In the twilight of the 2010s, horror cinema fused the ethereal dread of the supernatural with the labyrinthine terror of the psyche, ancient folk rituals, and grotesque creatures, birthing a new era of unease.

The late 2010s marked a pivotal renaissance in horror, where filmmakers wove supernatural elements, psychological fractures, folkloric traditions, and creature horrors into tapestries of profound disturbance. From the sunlit horrors of rural cults to shadowy familial hauntings, these subgenres overlapped and amplified one another, reflecting societal anxieties over isolation, heritage, and the unknown. This exploration uncovers how these strands redefined the genre, delivering films that linger long after the credits roll.

  • The supernatural and psychological merged in films like Hereditary (2018), exposing grief’s monstrous undercurrents through meticulous dread-building.
  • Folk horror revived pagan dread in Midsommar (2019) and Apostle (2018), blending communal rituals with visceral body horror.
  • Creature features evolved with primal beasts in The Ritual (2017) and Color Out of Space (2019), grounding cosmic and folk terrors in raw, physical menace.

Unveiling the Supernatural Psyche

The supernatural in late 2010s horror often served as a conduit for psychological unraveling, transforming intangible spirits into mirrors of inner turmoil. Ari Aster’s Hereditary exemplifies this fusion, where a family’s grief manifests as demonic possession. Toni Collette’s portrayal of Annie Graham captures the slow erosion of sanity, her screams echoing not just supernatural intrusion but the raw agony of loss. The film’s opening miniature house sequence establishes a doll-like fragility, shattered by escalating poltergeist activity that blurs hauntings with hereditary madness.

This interplay reached new heights in The Night House

(2020), directed by David Bruckner, where Beth (Rebecca Hall) confronts her late husband’s spectral secrets in their lakeside home. Suicide notes and architectural anomalies reveal a doppelganger lurking beyond reality, forcing viewers to question perception. The supernatural here amplifies psychological isolation, drawing from grief therapy concepts where the mind conjures absent loved ones. Bruckner’s use of negative space in wide shots heightens paranoia, making every shadow a potential fracture in the self.

Films like these subverted traditional ghost stories by embedding them in therapy-era realism. No longer content with jump scares, directors explored dissociative disorders and repressed trauma, with supernatural entities as metaphors for mental collapse. The late 2010s boom in A24 productions underscored this shift, prioritising atmospheric dread over spectacle, influencing a generation to see horror as introspective catharsis.

Folk Shadows in Modern Daylight

Folk horror, once confined to 1970s British cinema like The Wicker Man, experienced a vibrant revival in the late 2010s, illuminated by daylight atrocities. Robert Eggers’ The Witch (2015), though edging the decade’s start, set the template with its Puritan family’s descent into satanic temptation amid New England woods. Black Phillip’s guttural whispers symbolise patriarchal collapse and adolescent rebellion, rooted in historical witch trials that scarred colonial psyche.

Gareth Evans’ Apostle (2018) transplanted this to a Welsh island cult, where Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens) infiltrates a blood-worshipping commune. The film’s crimson goddess, a writhing mass of flesh and faith, embodies folk horror’s theme of nature’s vengeful reclamation. Evans, known for action, infused gore with ritualistic precision, using practical effects to depict sacrifices that evoke Celtic myths of fertility deities demanding tribute.

Midsommar (2019) inverted nocturnal terror into floral daylight, Dani Arctor (Florence Pugh) witnessing her boyfriend’s absorption into a Swedish commune’s midsummer rites. Aster’s bright palette contrasts euphoric dances with bone-crushing rituals, critiquing toxic relationships through pagan renewal cycles. This subgenre tapped millennial disillusionment with modernity, romanticising rural authenticity while exposing its barbarism, a nod to globalisation’s cultural clashes.

These narratives often hinged on outsiders disrupting insular communities, echoing immigration fears and environmental collapse. Folk horror’s late 2010s surge highlighted climate anxiety, with overgrown landscapes swallowing civilisation, as seen in the encroaching fogs and blood-soaked fields that dominate these visions.

Creature Horrors from the Abyss

Creature subgenres in the late 2010s shed B-movie schlock for sophisticated dread, blending folkloric beasts with cosmic unknowns. David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows (2014) previewed this with its inexorable entity, but The Ritual (2017), directed by David Bruckner, fully embraced Norse mythology’s Jötunn troll stalking grief-stricken hikers in Swedish forests. The creature’s antlered silhouette, glimpsed in runic carvings and fevered visions, merges physical monstrosity with psychological guilt over a lost friend.

Nicolas Cage’s unhinged turn in Richard Stanley’s Color Out of Space (2019) adapts H.P. Lovecraft’s colour, a meteorite birthing mutagenic horrors that fuse family into tentacled abominations. Practical effects by Spectral Motion crafted pulsating, iridescent flesh, evoking body horror pioneers like Cronenberg while grounding eldritch invasion in rural Americana. The film’s alpaca screams and melting faces underscore mutation as familial disintegration.

Underwater (2020), though leaning sci-fi, featured Cthulhu-inspired abyssal beasts terrorising Kristen Stewart’s Norah, linking deep-sea creatures to primordial fears. These films revitalised the subgenre by tying monsters to emotional cores, creatures not mere antagonists but manifestations of repressed wilderness within humanity.

