The 5 Best Slasher Movies of the 2020s So Far
Halfway through the 2020s, the verdict is still out about whether or not this has been a good decade for movies. Every one of the past five years, beginning with the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, has been marked with concerning debates about the state of Hollywood, the viability of continued large-scale filmmaking and the entertainment industry’s future. That said, there is one silver lining that cinephiles can find from the past five years of movies: the slasher genre is back.
The 2020s have turned out to be a surprisingly great decade for the horror subgenre. With “Scream 7” hitting theaters and continuing the legacy of one of the great slasher franchises, here are the five best slasher films of the decade so far.
“Freaky” (2020)
It may have been rolled out in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but “Freaky” still ranks as one of the first great slasher movies released in a decade that has turned out to be a strong period for the genre. Directed by “Happy Death Day” filmmaker Christopher Landon, the film follows a teenage girl (Kathryn Newton) who, through a strange and horrifying series of events, ends up swapping bodies with the middle-aged serial killer (Vince Vaughn) who tried to kill her.
A tongue-in-cheek, supernatural riff on the traditional slasher movie, “Freaky” is a helluva good time. Landon fully embraces the film’s slasher movie potential — delivering one technically impressive, ingeniously staged and completely blood-soaked kill after another. Newton and Vaugh, meanwhile, completely chew up the scenery in “Freaky,” turning in a pair of against-type performances that elevate the film from a fun-but-forgettable genre cocktail into a genuine, contemporary slasher classic.
“Terrifier 2” (2022)
If you are the type of horror fan that appreciates some restraint in the genre, then “Terrifier 2” is probably not the movie for you. Writer-director Damien Leone’s sequel to his original, low-budget 2016 slasher film is an indulgent, 138-minute blackly comic gorefest the likes of which has rarely ever been achieved onscreen, especially with the same level of tonal control that Leone exercises in “Terrifier 2.”
Featuring some of the most genuinely stomach-churning kills ever put to screen, “Terrifier 2” is a deranged nightmare. It is a film made by a director completely confident in the strength of vision — regardless of how unnerving it may be. “Terrifier 2” is definitely not for everyone, but there is no denying that it is one of the most memorable and effective slasher movies of this decade so far.
“X” (2022)
2022’s “Pearl” is arguably the strongest film in writer-director Ti West’s recent, Mia Goth-led horror trilogy. That film’s predecessor, “X,” is a purer slasher experience than “Pearl,” though. Pulling heavily from films like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Psycho,” “X” is a scuzzy, sideways slasher film that mines true horror violence out of, well, the fear of aging. With that deeply human emotion comes the desire to hold onto one’s youth, and that is what drives the subversive villain of “X,” an old woman (played under layers of prosthetics by Goth) who takes her bitterness out on the cast and crew of a low-budget porno who foolishly decide to shoot their X-rated film on the outskirts of her property.
The ways she does so are often grisly, merciless and executed with astonishing, bold style by West, who uses his film’s decades-old influences to create something that feels like both a homage to ’70s slasher movies and a subversion of them.
“Sick” (2023)
Penned by “Scream” writer Kevin Williamson, “Sick” was released without much fanfare on Peacock in January 2023. As a result, it flew under the radar for most casual horror fans, who likely did not even know they were missing out on one of the most thrilling slasher movies of recent memory. Set in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, “Sick” follows Parker (Gideon Adlon) and Miri (Beth Million), a pair of best friends who decide to escape their college campus lockdown by quarantining together in Parker’s family’s secluded lake house. Once there, they find themselves hunted and terrorized by a masked killer.
Intentionally and unflinchingly provocative, “Sick” is a no-f—ks-given kind of film, one that benefits greatly from “Universal Soldier” director John Hyams’ extensive experience as an action filmmaker. It features some of the most intense, well-staged chase sequences of any modern slasher movie and, in doing so, proves once again that genuine tension and horror genius can still be created out of even the sparest of recipes.
“In a Violent Nature” (2024)
There has never been a horror movie like “In a Violent Nature.” Written and directed by Chris Nash, this brutal “Friday the 13th” riff updates the slasher movie genre by telling its story almost entirely from the perspective of its lumbering, vengeful and silent killer. Inspired equally by trashy ’80s slasher movies and bold independent fare like Gus Van Sant’s “Elephant,” “In a Violent Nature” is a transfixing, odd mix of exploitation horror and high-minded visual style.
Its story, in which a dead killer is accidentally resurrected from his grave by a group of unsuspecting teenagers, is told with a combination of long, steadicam tracking shots of its murderer as he treks his way through a winding Ontario forest and moments of shocking, practically rendered horror violence. “In a Violent Nature” is, in other words, the ultimate combination of high and low art. Its ending also just happens to be one of the most haunting depictions in recent horror movie memory of what it is actually like to live with trauma.
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