Ten of the year’s scariest movies to chill, thrill, and move you December 31, 2022
2022 was a banner year for the horror genre. From flying saucers to murderous farm girls, the year proved to be a treasure trove of stylish and shocking thrills. Though we saw the return of familiar icons like Leatherface, Ghostface and Michael Myers, the year was also rife with wholly new and uniquely disturbing stories. This list offers a look into some of the best of both. “The House”IMDb The first entry on our list is an unorthodox one. “The House” is a chilling anthology horror film in three parts, all rendered in beautiful stop-motion animation. All three stories are centered around the titular house, from capturing its earliest inhabitants to a post-apocalyptic wasteland ravaged by flooding. The first of the stories is closest to a traditional haunted house story. It features two children who suspect foul play from the mysteriously wealthy architect who invited their impoverished family to move into the luxurious estate. The second segment involves a bug infestation in the house, featuring one of the most stomach-churning sequences I’ve seen. The final story is more somber in tone, following the house’s latest landlord struggling to maintain order amidst the apocalypse. Quietly released on Netflix early this year, “The House” is a beautifully-made collection of unsettling stories, each oozing with their own eerie atmosphere.
Director Ti West’s almost immediate follow-up to his film “X,” also released this year, delivers on the thrills you’d expect from a psychological thriller, all with a sickly humorous atmosphere. “Pearl” follows the titular lonely farm girl, played by Mia Goth, as she descends further into her own fascination with murder and stardom. Goth’s performance has already garnered her a cult following online, and rightfully so. Her magnetic presence and West’s classic Hollywood stylization makes this one of the most entertaining horror films of the year.
The “Hellraiser” franchise is no stranger to schlock, but this year’s entry is something truly special. Director David Bruckner’s reboot of the iconic property reinvigorates the concept with beautifully graphic creature designs and layered, likable characters. It’s not often that we get a horror movie that can bring intense gore and honest pathos in the same scene, and “Hellraiser” does it. Jamie Clayton’s cold, intimidating portrayal of Pinhead is worth the price of admission alone
One of the less talked-about horror films this year, “Resurrection” is an incredibly tightly-wound film. Starring the incredible Rebecca Hall, the film follows a successful businesswoman and mother named Margaret whose life is turned upside down when a mysterious man from her past (Tim Roth) shows up without warning. This is one of those horror films that doesn’t even feel like a horror film for its first few scenes. Roth enters the film and immediately changes the temperature of the story. His subtle manipulations bend Margaret’s mind to reconsider her entire past and fall deeper and deeper into paranoia and madness. Hall gives a heartbreaking monologue halfway through the film that beautifully reflects the film’s themes of devotion, parenthood, and the search for control of one’s life. It’s a uniquely cinematic story that must be seen to be believed
“Mad God” is less of a traditional horror movie and more of a nightmarish fever dream. The film was directed by Phil Tippett, one of the visual effects masters behind “Star Wars,” “RoboCop” and “Jurassic Park.” The whole film was made in go-motion animation, with countless bizarre monsters and environments rendered in gruesome detail. There is no central story to the film, but the journey through the world of “Mad God” is enough to keep anyone enraptured. Decades of conceptualization and animation went into the film, and you can see the work on every frame. There is an incredible amount of detail that will make you wonder about the backstory of every gooey monster and setting.
0 Comments