2010-2020: The Worst Horror Movie Each Year Of The Decade (According To IMDb)

The horror genre has seen phases of ups and downs, and it seems like the 2010s were a fairly bad decade for the genre. Audiences were consistently bombarded with cheap, unimaginative, and unnecessarily horror flicks.

Be it the misuse of the found footage genre, countless Saw franchise ripoffs, or absolutely pointless and creatively bankrupt sequels, the genre has tested the patience of its fan. The list depicts what the bottom of the barrel looked like throughout the decade.

10 My Soul To Take (2010): 4.8

In this movie, seven teens are stalked by a murderous serial killer who returned to his home town 16 years after his disappearance. These teens were born on the same day as the killer allegedly died.

It is preposterous to believe that the movie is written and directed by the same man who gave the audience the legendary Freddy Krueger. The horror master made a dull and banal movie which had a sloppy storyline and a cheap 3-D gimmick. It didn’t quite succeed at being a slasher flick, and it was far from an immersive character piece.

9 11-11-11 (2011): 3.9

11/11/11 is a movie involving prophecies, religion, and looming apocalypses. The hero travels to Barcelona after the death of his wife and child to meet his estranged religious brother and terminally ill father. There, he finds out about the impending events that will plague his life and will take place on November 11th, 2011.

The central character obsesses over the number… and that’s pretty much about it. Jump scares are ineffective, and the scares through plot also don’t work very well due to the dull, ludicrous, and done-to-death plot.

8 Piranha 3DD (2012): 3.7

In a sequel to Piranha 3D, the piranhas attack a newly opened water park.

The major issue with the movie was its never-ending build-up for the ultimate blood bath. The premise was over-explained, and the pay off ends up being way too short. Eventually, when the action does start, the filmmakers fail to show any carnage which gore geeks have not seen several times before.

7 Scary Movie 5 (2013): 3.5

In the final installment in the oft-celebrated Scary Movie franchise, a couple moves into a haunted house along with their newly adopted nieces and nephew who are possessed by demons.

With a facile plot and outlandish execution, the movie failed to deliver in terms of either horror or comedy. Neither Charlie Sheen nor Lindsay Lohan could rescue this flick from its own shoddy writing. The movie has no rhyme or reason, and it totally bombed, as the few laughs it generated were not enough.

6 Devil’s Due (2014): 4.9

A couple mysteriously goes missing one night on their honeymoon, and later find out about an earlier-than-planned pregnancy. The pregnant wife starts exhibiting a dark change in her mind and body which are recorded by her husband for posterity, and they later find out the sinister origin of these changes.

The movie’s biggest flaw lies in its lack of originality. It progresses by using the uninspired acts of the horror genre like nosebleeds, a distressed priest, and pregnant women craving for raw meat. Further, the director failed to create an occult atmosphere, which resulted in an unconvincing and unimaginative final product.

5 The Gallows (2015): 4.2

This found-footage flick begins when drama students gather at their school 20 years after a horrific tragedy during a school play. They make an imprudent attempt to resurrect the failed show to pay tribute to the anniversary of the accident. However, they soon realize that some things are better left alone.

An unambitious film that adds nothing to the found-footage horror genre, The Gallows relies on all-too-familiar techniques of this horror sub-genre, and it didn’t impress audiences.

4 Cabin Fever (2016): 3.7

To make this movie, the same script from the previous Cabin Fever (2002) was utilized in which five friends went to a remote cabin for their vacation and ended up falling victim to a flesh-eating disease.

The movie is a pointless remake that has a lot of graphic horror and absolutely no sense of levity to balance it out. The repugnance yielded by the skin-rotting, screaming characters and grungy dogs only got worse as it went on, and it was a missed opportunity to correct the original film’s failures.

3 Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (2017): 3.8

Next in the list is a comedy-horror sequel in which Madea and the gang embark on a trip to a haunted campground. They must run for their lives when monsters, goblins, and the boogeyman are released.

The movie is full of cringey performances, tired jokes, and nonsensical plot-points. With a laugh here and a few punchlines there, the film surpassed its predecessor in terms of ridiculousness.

2 Slender Man (2018): 3.2

Fascinated by the lore of Slender Man on the internet, a group of friends tries to prove that Slender Man is a myth… and then one of them goes missing.

There was a total lack of character personality, and not just for the heroes, but the slender man itself. Relatively solid performances from the actors couldn’t help much in lifting the weak story and the lack of genuine scares.

1 The Haunting of Sharon Tate (2019): 2.8

The movie is based on Hollywood’s chilling murder cases from 1969, with Sharon Tate being the central character, who suffered premonitions of her killing by Charles Manson’s followers.

The movie was one of the worst films of 2019, with claims of it being offensively exploitative of the real-life tragedies. A poor attempt at yielding unnecessary shock value which was worsened by bad performances.