2023 Best of the Year So Far Part 2

As of today, I've watched one hundred 2023 horror movies this year. There's still two months left in the year and I've already outstripped last year's total number by 12. I look forward to seeing where the rest of the year takes me. It's been four months since my first "best of the year" post and I have to say, half of these movies that you're about to see on this list, I only just watched in the last week. It's been a "horror movie a day" month of mediocrity so I really needed that glut of good.

10. Bad Girl Boogey

An indie gem that is as creative as it is poignant. Director/Writer Alice Maio Mackay combines a gory slasher movie with a film about trauma and coping, and an allegory about how abuse and violence become a part of us, easily passed on if it's not stopped. The music is fantastic, the characters feel like real people, and I loved how queer this movie is without having to talk about how queer it is.

9. The Breach

A smooth low budget creep fest of Lovecraftian proportions, this Nick Cutter adaptation (author of The Troop, The Deep, and Little Heaven) is directed by Rodrigo Gudino, founder of Rue Morgue magazine and writer/director of The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh! It's weird, gross, and has some big ideas for such a little indie horror flick. The acting is super solid and elevates this film into something memorable and impressive. And the makeup effects for the body horror conclusion are just, a+ disgusting.

8. Dark Harvest

Based on the 2006 novel by Norman Partridge, and directed by David Slade - most known for Hard Candy, and 30 Days of Night. I went in blind to this one and was surprised by an intriguing small town mystery with interesting characters, a solid script, surprising gore, and an unpredictable ending. There wasn't a moment of this film that I didn't enjoy. 

7. No One Will Save You

An incredibly unique, stylish, small town alien invasion movie turns clever survivalist horror, turns... really fucking weird. The 'little grey men' are both terrifying in action and a little silly in looks, but it equals effective thrills, as the brilliantly compelling lead, actress Kaitlyn Dever, gives this performance her all. Also, there is no dialogue in this movie. None. The ending was extremely peculiar and didn't seem to fit the vibe of the movie, but I give it props for being unpredictable!

6. Deliver Us

An ambitious, gorgeous movie that is riveting and thrilling and at times, very very bloody. There's layers upon layers without getting too tangled within itself, it simply works on every level like a jigsaw puzzle, fitting perfectly, revealing all. I look forward to rewatching this and getting all the small details that I may have missed the first time around.

5. The Boogeyman

I'm always super down for a Stephen King story horror movie, but for some reason I was in no hurry to watch this one. Perhaps it was because the 2005 adaptation of the same name was so incredibly terrible, that its rotten legacy tainted this one. So when I finally got around to seeing it on its last weekend in the theater, I went in blind, expecting a boring supernatural slow burn. Boy, was I wrong. Boogeyman is a riveting creature feature that does not let up. It's got its fair share of quiet dread, sure. But then it wallops you with that long dark hallway that you just know holds the horrible body of a creature that is going to tear you apart.

4. Megalomaniac

Damn, Belgium. Putting the "horror" back in horror movie. It's a pretty brutal watch but holy hell was it good. A very bizarre, violent, unsettling movie about, essentially, a family of serial killers. The entire cast of actors are just phenomenal. Portraying unhinged mental illness and the capacity for familial normalcy in one flawless motion. The ending is wild and jaw-dropping and strange and I literally wanted to give this a standing ovation when it was over but was frozen in shock. This movie is NOT for the faint of heart. You've been warned.

3. Totally Killer

An extremely fun '80s time travel slasher whodunnit! I was worried this wasn't going to be horror enough for me but I was pleasantly surprised on just how "slasher" this ended up being. Throw in a cast of delightful characters, hilarious '80s vs '23 social commentary, and lots of clever dialogue - this movie was a super good time. Will be ranked up there with Happy Death Day for a comedy slasher mystery and added to my cozy horror watch list!

2. When Evil Lurks

This buzz-heavy movie finally dropped to Shudder after months of anticipation and holy hell. What a film! I loved how the reality of "the rotten" is just dropped into our laps without any preamble. This demonic world is fully formed and we're just asked to catch up to it. Fantastically written and acted and shot. There are some serious jaw dropping moments throughout, and bravo Argentina, for really going there with the kid thing. You've got big swinging balls, I see them, and I respect them. Demián Rugna, the writer/director, also did the 2017 movie Terrified, which was also a phenomenal film, and has another movie he participated in - an anthology called Satanic Hispanics - coming out soon! I cannot wait to see more from him!