Soundscapes of Dread

Sound design emerged as a linchpin across these subgenres, crafting immersion without visual reliance. In Hereditary, Colin Stetson’s woodwind scores mimic asthmatic breaths, layering supernatural whispers over domestic clatters to erode safety. Folk horrors like Apostle employed folk instruments, distorted fiddles evoking ancestral calls that burrow into the subconscious.

Creature films amplified this with subsonic rumbles; The Ritual‘s troll roars blend animalistic bellows and human screams, disorienting audiences. Psychological layers shone in Midsommar‘s diegetic hums during dances, swelling into dissonant choirs that mirror Dani’s dissociation. These auditory architectures proved essential, turning silence into the scariest element.

Cinematography’s Unsettling Gaze

Visual mastery defined the era, with Robert Eggers employing 1.66:1 aspect ratios in The Lighthouse (2019) to claustrophobically frame madness, though more folk-psychological. Pawel Pogorzelski’s work on Midsommar used high contrast and fisheye lenses for vertiginous rituals, daylight exposing gore’s intimacy.

In creature tales, Color Out of Space‘s lurid purples invaded frames, symbolising corruption. Steady cams tracked hikers in The Ritual, building pursuit tension through woodland negative space. These choices elevated subgenres, making unease visceral.

Special Effects: Flesh and Filth

Practical effects reigned supreme, rejecting CGI excess. Apostle‘s goddess, a 20-foot animatronic of squirming innards, demanded on-set ingenuity amid rain-soaked sets. Hereditary‘s decapitation used prosthetic precision, Collette’s head on wires for haunting levitation.

Color Out of Space featured full-body casts melting in latex, Cage reacting to tangible slime. Folk creatures in The Ritual combined motion capture with suits, antlers casting eldritch shadows. This tactile approach grounded supernatural and psychological horrors in believable atrocity, influencing post-2010s craftsmanship.

Legacy’s Lingering Echo

These subgenres reshaped horror’s landscape, spawning A24’s prestige wave and streaming hits. Influences persist in Smile (2022) echoing psychological hauntings, folk revivals like Starve Acre (2024). They captured late 2010s zeitgeist: pandemic isolation foreshadowed, social media’s facade critiqued through communal horrors.

Critics hail this period for elevating genre to arthouse, Oscars nods for Collette underscoring respect. Global perspectives enriched, Apostle‘s Welsh roots complementing American indies, fostering diverse dread narratives.

Director in the Spotlight: Ari Aster

Ari Aster, born in 1986 in New York City to a Jewish family, immersed in horror from childhood viewings of The Shining and Poltergeist. He studied film at Santa Fe University, crafting acclaimed shorts like The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011), a disturbing incest tale that premiered at Slamdance and caught A24’s eye. His feature debut Hereditary (2018) grossed over $80 million on a $10 million budget, earning universal acclaim for its grief-horror fusion.

Aster followed with Midsommar (2019), a daylight breakup nightmare that premiered at Cannes, blending folk elements with psychological depth. Beau Is Afraid (2023), starring Joaquin Phoenix, expanded his scope into surreal comedy-horror epic. Influences include Bergman, Polanski, and Kubrick; his meticulous scripts prioritise emotional authenticity. Upcoming projects include Eden, a Western horror. Aster’s career trajectory positions him as horror’s new auteur, with production company Square Peg backing bold visions.

Filmography highlights: Hereditary (2018): Familial possession tragedy; Midsommar (2019): Pagan festival nightmare; Beau Is Afraid (2023): Paranoid odyssey of maternal terror. His oeuvre dissects trauma with operatic flair, cementing his legacy.

Actor in the Spotlight: Florence Pugh

Florence Pugh, born January 3, 1996, in Oxford, England, grew up in a creative family, training at the RE-Bourne Stage School. Her breakout came with The Falling (2014), a mass hysteria drama earning BAFTA Rising Star nomination. Hollywood beckoned with Midsommar (2019), her raw screams as Dani cementing horror icon status.

Pugh’s versatility shone in Little Women (2019), earning Oscar nod, and Marvel’s Black Widow (2021) as Yelena Belova. Horror returns include Don’t Worry Darling (2022) psychological thriller and Oppenheimer (2023). Awards: British Independent Film Award for Lady Macbeth (2016). Influences: Kate Winslet, early De Niro.

Filmography: The Falling (2014): Hysteria outbreak; Lady Macbeth (2016): Ruthless period antiheroine; Midsommar (2019): Grieving cult initiate; Fighting with My Family (2019): Wrestling biopic; Little Women (2019): Spirited Amy March; Marianne & Leonard (2019) doc narrator; Black Widow (2021): Assassin sister; Hawkeye (2021) series; Don’t Worry Darling (2022): Enigmatic housewife; The Wonder (2022): Fasting miracle nurse; Oppenheimer (2023): Jean Tatlock. Pugh’s intensity and range make her a defining talent.

Craving more unearthly chills? Dive deeper into NecroTimes’ archives for analyses that haunt.

Bibliography

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