Plot: A couple lose their children near some caves in Tijuana, Mexico. When they are finally found, it becomes clear that something terrifying has changed them.

KBZ’s Take: We mentioned in the beginning of this article that this was one decade of the subgenre where the disparity between the really good films and the really bad was the largest we’ve seen. As a result, most of our selections for this list are films that were better than the subgenre’s median of mediocrity (for the decade).

With that said, Here Comes the Devil is a good throwback to the 1970’s era of Horror and Exploitation. The film opens with a bang and then builds a sense of dread as Sol (Laura Caro) and Félix (Francisco Barreiro) slowly start to learn what happened to their children. Admittedly, some things aren’t fully explained, and the film can get confusing, but its atmosphere and mystery help keep the film engaging.

It’s a low budget film that hits above its weight and we would recommend it for fans of 70’s horror or Ti West films (that have a similar throwback style to the classic era of Exploitation Horror).

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Plot: A man who suspects his wife is cheating on him begins having nightmarish visions of an evil presence that he believes inhabits his house.

KBZ’s Take: This is a film where the plot is secondary to the film’s visuals. The plot will seem very familiar to fans of the subgenre, but it’s the Psychological Horror aspect of the film that makes it unique.

It’s David’s (Rupert Evans) state of mind and the disturbing visuals throughout the film that make it one of the more memorable films from this period of the subgenre.

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Plot: A photography student who witnessed her sister’s traumatic death gets a shock when her dead sister arrives at the family home on what would have been her eighteenth birthday.

KBZ’s Take: The best way we can describe this film is a crazier version of Evil Dead II (1987). Director Noboru Iguchi seems like he was inspired by that film and decided to turn the craziness level to 11.

Tomie: Unlimited is the ninth film in the Tomie series of films, but you don’t need to see any of the previous films to understand this one. Not that this film makes much sense as it is, but it’s the best film in the series and definitely the weirdest.

If you’re not into the nuttier aspects of J-Horror films, you probably won’t enjoy this film. But if you want to see something on the level of Takashi Miike craziness, you’ve found your film.

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Plot: When Kylie Bucknell is sentenced to home detention, she’s forced to come to terms with her unsociable behavior, her blabbering mother and a hostile spirit who seems less than happy about the new living arrangement.

KBZ’s Take: Housebound follows in the footsteps of other New Zealand Horror Comedy films like Braindead (1992), Black Sheep (2006), What We Do in the Shadows (2014) and Deathgasm (2015). If you’ve seen any of those films, you’ll know the unique kiwi blend of Quirky Comedy, Slapstick Comedy and Dark Comedy that results in a horrific yet hilarious experience.

Though the laughs in the film primarily come from the dysfunctional family, there are some very creepy and unsettling moments in the film as Kylie (Morgana O’Reilly) discovers where the strange sounds are coming from within the house.

Most fans of New Zealand Horror Comedies have likely already seen this film, but if you haven’t, it’s one of the funnier ‘hauntings’ of the decade.

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Plot: A teenager is stuck in a time loop that is not quite the same each time. She must uncover the truth but her actions have consequences for herself and others.

KBZ’s Take: Veterans of the subgenre will likely feel like they know the film’s outcome within the first act. However, this film does have quite a few twists and turns involving a Time Loop element that keeps you guessing until the very end.

It’s the first of two films on our list that combine time loops with the supernatural. It’s not the scariest film on our list, but it has a unique premise and one we recommend for fans of the subgenre.

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Plot: Lucie (Chloé Coulloud), Ben (Jérémy Kapone) and William (Félix Moati) search an old woman’s home for a hidden treasure and they encounter a series of supernatural events that change them forever.

KBZ’s Take: There were high hopes for this second film from the French team of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Mary. Their debut effort Inside (2007) was part of the New French wave of horror films in the 2000’s alongside Irreversible (2002), High Tension (2003) and Martyrs (2008). While most fans of Inside were disappointed with their follow-up film, we actually thought it was on par, if not slightly better, than the extreme gorefest of their first film.

