Honorable Mentions
One of the hardest parts of crafting lists is killing all your darlings. Thirteen picks simply aren’t enough. A few movies I fell in love with stood there on the outside looking in, begging to be included. So much time was spent rationalizing the inclusion of a few more films, or switching positions just to bump an unexpectedly savage shark film (for example). Alas, a final order had to be made, but I still want to recognize slots 14 – 20, or, the close-enough-to-taste-it crew.
20) The Autopsy Of Jane Doe (dir. André Øvredal) – A mysterious corpse ends up evoking a shady, moody haunted morgue ride for Emile Hirsch and Brian Cox to try and escape.
19) The Monster (dir. Bryan Bertino) – Zoe Kazan fights a monster in order to protect her daughter, redeeming her motherly faults in a fit of protective mama-bear instincts.
18) Lights Out (dir. David F. Sandberg) – A rare mainstream horror film that earns its scares, and builds appropriately off David F. Sandberg’s short of the same name/theme.
17) Darling (dir. Mickey Keating) – Lauren Ashley Carter utilizes her dagger-like stare in this Hitchcockian Polanski homage from Mickey Keating.
16) Don’t Breathe (dir. Fede Alvarez) – Fede Alvarez strangles you with non-stop tension thanks to his blind villain, played furiously by Stephen Lang.
15) Southbound (dir. Roxanne Benjamin/David Bruckner/Patrick Horvath/Radio Silence) – Open-road thrills power this hitchhikin’ anthology film that features winning segments from Roxanne Benjamin, Radio Silence and David Bruckner.
14) The Shallows (dir. Jaume Collet-Serra) – A scene-owning Blake Lively (and her seagull companion!) faces off against a determined CGI shark with surprisingly terrifying results.
The Women Of 2016 Horror – The ladies of 2016 horror deserve a mountain-top proclamation this year. So many feminine characters stood their genre ground, stealing their respective shows ten times over. Everyone has been talking about Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) and Zoe Kazan (The Monster), but so many more names deserve mentioning.
Blake Lively’s shark standoff in The Shallows showcases a furious fighter, Samantha Robinson seduces her way through hypnotizing 60s psychedelics in The Love Witch, Mackenzie Davis and Caitlin FitzGerald both reflect on gender oppression in Always Shine – this was a big year for women on screen (and behind, as Sophia Takal notches a directing credit for Always Shine, and Anna Biller does the same for The Love Witch).
Kika Magalhaes in The Eyes Of My Mother, Angela Trimbur in Trash Fire, Ashley Bell in Carnage Park, Jane Levy in Don’t Breathe, Lauren Ashely Carter in Darling, Barbara Crampton in Sun Choke/Beyond The Gates, Narges Rashidi in Under The Shadow – the list goes on. Women were treated as more than naked slasher victims only good for jigging their breasts, given meaningful – sometimes murderous – meaty roles worth development and investment. Let’s hope 2017 only preaches more victories for more lovely ladies.
The Most Eye-Catching Posters of 2016 Horror – What’s the point of writing about these when visuals do all the work?
And now, for what you’ve all been waiting for…