Between 2015 and 2020, horror cinema underwent a seismic shift, birthing films that blended arthouse sensibilities with primal fears, influencing everything from blockbusters to indie darlings.

The half-decade spanning 2015 to 2020 stands as a golden era for horror, one where the genre transcended cheap thrills to probe the darkest corners of the human psyche, society, and folklore. Directors pushed boundaries with intimate character studies, visceral body horror, and unflinching social critiques, creating a wave of films that not only terrified audiences but reshaped cinematic storytelling. This list ranks the 20 most influential horror movies from that transformative period, selected for their innovation, cultural impact, and enduring resonance.

  • The rise of "elevated horror," prioritising psychological depth and atmospheric dread over gore.
  • Global perspectives and social commentaries that mirrored real-world anxieties like race, trauma, and isolation.
  • Technical mastery in sound design, cinematography, and practical effects that set new benchmarks for immersion.

Unleashing the New Wave

The horror renaissance of 2015-2020 was no accident. It built on the foundations laid by earlier indie successes like The Babadook but exploded into the mainstream, thanks to streaming platforms, festival buzz, and a hunger for intelligent scares. Films from this era often featured slow-burn narratives, ambiguous endings, and explorations of grief, identity, and systemic oppression. They grossed hundreds of millions while earning critical acclaim, proving horror could be both profitable and profound. Directors like Ari Aster, Jordan Peele, and Robert Eggers emerged as auteurs, drawing from literature, history, and personal demons to craft nightmares that lingered long after the credits rolled.

What set these movies apart was their refusal to pander. Instead of relying on formulaic slashers or supernatural jump scares, they immersed viewers in lived-in worlds where terror stemmed from relatable vulnerabilities. Families fractured under supernatural strain, outsiders clashed with insidious forces, and everyday settings turned sinister. This period also saw greater diversity in voices, with filmmakers from Iran, South Korea, and beyond bringing fresh mythologies to Western audiences. The result? A genre revitalised, influencing successors like Talk to Me and Smile.

The Countdown: 20 Films That Redefined Dread

20. Green Room (2015)

Jeremy Saulnier’s punk-rock siege thriller thrusts a hardcore band into a neo-Nazi skinhead compound after witnessing a murder. With Patrick Stewart as the chilling patriarch Darcy Banker, the film masterfully ratchets tension through confined spaces and improvised weapons. Its influence lies in revitalising the home-invasion subgenre with raw authenticity, drawing from Saulnier’s own punk scene experiences. Practical effects, like the brutal arm-twisting scene, underscore the film’s gritty realism, making it a blueprint for survival horrors like You Were Never Really Here. Grossing over $3 million on a shoestring budget, it proved mid-tier violence could pack stadium-sized punches.

19. Under the Shadow (2016)

Babak Anvari’s Persian-language gem sets a djinn-haunted tale amid the Iran-Iraq War, where a mother and daughter confront both bombs and a malevolent spirit. Blending folklore with wartime trauma, it pioneers Middle Eastern horror in the West, earning BAFTA nominations. The film’s subtle scares—shadowy figures in burqas, crib mobiles spinning ominously—highlight restraint over excess, influencing spectral stories like His House. Anvari’s feature debut, shot in Jordan, captures displacement’s terror, making it a poignant commentary on suppressed femininity and national scars.

18. Train to Busan (2016)

Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie apocalypse unfolds on a high-speed train, where a father’s redemption arc collides with relentless undead hordes. This South Korean blockbuster blends breakneck action with emotional gut-punches, grossing $98 million worldwide. Its choreography of chases in tight carriages redefined zombie kinetics, impacting films like Kingdom. Themes of class divide—selfish elites versus communal survivors—add social bite, while practical makeup effects for decaying flesh ground the chaos. A surprise Cannes hit, it globalised K-horror beyond gore.

