Maxxxine: A Fitting Finale to Ti West’s X Trilogy

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If anyone says that mainstream horror movies are all remakes, requels, prequels, and reboots, then please point them in the direction of Ti West’s X trilogy, which began with 2022’s X, followed by the prequel Pearl, and now the finale, Maxxxine, all starring Mia Goth in one banger of a performance after another. West manages to stick the landing and conclude the trilogy well, all while steeping the final entry in 1980s Hollywood, complete with cocaine and neon colors.

Comparing the trilogy’s entries really isn’t fair because each and every one stands on its own, and each is stylistically different. X is a bloody romp and tribute to 1970s grindhouse, while also serving as a commentary on voyeurism and audience. Pearl is a tragic character study and technicolor nightmare that has plenty of nods to the Wizard of Oz. Maxxxine, meanwhile, is a nod to the 1980s, video rental stores, and slashers, specifically Giallos.

Maxxxine opens years after the conclusion of X, and though you really don’t need to see the other films to make sense of the final entry, it’s beneficial to give X another watch because so much of the film calls back to that first entry. Set in 1985, the third entry finds Maxine Minx (Goth) in Hollywood. After carving out a very successful career for herself as a porn star, she wants to make the shift to more mainstream movies. It turns out that she lands a starring role in a horror movie that’s a sequel to a B movie called The Puritan, helmed by the very serious and demanding director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki). The filmmaker demands that Maxine get her head in the game and be willing to give her all for the film. Alongside the bloodshed, Bender wants to send a powerful message into the world, using the horror genre to do so. Some of the interactions between Maxine and the director are some of my favorite moments in the film, commentaries about art and the horror genre generally, as well as the difficulty of working with the mainstream studios, which too often stifle truly creative voices that go against the status quo.

The film set is besieged by Satanic Panic protestors who believe that everything from heavy metal to genre movies are the work of the devil. Meanwhile, there’s a killer on the loose called the Night Stalker who torments Maxine for what transpired in X, and he continually picks off young women who worked with the wannabe starlet in the porn industry. In fact, the black-gloved killer hires a private investigator, played by Kevin Bacon, to track Maxine down. Much of the film plays out like a murder mystery, though there are some gnarly and bloody kills that should satisfy horror hounds, though this film doesn’t have the grindhouse elements of X. It’s much tamer by comparison and more of a drama, too.

Yes, this film deals with Hollywood and Maxine’s aspirations as an actress, and like the other entries, it’s very much a love letter to filmmaking in general. It’s also about the weight of a character’s actions. As Bacon’s character warns Maxine, the past is about to catch up with her. She’s haunted by it, and she can’t outrun it. She has to learn to confront it. If she doesn’t do that, then her career and friends will suffer. This is a much more vulnerable Maxine compared to the first entry, again showing Goth’s versality as an actress. She’s rattled by the murders and notes and video tapes the killer leaves for her.

All of Ti West’s films are stylish, and Maxxxine is no different. This film is drenched in pastel and neon colors. The characters, including Maxine, have big hair and 80s outfits. This is a film, like the others, that really should be seen on a big screen, especially for some of the set designs, costumes, and Hollywood studio lots. There’s even a nod to the Bates Motel, again another reference to the fact the past always catches up with the present. It’s inescabale.

While I’m hesitant to say that Maxxxine is as good as Pearl or X, it’s a fitting conclusion to West’s trilogy. Goth’s character comes full circle and I can’t see any other way that this could have ended. Overall, West has made an outstanding horror trilogy that’s also very much his love letter to the process of filmmaking itself and different eras of Holllywood.

Maxxxine opens in theaters on Friday, July 5.

Thoughts on the Nosferatu trailer (and why I’m excited)

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Let me preface this post by stating if you want a more detailed analysis of the Nosferatu trailer from me, then read the piece I wrote a few days ago over at 1428 Elm. I did a pretty comprehensive breakdown of the trailer, including the characters, the comparisons to Bram Stoker’s text, and comparisons to the original film. I’m using this post to talk about why I have a lot of faith in Robert Eggers’ take on Nosferatu and why he may be the only contemporary genre director who can handle the monumental task of remaking this film, like Werner Herzog did in 1979.

