles that have no doubt been omitted or others you may not agree with, we do hope you enjoy and explore our selections below! At the very least, check out the films that appeared on multiple lists below, like Black Swan, The Loved Ones, Piranha 3D, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale and Frozen! Oh, and in case you are wondering, there is no “worst of” list…there were plenty bad horror flicks this year so we felt no need to highlight them.

Michael Varrati’s Best Horror Films of 2010

10.) Zombies of Mass Destruction – Buy it on Amazon!

Zombies. Are. Tired.

I mean, right? I’m so over zombies I don’t even want to deal with another zombie movie for a while. Or at least that’s what I thought until I saw this year’s undead entry into the After Dark Horrorfest. Taking a cue out of the best George Romero had to offer, Zombies of Mass Destruction is successful where so many other walking dead stories fail because it seeks to use zombies as a parallel for a greater struggle occurring in contemporary society. Just as Romero used Dawn of the Dead as a commentary on consumerism, director Hamedani uses ZMD as a vicious critique of the fear held in suburbia by white, heterosexual “Christians.”

The film’s main characters, a girl with Middle Eastern ancestry and a gay couple, represent the most divisive of what god-fearing America is concerned with in the modern age: change. By displaying the prejudice and dangers that these unpatriotic protagonists must face, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, Hamedani points to the inherent absurdity of our culture at large.

Funny, biting, and all too true, Zombies of Mass Destruction is truly horrifying horror…but for all the wrong reasons. Because of that imbedded message, I love it that much more.

9.) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Excavating in the icy wastelands of Finland, a group of archaeologists make a most unique discovery: Trapped in the ice is a creature that appears to be Santa Claus.

If Disney had made Rare Exports, the outcome of that dig would have been cheerful and filled with Christmas glee. But at the hands of Finnish director Hedlander, the truth behind Santa and his intentions are revealed to be far more sinister. Playing on the best aspects of the European Santa mythology, Rare Exports takes the safety of the kindly Christmas figure and turns the whole thing on its head.

Long a fan of things that mess with convention, I also am admittedly a sucker for movies about killer Santas. In this respect, Rare Exports seems tailor-made for me, but also delivers a brilliantly crafted tale that is likely to appeal to all fans of dark fantasy. With a twist that is gasp-inducing and a general reminder that it can be dangerous to be on the naughty list, Rare Exports wins my prize this year for the most welcome change of pace in horror and rightly earns its spot in 2010’s best.

8.) Maniac – Buy it on Amazon!

Thanks to the ever-expanding world of home media, many films that were thought lost or forgotten are finding new life on blu-ray, DVD, and, in some cases, back in the theater. As such, every time I do a yearly round-up, I always like to select one film of days gone by that has been resurrected in the past year to live again in the hearts of horror fans. Last year, I singled out the long awaited release of Night of the Creeps on DVD, and this year I turn my eyes toward the movie theater and the Grindhouse Releasing revival of William Lustig’s Maniac.

Playing at theaters across the country, Lustig’s notorious tale of a schizoid serial killer stalking women on the streets of New York City has just as much punch today as it did when first released in 1980. Uber-violent and horrifically frenetic, three decades on Maniac still stands heads and shoulders above many of the films released in the last five years, remaining a true achievement of the slasher genre. Sick, disturbing, and a total riot, I think it is truly telling that one of the best nights out at the movies I had this year was delivered by a movie made before I was born. Many thanks to the people at Grindhouse for making 2010, once again, the year of the Maniac.

7.) Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore

Amazingly comprehensive, this documentary about horror’s first elder statesman of shock gives fascinating insight into a whole world of sleaze cinema. Meticulously directed by horror icon Frank Henenlotter, the documentary is sure to satiate any horror nerd’s appetite for information, as it breaks down every step of the long and storied career of Herschell Gordon Lewis. Featuring interviews with such contemporaries as David Friedman and John Waters, the movie explores the whole culture of low budget horror that has sprung up in the footsteps Lewis has tracked across the decades.

