Horror movies need a juicy premise to work. Ridley Scott’s Alien is a haunted house movie set in space. Richard Donner’s The Omen is about an adorable orphan who turns out to be the Antichrist. John Carpenter’s The Thing is about a shape-shifting alien that can seamlessly embody any living thing, including the protagonists themselves. Of course, the execution of those premises is the key to the films’ success, but they need a great premise as a jumping-off point.
The 2010s saw a resurgence of acclaimed horror movies with the rise of so-called “elevated horror.” This decade contained such juicy horror premises as a racially charged take on The Stepford Wives and a home invasion thriller in which the homeowner is the villain.
A Quiet Place (2018)
In the world of John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place, the alien invaders that have wiped out most of humanity can only see through sound, so the remaining survivors of the human race can’t make a peep.
Silence is one of the greatest tools in a filmmaker’s toolkit, and A Quiet Place’s premise makes it practically a silent movie. Krasinski uses that silence for some fiercely effective scares.
Gerald’s Game (2017)
In Mike Flanagan’s Gerald’s Game, adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name, a married couple goes to a cabin in the middle of nowhere to spice up their sex life, and the husband keels over and dies right after handcuffing the wife to the bed.
This premise is shockingly plausible, and it deftly combines the frustrations of marriage with a classic fight for survival. While she’s chained to the bed, Jessie encounters monsters of both the physical and metaphorical varieties.
You’re Next (2011)
Adam Wingard’s You’re Next begins as a dark culture-clash comedy about a woman visiting her boyfriend’s rich family. However, it becomes a harrowing horror-thriller when masked killers attack in the middle of dinner.
This delightfully gruesome gem is a cross between a slasher and a home invasion thriller. In the climactic sequence, a classic “final girl” gruesomely turns the tables on the killers.
Happy Death Day (2017)
Christopher Landon began his string of darkly comedic riffs on horror movies with Happy Death Day. It begins with the typical setup of a college girl being murdered by a masked killer, but subverts expectations when she begins living the same day over and over again.
Aptly, Happy Death Day has been described as “Scream meets Groundhog Day.” By mixing in a time-loop element, Landon managed to come up with a brand-new take on the slasher genre.
It Follows (2014)
David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows begins with a teen on a date. She ends up having sex with him and is horrified to discover that she’s inherited a sexually transmitted parasite that will cause supernatural beings to relentlessly pursue her.
This is a premise that had never been done before. It’s a haunting visual metaphor for sexually transmitted diseases and also generated some truly horrifying jump scares.
The Purge (2013)
There’s no doubt that The Purge became a box office hit and a lucrative franchise based on its premise alone. In the world of The Purge series, all crime is legal for 24 hours a year.
Unfortunately, this is an example of a movie whose execution doesn’t live up to its juicy premise. The “Purge” concept is just used for a generic home invasion thriller. Thankfully, the sequels have explored the premise deeper, but they’ve since devolved into soft, mind-numbing political satire.
Hereditary (2018)
Ari Aster’s debut feature instantly established him as a unique voice in horror. Hereditary stars Toni Collette as a woman mourning the loss of her mother who suddenly has to contend with losing her daughter to accidental decapitation.
The beauty of Hereditary’s premise is that, while a family is terrorized by a sinister pagan cult, the true horror is the grief of losing a child in such a horrific accident.
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)
Advertised as “the first Iranian vampire western,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a wholly unique vision of horror. Set in a lawless town, it follows a female vampire as she exacts vigilante justice and falls in love.
The vampiric powers of “The Girl” give her a kind of agency that isn’t usually afforded to female protagonists in horror films. Being undead allows her the freedom to walk home alone at night without fear.
Don’t Breathe (2016)
In Fede Álvarez’s Don’t Breathe, a trio of petty criminals hears about a huge stash of cash hidden in the home of a blind war veteran. But when they break in to steal it, they find that he’s a cold-blooded killer and they’ll be lucky if they make it out alive.
The home invasion thriller is painfully overdone, but Álvarez managed to put a fresh spin on it. By framing the homeowner as the villain and the burglars as the protagonists, Don’t Breathe subverts the usual formula.
Get Out (2017)
With the story of a Black photographer traveling to his girlfriend’s parents’ all-white gated community and slowly realizing they have sinister ulterior motives, Jordan Peele reinvigorated the “social thriller” subgenre.
It’s not often that a horror movie is awarded the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, but Peele’s win for Get Out was a no-brainer. His script masterfully uses the paranoia of Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives and Rosemary’s Baby to reflect America’s racial tensions.