Editorials
Mr. Disgusting Picks the Best Horror Films of 2017!
Top 5 Horror Films of 2017
Horror was so hot this year that I could make the case for one of seven films to be named “the best of the year”. How do you take seven movies and narrow the list down to one? How do you disrespect six movies that are all deserving of every accolade and award thrown at them? The struggle is even worse when you consider how difficult it was picking the second or even third best horror film of the year. It was so painstaking that I even considered a special article that would declare all seven the “best of the year.”
NO. I decided that would be a cop-out. I would face this challenge head-on. Hard decisions had to be made and I was going to stand by them. This list is going to be divisive. People are going to be pissed, enraged even. No matter, what I am presenting are my personal picks for the top five films of 2017. I stand by them. This is it. It is final.
5. Super Dark Times (D. Kevin Phillips; The Orchard)
Kevin Phillips’ teenage nightmare Super Dark Times may be the most under-the-radar on this list. It’s the next in a long line of coming-of-age thrillers (think Donnie Darko, River’s Edge or Mean Creek) to make such a lasting impact that it’ll prove to be a cult classic for years to come. Beautifully shot and directed, the riveting Super Dark Times is that special kind of film that we as genre fans are always desperate to discover, the one that we fall in love with and show to all of our friends. If you haven’t seen it yet, I don’t know what you’re waiting for.
4. The Shape of Water (D. Guillermo del Toro; Fox Searchlight)
I thought Guillermo del Toro‘s mesmerizing adult fairytale Pan’s Labyrinth was his masterpiece until I saw The Shape of Water, his majestic, breathtaking, and otherworldly horror romance that should earn Oscar nominations for del Toro, Sally Hawkins, and Richard Jenkins. The creature-feature takes us to a 1960s research facility where a mute janitor (Hawkins) forms a relationship with a mysterious aquatic creature (played by Doug Jones). There’s a child-like innocence to Shape of Water, which harkens back to del Toro’s boyhood dream of seeing The Creature and Julie Adams end up together in the 1954 Creature from the Black Lagoon. The Shape of Water isn’t much horror as it’s a poetic take on acceptance and inner beauty, beautifully juxtaposed with today’s social issues. If Pan’s Labyrinth was del Toro’s masterpiece, then this is his coup de grace. From the story to the acting, directing, and marvelous color palette, this is what perfection looks like.
3. Get Out (D. Jordan Peele; Universal)
I still can’t wrap my head around the idea of Get Out not topping this list. What was once a shoe-in was knocked down two slots in what we’ll look back on as one of the greatest years ever for horror. Directed by comedy guru Jordan Peele, Get Out tackles racism with a “Twilight Zone”-esque spin and a wink directly at society. Yes, it’s funny, but in an uncomfortable kind of way, reflecting on the racism that still exists in our society all around us. It’s surprisingly timely, tapping into social commentary of the Trump presidency at the precise moment. What’s terrifying is that nothing has changed in 50 years, which means Get Out will probably be just as relevant 50 years from now. With that said, Peele has delivered an impactful and important horror movie that’s also wildly entertaining, funny, and frightening. The story is deeper than just racism, tackling society’s loss of control, with the 1% turning us all into sheep. Get Out is not only scary because it’s a horror movie, but also because it’s reality. You don’t get more frightening than that.
2. Gerald’s Game (D. Mike Flanagan; Netflix)
On the surface, Gerald’s Game is a simple, single-location horror film adapted from the works of Stephen King, but it’s actually much, much more than that. Up-and-coming horror master Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Ouija 2, Hush) took King’s allegedly unfilmable story and translated it into one of the most important films of the year. Tackling domestic abuse, Gerald’s Game is told from a male perspective, thus playing more as self-reflection than a cautionary tale. Can we be better to our significant other, or other loved ones in our lives? Outside of its social commentary, it’s horrific and hits Misery levels of cringe-worthy tension. It’s an absolute masterpiece that will survive the test of time.
1. IT (D. Andy Muschietti; New Line Cinema)
Replace the “Stranger Things” Demogorgon with Pennywise the Clown and the result is IT, yet another excellent Stephen King adaptation. While IT will always be remembered for Bill Skarsgård’s haunting performance, this Goonies-eque ensemble – including breakout performances by Sophia Lillis and Finn Wolfhard – is what elevates the film to horror greatness. As for the killer clown, Skarsgård’s Pennywise is a horror icon for the ages.
IT announces itself right out of the gate, promising to be an unapologetic and vicious horror film where everything is at stake. Andy Muschietti turns Pennywise’s decrepit house into a horrifying maze of terror, transforming IT into one of the scariest haunted house movies you’ll ever see. Beep beep, indeed.
While IT isn’t a perfect movie it still achieves horror greatness on so many levels. The flick clearly follows the same beats as A Nightmare On Elm Street and manages to deliver equal frights all of these years later. And for the first time in a long time, someone has a made a children’s horror film that feels dangerous, which is that nostalgic sweet spot that we’re all craving right now.
A timeless horror gem worthy of repeat viewing, IT is an instant Halloween classic that will haunt audiences for years to come.
Comics
‘Spider-Noir’ Comic Changes Explained: How the TV Series Reinvents Marvel’s Darkest Spider-Man
A little while back, I wrote an article chronicling the Hellraiser franchise’s affinity for Film Noir and touched on how that genre has, historically, always been connected to horror.
