8) The Void (2016)
These days, 80’s style body horror shockers like The Thing are few and far between. Luckily, newish Canadian writer-directors Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie channel their inner John Carpenter in 2016’s criminally underrated The Void, which delicately mixes in some healthy dollops of twisted Hellraiser writing and potent Silent Hill imagery for good measure, too.
Nefarious cults, hellish abominations, batshit crazy doctors and secretive private investigators take centre stage in this unsettling Lovecraftian tale of otherworldly terror and skin-crawling dread. Boasting one of the most eye-catching posters ever (I mean, look at it), and some of the most jaw-droppingly awesome practical visual effects this side of the millennium, The Void stands out as an overlooked, undervalued piece of horror filmmaking that cements the Canadian filmmakers as ones to watch for the future.
7) Gerald’s Game (2017)
Stephen King adaptations very much remain the du jour with both 1922 and It making waves in horror aficionado’s imaginations this year alone. Still, newly fangled Netflix feature Gerald’s Game is yet another triumph to add to the list for the uber popular author, as this is a marvelously adapted survival horror thriller, by American director Mike Flanagan, that hides a taut, psychological bite.
A couple’s romantic getaway is brought to a screeching halt when a husband (Bruce Greenwood) has an impromptu heart attack atop his restrained lover (Carla Gugino) during some raunchy sexy time. Alone, handcuffed to the bed in an isolated holiday home with her dead husband lying nearby, her mind begins to slowly unravel and soon succumbs to the dark voices hidden within the depths of her subconscious.
With terrific central performances from Gugino and Greenwood, some distinctly nuanced characterization, along with a brutal, grizzly finale, this is a suspenseful survival horror flick with a beating heart and a decent twist to boot.