For an information junky like myself, this movie is the ultimate chronicle on the life of one of our genre’s most significant giants. Henenlotter provides an elegant look at the artistry (or lacktherof) behind the movies so many gorehounds have grown up obsessing over, and gives the film his own unique stamp, ensuring fans of either icon will be pleased. Surely, this documentary is not for all comers, but those who salivate over learning everything they can about their idols could definitely do a lot worse.

6.) The Uh-Oh Show

From a documentary on Herschell Gordon Lewis, we go to the latest film by the man himself. Catching a special screening of the latest Lewis epic at this past October’s Cinema Wasteland, I was surprised to discover that even after all these years, the maestro of splatter still has managed to stay close to his roots. The film, about a game show that actually mutilates its willing contestants, is the embodiment of the spirit of many of HGL’s films of yesteryear. Utilizing no-name actors and an over-the-top level of blood and guts, the film manages to curtail any of its weaknesses into strengths, taking the many silly moments and channeling them right back into shock.

While not Herschell’s best, it is far from his worst and is a welcome reminder that this is a man who singlehandedly helped create the gore subgenre. The movie is a veritable return to form for an icon, and, as such, deserves its praise amongst the best and brightest of the last year’s frights.

Frozen (2010) 5.) Frozen – Buy it on Amazon!

2010 saw director Adam Green’s Hatchet II get a considerable amount of hype within the horror community, especially after a distributor made the decision to pull the uncensored cut of the film from theaters before it even really had a chance to run. With the flurry of censorship and an increased fervor to see the verboten flick, it became almost single-handedly assured that Hatchet II would be Green’s genre triumph. After all, the movies the establishment doesn’t want us to see tend to be every cult fan’s utmost favorite.

However, Green’s true masterpiece this past year was not Hatchet II at all, but rather his other film, the aptly titled Frozen. A taut, Hitchcock-tinged thriller, Frozen creeps up on the audience as quietly as a snowstorm and then rips them to pieces. The tale of three ski companions abandoned on a chairlift for a week has left even the steeliest viewers a ball of weeping stress before the final credits. Chipping away at your confidence, Frozen does what so few fantastical horror movies can: It reminds us of our mortality and makes us face it in a horrifying light.

Like so many, this movie unnerved me and left me squirming. Frozen is a movie not about zombies, werewolves, or vampires…but of real horror. Because of this, Adam Green has made a true masterpiece that will assuredly leave you frozen in fear.

4.) The Loved Ones – Buy it on Amazon!

Released in Australia at the tail end of 2009 and finally making its emergence this year in the festival circuit stateside, The Loved Ones is a refreshing slice of brutality.

The Loved Ones Concerning itself with the story of a girl who just won’t take no as an answer when she asks a boy (Xavier Samuels) to prom, the movie is nasty, mean, and unrelenting. This isn’t one of your parent’s fun, kitschy horror flicks. This is a movie that delivers pain and concern, taking you on a horrendously stressful ride the whole way.

I liked The Loved Ones because it shocked me, left me appalled, and just a bit uneasy. In an era of watered-down horror, this is a movie that takes no prisoners and doesn’t play safe. I respect that immensely. When it eventually gets its DVD distribution here in America, you just HAVE to see it…because it’s the kind of horror that changes everything. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

3.) Black Swan

The horror community seems to think Black Swan is a horror film. I’m still not convinced that I agree with that genre placement. To be sure, it’s a grand spectacle dripping with camp undertones, but it seems more like the fever dream of an arthouse director than a legit fright flick. But, perhaps that’s part of the genius of Black Swan. The film deftly dances through genres as easily as the ballerinas portrayed by its leads.

However, whatever the categorization, there is little doubt in my mind that this movie is nothing short of a masterpiece. With capable performances by Natalie Portman and the seductive Mila Kunis (as well as scene stealing moments from vets such as Winona Ryder and Barbara Hershey), Black Swan is maelstrom of psychological tension. In a single scene, the audience can be reminded of Grand Guignol and Shakespeare in equal measure. It’s a film that is totally transcendent, irrepressibly dark, and cunningly crafted.

Black Swan works because it doesn’t fit into any box, yet plays nimbly between them all. I was enthralled by this movie and defy anyone else to not give themselves over to the darkness that permeates every frame.

2.) My Soul to Take – Buy it on Amazon!

