10 Best Suburban Horror Movies Of The Last Decade

Traditionally, the suburbs are meant to be a place of peace. A place to move away from the hustle and bustle of a crowded city and enjoy a blissfully peaceful suburban existence, they are associated with a mellow, uneventful lifestyle.

That is of course, unless you're a character within a horror film who happens to live in a suburb. In that case, the rows of detached houses and carefully mowed lawns have a tendency to swiftly morph into a nightmarish landscape of blood and dead eyed murderers and monsters. Hell, you may have even seen the episode of hit sit-com It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia where a few weeks in the suburbs reduce Mac and Dennis to unhinged, macaroni-and-cheese-with-dog eating lunatics. It is entirely possible that the various horror antagonists over the years have kicked off their campaign of terror simply due to the monotonous boredom associated with such a place.

The lesson to be learnt here is that despite their tranquil aura, the suburbs are not necessarily a place for a peaceful existence. Matter of fact, one would likely be far better off if they were located closer to the city, and subsequently the emergency services, for if and when a masked serial killer / demonic spirit / werewolf batters down the door to your beautifully maintained patio and uses your blood to do their best Jackson Pollock impression all over your pristine living room.

While The Strangers: Prey At Night doesn't actually take place in the suburbs, it features your standard suburban family on holiday at a trailer park; think of this as your typical suburban horror on vacation.

The film revolves around a family who arrive at their relatives' trailer park, only to find their kin murdered and a gang of masked psychopaths out for their blood. What ensues is a nerve-wrecking fight for survival and an added sense of investment considering the two surviving protagonists are the family's children who have to dig exceedingly deep to defeat the bloodthirsty antagonists. The film also expands on its predecessor's initial premise by exploring the subject matter of a home invasion in a manner untouched by the original Strangers movie.

The sheer horrific quality of this 2018 slasher is what lands it a spot on this list. Featuring absolutely hair raising bloody sequences perpetrated by masked villains, The Strangers: Prey At Night is an utter nail-biter from start to finish. The relentless pursuit of the titular Strangers, combined with the fact that their reason for their sadistic attacks is never revealed, makes for a genuinely unnerving experience. The film also suitably highlights the fact that suburban horror as a genre is influenced by the characters who inhabit the film's universe as opposed to the physical setting, as the carnage unfolds amongst a trailer park.

Suburban horror taken on the road, but still a throughly worthy inclusion on this list.