Editorials
My 5 Most Anticipated Horror Movies Of 2014!!
I didn’t realize what a great year for horror this was until I was compiling my “best of” list for this year (look for that next week). Back in 2012 I don’t even think I had enough movies I liked enough to make a list that was more than eight entries long, but this year I have a ton of stuff on there and it was a real battle to decide what made the cut and what would fall into my runner-up column.
So I’m optimistic that 2014 will carry some or that momentum and be a great year in its own right, and I kind of wanted to share that optimism (however fleeting) with you guys today. I’m leaving off Cheap Thrills because I’ve already seen it, but that should definitely be on your calendar if you haven’t. It’s fantastic.
I’m aware that the list trends a bit mainstream, but the fact of the matter is the tiny indies who may up really knocking me out next year simply don’t have the PR machine rolling yet. The Maniac remake came out of nowhere this year (I mean, I was aware it was being made but assumed it was doing to suck – it didn’t) so there’s a strong chance something similar will happen in the next 12 months.
With that in mind, head below for my 5 Most Anticipated Horror Movies Of 2014!!!.
Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett took a huge stylistic and tonal turn from the underrated A Horrible Way To Die with You’re Next. While some filmmakers are able to keep revisiting similar approaches and themes from different angles, I always appreciate ones like the Coen Brothers that reinvent themselves each time out. Obviously Wingard and Barrett haven’t hit those heights yet, but it’s a nice thing these days to be excited about somebody’s work because you know it won’t be what you’re expecting. I have no idea what to make of The Guest aside from the fact that Dan Stevens seems to have pretty much transformed after that final season of “Downton Abbey.” And that’s the way I like it.
A lot of folks I know love this movie, and a lot of them don’t. Still, I always thought Roth’s directing game was on an upward trajectory (Hostel 2 being better than the first etc…) before he took a break to focus on acting and producing. I’m excited that he’s back in the fold, even if cannibal movies aren’t really my favorite sub-genre. Here’s hoping he makes it fun.
Instead of fighting with you guys about this in the comments I’ll acknowledge that The Raid 2 isn’t “technically horror.” So what? It’s guaranteed to have more carnage than practically any other genre film this year. At 148 minutes after over 100 days of shooting, I’m expecting nothing else than utter elation when I finally see what Gareth Evans has been sweating out in Indonesia over the past 12 months.
I’m intrigued by the concept of this film, which takes place in a world where Charles Pierce’s original 1976 film exists and is tied into the narrative of its own remake. It could be good, it could be awful. This also is the first collaboration between producers Jason Blum and Ryan Murphy, which makes me even more curious. I love Murphy’s go for broke attitude with “American Horror Story” even though I’m pretty sure that approach is responsible for the current season’s slow trajectory from a stellar and insane pilot to stallsville. But focussing his brand of insanity (which I hear is quite present in this film) into a concise 90 minute movie has me excited.
I know next to nothing about Faults except that I’m a fan of director Riley Stearns’ shorts “The Cub” and “Magnificat”. They’re completely different from each other and they’re both great for entirely different reasons. I’ve heard good things about the script and I’m excited to see Mary Elizabeth Winstead in another starring role after crushing it in Smashed.
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.
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