I knew immediately after seeing Wes Craven’s latest that my opinion on the film would be a divisive one. An unfortunate inevitability of the immense fame Craven carries in the movie industry all but ensures there will always be a large chunk of fandom that simply complain about everything he releases merely because he’s grown far too popular and “mainstream.” However, if that is one’s sole reason for criticizing Craven, then I believe they are truly missing out. If it weren’t for the film occupying my number one slot on this list, I’d have said without hesitation that My Soul to Take was my single favorite horror movie released this year, because I can’t think of any that I had such a good time watching in the theater.

It’s not a terribly complex film, and the motif of teenagers being stalked by the ghost of a long dead serial killer is not entirely new, either. But, what My Soul to Take achieves is the perfect sense of ‘90s slasher nostalgia in much the same way Scream played as a loving homage to the slashers of the ‘80s. Watching the movie unfold on the screen, I was instantly transported back to the days when I was a teen and trudged out to the theater to see all the latest flicks of the slick generation that Craven himself resurrected. My Soul To Take perfectly embodied all those films I grew up loving, all the while being totally fun and fresh. Lead actor Max Theiriot is a welcome antidote to the all too-typical “final girl” and plays the film’s unreliable protagonist with a refreshing sense of accomplishment. With a capable lead and a fun story, My Soul to Take clips along briskly and confidently, ultimately serving as a movie that shows a true master of horror still at the top of his game.

1.) All About Evil – Buy it on Amazon!

If you know anything about me, the selection of All About Evil as my number one horror film of 2010 should come as no shock. It is no great secret that I work with Peaches Christ, the drag cult alter-ego of the film’s director, Joshua Grannell. It is also no secret that I spent the better part of my summer touring with Peaches and the movie across America, promoting, performing, and hustling to get this flick out there. I accept that because of this, I hold a fair bit of bias…but I also realize that had I not selected the film, it would be something of a betrayal to myself. You see, for better or worse, All About Evil wasn’t just the best horror movie of 2010. In a way, it also was my 2010.

All that being said, I can say with certainty that this movie is deserving because it’s legitimately a good cult flick. I may be involved with the film, but I had nothing to do with the making of it. Like so many, I didn’t see All About Evil until it was completed. I joined the cause long after the movie was in the can…and I did so because of how I felt when I saw it for the first time. Joshua’s movie is a loving ode to a bygone era of single-screen movie houses and the classic exploitation cinema he loves so much. With brilliant performances from Natasha Lyonne, Thomas Dekker, Cassandra Peterson, Mink Stole, and SO many more, the movie perfectly captured the spirit of the kind of movies Herschell Gordon Lewis and Ted V. Mikels made once upon a time, all the while being wholly unique and original. This movie is tailor-made for horror kids and movie geeks just like you…just like me. There’s so much heart in All About Evil, it delivers on every level. It’s funny, it’s shocking, and it’s scary. It really is, in almost every respect, the perfect cult film for the new millennium…because it understands what makes a cult film good without even trying.

I was fortunate, how many people are asked to come along on a journey to support a movie in which they truly believe? This is a movie that really, truly got what it means to love the genre and delivers that sense of wry fun with the fiercest of cackles.

All About Evil is really the best horror movie of 2010…and as far as I’m concerned, probably the best for many years to come. See it, not because I said so, but because if you’re a true horror fan…you’ve really no other choice.

Honorable Mention: Tales from Beyond the Pale – Buy it on Amazon!

When we do our annual top ten lists here at Fatally-Yours, we are limited to providing our opinions on the best horror films of the past year. Usually this is fine by me, but this year I did not think I could do a review in good conscience without mentioning something that I consider to be one of the greatest offerings to the genre this year: Tales from Beyond the Pale.

Created and produced by the team at Glasseye Pix (Larry Fessenden, Glenn McQuaid, and Lisa Wisely), Tales isn’t a flick at all, but rather an audio anthology series, featuring a vast number of genre talents and mainstays. Recalling the bygone days of The Twilight Zone and Tales from The Crypt, the series is also remarkably fresh and new. Listening to the tales and their brilliantly executed audio production, I could not help but feel I was being let in on a little secret…vicious tales that were for my ears and no other.