1. Talk to Me

While I'd known about this movie and its hype for a very long time, I'd managed to avoid a trailer and even a synopsis for Talk to Me. I knew I'd see it. Something inside just decided not to spoil any of it. And holy hell, I'm glad I did because this movie knocked me on my ass. It's not your average polished mainstream jump scare horror movie. It watches like a small cut you couldn't keep from picking at and now it's raw and oozing and inflamed and infected and, yup, you're going to lose that leg. As my husband said, it's a perfect example of, "fuck around and find out". At every turn this movie was surprising in both its creativity and its brutality. It's dark, and sad, and fucked up, and the ending is perfection.

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Well, there you have it. Those ten are the best of July - October in my opinion. But there's a load of super fun movies that may not have made the list but are worthy of your attention. And they are: She Came From the Woods; Cobweb; The Wrath of Becky; Huesera: Bone Woman; Enys Men; Bad Things; The Unbinding; All Fun & Games; Nightmare; Killer Bookclub; Slotherhouse; Night of the Hunted; and V/H/S 85. 

See you in a few months for my best of the year list. Until then, don't forget to watch your horror movies ... in the dark.

~ doll

2023 - Best Horror of the Year So Far

It's almost the end of June, which means the year is nearly halfway over. This year has had its fair share of horror movie surprises already - like, somehow I actually enjoyed a Russell Crowe movie. And since some of my favorite movies opened in the first half of the year, the bar has already been set high for all that follow. 

Every year there's a clear trend in horror movie topics and this year pregnancy horror is making a comeback, as well as experimental horror, which parenthetically has become a genre in and of itself, paving the way for some more weird shit that I will support but may not always love (I'm looking at you The Outwaters). 

I'm curious as to how the rest of the year will be shaping up, because so far many of my favorites have been mainstream horror, which isn't generally the case for me. So either mainstream is excelling this year, or indie is not. Either way, out of the 42 new releases I've watched this year, here's my top 10 picks for best horror movies of the year so far.

10. Sick

A little late to the game as far as Covid pandemic movies are concerned, but while the topic felt a little tired, it turned out to be a fun slasher anyways. Call me a softy for a masked killer chasing people around with giant kitchen knives, but in a world dominated by supernatural horror, this really hit the spot. It was also directed by John Hyams, a director that made one of my favorite horror films of 2020, Alone.

9. Unwelcome

Set in Ireland this gory, gruesome little number is a fresh take on the "red cap" goblin folklore. The movie plays with themes of who the real villains are here, humans or these devilish goblins, and I daresay the answer is both. 

8. Megan

I'm still not sure if I genuinely love M3gan or simply find its ridiculousness to be irresistible. I guess both can be true. Regardless I've watched it twice now and both times I found myself having a lot of fun watching it, which frankly is the highest quality in which I measure how a horror film ranks with me.  

7. Baby Ruby

An allegorical horror movie about postpartum depression that uses paranoia and gaslighting as devices to tell a rather effective, sinister tale of a woman who quickly loses her grip on what is real and what is not, after the birth of her child. I'm still unsure about the weird twist of an ending but I do know that this movie had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

6. The Pope's Exorcist

My interest in this was so low that I literally turned off its trailer a minute in and declared, "nope. looks terrible." And I would have gone without seeing it too, if not for a friend's interest and proactive rental. So I sat there, mildly judging Russell Crowe's Italian accent, until something strange happened. I started enjoying it. And in fact, the movie kept subverting my expectations turn after turn, right up until the batshit crazy ending that I definitely did not see coming. The conclusion? Hell yeah, that shit was awesome. 

5. Fear

As previously stated, I measure a horror movie by how much fun I had watching it. Elevated horror is great, and I definitely can get behind all those fancy pants "great" horror movies. But sometimes love is in the eyes of the beholder, which brings us to Fear. Not a great horror movie, but a fun one. And it checked a lot of boxes for me. Vacation horror. Isolated horror. Hotel horror. Burial ground horror. Pandemic horror. Not to mention its predominately black cast, which is still a rarity in the horror genre and like everything else, support the things you want to see more of in this world.

4. The Blackening

Speaking of all black casts. Damn, I loved this movie. I'm not one for the "Scary Movie" kind of horror comedy, so I was a little dubious going in. But thankfully the tongue-in-cheek style humor is at a minimum, or at least done with enough elegance that I wasn't eye-rolling. Instead I felt like it was more just a straight up horror comedy with some really effective scary killers and a creepy "play the game or die" element. I kind of saw the end coming, which I don't hold against it, but I saw all those '80s whodunit slashers too and yeah, no shocker there. But consider the journey and not the destination. Can't wait for this one to be streaming for a rewatch. 

