Part 2 of our look back on the best horror movies of the last decade comes just in time for Halloween. The spooky season is about to end, but these films will scare you all year long. Caution: spoilers ahead!
Don’t Breathe — Tom Moore
No discussion about the top horror movies of the last decade is complete without talking about Fede Alvarez’s 2016 hit, Don’t Breathe. Fresh off his remake of Evil Dead, Alvarez was ready to terrify audiences in a new way with a story about a group of kids breaking into the home of a blind man and getting a much more daunting foe than what they bargained for. Seeing this movie in theaters was unlike anything else because of the raw suspense and horrors the film delivers—and it still hits hard even just watching it at home. With Rocky (Jane Levy) and Alex (Dylan Minnette) basically having to watch their every move and keep quiet as they evade The Blind Man’s (Steven Lang) grasp, the suspense is palpable from start to finish and leaves viewers shook.
The secrets that Rocky and Alex uncover as they search for an escape from the house are still truly horrifying and create an interesting arc for The Blind Man. At first you sort of feel bad for him, with his home being invaded and clearly having a troubled past, but once you discover what he’s been hiding, he becomes the perfect kind of horror villain that’s elevated to new heights because of Lang’s horrifying performance. Not to mention, the house is incredibly well utilized as a creepy and terrifying maze for viewers to get lost in and want to escape as quickly as possible. From the tight shots through narrow hallways to the two having to watch their steps through the creaky house, Alvarez does an excellent job using space and sound to keep viewers on edge. Also, he includes the creepiest and most pulse pounding night vision scenes you’ll see in film and seeing it in theaters was like a nightmare becoming reality.
Don’t Breathe brought horror fans a freshly terrifying story that they’ll never forget and gave the genre a new name to remember in Fede Alvarez. It’s the kind of horror film that leaves viewers gasping and a little afraid to turn the lights off at night—it even predated A Quiet Place with sound, or lack thereof, playing a major factor in the character’s survival. If there’s any film that’s a necessity to watch this Halloween season, I can’t recommend Don’t Breathe enough.