Whether it be Simon Rumley’s grotesque tale of nationalism, “British and Proud”, or McQuaid’s own sea shocker “The Trawler”, each tale is completely original and a wonder to behold. Often heads above anything released in the theaters this past year, I cannot recommend Tales from Beyond the Pale enough. Tune in, zone out, and find yourself beyond the pale…

…tell ‘em Mike sent ya.

Jude Felton’s Best Horror Films of 2010

10.) The Wrong House – Buy it on Amazon!

Great little indie flick about some stupid kids who decide to break into the titular house and wish they hadn’t. Low budget but who the hell cares? This was damned good fun with top performances by Shawn French and Sue Stevens.

9.) A Serbian Film

What hasn’t already been said about this flick? It’s brutal and holds nothing back. Aside from that it is technically a very good movie and will definitely challenge even the most hardened film fans.

8.) Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl – Buy it on Amazon!

The title alone should be enough to sell this movie to you. It’s ridiculously good fun with plenty of blood and guts and Japanese schoolgirls. File under F for Fucking good times!

7.) Blood River – Buy it on Amazon!

Adam Mason’s Blood River is beautiful to watch but equally as dark. Definitely a movie that benefits from repeated viewings, but well worth your time.

6.) Brain Dead – Buy it on Amazon!

Welcome back to a time where horror didn’t take itself so goddamned seriously. Brain Dead from Kevin Tenney hits all the right notes with a great mix of humor and gore and aliens!

5.) Parasomnia – Buy it on Amazon!

A smart horror flick that follows no real conventions and as such won’t get pigeon-holed easily. Some cool performances, especially Jeffrey Combs, and some trippy visuals made this a winner for me.

4.) Piranha 3D – Buy it on Amazon!

Absolutely crappy 3D effects could not spoil this movie for me. Blood, boobs, gore and more boobs made this the big budget B-movie of the year in my eyes.

3.) REC 2 – Buy it on Amazon!

Once more we visited the apartment block with an undead outbreak. More action, a nice twist on the story and some very cool effects made this a sequel that is well worth anyone’s time.

2.) Frozen – Buy it on Amazon!

Somehow Adam Green managed to make a movie where the majority of the action takes place of a ski lift AND keep my attention throughout. Thoroughly engrossing, tense as fuck and very nearly made the number one spot.

1.) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

An absolute beauty of a movie, Rare Exports gives a nice twist on a Christmas movie whilst managing to blend in several different movie genres. There really was no flaw in this movie other than the fact it was over far too soon. Movie perfection.

Noel Penaflor’s Best Horror Movies of 2010

10.) Daybreakers – Buy it on Amazon!

Honestly don’t remember anything much about Daybreakers since last January when it was released…other than I didn’t think it was terrible. In 2010 “didn’t think that was terrible” qualifies as an automatic inclusion into the top 10 List. Sure, I may have no recollection of Ethan Hawke doing…that thing or Sam Neill saying…that Line. That’s okay, because Daybreakers’ by-default inclusion into this list means I have a full filler 10!!!

9.) Hatchet II – Amazon!

Sure, the plot is thinner than Joel David Moore, but that just means I had a lot more fun watching the gory goodness instead of thinking (a twin? Seriously?) and stuff like that. Kudos to writer/director Adam Green, not just for having two movies on this list, but for allowing me to predict who would die in what order

Monsters (2010) 8.) Monsters – Amazon!

Yes, for a good portion of this movie not a lot happens and yes, you’d think that a movie called Monsters would be a little more, well, monstrous. But a sequence atop a convenience store is one of the few endings that can truly be described as “haunting” and one of the few movies this year that stayed with me days after the credits rolled. After you watch it maybe you can tell me who the Monsters in the title are referring to. Writer/director Gareth Edwards’ startlingly effective FX were apparently made on his computer, which is ironic because I’m writing this on a computer.

7.) Splice – Buy it on Amazon!

Probably too intelligent to have been released in the jungle of the summer movie season, hence its distinct lack of box-office. Only a 4^th act dip into generic horror movie predictability keeps it from being higher on this list. Dren gets the Cutest Genetic Freak Award and Adrien Brody’s Clive provides one of the best “Ewwww” moments of the new century by…if you’ve seen the movie you know exactly the scene I mean. Wrong on so many levels.

