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Please Don’t Scream, You’re So Beautiful: The 14 Best Horror Movies Of 2013

Wow, what a truly inspiring year. Why, you ask? Simple - 2013 was the best year for horror I've seen since starting my love for the genre back in college. Each year has its highs and lows, don't get me wrong, and even though there were some insultingly bad horror movies forced upon us this year (which I already discussed in my 13 Worst Horror Movies Of 2013 article), the good mightily outweighed these forgettable blemishes. Count Dracula turning into a Praying Mantis? Last, last exorcisms? Sympathetic Leatherface? Forget all that malarky because 2013 was full of top-notch remakes, energized reboots, worthy sequels, ambitious independent winners, and horror comedies that had us laughing just as much as we were screaming. As a horror fan, this has been a year for the ages - and also a year that gave me a pretty empty wallet.

2) The Conjuring

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I guarantee I’m the only one who has James Wan on their best of the best roundup for 2013 two times, but I’m the bastard crazy enough to do it! Don’t misinterpret the placement of that statement either – The Conjuring is the Wan film that most horror fans have in their top 10, not Insidious: Chapter 2. The latter is the film most people hated, with The Conjuring being one of the most universally loved horror movies of the year. James Wan, the master of atmospheric horror, embraces Ed and Lorraine Warren’s most “active case” with a careful eye for detail and a dark fairy tale tone, creating a horror film so successful it broke horror-based box office records and absolutely blew away all different types of audiences. Sure, there are a confusing number of James Wan haters out there (WHO I’LL CHALLENGE ONE BY ONE TO HELL IN A CELL MATCHES), and they’re going to tell you how boring Wan’s films are – but just tune them out. No matter what the director does, it won’t be good enough for them. As stated many times already – “haters gonna hate.”

The Conjuring is a special kind of creepy that crawls under your skin, inches up your spine, and leaves you uncomfortably irked by keeping you consistently on-edge. It’s a bit of horror evilness that has so much fun scaring the willies out of you, but does so through tight storytelling, solid acting, and proper atmospheric build-up that creates a sense of doom and gloom – not cheap scares, a limitless body count, and overused clichés. The Conjuring will have you jumping because every scene embodies this vibe that says, “Hey, you should be scared –  trust me.” Well, we are, which my close friend can attest to after missing most of the movie in theaters, using every excuse possible to look away from the screen.

Wan’s set design, attention to detail, and eye for horror elevate The Conjuring above being a spectacular paranormal horror movie, challenging some of the best titles of the year for cinematic supremacy. Credit Chad and Carey Hayes for writing a killer script, but praise James Wan for adapting it with every ounce of vibrant, radiant, horrifying life.