I’ll also state that I have a deep love of F.W. Murnau’s original 1922 film, and I’ve written about it and presented on it more than a few times. In fact, every fall, when I teach my Horror Literature and Film class, the very first film we watch is Nosferatu, as an introduction to German Expressionism and the foundations of the genre. It’s a heck of a lot of fun discussing that movie with the class. Many students, even the horror hounds, haven’t seen it before, at least not in full.

I’m hard-pressed to think of a director better suited to remake this classic than Eggers. His entire body of work has been period pieces, starting with The Witch, then The Lighthouse, and lastly, The Northman. He likes period pieces, and it’s clear from the trailer he’s sticking with the Victorian era for this remake. Not only that, but he’s clearly influenced by German Expressionism. This is most evident in The Lighthouse, a film set in 1905 and shot in black and white, very much reliant on light and shadow and strange camera angles, like Murnau’s work. Nosferatu has been Eggers’ dream project for years, and if you watch The Lighthouse specifically and even The Witch, to a lesser extent, it’s clear why.

The trailer, even if it’s about 90 seconds long, makes clear that Eggers is sticking to the general story of Stoker’s text and Murnau’s very loose adaptation of it. As I wrote in my piece for 1428 Elm, the trailer does a good job establishing the main characters, including Count Orlok’s prey. This includes Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter, Lily-Rose Deep as Ellen Hutter, Thomas’ wife who comes under Orlok’s attacks, and Emma Corrin as Anna Harding, likely Ellen’s best friend who stands in for the Lucy character in Stoker’s book. Willem Dafoe stars as the Van Helsing-type character.

There also a refrain that’s repeated, and it’s simple, but effective. “He is coming.” The trailer barely shows Bill Skarsgård in the make-up, but it does present Orlok as an apocalyptic threat to the New World, who will not only attack Thomas, Ellen, and Emma, but also unleash plague, famine, and death. We see the rats. We see the coffins carried through the streets of (London maybe? It’s hard to tell). He is coming indeed, and I have faith Eggers is going to make this Gothic film frightening, especially when you consider he told Empire magazine, “It’s a horror movie. It’s a Gothic horror movie. And I do think that there hasn’t been an old-school Gothic movie that’s actually scary in a while. And I think that the majority of audiences will find this one to be the case.”

Eggers’ movie, like the other Nosferatu films, appears to make the vampire predatory and scary again. It also aligns Orlok with predatory animals again, including the wolf. I’m all for it! There’s no director I can think of who better understands the source material or who’s been influenced by German Expressionism more than Eggers. The trailer is extremely promising, and I can’t wait for the film’s release on Christmas day. Until then, check out the original if you haven’t watched it yet. It’s public domain and free to stream online.

Possession (1981): A Perfect Marriage of the Personal & Political That Needs No Remake

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In my latest article for 1428 Elm, I explore why Possession is such a film born of its time, a response to Cold War geopolitics and Polish director Andrzej Żuławski‘s divorce from actress Malgorzata Braunek. As bonkers as the film is, and it truly, truly is, it’s a perfect marriage of the personal and political. Needless to say, when the Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Robert Pattinson plans to produce a remake of the cult film, with Smile director Parker Finn on board, I, along with others in the film community, were shocked.

How exactly do you remake Possession? How do you capture the personal anguish and emotional turmoil that Zulawski captured on screen, inspiring once-in-a-lifetime performances from a rather young Sam Neill as Mark and Isabelle Adjani as Anna? Zulawski has stated over the years that the dialogue in the film mirrored arguments he had with his ex-wife. This is why the film works so well as a metaphor for divorce. For Zulawski, this film was utterly personal, a way to process his own emotional pain. That’s a sort of muse that a remake would prove difficult to conjure.

Not only that, but Possession is a film that’s also a response to the Cold War. Mark works as a spy behind the Berlin Wall, which factors heavily into the film, increasing his paranoia and the division between he and Anna. It’s a perfect visual metaphor for the times, literally a country split in two, and Anna and Mark’s fractured relationship. There is no contemporary visual metaphor that would work as well. The wall factors heavily into the film, with spies constantly watching Mark’s every move.

