Top Ten Horror Movies of 2020

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my most anticipated horror movies of 2021, and now it's time to do my favorite horror movies of 2020.  While this year was kind of a bust for new theatrical releases, horror was actually able to thrive a bit.  Granted, we still had a lot of big movies pushed back to next year, but horror has an advantage over a lot of other genres in this regard: many of the best horror movies are small indie films that would've gone straight to streaming services or VOD even if theaters were open.  Because of that, we still got a lot of good new horror this year, so I didn't have to pad this list with mediocre releases that wouldn't have had a chance without the pandemic.  I really love all of these movies, so without further ado, here are my top ten horror films of 2020.

10) Scare Package

Scare Package is an anthology movie that came out on the horror streaming service Shudder back in June, and it's one of the best meta horrors I've ever seen.  Imagine if Randy from Scream was in The Cabin in the Woods, and you'll have a decent idea of what this film is like.  It lovingly and hilariously pokes fun at some typical genre tropes (especially the ones that don't make much sense) and some of the ways we fans often talk about horror, and it's an absolute delight to watch.  It's funny, it has heart, and it's made by people who love the genre just as much as we do.

9) Host

Host is another Shudder movie, and when this one came out back in July, it took the horror world by storm.  It's a found footage movie, but instead of using camera footage, it takes place over a zoom call.  It's about a group of friends who hold a virtual séance, and when one of them accidentally invites an evil presence into their call, all hell breaks loose.  That might sound generic and lame, but I promise you it's not.  This movie takes a super simple premise and turns it into cinematic gold, so you're going to be seeing this one on a lot of top ten lists this year.

8) Vampires vs. The Bronx

Vampires vs. The Bronx is a Netflix movie that came out back in October as part of their Netflix and Chills lineup, and it's about a trio of kids in the Bronx who have to fend off a group of vampires who've taken up residence in their neighborhood.  This movie has laughs, great characters, menacing vampires, and a great message.  It's pretty much the total package, so even though Netflix movies are known for being very hit or miss, this is definitely a big hit for them.

7) Sputnik

Sputnik is a Russian movie that actually wasn't on my radar until about a month ago.  I completely missed its release, but then I got a screener for it through one of the websites I write for.  And I'm super glad I did because this movie is fantastic.  It takes place in the 1980s, and it's about a Soviet cosmonaut who returns to earth with an alien monster living inside of him.  Going into this film, I was expecting a monster movie along the lines of Alien, but instead I got a Guillermo del Toro-esque drama with horror elements, and it completely works.  It's a slow burn that focuses more on the characters than the monster, and it exceeded all my expectations.

6) Color Out of Space

Color Out of Space originally premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, but it was released to the general public in January of this year, so it still counts as a 2020 film.  It's based on the H. P. Lovecraft story "The Colour Out of Space," and it does a great job of capturing the essence of that story while also updating it and bringing it into the present day.  It's about a family that encounters an alien creature that's literally just a color, and it wreaks absolute havoc on their lives.  I know that sounds really weird and probably a bit ridiculous, but the movie actually pulls it off.  In good Lovecraftian fashion, this film taps into our fear of the unknown and reminds us just how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things, so if you never imagined that a color could be scary, this movie will prove you wrong.

5) Love and Monsters

Love and Monsters is a post-apocalyptic monster movie set seven years after the earth was taken over by giant, mutated versions of normal animals like bugs and lizards, forcing humanity to live in underground bunkers to stay alive.  It's about a young man who decides to leave his bunker one day and travel across the surface to go see his girlfriend, and along the way, he meets some really interesting people and fights some scary monsters.  This movie gets a lot right, but I can sum it all up by saying that it does the absolute most important thing that any monster movie needs to do: it strikes a perfect balance between great characters and really cool monsters, so in my book, it's the best creature feature of the year.

4) Impetigore

Impetigore is an Indonesian movie that came out in its home country in 2019, but it was released here in the states on Shudder in 2020.  It's a folk horror about a young woman who travels to her ancestral village to take possession of her family's house, and soon after she arrives, she realizes that the villagers have other, much more sinister plans for her.  This movie was written and directed by Joko Anwar, who also made another fantastic movie called Satan's Slaves, so I was really excited to see what else he could do.  And I was not disappointed.  Unlike way too many horror movies today, this one doesn't feel the need to throw jump scares at you every five seconds.  Instead, it's a very atmospheric film.  Even when nothing all that strange is going on, it's just dripping with creepiness, so it keeps you hooked from beginning to end.  On top of that, this movie also has an intriguing plot and characters that you root for, so it works on pretty much every level.

3) The Dark and the Wicked

The Dark and the Wicked is another movie that came out at a festival last year (Fantasia) but was released to the public this year.  It was written and directed by Bryan Bertino, the same guy who did The Strangers, and it has the same bleak, pessimistic tone that his first movie had.  In fact, you might even say that this film is basically just The Strangers transposed from home invasion to supernatural horror.  It's about a family that's beset by a demon, and much like the killers in The Strangers, the demon in this one just toys with them before finally finishing them off.  It's a really bleak portrayal of evil, and I have to admit that it got under my skin in a way that few films ever have.  In fact, I can count on one hand the movies that have affected me the way this one did, so I couldn't help but put it near the top of my list.

2) Relic

Relic is an Australian movie about a woman with dementia who goes missing for a few days.  Her daughter and granddaughter go to her house to look for her, and when weird things begin to happen, you start to think that this might be more than just a bad case of dementia.  Soon afterwards, the woman shows up out of the blue and refuses to talk about where she went, and their situation just gets scarier and scarier.  I absolutely adore this movie.  My grandmother died from Alzheimer's, so horror films that deal with dementia really resonate with me, and this is hands down the best of the bunch.  It does a great job of depicting what dementia is like for both its victims and their families, and it also shows us how we should treat people afflicted with this terrible disorder.  It's atmospheric, it's beautiful, and it has a great message, so in some other years, it probably would've taken the #1 spot on my list.

1) The Invisible Man

But this isn't any other year.  This is 2020, and my favorite movie of any genre this year is The Invisible Man.  It's a modern updating of the classic H. G. Wells novel (and its 1930s film adaptation), and I can't say enough good things about the job that writer/director Leigh Whannell did with it.  He took a very sci-fi concept and made you feel like it could actually happen, and he used it to unmask a very real and very pervasive evil in today's society: abusive relationships and the lack of empathy towards women who experience them.  I could go on and on about this movie, so I'm going to control myself and just leave you with this: Leigh Whannell's last movie, Upgrade, was really good, and it made me interested to see what he would do next.  But this movie immediately catapulted him into the upper echelon of horror directors working today, so now I'm not just interested to see his next project.  I absolutely can't wait to see it because I'm confident that it'll land a spot near the top of my list once again no matter what year it comes out.