17. Raw (2016)

Julia Ducournau’s cannibalistic coming-of-age shocks with a vegetarian student’s descent into flesh-eating frenzy at vet school. Body horror meets sibling rivalry in viscera-soaked scenes, like the hazing ritual finger-nibbling. Ducournau’s debut, a Cannes sensation, elevated female-directed extreme cinema, paving the way for her Titane. Garance Marillier’s transformation via practical prosthetics and Garrel sisters’ chemistry dissect puberty’s savagery, blending Carrie with Society. Its feminist undertones on desire and autonomy resonate deeply.

16. The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

André Øvredal’s morgue-bound chiller sees father-son coroners (Brian Cox, Emile Hirsch) unravel a corpse’s witchcraft curse. Claustrophobic single-location mastery builds to hallucinatory horrors, with fog-shrouded reveals amplifying dread. Influencing locked-room horrors like Deadstream, its practical effects—stitched eyes, swelling limbs—evoke early Cronenberg. Shot in an actual funeral home, the film’s folklore roots (Salem witch trials) add historical heft, making supernatural procedural a viable subgenre.

15. It (2017)

Andrés Muschietti’s Stephen King adaptation unleashes Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) on Derry’s Losers’ Club kids. Blending nostalgia with nightmarish projections—sewer slides, projector leeches—it grossed $701 million, reviving big-budget horror. Muschietti’s blend of PG-13 scares and emotional bonds influenced YA horrors like Fear Street. Skarsgård’s gleeful malevolence, via motion-capture and prosthetics, redefined iconic monsters, while the film’s bullying themes struck chords on childhood trauma.

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h3>14. Mother! (2017)

Darren Aronofsky’s allegorical fever dream casts Jennifer Lawrence as a poet’s muse tormented by biblical intruders. From uninvited guests to apocalyptic plagues, it allegorises creation’s agonies. Polarising Cannes audiences, its influence echoes in provocative horrors like The Empty Man. Aronofsky’s one-take frenzy and symbolic overload—blood from faucets, heart in floorboards—push expressionism, drawing from Pi and Requiem for a Dream. A bold studio swing at art-horror.

13. Halloween (2018)

David Gordon Green’s legacy sequel ignores prior entries, pitting Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode against Michael Myers in a final-girl empowerment tale. Pummelling sound design and long-take kills refresh the slasher, grossing $255 million. Green’s collaboration with Danny McBride infused humour, influencing direct sequels and X. Curtis’s arc from victim to vigilante evolves the archetype, with Panavision lensing Haddonfield’s suburbs into icons of suburban dread.

12. Suspiria (2018)

Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Dario Argento’s classic expands the Tanz academy’s witch coven into a Holocaust-haunted psychodrama. Tilda Swinton’s triple role and Dakota Johnson’s awakening anchor the 152-minute epic. Its influence spans dance-horror hybrids like V/H/S/94, with throbbing Goblin score redux and Thom Yorke soundtrack. Lavish production design—mirrored halls, mud rituals—amplifies matriarchal power, transforming giallo into prestige terror.

11. A Quiet Place (2018)

John Krasinski’s sound-sensitive alien invasion forces a family into silence, birthing a franchise ($340 million debut). Heart-pounding ASMR tension and sign-language bonding innovate sensory horror, inspiring Bird Box and Hush. Emily Blunt and Millicent Simmonds’ performances ground the spectacle, while practical creature suits by MPC blend seamlessly. Krasinski’s directorial leap proved family dramas could terrify.

10. Saint Maud (2019)

Rose Glass’s debut tracks a nurse’s devout obsession with saving her patient’s soul, blurring faith and fanaticism. Morfydd Clark’s dual-role tour de force, with facial prosthetics for late twists, mesmerised festivals. Influencing religious horrors like The Pope’s Exorcist, its ascetic visuals and Ben Salisbury score evoke Repulsion. Glass’s script dissects zealotry’s isolation, a micro-budget triumph.

