This was one of my favorite films I’ve seen since I started my countdown on October 1st. Yes it is guilty of tugging on the heartstrings hard, but dammit if I didn’t fall for it hook, line, and sinker. Indy the dog is fantastic in this film that simply shifts the point of view to a dog attempting to protect his human from dark, paranormal forces. It’s simple, but effective and occasionally downright scary. But it works in making the viewer invest whole heartedly in the well being of its characters. I loved every minute of this movie. Be sure to pack a hanky. This one will bring a tear to even the hardest of horror hearts.
This year’s found footage anthology was, as usual, a mixed bag, but when it is good, it’s very, very good. I liked quite a few of the installments. The “Coochie Coochie Coo” segment from Anna Zlokovic deserves to be expanded into a feature length movie as it has creepy imagery and some nice backstory that can be expanded about a house than only appears on Halloween and a mother who steals kids and makes them her own. The other stellar segment is the unsettling “Kidprint” from Alex Ross Perry which pulls no punches and delivers one of the more disturbing moments in the entire series. The rest of the segments were decent, though somewhat repetitive, with the wraparound “Diet Phantasma” serving it’s purpose, but not standing out. Still Zlokovic and Perry’s segments make this one worth seeking out.
I was surprised at how diabolical and nasty this film got. Yes, it’s a Tubi exclusive and those films haven’t had a reputation of being good, but MATCH worked in a guttural and gross way. While social media and dating app movies really don’t work for me, this one scoots right past all of the cliches and plops our heroine into a true house of horrors. The scenes between Mother and her hunchbacked, monstrous son she is trying to find a match for are truly nightmarish and not for the squeamish. This one is the right kind of wrong.
While somewhat predictable, BONE LAKE works by having a strong cast and some nice gory turns during the climax. This one is 80% sexy thriller one might have seen late night on Skinimax, but once all the chips are on the table, it gets vicious and over the top. Think of it as a less cerebral and more sensual version of SPEAK NO EVIL. It’s not a perfect movie and ends on a weird note, but there’s no denying that Maddie Hasson deserves bigger and better roles, despite the fact that her haircut makes her look too much like Florence Pugh.
David Moreau, who delivered such memorable horrors as ILS and MADS teams up with underestimated actress Olga Kurlyenko for a brutal psychological horror film filled with symbolism, stylistic turns, and brutal terror. The film focuses on a monster who roams a fenced in home that tears off faces and a woman who returns to that home to confront the abuse her mother did to her. This is a powerful little gem with some cool twists and a remarkably potent and painful finale.
I haven’t had a chance to review this one yet, but it’s a found footager and a really great one about a daughter returning home to confront her recovering addict mother. I love the way this film unfolds as the daughter documenting this reunion with her friend/cameraman. While I should have known what to expect with this one, the final moments did manage to take me by surprise. Still, this is a dark, gripping, and conspiracy-laden film that proves that there is still much life in the first person perspective subgenre.
Passion and power oozes from every frame of Guillermo Del Toro’s masterpiece adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic tale. I’ve seen this story interpreted in every form of media, but I think this is my new favorite version of the story. While I do think that Mia Goth’s role was a bit forced into the plot, there’s no denying that both Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi offer up iconic turns on these classic characters. Much like Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic but flawed turn with BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, Del Toro delivers a modern epic horror masterpiece that will be hard to top.
Oz Perkins is back, again, with his third horror film within a year and a half and this one feels much more intimate and personal than both THE MONKEY or LONGLEGS. Like few other directors, Perkins is able to convey that uncanny, dream-like distance captured so well in David Lynch’s films. KEEPER not only delivers a fantastically emotional performance by Tatiana Maslany, but it also sports some absolutely unique and terrifying monsters revealed during its climax and hinted at expertly throughout the film in obscured and out of focus backgrounds. This one deserves to be seen by more people and I can’t wait to see what Perkins has up his diabolical sleeves next.
Not even Nicholas Cage’s over the top performance could ruin this powerful and quite horrific rendition of the trials of Jesus Christ as he developed the understanding of his powers and his place in the world. Cage does have a hammy scene or two but still delivers one of his most heart-wrenching performances as Joseph, who is overprotective of his son, while doubtful if he is a fool for believing in him. But the true standout is Isla Johnston turn as Lucifer, a seemingly innocent looking girl with devious intentions toward our boy Jesus. I think the fact that this was a religious tale that takes religious beliefs rather seriously turned some people off, but this is a straight up, unapologetic horror film that shouldn’t be missed.
This is another one that I haven’t reviewed yet and while it might not exactly fit snugly into the horror genre, it definitely has some horror elements. At its heart, REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND is an ode to those old giallo/spy films that aped the 007 films back in the seventies. It’s a story about a weary and retired spy who never got over his femme fatale he believes he lost many years ago. Through flashback, it tells the somewhat comic-booky and super stylized story of how they met, who they killed, and how they formed a relationship that lasted decades. If you’ve seen LET THE CORPSES TAN and AMER, you know there are no filmmakers out there today like Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani and if you’re a fan of unique and vibrant cinema, you deserve a treat like this one.
This holiday horror film was surprisingly potent as a young woman, her wife and their adopted child return to her parent’s home a day early for Christmas. The parents are less pleasantly surprised and more standoffish as it seems they have taken in a woman to live in her room and take over her life. As the woman attempts to understand these bizarre moves by her parents, the walls begin closing in, and soon she finds out why her parents don’t want her there. This is a fun little folk horror set around the holidays. It works in that “you can never go home again” way and really resonates on anyone who has tried to recapture a past that is no longer reachable.
Director Mike P. Nelson may have missed the boat with his JASON UNIVERSE: SWEET REVENGE short, but he redeems himself with this wonderfully demented reimagining of the classic SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. Swiping a bit from VENOM and DEXTER, this version of Billy has Santa’s voice in his head, guiding him towards those who have been naughty. The result is a wickedly raucous and energetic film that peaks with a massacre at a secret Neo-Nazi rally. That peak might have come a bit soon in the narrative, making the rest of the film pale in comparison, but this is still a refreshing remake that takes what worked with the original and improved upon it, while still respecting what came before.
Kurtis David Harder returns with a sequel to his excellent INFLUENCER film with INFLUENCERS which basically picks up right where the last one left off. I loved this follow-up that takes things to a whole new brutal level and we see the identity-stealing chameleon CW, played by the enchanting Cassandra Naud, taken off her game and struggling as her victim, Madison played by Emily Tennant, closes in on her for revenge. Naud and Tennant are stars in the making, but I hope they don’t get too big enough yet, so they can return in a third film. Filmmaker Harder delivers a movie that is pleasing to both women with the exotic life and locales and men with the violence and absolutely gorgeous women. Can’t wait for the third film and if you haven’t seen INFLUENCER or INFLUENCERS, get to it, Pronto!
Well, those are 13 horror films that you should look our for that was released since my Best in Horror Countdown in October. Be sure to tune in this October to see where these films end up on my Best of the Year Countdown and come back every week to see my reviews of these films as they are released.
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