This connection can be observed in everything from the cannibalistic serial killers of Frank Miller’s Sin City to the disturbing criminal plots fueling neo-noir thrillers like Stuart Gordon’s underrated King of the Ants. That’s why it came as no surprise when I finally sat down to watch all eight episodes of Prime Video’s recently released Spider-Noir series and was confronted with plenty of classic horror tropes.
What did come as a surprise, however, was how showrunners Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot approached these horror elements when compared to the 2009 comic book that the show is based on. From the heavily altered rogue’s gallery to an equally terrifying yet completely different origin story for Nicolas Cage’s take on the webslinger, there are plenty of changes here that I feel might be of interest to genre fans.
With that in mind, I’d like to invite readers to take a closer look at all the adjustments that Spider-Noir made to the story in order to bring this incarnation of Spider-Man to life in all of its monochromatic glory (unless you watched the True-Hue color version of the show, in which case you’ll be treated to a surprisingly comic-booky palette that you don’t usually see on television).
The Dark Origins of Marvel’s Spider-Man Noir
Our first order of business should be to examine the origins of the Noir comics themselves. Originally published as part of the Marvel Noir alternate universe that reimagined several characters as hard-boiled crime-fighters, Spider-Man Noir became the most successful book in the entire run. This highly politicized story about Peter Parker coming to terms with the capitalist evils of the Great Depression seemed to have struck a nerve with audiences looking for a darker take on the wall-crawler, which is likely why we’d soon see several sequel stories as well as a video game adaptation of the character in 2010’s underrated Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.
Of course, it wasn’t just Spider-Man’s darker disposition that made this version of the character a hit, as 1930s New York City was depicted as being much more hostile than what we generally see in the standard Marvel Universe. From Peter’s powers coming from an Eldritch Spider God that spawns man-eating arachnids to Vulture being an ex-Freak-Show Gimp with a taste for human flesh, you can definitely understand why this Web-Head isn’t pulling his punches.
Unfortunately, this alternate universe was a little too popular for its own good, with each subsequent sequel/adaptation further diluting the political anger and classic horror influences that fueled the original comic-book run in order to appeal to a wider audience. Spider-Man Noir was nearly unrecognizable once we got to the Spider-Verse crossover that turned the character into a household name, though this would at least lead to an interesting adaptation in 2018.
The Classic Horror Influences Hidden Throughout Spider-Noir
Jack Huston as Sandman in ‘Spider-Noir’
When Phil Lord and Chris Miller finally translated Spider-Man Noir to the big screen, with Nicolas Cage bringing the character to life in an unexpected case of pitch-perfect casting, he was still mostly relegated to comic relief as his nazi-punching antics and over-the-top edginess were played for laughs. However, while this version of the character had little to do with the comics that spawned him, Spider-Noir’s newfound popularity eventually resulted in the announcement of a darker live-action spin-off – a spin-off that I was cautiously optimistic about.
While the showrunners ultimately decided to go in a completely different direction than the 2009 comic, the new team of writers appeared to understand Noir as a genre in ways that even the folks at Marvel Noir couldn’t quite grasp. That’s likely why 2026’s Spider-Noir boasts plenty of horror elements, just not in ways we’ve seen them before.
The series is obviously borrowing tropes and aesthetics from period-accurate monster movies, with Universal’s 1930s output being a particularly big influence. From the re-imagining of Sandman and Tombstone as tragic figures to The Spider even being operated on by a mad scientist with hilariously antiquated techniques, this bizarre collection of super-powered freaks could have easily shown up in a classic creature feature.
The scares aren’t all retro, however, as the showrunners also injected plenty of body-horror into the mix during their attempt at unifying the origin stories for all these larger-than-life characters. Hell, the Spider himself is now revealed to have gained his powers after being bitten by a half-mutated Man-Spider during World War I, and the aforementioned mad scientist keeps a disturbing collection of failed experiments in her basement, proving that not all of her patients were lucky enough to simply gain superpowers after being experimented on.
Nicolas Cage Reinvents Spider-Man Noir for Television
Ben Reilly/Spiderman (Nicolas Cage) in SPIDER-NOIR
Photo: Aaron Epstein/Prime
© Amazon Content Services LLC
I also really appreciate how Cage insists on depicting Ben Reilly as an arachnid trapped inside of a human body, with his uncanny physical performance and classic Hollywood impressions keeping your eyes glued to the screen while also providing some of the show’s funniest moments.
I still think it’s a shame that the character is no longer politically motivated, and I miss the detail about Uncle Ben having been cannibalized by Vulture after his social activism ruffled too many feathers, but at least this time our protagonist actually feels like someone who could have been written by Raymond Chandler if he were a fan of Superheroes.
In fact, the writers nailed the snappy back-and-forth that Noir authors like Dashiel Hammett used to refer to as the “riposte”, and it’s fun to see supervillains being depicted as horrific movie monsters instead of specialized henchmen – with The Spider feeling like just as much of a Freak Show attraction as the rest of them. Purists might be put off by the lack of reverence for the source material, but I think that’s a small price to pay when even the show’s most clichéd moments intentionally harken back to the golden age of Hollywood.
That’s why I’d argue that Amazon’s Spider-Noir isn’t really an adaptation, but rather an equally valid take on the same premise that inspired Marvel back in 2009. And in a world filled with recycled storylines that only serve to advertise future releases, I’d rather have two completely different visions of the same character than a straight-up retelling of the same handful of ideas.
At the end of the day, there’s enough space inside this comic fan’s heart for both man-eating Vultures and a Cronenberg-inspired Man-Spider. And if you’re also a fan of nostalgic creature features with comic book flair, I’d highly recommend this street-level superhero story with a spooky twist.
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