Further, how do you top Adjani’s bewitching performance? It’s truly one for the ages, and I don’t just mean the wild subway scene, which has been referenced in several contemporary horror films, including The First Omen and Climax. Her performance earned her an award for Best Female Performance at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival. That sequence alone is one of the best body horror sequences in all of cinema, a potent metaphor for her character’s distress. These points don’t even address the film’s other wild elements, such as the doppelgangers and tentacle monster.

Parker Finn and Robert Pattinson are immensely talented. They have the funds and connections to make whatever films they want, including a remake. The original will still exist. Still, I’d rather see them channel their talents into a different project. Possession is a perfect marriage of the personal and political that seems impossible to replicate.

Currents in the Electric City: A Scranton Anthology & Upcoming Events

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A little less than two years ago, Joe Kraus, an English Professor at the University of Scranton, asked me to co-edit an anthology with him for Belt Publishing’s City Anthology Series on Scranton, my hometown. Yes, I was born and raised in North Scranton, and though I left it for college and stuck around in the Philly area for a while after, it’s my home turf. I’m really thrilled with this anthology, which officially releases on July 16! You can preorder a copy through the publisher’s website by clicking here.

The anthology, which features nearly 30 contributors, contains an honest and multi-faceted look at the city of Scranton, from its place in pop culture on shows like “The Office,” to its labor/coal mining history, to poems and essays about very specific neighborhoods. More than anything, this anthology documents Scranton’s place and history as a hardscrabble, blue-collar city to a place that’s clawed its way out of its coal mining past and continues to undergo major revitalization.

To celebrate the anthology, we’re having a kickoff event on Saturday, July 27 at 3 pm at the Albright Memorial Library in downtown Scranton. Contributors will read their pieces, and we’ll have copies of the book for sale. More events will be coming, but the launch on the July 27 is the first.

Speaking of literary events, on Saturday, June 22 at 7 pm at The Gathering Place in Clarks Summit, PA, I’m giving a poetry reading. I’ll be joined by novelist Barb Taylor, and following our featured readings, there will be an open mic. I’ll have copies of some of my books for sale, and Barb will have copies of her new novel, Rain Breaks No Bones. If you’re in the area, come on out, and bring a piece to read for the open mic!

It’s certainly shaping up to be a literary summer!

Celebrating Queer Horror During Pride

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Horror has a long, rich history of celebrating queerness. This dates back to its 19th Century foundation in Gothic literature, specifically the famous story of the friendship among Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron, all sexually fluid writers whose work, especially Mary Shelley’s, explores themes of Otherness. Meanwhile, her hubs, Percy, was an anarchist who advocated for the rights of the marginalized. Queerness extends to other Gothic writers, including Oscar Wilde, author of the Portrait of Dorian Gray. Wilde is an important figure because he was put on trial in the late 19th Century for “gross indecency,” after the details of his homosexual affair with a British aristocrat became public. Needless to say, this profoundly negatively impacted the writer’s career, but he was unashamed of who he was and his sexuality.

Queerness extends to horror’s earliest film adaptations, too, including Nosferatu by gay director F.W. Murnau, and some of the most famed early Universal movies, specifically those by openly gay director James Whale, including Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Old Dark House, and most notably, Bride of Frankenstein, a campy feature that includes many theater actors who worked with Whale.

While horror does have some problematic depictions of the LGBTQ community, such as Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs, and the “bury your gays” trope that became all too prevalent in slashers of the 1980s, the genre has become more and more inclusive, with recent examples being Freaky, Attachment, Let the Right One In, Spiral, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, and the haunting and mesmerizing I Saw the TV Glow, by non-binary director Jane Schoenbrun. These are just a few examples in an ever-growing canon.

Horror has and always will have a relationship to Otherness and by an extension queerness. In celebration of Pride Month and my love of horror, I wanted to share two lists I composed for 1428 Elm. The first is a list of classic queer horror movies, and the second is a list of more contemporary queer horror films.

Enjoy, and Happy Pride!

Why Horror Fans Should Support In a Violent Nature

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It pains me to say this, but we’re not getting a new Friday the 13th film anytime soon, even if there are plans to launch a “Jason universe,” which basically just means more merch and video games. Recently, series creator Sean S. Cunninham, who also directed the first film, went on record and said a new film isn’t happening in the near future. Most likely, it’s because the rights are so screwed up between different film companies. There was also a lengthy lawsuit between Cunningham and the OG screenwriter Victor Miller over franchise rights. In short, it’s all still a mess. Meanwhile, after Bryan Fuller pulled out of the “Crystal Lake” project, the TV series on Peacock now seems iffy at best. It’s been a frustrating ride for Jason fans, for sure.

