2010s horror movies reflected a renewed focus on religious horror, sounding reactionary warning notes about the dangers of leaving moral absolutism behind (The Last Exorcism, The Conjuring). No one felt safe after the Great Recession, even in their own homes. Cue a wave of movies about infections (It Follows), home invasions and domestic monsters (The Babadook).

Perhaps the less said about found footage the better?

Weird cannibal families also made a comeback (We Are What We Are) as did stories about young couples buying a suspiciously cheap house and then discovering something gross about its previous (or still current) occupants. Get Out and Us poked at the major racial fault lines running through our society. Folk horror harked back to the 1960s and 1970s.

Finally, women directors broke into the mainstream, offering a fresh, female perspective on gynecological horror (Prevenge), body horror (American Mary), and cannibalism (In My Skin, Raw).

It’s too soon to reflect on historical trends for this most recent decade. While we wait for the dust to settle, here’s a poll:

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