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2016: The Year Netflix Embraced Horror!

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Mr. Disgusting’s Top 10 Horror Films | Several More Must-See Horror Films | Kalyn’s Top 10 | Trace’s Top 10 | Trace’s Worst 510 Best Posters | Worst Posters | Best Trailers | Luiz Picks the Best Horror Shows | Chris’ Best Blu-rays 2016: The Year Netflix Embraced Horror | 10 Sci-fi Movies You May Have Missed | 13 Most Disturbing Horror Movie Moments |
5 Pretty Good Horror Movies You Might’ve Missed in 2016
[Poll Results] The Bloody Disgusting Readers Chose the 10 Best Horror Movies of 2016
10 Biggest Horror Stories of 2016
Let’s Play Pretend and Give Academy Awards to 2016’s Best Horror Movies


2016 has been a banner year for horror fans, both in theaters and on television. Looking back however, it’s also the year that Netflix embraced our favorite genre in a few very interesting and important ways for the marketplace. And, it should be noted, to great success.

There have always been horror movies on Netflix and there always will be. But 2016 saw the streaming service’s first aggressive move to acquire titles for exclusive distribution on their platform. No doubt spurred by new competition from Amazon and Shudder moving into the space and nabbing some high profile films like The Neon Demon and Rob Zombie’s 31 respectively, Netflix made their own moves to ensure they were not left in the dust.

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The first film they pounced on was Mike Flanagan’s Hush (review), which was released on Netflix in April of this year. Netflix acquired Hush before it had premiered publicly, announcing the April release date the week of the film’s world premier at SXSW.

To any producers and filmmakers watching this could only have signaled a change in how Netflix played into the distribution market. In the past, Netflix only negotiated licenses with traditional horror distributors like Lionsgate or IFC, rarely, if ever, dealing directly with production companies.

Buying Hush was like an open invitation, and new distribution deals with upstart production houses like XYZ have emerged in 2016, resulting in the exclusive release of the sci-fi thriller ARQ, Chris Sparling’s latest horror outing, Mercy (pictured below), with even more horror titles on the way.

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Following a similar pattern, Netflix announced, just prior to Halloween, that it would distribute Osgood Perkins’s I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House following that film’s premier at the Toronto International Film Festival. Had they acquired it prior to the screening? Likely.

2016 was also the year that Netflix took a chance on two young brothers and a project that had reportedly been turned down by every studio – a little show called “Stranger Things”.

I doubt Netflix could have predicted that “Stranger Things” would become the it-show of summer 2016. Released at the end of August and crammed elegantly with Easter eggs and 80’s nostalgia, it quickly became a cultural touch point, spawning more memes and fan theories than any other show in recent memory.

Schwinners and Losers: The cast of Netflix's

The “Stranger Things” soundtrack has even gone on to crash the billboard charts at No. 24 upon its debut, beat out only by Suicide Squad‘s OST.

On April 6, 2016, Netflix also announced they had bought the rights to adapt the Manga, Death Note, from Warner Bros. who had lost their nerve with the project. Adam Wingard (The Guest, Blair Witch) came attached, along with a $50 million budget, and on June 30, 2016, production on the film officially began in British Columbia, Canada.

I think with the Death Note deal particularly, Netflix sent a strong message to genre creators in 2016: “If our algorithms tell us there’s an appetite for a project, we won’t stick a creator in development hell, but get filmmakers making films.”

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2016 is also the year that Netflix introduced the world to Charlier Brooker’s “Black Mirror”, the UK anthology series that explores the dark side of how media and technology shape our lives and cause us considerable hardship.

Prior to Netflix acquiring the rights to the show’s first two seasons, “Black Mirror” was virtually unavailable outside of the UK where it was produced. Proving once again that Netflix has taste, they moved on the show’s word of mouth, announcing that they would produce and premier a 3rd season of the show with Brooker at the helm and a host of new directors including 10 Cloverfield Lane‘s Dan Trachtenberg and Joe Wright among others.

And lastly, how can we forget Nic Mathieu’s Spectral, Legendary’s big budget, supernatural/sci-fi actioner about a special-ops team dispatched to fight supernatural beings. Yet another big horror acquisition nabbed by the service in 2016 and released world-wide the same, December 9.

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Looking back on 2016, it seems clear that Netflix has made a considerable effort to not only produce prestige Emmy bait like “House of Cards” or “Orange is the New Black”, but be a destination for genre fans looking for high quality content as well.  No surprise that horror has emerged as the way in for them.

Out of the park hits like “Stranger Things” should only bolster programming and acquisitions over the coming years and, I don’t know about you, but 2016 made me feel like every dollar I pay for Netflix is worth it.

Bring on 2017!

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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