Still, even if we won’t see Jason slice and dice Camp Crystal teens anytime soon, gore hounds have a reason to be excited. In a Violent Nature, written/directed by Chris Nash, slashes into theaters this Friday. I implore horror fans: GO see this movie. If you want to read a spoiler-free review of the film, check out my piece at Signal Horizon. I promise that I really didn’t spoil much of anything.

In a Violent Nature upends the slasher formula by showing everything from the POV of Johnny the killer. During the second half of this film, which features two of the gnarliest kills I’ve seen in a long time, this technique really, really works. I will admit that the pacing in the first half is a bit of a slog, with lots and lots of walking around in the woods. Still, In a Violent Nature does something remarkably different and it’s likely that future creatives will perfect what Nash attempts.

In a Violent Nature is probably the closest thing we’ll get to a new F13 film without it being a F13 film. It’s largely set in the woods and features a mad man picking off naive 20-somethings who step into his territory. Again, two of the kills especially are brutal and relentless. Those two sequences alone are worth the price of admission for horror fans. Though I had a screener for this, I plan to buy a ticket just to see how the audience reacts to a few of the grisly scenes.

It’s refreshing to see a slasher that’s not part of a long-running franchise. Do we really need another Scream entry, for instance? While In a Violent Nature didn’t work for me on all levels, I still very much enjoyed it and what the filmmaker tried to do. It’s important to support original horror instead of waiting around for familiar 80s slasher icons to return to the big screen. This film feels like a creative burst of energy that a well-worn subgenre desperately needs.

In a Violent Nature bleeds into theaters this Friday. It’ll hit Shudder at a later date. If you want more recommendations for summer slashers, check out my list of favorite summer slashers I wrote for 1428 Elm.

What X-Men 97 Gets Right about the Mutants

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Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a Marvel fan. I don’t particularly enjoy any of the movies or most of the flagship comics. However, there’s one exception to that. I’ve always, always been fond of The X-Men. This was largely in part due to the animated series that ran on Fox in the 90s. Over time, though, I also collected the comics, sticking to the flagship title, Uncanny X-Men. My collection contains some of Chris Claremont’s peak story arcs, including the Mutant Massacre, Inferno, the original Dark Phoenix saga, Gambit’s first appearance, and Jubilee’s first appearance. I continued collecting shortly after House of M and X-23’s two-part first appearance. Because of the many, many storylines that bled into other Marvel books, however, I stopped collecting.

Still, I’ll always have a soft spot for the mutants. They always felt like the more sophisticated Marvel heroes, an early 60s metaphor for Civil Rights, with Charles Xavier as Dr. King and Magneto fulfilling the more aggressive Malcolm X role. Though to be clear, Malcolm never committed one act of violence. We can’t say the same for Magneto. Malcolm’s “any means necessary” mantra though certainly served as inspiration for Magneto.

When I heard Disney Plus was rebooting the X-Men animated series and setting it in 97, I had no desire to watch it. However, it felt like I couldn’t avoid it. Continually, I heard about how good it was. My social media feeds soon populated with posts praising show. Eventually, slightly past the halfway point of the 10-episode relaunch, I tuned in. I’m glad I did. The new animated series is certainly better than a majority of the Fox X-Men movies. Showrunner/producer/head writer Beau DeMayo simply gets the mutants and cares about them. This is most obvious if you scroll his Twitter feed, which has been non-stop commentary about the show, including which comics to read before each episode.

DeMayo certainly understands the cast of characters he’s working with, which largely includes a team of Cyclops, who acts like a leader and gets the spotlight he deserves, Beast, Rogue, Gambit (until that tragic fifth episode), Jubilee, Jean Grey, Storm, Bishop, Wolverine. Morph, and eventually Nightcrawler, who finally gets a long-due spot on the team and more focus. The villains include Bastion, Madelyne Pryor, Mister Sinister, and somewhat, Magneto, who waves between hero and villain. Every single character, both good and bad, is given an ample story arc. Unlike the Fox movies, this isn’t a Wolverine-centric X-Men series with a cast of supporting characters. No, here, The X-Men work as a team. They use their powers to assist each other and to strengthen the team’s resolve. They’re a unit and a family.

