Random Most Underrated Horror Films Of Last 10 Years (12 items)

• 

  (#13) Ruin Me

  Sure, the whole slasher deconstruction fad has become old hat in the decades since Scream, but that doesn't mean it can't still get a fresh spin now and again. In Ruin Me, a young woman named Alex reluctantly tags along on her boyfriend's Slasher Sleepout trip - an event that's part camping trip and part escape room, in which the participants are dropped off in the woods in the midst of a simulated slasher movie. Of course, things aren't all that they appear, and events quickly take a turn for the intense as Alex's companions start turning up deceased.

  Think Cabin in the Woods if it hadn't been played for laughs, or David Fincher's The Game, but for slasher aficionados. That'll give you some idea of what you're in for with Ruin Me, which is currently streaming on Shudder.
• 

  (#6) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

  • Tommi Korpela, Per Christian Ellefsen, Jorma Tommila, Risto Salmi, Peeter Jakobi, Rauno Juvonen, Jonathan Hutchings, Sigmund Bøe, Onni Tommila, Nils M. Iselvmo, Olav Pedersen, Nils Nymo, Ilmari Järvenpää, Jens Sivertsen, Steinar Skogstad

  Before the Krampus craze had really taken hold, there was the bizarre Finnish horror film Rare Exports. Think of it as an Amblin Entertainment flick with the darkest possible sense of humor, as a child and his dad try to bail out their bankrupt business slaughtering reindeer by... exporting Santas?

  It seems that a British research team has dug something massive out of the ice. At the same time, local children and items have begun to go missing. When Pietari, a young local boy, and his father inadvertantly capture a naked old man that they think might be Santa Claus, things take a turn for the very weird. Prepare yourself for lots of unclothed old men, lots of weird hijinks, and some titanic revelations about the true nature of Santa Claus in this irreverent, dark horror comedy from 2010.
• 

  (#7) The Awakening

  • Rebecca Hall, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Ian Hanmore, Joseph Mawle, Cal MacAninch, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Steven Cree, John Shrapnel, Anastasia Hille, Shaun Dooley, Richard Durden, Lucy Cohu, Daniel Pirrie, Tilly Vosburgh, Andrew Havill, Charlie Callaghan, Diana Kent, Sidney Johnston, Sarah Weldon, Andy Callaghan, Katie Hart, Nicolas Amer, Alfie Field, Neil Broome, Adam Thomas Wright, Joseph M. Jenkins, Felix Soper, Ben Greaves-Neil, Spike White, Andrew Foster, Molly Lewis, James Kirkham, Nick Murphy, Terry Swoffer, Ewan Andrew Walker, Joseph Courtney, Zach Mitchell

  Not exactly a small-time production, The Awakening was made by the BBC and StudioCanal and stars actors like Rebecca Hall, who was in Iron Man 3, Dominic West, from 300 and Tomb Raider, and Imelda Staunton, from the Harry Potter franchise. Yet many people seem to have slept on this quiet but creepy haunted house chiller from 2011.

  Hall plays Florence Cathcart, an author and professional skeptic who works with the police to debunk fraudulent spiritualists in the wake of WWI. When she is invited to a private boy's school where the ghost of a child may have caused the demise of another boy, her skepticism is tested by what she discovers. The movie may be at its best during the early debunking scenes, but all the actors give good performances, and there's plenty of chilly ambiance to be found all the way to the film's twisty ending.
• 

  (#2) American Mary

  • Katharine Isabelle, Antonio Cupo, Paul Anthony, David Lovgren, Jen Soska, John Emmet Tracy, Julia Maxwell, Sean Amsing, Tristan Risk, Clay St. Thomas, Sylvia Soska, Nelson Wong, Twan Holliday, Paula Lindberg, Travis Watters

  Sister act directing duo Jen and Sylvia Soska, who have recently remade David Cronenberg's Rabid, first exploded onto the genre scene with their 2012 black comedy horror film American Mary. Though it immediately earned them a name in extreme horror circles, American Mary still remains under-seen by the wider horror world. In it, Katharine Isabelle (of the Ginger Snaps series) plays a medical student who, in desperate need of funds, finds herself drawn into the world of extreme body modification.

  Unfortunately, she is also the victim of a terrible assault from the doctors and mentors who are in charge of her residency, which leads her to a grisly revenge and into a cat-and-mouse game with the police. With a 60% at Rotten Tomatoes, the Critics Consensus says American Mary "utilizes pitch-black humor and striking visuals to deliver gory, freaky thrills for body-horror enthusiasts."
• 

  (#12) Kill List

  • MyAnna Buring, Ben Crompton, Emma Fryer, Michael Smiley, Alice Lowe, Neil Maskell, Sara Dee, Steve Oram, Struan Rodger, Mark Kempner, Robin Hill, Lee Steele, Gareth Tunley, Gemma Lise Thornton, Janice Bird, Robert Hill, Lucie James, Frenchie Cowley, Ann Turner, Alex Blake, David Bowen, Josh Honeybourne, David Mares, Zoe Thomas, Chaelyn Allcock, Harry Simpson, Jimmy May, Lorna Gladhill, Katya Galiana-Philip, Ann Lomax, Rebecca Holmes, Gareth James, Richard Stocks, Lauren Maile-Wilson, Dennis Turner, Niki Jones, Emily McKinley, John Chappell, Shane Fitzsimmons, Josh Moore, Hannah Murton, James Bateson, Esme Folley, Alex Janczenia, Andy Stirling, Ciaran Humphries, Simon Smith, Janice Worsley, James Nickerson, Dave McKinley, Richard Mileham, Lora Evans, Brian Gaugan, Glynn Davies, Keith Lomax, Jamelle Ola, Damien Thomas, Stuart Webb, Aahid Rasool, Jennifer Andrews, Lyn Wesson, David Charles Denwood, Nadine Lloyd, Sharron Hardy, Pat Kelly, Joy Palmer, John Striker, Stephen Preston, Lynn Copperfield, Ken Birch, Joan Cooper, Dorothy Webb, Edward Booth, Alice Harrand, Nick Lea, Tom Adcock, Daphne Eland

  Ben Wheatley's films can be a bit of an acquired taste, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that a great many of them remain underappreciated and under-seen by those who might find them fascinating. Of all his earlier films, one of the best - and most beloved by those who have had the good-fortune to see it - is  Kill List, Wheatley's 2011 mash-up of horror and crime cinema.

  Following two former soldiers who are working as hitmen after getting back into the world, Kill List is a slow burn that takes its time getting to its bizarre folk horror elements. But when they do arrive, boy, do they ever.
• 

  (#4) Green Room

  • Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner, Patrick Stewart

  Jeremy Saulnier's story of a punk-rock band trapped by white supremacists unfortunately feels more topical with each passing day. It's also notable for its claustrophobic setting, intense action, and powerful performances. After all, it's not every day that you get to see Captain Picard himself, Sir Patrick Stewart, play a skinhead. 

  When the film's band, the Ain't Rights, find themselves playing a gig at an out-of-the-way venue in Pacific Northwest, they quickly realize they're in trouble when they notice the place is full of skinheads. That doesn't stop them from playing a cover of "Nazi Punks F*ck Off" by the Dead Kennedys, though. It isn't until the show is over that things take a turn for the fatal. The band is in the green room when they witness a slaying - and the leader of the skinheads decides to take them all out to keep them from talking.

  The result is a brutal, nail-biting flick that is also one of late lead actor Anton Yelchin's last film roles.

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking