2022 saw a plethora of good horror movies for us to sink our teeth in, including some real low budget gems.
If you like gore, there's plenty to choose from.
The Sadness is a rip roaring South Korean plague film that pulls no punches at all and the gore is exquisite and unrelenting.
Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future is a body horror film that is simply a Cronenburg.
Terrifier 2 is a splatter fest beyond compare.
Here are a couple of low budget films caught my eye and are worth a viewing.
When I Consume You -- Hellbender -- Deadstream did a lot with a little and were very clever indeed.
Now for my top picks. (I was unable to see Smile for this review :-()
I numbered them, but you're allowed to move them around and add your own favorites from 2022.
10) Fresh
Is there no place to find a date anymore?
Noa believes she's found the right guy.
Oh, well.
9) Hatching
A mother's attempt to craft the online perfect house, perfect, family and perfect gymnast’s daughter creates something altogether different. Mommie Dearest has a surprise coming her way.
8) Piggy
An overweight teen who works in the family butcher shop gets bullied by her peers and by someone she thought was a friend. You may think it's a typical revenge movie from the poster, but it is anything but. Laura Galán's performance was magnificent.
What happens when preteens discover they have preternatural powers? Some confusion, fun and tragedy.
What kid isn't fascinated by the dead things they find in their neighborhoods? Only this time it many not be an animal.
6) Scream
Yeah, I know another sequel, but it's updated to Generation Z, with a great showing from the original cast members as well.
It's really, really good.
5) Nope
Thank you, Oh lord, for Jordan Peele.
The award winning comedian, writer and director does it again with this film although it's not quite as focused as his award winning Get Out.
The flick touches on a plethora of issues so it took its time to really kick in, but the last 55 minutes or so was a thrilling ride.
It will keep your head out of the clouds.
4) Prey
Finally a prequel that's worthy of its predecessor. Prey goes back in time to North America in the 1600's where the Predator makes its first contact with humans.
A young woman fights for the chance to be true hunter within her Indian tribe. She is dismissed as a fool until she is not. The movie demonstrates who are the hunter's, who is being hunted, and and everything in between.
The cinematography was so breathtaking I wish I saw it on the big screen.
3) Pearl
I will let Martin Scorsese give his review:
“Ti West’s movies have a kind of energy that is so rare these days, powered by a pure, undiluted love for cinema,” Scorsese said. “You feel it in every frame. A prequel to ‘X’ made in a diametrically opposite cinematic register (think ’50s Scope color melodramas), ‘Pearl’ makes for a wild, mesmerizing, deeply — and I mean deeply — disturbing 102 minutes.
West and his muse and creative partner Mia Goth really know how to toy with their audience… before they plunge the knife into our chests and start twisting.”
Scorsese added, “I was enthralled, then disturbed, then so unsettled that I had trouble getting to sleep. But I couldn’t stop watching.”
Nuff' said.
2) Barbarian
Barbarian is the type of movie that creeps you out and then goes in a completely different direction and then creeps you out some more.
A friend of mine told me he turned it off when Tess hears a noise coming from the basement and looks down a flight of stairs. He said, "hell, no," and shut the movie off.
It's scary as hell. And no, Bill Skarsgård does not play a clown, but he's very effective nonetheless.
This year C&L's best horror movie is:
1) "X"
The is the first movie of Ti West's new trilogy. and the sequel to "Pearl," To say West comes out swinging is an understatement. It is a throwback to the 70's slasher flicks but has a much deeper and darker fascination with religion, sexuality, aging, and loneliness.
Ti is a magician behind camera and each scene builds on itself until it explodes.
Mia Goth is equally impressive in both films as an actor and West's collaborator.
I'm not a big fan of gore, torture porn and body horror, unless it's earned within the story.
It's earned in spades.