Though this is an animated series, I’m hard-pressed to say this series is for kids. It goes to some damn dark places. Cyclops has sex and has a kid (Cable) with Jean Grey’s clone. Magneto continually references his pain and torment from the Holocaust. He gives a speech before an Interntional court talking about persecution against anyone deemed the Other. There’s more than one sexual reference, including Charles Xavier quipping to his space lover, Lilandra, that he’d be her pet anytime. Yep, this is a cartoon for adults, likely older millennials like me, edging or already in their 40s, who grew up with the first series.

If you haven’t seen the show yet, then avoid reading this next paragraph. The season’s fifth episode, tilted “Remember It,” doesn’t hold back. In fact, it features a genocide against mutants on the planet Genosha, meant to be a safe haven for mutants, free of violence, discrimination, and persecution. Giant, super sentinels attack and kill hundreds, if not thousands of mutants, including many long-term X-Men characters, including Banshee, Dazzler, and several of the Morlocks, such as Calisto and Leech. The last 10 minutes of this episode are more gut-wrenching and devastating than anything I’ve watched lately.

The biggest moment comes when Magneto, Gambit, and Rogue try to stop a Godzilla-like sentinel and save whatever mutants they still can. Magneto throws everything he has at it, including a freakin’ train, but it doesn’t work. Gambit and Rogue attack it, even though Magneto tries to stop them to save them. When Gambit launches himself into the air, he’s impaled and killed, right in front of his long-time lover, Rogue. He’s able to use his mutant ability to charge the metal and blow up the sentinel. He goes out a true hero, with his final words being, “The name’s Gambit. Remember it.” Just prior to that, the remaining Morlocks cling to Magneto for protection, but he can’t stop the robot’s blast that wipes them out, including Leech, who looks up at Magneto, moments before death, as Magneto says to him in German, “Do not be afraid.”

For several reasons, this is an incredibly gusty move on behalf of the writers. Gambit is one of the most popular X-Men, so to kill him off mid-season is bold. His death looms over the rest of the season and directly ties into Rogue’s character arc. At his funeral in New Orleans, she takes off to punish those she deems responsible. She decides Magneto is right and briefly joins him when he returns to the role of the villain after surviving the massacre on Genosha. Anger replaces her heroism and rightfully so. They tried it Charles Xavier’s way, to live in peaceful co-existence with humans, and it led to genocide. At the conclusion of that fifth episode, Rogue holds Gambit’s dead body in her arms, and as the credits roll, you hear her say, “I can’t feel you, Sugar.” OOOF!

It’s unlikely the events of “Remember It” will be reversed, at least fully. Cable, a time-traveling mutant, goes back in time to try to stop it, briefly reuniting with his mom, Madelyne Pryor, who’s on Genosha at the time, but apologizes to her before she’s killed. He knows he can’t stop the slaughter, no matter how many times he tries. It’s going to occur.

Though there’s a good possibility Gambit will be revived, likely as the big bad Apocalypse’s Horseman of Death, a role he fulfilled briefly in the comics, that episode is still jaw-dropping. Gambit’s death pushed the broader narrative forward, and he goes out fighting and saves who he can, including Rogue, whose grief feels palpable. The stakes in this show are high.

When I heard about The X-men relaunch, I feared it would be a cash grab, veering solely into 90s nostalgia. I’m glad I was wrong. This may be the best on-screen adaptation of The X-men we’ve ever had. If I have one main gripe, it’s that they move through too many storylines way, way too fast. I hope in season 2, they just focus on Apocalypse, whose introduced in the finale briefly, hinting at Gambit’s return as a horseman, which, if it does occur, will also have a profound impact on the team, especially Rogue. I’m thrilled DeMayo knows, understands, and loves The X-men, who have always been a metaphor for the Other and outsiders. It’s a bummer DeMayo won’t be back for season two, though it’s been confirmed his main storyline ideas will be used. For now, let’s bask in just how great season 1 is. The muties are back, baby!

