4. The Conjuring
James Wan hit it big with modern horror financial successes that include Saw and Insidious but he has truly left his mark on horror cinema with The Conjuring. Im a very harsh critic of all of these possession films that seemingly release by the month and are always abysmally bad but this movie was true horror. Every horrible hack director that has tried concocting a possession film in the past 20 years or so needs to sit down and study this one. Instead of plopping jump scare after jump scare on you The Conjuring unnervingly builds tension and dread through excellent pacing so that the stakes build upon themselves. All of the eeriness is well balanced with a mysterious mystery too that slowly creeps under your skin until you finally have everything figured out. By the end of The Conjuring you are ready for anything to happen as you palpably watch the greatest exorcism sequence since the one in the actual horror masterpiece, The Exorcist.