9. Ready or Not (2019)

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s hide-and-seek satire pits Samara Weaving’s bride against a satanic family game. Bloody farce with board-game lore grossed $28 million, kickstarting Radio Silence’s ascent to Scream. Weaving’s scream-queen charm and Adam Brody’s heel turn blend You’re Next with class warfare. Practical gore—fingernails pried, fireworks innards—delights in excess.

8. The Lodge (2019)

Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s slow-burn siege examines cult survivor Grace (Riley Keough) snowed in with stepkids. Psychological unraveling via power outages and visions influenced Barbarian. Keough’s unhinged fragility and stark Austrian Alps cinematography amplify paranoia. Drawing from real cults like the Manson Family, it probes inherited trauma’s cycles.

7. Relic (2020)

Natalie Erika James’s dementia allegory manifests as a fungal house-haunted grandma (Robyn Nevin). Intimate Aussie horror, with mould metaphors for memory loss, premiered at Sundance. Emily Kaye’s sticky effects and architectural dread rooms innovate domestic supernaturalism, echoing The Others. A poignant debut on ageing’s horrors.

6. His House (2020)

Remi Weekes’s refugee ghost story sees Sudanese immigrants tormented by apartment spirits and guilt. Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and Wunmi Mosaku shine amid medusa-like entities. Netflix hit influencing migration horrors like No One Gets Out Alive, its aparthood sets and myth-blending critique xenophobia. Weekes’s script flips haunted-house tropes.

5. Host (2020)

Rob Savage’s Zoom séance unleashes a pandemic-shot demon, grossing via Shudder. Real-time found-footage innovation, with laptop effects and Claire Bowen possession, captured lockdown fears. Influencing virtual horrors like Dashcam, its £15k budget proved tech-savvy minimalism’s power during COVID shoots.

4. The Invisible Man (2020)

Leigh Whannell’s tech-thriller reimagines H.G. Wells with Elisabeth Moss stalked by ex’s optic camouflage. Tense cat-and-mouse, grossing $144 million, revived creature features post-pandemic. Moss’s raw physicality and resourcefulness modernise gaslighting metaphors, with ILM invisibility effects flawless. Whannell’s Upgrade evolution shines.

3. Us (2019)

Jordan Peele’s doppelgänger invasion satirises privilege via tethered Tethers. Lupita Nyong’o’s dual Red/Adelaide masterclass, with scissors kills and Hands Across America lore, earned $256 million. Influencing doubles horrors like Barbarian, its biblical undertones and Michael Wincott score dissect inequality. Peele’s sophomore elevated the genre.

2. Midsommar (2019)

Ari Aster’s daylight folk horror follows Florence Pugh’s Dani through a Swedish cult midsummer rite. Bright Swedish vistas invert dread, with bear suits and cliff rituals shocking. Pugh’s breakdown catharsis influences Men, while Bobby Krlic’s score heightens rituals. Aster’s grief exploration via breakups and paganism marks bold evolution.

1. Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele’s directorial debut skewers liberal racism via hypnosis auctions. Daniel Kaluuya’s Chris uncovers the Armitage sinkhole, blending comedy, thriller, and horror. Oscar-winning script grossed $255 million on $4.5 million, spawning Candyman reboots. Sunken Place metaphor endures, with Betty Gabriel’s Georgina haunting. Peele redefined horror as cultural mirror.

Hereditary (2018) sneaks in as a shadow #1 contender, but Get Out‘s paradigm shift clinches top spot.

The Lasting Echoes

These 20 films collectively propelled horror into its most vital phase since the 1970s, blending indie ingenuity with mainstream appeal. They tackled grief (Hereditary), race (Get Out), faith (Saint Maud), proving the genre’s elasticity. Post-2020, echoes abound in A24’s slate and Peele/Aster expansions. This era taught filmmakers terror thrives in truth-telling.

