Editorials
Can 2016 Horror Improve on 2015 Horror?
Last month, I lamented the fact my opinion that 2015 hadn’t really been that great of a year for horror. There were a lot of films that I thought were alright, but very few that I thought were great. Mr. Disgusting disagreed with me, but I stand by my opinion. This is mostly because I didn’t include horror films that only screened at festivals and he did. Had I included those festival films in my end-of-year lists, I would have 100% agreed with Mr. Disgusting. As you may have seen from some of my posts this week, horror fans have a lot to look forward to in 2016, and I can confidently say that as long as many of the independent films I’ve seen get released, we are all in for several treats this year. I wanted to take some time to look back at 2015 to see what exactly went wrong, and how 2016 can (and probably will) improve on it.
Before we dive into things, let’s tale a look at the majority of genre films that came out in 2015. Below is a spreadsheet I made when I was making my end-of-year lists and is comprised of pretty much every film that was up for consideration on any of my lists last month. You will note that calling some of these films horror films or even “genre” films is a bit of a stretch, so forgive me for that. I just wanted to cover all of my bases. There is also a chance I missed a film or two, so also forgive me for that. Anyway, here we are:
If we were grading the major studio releases from 2015, the year wouldn’t receive very high marks (I’m thinking a solid C). Just looking at this list, the films that received a wide release (which I’m qualifying as over 1,000 U.S. theaters) were
The Gallows
The Gift
The Green Inferno
Insidious: Chapter 3
It Follows
Krampus
The Lazarus Effect
Poltergeist
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse
Sinister 2
Unfriended
The Visit
The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death
That is only 15 wide release films this year, and of those 15 about three of them are great, four are good, four of them are mediocre and the other four are terrible. That is of course just my opinion, but that seems to go with the general consensus as well.
Looking at the other 53 friends on this list, it’s clear that independent horror had a better 2015 than widely released studio horror films did, but even they didn’t have a large amount of truly standout films. There were a couple of fun surprises, but when taken as a whole there just aren’t that many films that you’re going to remember in 10 years. 2015 actually led to quite a few crushing disappointments in the horror genre.
That may be a bit of a contentious statement, but other than films like The Final Girls, Backcountry, Bone Tomahawk and Spring (the latter two of which I regrettably left off of my “Best Of” list last year), nothing made much of an impression. I know many of you adored Deathgasm, but it just wasn’t my cup o’ tea.
When you think of a great year for horror, which year(s) do you think of? The obvious choices would be 1978 (Halloween, Dawn of the Dead, Piranha, I Spit On Your Grave), 1984 (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Gremlins, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter) and 1997 (Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Mimic, Anaconda). Okay, that last one is more or less my favorite year for horror because I love all of those movies, but I’m in the minority there.
Courteney Cox in Scream 2
I would argue that in the 21st century we haven’t had a better year than 2009, which saw the releases of films like Drag Me to Hell, The House of the Devil, The Collector, Zombieland, Dead Snow, Grace, Jennifer’s Body, Sorority Row, The Loved Ones, Laid to Rest, [REC] 2, the remake of The Last House on the Left and Saw VI (What? I like that one). Looking at the list of 2015 films, are there a large number of films that you think you will look back on and say “Man, 2015 was a really great year for horror?” If you do, that’s awesome. I respectfully disagree.
Mind you, it is not my intent to completely shit on 2015 horror films. I did like many of the films, there just weren’t that many that blew me away. There were a ton of films that were “just fine,” but I would like something more. Maybe that is asking too much from a bunch of horror films, but it really shouldn’t be. The reason why I feel sort of let down by 2015 horror is that I have had a small sampling of what is to come in 2016, and it’s glorious.
When we look at 2016, there is definitely a wider variety of different types of films that are getting released, and many more widely released studio horror films. Below is a list of the majority of the genre films seeing a release this year, but it is possible that I missed a few.
Of course, 2016 has already gotten off to a pretty bad start with The Forest (review), but I implore you to be patient. There were five films I saw at Fantastic Fest back in September that I am 90% sure will end up on my “Best Of” 2016 list in December (some of them already made Mr. Disgusting’s “Best of 2015” list). And it’s not just that they would make the cut because they’re probably going to be the best compared to everything else, it’s that they are legitimately great films that I am positive I will be telling people to watch years from now. In an attempt to avoid over-hype, I won’t name these films, but you can find my reviews for them online.
It is impossible to predict whether or not all of the films on this list could improve upon the films released last year. Admittedly, I’ve only seen 14 out of the 70 films on this list, but the fact that I have found a good chunk of those 14 to be spectacular is pretty impressive.
I apologize for the blog-iness of this post, but I’m using this as an experiment to see how posts like this resonate with all of the readers (you). I’m actually more curious to know how all of you feel. Think back to a year ago. Were there a lot of films you were really looking forward to? How many of them lived up to your expectations?
Will I be right or will I be wrong about the quality of 2016 horror? Can 2016 horror improve on 2015 horror? My answer is an unequivocal “yes.” Check back with me in a year and we can see how accurate I was.
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
You must be logged in to post a comment.