3. Clock

This is a devastating horror movie with a heavy social commentary and hot damn was it excellent. The tension runs high the entire time and while I was waiting with bated breath for the other shoe to drop, when it did I was not expecting it to be what it was. There's some disturbing imagery in this that will haunt me for a long while. Not sure if this will hit as hard with male audiences as it will with women, but I will be recommending this one to everyone.

2. Scream VI

Full disclosure, I seriously disliked 2022's Scream requel. I am a huge fan of the franchise, it is in fact my favorite franchise, and when I saw '22's Scream in the theater I was like, what the fuck is this. They killed the essence of the franchise. Where's the humor? Why is it so dark and violent and the legacy cast is barely in it. And then I watched it again and disliked it a little less. And then I went to the theater to see Scream VI and omg, standing ovation in my heart. They stopped having one foot in the old franchise and one in the new and instead fully committed to this new Scream vision. Taking it out of Woodsboro, not having Sidney Prescott appear, being super stabby with a whole lot of red herrings and gruesome death scenes, and creating a mildly psychologically imbalanced "star", setting her up to be a possible future killer, yeah they really leaned into the new era of the franchise. And I am here for it.

1. Evil Dead Rise 

Okay, the trailer alone had me. And I'm a huge fan of the 2013 reboot. But holy shit. I did not see this coming. Ya'll it was SO AWESOME. Gritty, horrific, heart crushing, bloody, legitimately scary. Dare I say, shocking. Yes. I want my horror movies so hardcore that I literally have to peak through my fingers to watch it. (though admittedly Terrifier 2 was a bridge too far in some scenes) Evil Dead Rise, cinematically, is gorgeous. The characters are quirky and feel real. The apartment building feels like yet another monster to survive. That elevator scene!!! Beat after beat, this movie is perfection. Good luck topping this one for me 2023. 

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There's still a ton on my list to watch that's already on other people's best of the year so far lists, and of course more to come for the rest of the year. So a lot could change before the final roundup, and I can't wait! A horror film connoisseur's work is never done. See you back here in six months. Now, turn off the lights, and watch your horror movies... in the dark.

~ doll

Alone at Night (2023) - A Review

About half of the horror movies I end up watching are just movies that I spot in Google TVs' recently released list. I see something that looks like a new horror movie, I watch a trailer, and if it doesn’t look godawful, I add it to my queue. Most of the time I’ve never even heard about it. Some of the time I’ll stumble across community buzz soon thereafter. This blindly hunting method is how I end up watching so many random movies no one has heard about. And while I also operate off of a very thorough list from Upcoming Horror Movies (an invaluable website), I’m also rather fond of the inelegance of my poking around in the dark for crap to watch.

One such movie is Alone at Night. Starring Pretty Little Liars Ashley Benson as a cute cam girl who borrows a friend’s cabin for some r&r, and to focus on her cam work, after breaking up with her shitty boyfriend. The cabin is secluded and keeps losing power. Enter the hot handyman guy. The cabin is secluded and belongs to her friend, enter the friend’s hot cousin guy. The cabin is secluded and the neighbor is bored, enter the hot neighbor guy. Despite being called “Alone at Night”, cute cam girl Vicky is never actually alone at night. She parties with all these hot guys throughout her week-long stay. Lusts after one, tries to kiss one, sleeps with one, all the while there’s a Crowbar Killer on the loose so says Sheriff Rogers PAMELA ANDERSON (WTF). Meanwhile, when our cute cam girl Vicky isn’t casually rolling around on her bed in bondage, or masturbating in a bubble bath for her clients, she’s watching Trap Stars - a reality show hosted by PARIS HILTON (WTF) about a group of beautiful youths quarantining together in a mansion. All the while we might think that maybe her weird client “daddy” who never shows his face might be maybe like, one of these hot guys? Or maybe might one of these hot guys be the crowbar killer? So many red herrings! Which hot guy can we trust?

As far as the "slasher" that this movie seems to promise it being, it fails miserably. Very little slashing actually happens. But, there is a killer and cute cam girl’s life is in peril and a struggle does ensue. It plays out like more of a thriller than a horror movie, especially since, while the body count is quite high, all of the kills happen off screen. Major lameness. 

There’s a fun little twist at the very end that’s silly but that I’m quite fond of, and then it ends with a rap music video so… very sophisticated. 

PARIS HILTON!