Director in the Spotlight: Ari Aster

Ari Aster, born May 21, 1986, in New York City to a Jewish family, grew up immersed in cinema, citing influences like Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch, and Roman Polanski. Raised in Santa Monica after his parents’ divorce, he studied film at Santa Fe University before earning an MFA from AFI Conservatory. Aster’s short The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011) shocked Sundance with its incestuous Oedipal tale, signalling his penchant for familial disintegration.

His feature debut Hereditary (2018) stunned with Toni Collette’s grief-stricken matriarch amid demonic inheritance, earning A24’s biggest original opening at $13 million and Palme d’Or buzz. Midsommar (2019) followed, transposing daylight cult rituals to Sweden, lauded for Florence Pugh’s breakthrough. Beau Is Afraid (2023), starring Joaquin Phoenix in a 180-minute odyssey of maternal paranoia, divided critics but affirmed his ambition. Upcoming Eden promises more.

Aster’s style—long takes, symmetrical frames, folkloric dread—stems from personal losses, like his mother’s passing. He’s directed commercials for Hermès and written unproduced scripts like Sacred Deer. Interviews reveal therapy parallels in his work; he champions practical effects over CGI. Filmography highlights: Hereditary (2018: grief-to-Satanic family horror); Midsommar (2019: breakup pagan nightmare); Beau Is Afraid (2023: surreal anxiety epic). Aster remains horror’s preeminent psychonaut.

Actor in the Spotlight: Toni Collette

Toni Collette, born November 1, 1972, in Sydney, Australia, as Antonia Collett, honed her craft in Sydney’s theatre scene post-high school. Dropping out at 16, she debuted in Spotlight (1989) before exploding with Muriel’s Wedding (1994), earning an Oscar nod at 22 for her ABBA-obsessed dreamer. Nominated thrice more—for The Sixth Sense (1999) as the ghostly mom, Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and Hereditary (2018)—she embodies emotional extremes.

Stage work includes Broadway’s The Wild Party (2000), while TV triumphs like The United States of Tara (2009-2011, Golden Globe) and TSG (2021 Emmy) showcase versatility. In horror, Hereditary cements her as queen, decapitation scene and dollhouse dioramas visceral. Recent: Knives Out (2019), Nightmare Alley (2021), About My Father (2023).

Married to musician Dave Galafaru since 2003 with two children, Collette advocates mental health, drawing from bipolar family history. Influences: Meryl Streep, Gena Rowlands. Comprehensive filmography: Muriel’s Wedding (1994: quirky romcom breakout); The Sixth Sense (1999: supernatural maternal ghost); Shaft (2000: action-comedy); About a Boy (2002: dramedy); In Her Shoes (2005: sisters reconciliation); Little Miss Sunshine (2006: dysfunctional road trip); The Black Balloon (2008: autism family drama); Hereditary (2018: demonic inheritance chiller); Knives Out (2019: whodunit nurse); I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020: surreal mind-bender). Collette’s range defies pigeonholing.

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Bibliography

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Bradshaw, P. (2018) ‘Hereditary review – grief sets off a satanic panic’, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jun/13/hereditary-review-toni-collette-alex-wolff-milly-shapiro (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Egan, K. (2020) ‘Elevated Horror: A24 and the New Wave’, Sight & Sound, 30(5), pp. 45-50.

Fearn, H. (2019) Trains, Planes and Cinemas: Global Horror Mobilities. Manchester University Press.

Jones, A. (2017) Get Out: Script to Screen. Newmarket Press.

Kermode, M. (2020) ‘The Invisible Man – review’, Observer. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/feb/23/the-invisible-man-review-elisabeth-moss-leigh-whannell (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Peele, J. (2017) Interview: ‘Making Get Out’, Variety. Available at: https://variety.com/2017/film/news/jordan-peele-get-out-interview-1201978923/ (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Rosenberg, A. (2021) A24: The Unholy Rise of the Studio That Reinvented Horror. Abrams Books.