We still have half a year in front of us before the six falls to be replaced by the seven and this year’s calendars become meaningless. And it’s been a rather interesting year for the genre. We’ve seen a handful of amazing films, and we’ve seen a steady stream of garbage flow down the proverbial pipeline, thicker than the streams of the last few years past.
When all is said and done, it should be pointed out that we’ve gotten some good horror to take in already. If the second half of this year proves as rewarding as the first, 2016 could go down in history as one of horror’s finest.
Dig on 12 of our picks for early “Best of the Year” candidates.
Hush
A home invasion with a few surprises, Mike Flanagan’s Hush is a masterful nod to John Carpenter’s Halloween. It’s a comfy setting turned on its head by an unexpected attack from an unknown intruder. To make matters even more tense and compelling (simultaneously, no less), the film’s protagonist is at a potentially enormous disadvantage: She’s deaf. This is a super creepy affair with some brilliant technical decisions behind the camera and inside the editing room. Hush is no doubt one of the year’s best.
Lights Out
One of the single best examples of simple and conventional horror films to date! Lights Out fires on all cylinders and makes your trip to the theater a memorable one. If you’re looking for one good reason to be afraid of the dark this year, I can assure you this is it!
Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla
Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla (didn’t hit US soil until earlier this year, though it was initially released in Australia in 2014) is one deeply disturbing flick that features what I would consider a top five performance. Not top five relative to the genre, or relative to this year, I mean top five, all-time greatest performances. Glenn Maynard’s work is awe-inspiring, and although the story is interesting, heartbreaking, and humorous, it’s all about Maynard. It’s his show, and he doesn’t disappoint. A new personal favorite, Maynard and Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla will no doubt earn placement on a great deal of fan lists.
Baskin
What in the twisted fuck did I just see?! That was my initial response when Baskin’s final credits began to roll. This is a trippy, trippy feature that focuses on some evil sacrificial rituals and seems to basically present humans with a look at the opened door of Hell and the freaks that loiter there. It’s nutso, to the fullest, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t very engaging. Enjoy watching a small group of Turkish lawmen tortured in horrifying ways before the life source dries up; you might not see something like this again in your lifetime.
The House on Pine Street
If you’re big on haunted house flicks, you’ve got to see Aaron and Austin Keeling’s wildly unnerving tale. There isn’t much here in the way of originality, but the execution is extremely crisp and the scares are palpable and rewarding, even if not abundant by today’s standard. This flick feels as though it crawled straight out of the 1970s, and that vibe is legitimately charming in this case. I don’t have specific tallies for every film on this list, but this is no doubt one of the cheaper productions, and it sits high atop the list for annual greats.
Fare
This one DEFINITELY won’t work for all fans. It’s slow, it’s very measured, and it’s all about character, character, character. It’s just a unique experience that could have easily gone wrong. It didn’t. If you’re big on character exploration, tense moments, cramped confines, and finales you never in a million years saw coming, you’re probably going to love this inspired low-budget affair. It’s a must-own for me and a great example of getting a whole lot out of virtually nothing.
The Funhouse Massacre
An awesome nod to insane B-movies of the 80s, The Funhouse Massacre isn’t to be taken too seriously… and it knows it. The flick is really just about relaxing, watching with a few beers, and feeling like you’ve been transported back in time a few decades. It looks old school, and that seems to be just the look that director Andy Powers sought after. Powers has a fine sense of humor and brings plenty of that to the set with him, and apparently it’s infectious. The Funhouse Massacre may be goofy, but it’s Evil Dead goofy, not The Fog remake goofy.
The Conjuring 2
The Conjuring 2 was pretty awesome for a few different focal reasons. One, it far surpassed my expectations, which I suppose were a bit low. Two, it looks and feels like a James Wan production. He’s got a certain way with the camera that’s beginning to feel familiar, and that’s the sign of a filmmaker conscious of his craft and looking to leave a mark on cinema. And my third reason really kind of blends into my second, as this one features excellent technical camera work, a lot of slow-build tension, and a fair dose of in your face freak out moments. A surprisingly good sequel and an impressive mashup of emotional triggers.
The Invitation
Oh man, this flick was brilliant. The tension, the paranoia, the wicked, wicked good performance from Logan Marshall-Green. Just a REALLY awesome, well assembled flick. The Invitation could certainly be considered a thriller as opposed to a horror film, and it certainly sprouted up from nowhere with little time to be pushed as a horror film, but I’d argue that the final act puts the nails exactly where they should be in that coffin. This is a standout psychological horror film, and that’s all there is to it.
10 Cloverfield Lane
I’m not going to delve too deeply into this one for fear of uncorking a couple of spoilers. The trick this one has up the sleeve is the kind of trick you don’t want to know the secret to. But know this: John Goodman is just as amazing as he’s ever been, and he’s far more intense in this film than a great deal of the others we’ve seen in the past. It’s another one that puts the characters in front of the action – something of a theme in 2016, and I’m good with that – which generates an atypical but enjoyable character dynamic that we don’t often see in genre fare.
The Witch
The greatest thing about The Witch is the surprise and unpredictability of it all. Very few could have predicted the details of this particular story, and that earns major points in my mind. Without divulging details that will take quite a bit of the steam from the film, I will say that for a period piece shot in an almost arthouse manner, the surprise really doesn’t feel at all out of place, which it certainly could have had this film been shot in more traditional fashion. It’s a good piece of work if you’re fine with slower paced pictures.
Green Room
Once Green Room gets moving, it doesn’t look back, and it shows no mercy whatsoever. Often very brutal, gifting viewers the kind of special effects that’ll leave a stomach spinning, Green Room mixes a strong blend of aggression and character examination. We’re able to invest in more than a single personality here, and knowing their fates are all likely grim, that hits the viewer a little harder. We want the good guy to win, not die. Look into this one if you’re after something a little bit different (it reminded me quite a bit of Asylum Blackout, though they’re two very clearly different films) from the over-produced craziness Hollywood loves to shoot our way.