The film’s primary weakness is that it tries to use a supernatural foundation and layers multiple horror subgenres (Gothic Horror, Films About Vampires, Home Invasion Films) on top with little to no explanation of these elements. However, where the film excels is with its suspenseful atmosphere, slow developing mystery and genuinely scary moments.

The film is not as extreme or gory as Inside, so if you’ve put off watching this film because of the content in their prior film, Livid is much tamer in comparison and well worth checking out.

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Plot: A crew from a paranormal reality television show lock themselves in a haunted psychiatric hospital. They search for evidence of paranormal activity as they shoot what ends up becoming their final episode.

KBZ’s Take: We had to include one Found Footage film on our list and though Grave Encounters might be one of the more well-known subgenre films of the decade, we still wanted to highlight it for younger fans.

As with most supernatural films involving Found Footage, they typically rely on similar narratives and first person jump scares that were overdone to death during the format’s peak. Grave Encounters doesn’t reinvent the wheel in the subgenre, but what it does better than similar films is build a good amount of tension and sense of dread for a shockingly intense and scary finale.

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Plot: A young family moves into a historic home in Georgia, only to learn they are not the house’s only inhabitants. Soon they find themselves in the presence of a secret rising from underground and threatening to bring down anyone in its path.

KBZ’s Take: Southern Gothic settings were a growing trend in the subgenre during the early 2010’s, so we wanted to highlight at least one film on our list that used supernatural elements and folklore of the American South. Cassadaga (2011) wasn’t very good, Jug Face (2013) had some original folklore but was uneven and Jessabelle (2014) had the best southern atmosphere but fell apart in the third act. That left us with The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia which has a very creepy Southern Gothic setting, interesting and original supernatural folklore and some of the subgenre’s best scares.

The film is purportedly based on a true story about the Wyrick family who lived in a home previously belonging to a station master from the 1800’s who assisted slaves in the Underground Railroad. The film weaves in this backstory with the present as the mystery of who and what is haunting the Wyrick’s slowly reveals itself.

We’ve seen so many horror films that it’s hard to scare us anymore, but this film has both realistic and supernatural scares that will give the creeps to even the most die-hard fans of the subgenre.

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Plot: A woman and her sister begin to link a mysterious tunnel to a series of disappearances, including that of her own husband.

KBZ’s Take: We’re one of Mike Flanagan’s biggest fans and think he’s a maestro of the subgenre. Oculus (2013), Before I Wake (2016) and The Haunting of Hill House (2018) are just a few of his works that show his ability to reinvent commonly used tropes of the subgenre to provide both great stories and unique scares.

Though Absentia isn’t his best film, it’s his first film and was crowdfunded by Kickstarter. And though he didn’t have the studio level budgets he had with his subsequent works, he uses character development and unsettling situations to create a creepy atmosphere throughout the film.

We do want to mention that this is more of a Psychological Thriller with supernatural undertones than a straight up horror film, so your expectations should be tempered a bit. And even if you’re not ultimately scared by the film, we will still bet that you never look at an underpass tunnel the same way again.

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Plot: A young man finds himself in a dangerous love triangle that soon takes a number of disturbing and grisly supernatural turns.

KBZ’s Take: One of our favorite joys at KBZ’s is when we come across lesser-known and unheralded films that turn out to be diamonds in the rough. And Blood Punch is one of those. This is a film that flew under our radar for years until we finally had a chance to see it while compiling this list. Needless to say, it quickly rose to the top of our list and we want to share that feeling of discovering a hidden gem with you.

To start, Blood Punch is a low budget offering that relies much more on its interesting premise. Like Haunter from our list, it’s a sci-fi/horror hybrid that involves a supernatural time loop. And while it’s a horror film, it’s much more reliant on thrilling and ever evolving situations between the three characters at the center of the story (and time loop).

We usually like to provide more insight into films we recommend, but for Blood Punch, it’s best to go in knowing little to nothing about the film. All we can say is that of all the early 2010’s films we watched, this was an obscure film that belongs in the conversation with other subgenre classics.

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