M3GAN (2023) - A Review

My interest in M3GAN was initially nonexistent. I could care less about a killer AI doll in a horror movie starring a child. And frankly, the trailer looks dumb, with M3GAN’s SUPER CHEERFUL cartoon voice and large glassy eyes. And just how many super cute outfits does this doll come with? No thank you. But day after day for a week I came across casual conversations and reviews mentioning how much fun the movie is. “Such a fun time in the theater!” “This movie is so much fun!” Fun Fun Fun. Well, I DO like fun. So one night, I cast my line out in hopes a spontaneous friend would want to see a late night movie on short notice. And one did. Well, I have to say, the movie was pretty dumb. But yeah, it was also, So. Much. FUN! 

It was a small theater with about a dozen people and everyone was having a great time. Lots of vocal audience members playing along with the movie and laughing, and my friend and I were no exception. It was the most interactive movie experience in memory, we were drinking wine and shoveling away the popcorn and just having nonstop commentary. What a blast! Oh, what, you want to hear about the actual movie? Okay, well…

A little girl’s parents are killed and her tech brilliant aunt gifts her niece with an AI doll that is totally a test model and has not been approved by, the people who approve, like, robots or whatever. This super secret AI doll project is gifted to a ten year old who then pairs with it like some werewolf imprinting hoodoo, and then they’re all, “You’re my BEST FRIEND”. Totally normal. M3GAN of course is anything but normal and soon you can see that girlfriend has a few screws loose and goes forth on her murder spree and her love of killing, and of dance, blossoms. Then they like, stop her or whatever (or do they) and that’s the end.

Given the bonkers storyline I shouldn’t have been too surprised to learn that James Wan was the initial creative mind behind this movie idea, given his penchant for writing and directing doll movies (Saw, Dead Silence, Annabelle), and his recent descent into madness (Malignant). Wanting the film to be a horror black comedy he snags Gerard Johnstone (of the brilliant horror black comedy, Housebound). Aside from working with Wan and the undoubtedly bazillion dollars he’s making from the success of M3GAN, this ridiculous movie seems a step down for Johnstone, given that Housebound was so fantastic. But I guess, yeah, going from a director who has barely worked over the last twenty years but made one really great movie, to making a box office hit with James Wan, even if that hit is pretty silly, seems like a win. I mean, if you’re into that whole fame and fortune thing.

Many of the reviews and editorials I’ve read about M3GAN have said that the movie is essentially an allegory for absent parenting. But aside from the parents literally dying and being absent, I think the aunt is just trying her best. What I think the movie is more about is the dependent bond we create with our devices and how those bonds tend to be very toxic. Upending our mental and emotional state to some degree and causing our relationships with the physical people in our lives to be neglected and damaged. But what do I know, my best friends are cats.

The Offering (2023) - A Review

A few odd things to know about me - I love forensic and medical examiner stories, and I love stories featuring Jewish characters and/or Jewish faith and culture. I find both topics fascinating in a hundred different ways that would in and of itself be their own blog posts. So when I stumbled upon a new movie called The Offering, that looked like a mashup of The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and The Vigil, I rented it immediately.

An estranged son and his new wife return to his father’s Hasidic funeral home in Brooklyn, NY to deal with family trauma and financial woes. While helping out with a recently deceased member of their community, a trapped demon is accidentally set loose. This demon begins to torment members of the family in subtle and creepy ways that of course no one talks about so they all independently think they're going crazy. 

Despite the overuse of jumpscares and deafening music crescendos, the first half of the movie is pretty solid. The funeral home is a spectacular piece of real estate with its old, vintage decor and long hallways with strange rooms that seem to hold ancient secrets. There’s an engaging side story about how the demon came to be trapped in the (recently deceased) old Hisidic man, who had accidentally conjured it in an effort to bring his wife back from the dead. There’s some moving family drama between the son and his father and father’s longtime friend. And there’s a great dinner scene. But then, from there, things go sideways.

Instead of continuing down the subtly creepy route, ala The Vigil or The Autopsy of Jane Doe, The Offering decides that a crappy CGI monster and over-the-top action scenes are the way to go, throwing clutter and chaos into an otherwise chill experience. This movie could have been great, instead it settled firmly into the worn footsteps of mediocre horror that misses the mark because they went with more is more. And with a name like The Offering, it’ll be a forgettable one at that.   

