Enough talk about bad movies. Let’s relish in the good. Halloween is almost here in this year of 2020 when everything is a mess. Why not have some fun with some of the more creative horror you can find recently? Here are a few of my recent favorites.
This is really like nothing I’ve seen – not because of anything it does, but because of what it omits. It’s a horror anthology film like others you’ve seen (Trick ‘R’ Treat, Tales of Halloween, etc), and it references old horror films gratuitously. But unlike a lot of these things, it focuses only on two characters just acting out their stories in a snowy, stormy, candle-lit cabin at night. No cutaways, no other actors. No adornments. It’s just pure storytelling. The movie functions as a love-letter to horror storytelling and to the old classics stretching back decades, digging deep into what worked and what’s been done and why it’s all so captivating. And the way the two leads play off one another is great, with wonderful dialogue. But it also goes the other way too, and works in some modern gender politics and themes. If you’re dead-set against thinking about any of those things, or if anything related to those themes just sounds like woke-scold feminist virtue signaling or whatever the fuck, go ahead and skip this movie. Your loss. More for the rest of us. This made me think and I love watching it do its own absurd thing.
This was made during the pandemic, and is a story pretty simple, one you’ve heard before – some people do a séance, it goes wrong. Only this time it’s done over Zoom and with all the usual things that come with that mess. It’s mostly all women and they’re all good at what is needed for this movie. There’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but refreshingly, the movie cuts out the bullshit and the fat. No cliches or dumb unnecessary parts. Just a solid ghost story. What I appreciated about this is the slapdash, spontaneous creativity. It was made during this awful pandemic. Human creativity shone through the worst of it and made something enjoyable of it. I dig it.
Two gay guys in the 1990s move to a mysterious small town where nothing is as it seems. This is a very traditional sort of psychological horror, but we haven’t seen much like it in a few years now. There’s a real sense of darkness and paranoia to this that just works. It’s fun to watch and eerie because you get in the main dude’s head. I’m glad to see more inclusivity in horror movies. Plus the climax is cool as hell. This is just all-around solid.
Outrageous, vivacious and bombastic, this Richard Stanley comeback and Lovecraft adaptation is entertaining all the way through. Eschewing the idea that all horror films have to look dark and grungy, this is bright and alien - almost obtrusively so. With some climate change references, it's timely enough. But the main draw is the insane roller-coaster ride of the plot and pacing, and the nightmareish way it escalates. This is a funhouse of gleefully occult, indescribable horrors. Check it out.
A very different sort of horror film, about the family of this aging, disgraced Guatemalan dictator dealing with the fallout of his criminal trial. This is about politics and the larger implications of generational violence. It's artful, quiet and subtle. For long stretches it doesn't even seem to be a horror movie, so much as a drama. I think this is inscrutable, poignant and layered stuff.
Find all of the previous movies listed on: Shudder
Back in 2011 or so the first V/H/S movie seemed really kick ass, compared to some other shit coming out then. It had a certain fun, schlocky, dark factor to it. This is a whole movie version of the first story from that first movie, about a bunch of guys at a bachelor party who run afoul of this demon chick. It’s fun because it’s just a back to basics horror story. It’s not artsy like some things now, and the writing is still solid no matter what you like. There are a few weird elements – I was surprised to see a psychic element to some of the characters. But that’s cool because overall the whole thing doesn’t rely on tropes too much. Just macabre, creative horror. Go see it.
Find it on: Netflix