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.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
You must be logged in to post a comment.