While reflecting on an entire year’s worth of horror movies may sound like a tremendous chore, there’s no better feeling than reliving some of your favorite cinematic moments after the dust has settled and no more films remain unreleased. Sure, sifting through the worst of the worst may be not be an enviable task – which I did for my Worst Horror Movies Of 2014 feature already – but my “Best Of” work is where the movie Gods show their mercy. This is my exploration of the best horror had to offer this year, and my chance to tip my hat towards those horror films that remind me why a genre full of murder, mayhem, and spooky horrors provides the highest highs that Hollywood can provide.
Before I get to the main list, I do want to give a few shout-outs to those films that deserve an honorable mention, even if they aren’t in my top thirteen. Movies like Exists and Extraterrestrial achieved success through found footage formatting that dealt with their respective creatures without holding anything back, where Willow Creek and The Houses October Built did so by dialling the found footage method down with a little more realism.
Nurse 3D is another 2014 surprise about a psychotic medical assistant who moonlights as a killer, showcasing Paz De La Huerta’s sexy black-widow side, which is almost as surprising as my love for Almost Human given how alien flicks aren’t exactly my favorite. Kudos to The Den and The Banshee Chapter for sufficiently creeping me out as well, rounding out the films that barely missed a numbered ranking from yours truly.
This year didn’t really find a tremendous amount of scares thanks to the failure of movies like Annabelle and Ouija, but 2014 was an absolute BLAST as far as horror comedies are concerned. Between a slasher musical, the latest Troma release, an anthology horror sequel, and Kevin Smith’s podcast-turned-movie, silliness reigned supreme as far as horror was concerned. Oh, and I know what most of you are going to say after scrolling through, so I’ll confess this now – The Babadook is not mentioned on this list at all. If you’d like to get your ranting out of the way now, please feel free. I already know it’s coming.
Alright, let’s get to the main event. It’s time to start discussing the 13 best horror movies of 2014!
