Top 5 Horror Films of 2015
The Hallow – This was hands-down our favorite for the year. The tense atmosphere, the practical effects, the body horror treatments, the acting, the story, the intrigue…it nailed it on all fronts, and it did it all without becoming a self-aware laugh/gasp fest, which has become the norm in the horror genre of late. It was a great horror film, but also a well-made film in general. You’d have to be a fan of horror to enjoy it, likely, given the amount of scares, but the production value was superb and it deserves this spot.
The Final Girls – Taking home the horror parody trophy this year is The Final Girls. Its perfectly-delivered meta-horror was some of the best since Cabin in the Woods, with a clever Friday the 13th meets Last Action Hero approach. The comedy, drama, and horror balance established a highly entertaining movie from beginning to end.
Krampus – For its creature design, effects, and teetering horror and humor, Krampus makes the list. It wasn’t, honestly, the best film of the year, but its entertainment value is hard to match and its reasonable success has perhaps kick-started a vehicle for similar films in the future, which would make this film a blessing in disguise for the horror fan.
The Visit – Shyamalan has been on a downward spiral for the better part of a decade. All of his movies seem to be panned and flop hard in the box office, to the point that you are surprised studios continue to give him an opportunity. But with The Visit, Shyamalan turned it around, giving us a found footage film with heart, humor, and horror in one of the more balanced films we saw all year. It was a fun movie, which is more than we can say for a lot of the director’s work of late.
We Are Still Here – This film, in our opinion, wins out over other modern day 70’s horror homage films like It Follows because it took the atmosphere and collective concepts and turned them into a brutal, visceral mess of awesome. Personally, the “evil” spirits in this film were not all that frightening or particularly fresh, but their violent handling of their victims certainly leaves an impact, that, along with the old fashioned filmmaking and oft-humorous delivery of the actors, makes it difficult to kick out.
Honorable Mentions: Insidious: Chapter 3, He Never Died, Crimson Peak.
Movies we wished we’d seen this year that most certainly would have made a run for the list: The Witch, Bone Tomahawk, Goodnight Mommy.
On Monday, we’ll post our Bottom 5 Horror Films of 2015. Here's to a big horror year in 2016!