5. Insidious, 2011

Insidious cinematic trailer

Wan’s role: Director

The first two-thirds of Insidious are nearly perfect.  It has Hitchcockian levels of suspense, well-executed and creative scares, and a sense of humor.  It’s when the movie attempts to explain itself that it gets into some trouble.

If there’s one thing that’s universally terrifying, it’s the unknown.  Insidious turns the unknown forces that haunt its characters into less interesting knowable phenomena.  But it’s an error that is easy to forgive considering how amazing the rest of the movie is.

8/10