6.) Piranha 3D – Buy it on Amazon!

Riley Steele and Kelly Brook’s gratuitous nude underwater romp. A topless Gianna Michaels becoming a legless Gianna Michaels. Christopher Lloyd. A body count that reads like a speedometer on the Autobahn. Alexandre Aja’s B-grade masterpiece put more twisted smiles on your face than anything you’ve seen this year, including Toy Story 3. More breasts and blood than that time you hired all those strippers for your brother’s 21^st birthday party until it was revealed that it was in fact your brother that had been in all the papers killing those strippers in gruesome fashion. Yes, you and your brother (let’s call him Chip) made the news and yes, the party took a turn for the worse after Chip started using the rusty chainsaw, but I think that you and Chip would both agree that Piranha 3D is very good movie.

5.) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

So few movies genuinely express the true meaning of Christmas as this one does, and this coming from someone who loathes the holiday season. Destined to become a Yuletide cockle-warming classic. Also satisfies that generations-old question of what Santa looks like nekkid

4.) Frozen – Buy it on Frozen!

Don’t like skiing. Don’t like wolves. Don’t like Shawn Ashmore as an actor. Don’t want to analyze how writer/director Adam Green took these what-should-have-been offsetting factors and a relatively thin premise into one of the most jarring experiences of 2010…so I won’t. Also provided one of the best laughs of the year as Emma Bell’s character seems to be the only one on the planet who isn’t aware that you’re not supposed to stick your face against a freezing pole because…yeah, that’s why.

Black Swan (2010) 3.) Black Swan

Whowouldathunk a film centering on the world of ballet would be scarier than 95% of the movies labeled horror this year? Whowouldathunk that anybody from the cast of That 70’s Show would have a major part in something this good? Though I really didn’t take anything in Darren Aronofsky’s lurid thriller seriously, I couldn’t think of a moment I wasn’t enthralled. Natalie Portman gives the best performance of her life alongside an onscreen mother almost as awful as my real life one. Black Swan isn’t flawless, but for most of its running time, it, like Nina Sayers, was…perfect.

2.) Let Me In – Buy it on Amazon!

This really should have worked as well as it does as a) it’s a remake in general and b) it’s a remake of the great Let the Right One In, which I, like many horror fans, knew really didn’t need one (you mean like…that moronic Nightmare on Elm Street? Yes, F-Y reader, I mean precisely that). “Hit Girl” Chloe Grace Moretz is 2010’s It Girl giving her second great performance of the year as Abby, a girl like anyone else except that she kills to feed on blood to live and, like anyone else, just needs a companion. Excellent unheralded work by Richard Jenkins as the Creepy Old Guy. You’ve known Oct/Sect/Septuagenarians like him before and been disturbed but you really don’t want to know why. Jenkins shows you why. Puts Matt Reeves on a very short list of horror directors who can be counted on for scares and quality…unless he pulls an Aja and does something like Mirrors for his 3^rd film.

1.) The Loved Ones – Buy it on Amazon!

How bad was 2010? So bad that this movie was from 2009, and those bloody Australians held out on us by keeping it overseas. Writer/director Sean Byrne’s sick little joke of a movie doesn’t necessarily turn the “torture porn” subgenre on its torn-off ear, but it does make Jigsaw bend over and squeal like Ned Beatty in Deliverance and Robin McCleavy’s Lola gives the scariest performance of the year that doesn’t involve someone wearing a tutu. “Am I not pretty enough”…sure you are, but you’d apparently look a lot prettier with some liquid drainer in your neck.

Honorable Mention: The Last Exorcism – Buy it on Amazon!

More unsettling than actually scary, but Last struck a nerve with me as I’ve rarely been able to articulate why Bible-Thumpers terrify me until now. This is why I go out of my way to pretend I’m busy when I see them in a mall soliciting souls or hold my breath as I look through my keyhole waiting for them to get away from the door.

Check out our Best Horror Films of 2010 You Didn’t See (But Should!)

Check out our Best and Worst Horror Films of 2009!

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