Skinamarink (2023) - A Review

I first learned of Skinamarink about two months ago when a friend texted me late one night with a link to its trailer and said, “I just watched this trailer and it genuinely unnerved me.” I was alone in a room only lit by a tv. Adam was asleep downstairs. The house was quiet. And I clicked on the link. A crackly trailer begins to play, with closeups of doors and carpeted floors and the barefeet and pajama clad legs of children. The only light is from a vintage TV playing old timey cartoons. There’s an unnerving whispering that sounds loud yet far away and a deep voice repeats, “In this house. In this house.” My arms broke out in goosebumps and I was immediately suspicious of the dark hallway outside my room. The trailer continues in this fashion until the very end when a maniacal voice commands the children to “come upstairs” and then small voices scream and cry and the trailer goes black. So you can understand that even before it hit theaters, Skinamarink had the horror community buzzing.

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting when I went to see the movie in the theater on opening weekend. It was a small theater, with moderate attendance, and we sat only a few rows away from the front. The theater was pitch black and quiet. The screen, huge. It was a perfect atmosphere for a movie that practically demands your absolute attention. But I suppose I assumed the trailer was a teaser to a more straightforward horror movie. A movie with dialogue, plot, characters, soundtrack. But the movie is the trailer. 100 minutes of that trailer. 

It is fair to say that this little indie low budget horror movie is an experimental film. It felt like more of an immersive experience than a viewing, and I walked away a little disoriented with a scrunched up look on my face. What the hell was that? And did I like it? I’m still not sure. 

I will say that I appreciate everything about Skinamarink. I love that this little low budget movie made with a video camera and the kids of a friend, made with borrowed toys and in the house of the creator’s parents, with almost only the light from an old found tv and recorded with no sound (the sound was recorded separate), landed a major distributor and ended up in the theater (even after being illegally leaked on the internet). I love that this weird little movie made for 15k has made over a million dollars and has gone from a limited release in small quirky theaters to a full release in huge box theaters across the country. This is proof that the horror community will show the fuck up for their weird little movies, and they’ll bring their friends. Proof that despite the streaming world and the bootleg world, that people will still plant their asses in theater seats and support. 

So, did I like it? Who cares. Be the change you want to see in the world. Support indie horror with your ten dollars and bring a friend and go sit in a dark theater and watch a weird movie that you may love or that you may hate. At least there’s popcorn.

Sick (2023) - A Review

Sick - the new pandemic movie that dropped just weeks after the 2023 new year, feels a little late to the party.  Granted, virus and pandemic movies have been a staple in horror, even before the Covid virus took hold of our world. Contagion, Carriers, The Crazies, It Comes at Night, Quarantine, and so on. Many of the pre-covid virus movies focus more on the wild-fire spread of an infection that oftentimes takes down entire cities or countries, leading to an end of world conclusion or implication. After covid hit, we had a few covid-specific virus movies, most notably Host, the first horror movie that dealt directly with current event topics like quarantining, masking, and chatting with friends on Zoom. For the next year or so we were in a deluge of covid horror, a few of the more notable ones would be Stay Home, Songbird, and Safer at Home. In 2022 it seemed like we were finally veering away from horror with covid-tones. And then here comes Sick. A movie about a killer that shows up at a remote home where two girls are quarantining. We see tell-tale signs of covid life, like wiping down groceries with disinfectant, wearing masks (and being yelled at for not wearing a mask), long grocery lines, toilet paper shortage, food delivery services, and those awful teen “end of the world” parties. And while we’re still undoubtedly living in a Covid world, watching Sick felt a little like going back in time.

Sick was written by Kevin Williamson - the writer of 1996’s Scream, and perhaps because I knew this, everytime the killer wielded their large knife and chased the unsuspecting screaming young woman around the house, it felt extremely familiar. Even though the whole of the movie lacked the humor and self awareness that Scream is known for, it is very apparent given the entirety of the plot, that it was written by the same writer. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I guess I was just hoping for another flash of brilliance from the mind who brought us Scream. But instead, we got a dulled down covid version of a movie we saw in the ‘90s.

Despite this lack of creativity, I genuinely had fun with Sick. It’s a solid teen slasher with a few good kills and an extremely satisfying final scene. The actors are solid, including our main character Gideon Adlon, who I thought was a terrific final girl. She fought like hell, ran fast, used her brain, and her guttural “get off me” screams were both chilling and powerful. And though I don’t have an eye for directing style, Sick’s director John Hyams also directed Alone, a favorite movie of mine from 2020 about a serial killer who targets a woman traveling alone, and the cat and mouse pursuit that follows. All in all, you could do worse for a late night horror movie at home. Watch with a friend! Without a mask! And cough a few times! It’ll be hilarious. Sick is streaming on Peacock now. Check it out!