Wildcat: Finally, a fitting tribute to Flannery O’Connor

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I’ve always been perplexed that Flannery O’Connor, or her haunting novels and short stories for that matter, were never really given proper cinematic treatment. I understand why there’s so much focus on the Lost Generation or even the Beat generation, but O’Connor sort of exists between those two literary movements. writing a flurry of work in the 1950s and very early 60s. Still, there’s a lot to mine in terms of her life story, including her close friendship with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert “Cal” Lowell, who was her teacher at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, or her battle with Lupus, which took her life in 1964, or even her devout Catholicism. For the most part, other than a PBS documentary from a few years ago, O’Connor’s life and work have largely been ignored by filmmakers.

Again, I find this baffling. I’ve taught O’Connor’s work nearly every semester, though not always the same short stories. I teach her in American literature and often, Intro to Creative Writing. Students tend to really dig her, be it the Southern Gothic undertones, or even the sardonic statements in some of her lectures and essays. They like her, and her themes are incredibly resonant today, especially her address of the shifting views in the South and tension brought by the Civil Rights Movement. We’re rehashing those very debates today.

Finally, O’Connor gets the proper treatment in film at the hands of Ethan and Maya Hawke. He directs and she stars both as O’Connor and various characters from her story in the film Wildcat, which is one part biopic and one part literary adaptation of about half a dozen of her stories, including “Parker’s Back,” “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” “Good Country People,” among a few others. The film also tackles O’Connor’s time at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, her personal faith, and her illness. It’s a beautiful testament to her art and life. I suspect fans of her work will enjoy it. Maya Hawke especially gives a heck of a performance, showing what she’s capable of post-Stranger Things. I’m confident she’ll have a long career.

If you want to read my full thoughts on the film, you can check out my review for 1428 Elm. Wildcat is getting a very limited theatrical release on May 3, before expanding to more theaters.

Interview: Them: The Scare’s Creator & Cast, including Pam Grier

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Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing TV writer/creator Little Marvin and the cast of Them: The Scare, coming to Prime Video on April 25, for 1428 Elm. The cast members include the legendary Pam Grier, Luke James, Deborah Ayorinde, and Joshua J. Williams. It’s not every day that I get to say I interviewed Pam Grier!

Here’s a link to the interview. The horror anthology’s second season is set in 1991, shortly after the release of the Rodney King tape that rocks LA. Ayorinde, the only cast member from Them: Season 1, plays Detective Dawn Reeve, tasked with solving grisly murders. She’s joined by Grier, who plays Dawn’s mom, Athena. James plays aspiring actor Edward Gaines, while Williams is cast as Dawn’s son, Kel Reeve. The season has nods to classic slashers, Seven, Get Out, and other genre classics, and it’s steeped in 90s culture, including some impressive needle drops.

Top Horror Movies of 2023

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With 2023 basically in the rearview, it’s time for all of those reflective, “best-of” lists. While I don’t think 2023 was quite as strong of a year for the horror genre as previous years, it still had plenty of decent offerings, with some features outside of franchises that terrified. My list only includes films that received distribution this year and either played in theaters or hit streaming. I would have loved to include Strange Darling (probably my favorite movie of the year) and Mami Wata, but both features only had festival releases thus far. Hopefully, they reach a larger audience in 2024.

Without further ado, here’s my Best of 2023 horror movie list!

M3GAN

Okay, okay, I know that some horror purists and black shirts may gripe that I included a PG-13 horror movie on this list, but the truth is that no other genre movie this year had the cultural impact of M3GAN. The Blumhouse film birthed a new icon, and this will likely spawn at least a few sequels. She’s sassy. She has her own dance, and she’s a metaphor for the dangers of AI.

Infinity Pool

Other than Jenna Ortega, Mia Goth has been the genre’s it girl since 2022. She’s all kinds of sinister and delightful as Gabi in Brandon Cronenberg’s third feature Infinity Pool, which also stars Alexander Skarsgard as James, who’s psychologically tormented and abused by Gabi. While this one has plenty of WTF moments, it’s also the most mainstream of Cronenberg’s work thus far, while still addressing heavy issues such as cloning and technology.

The Outwaters

If I had to give an award out for the most WTF moments in a single movie this past year, I’d give it to The Outwaters, the feature debut of Robbie Banfitch. This gnarly found footage film released around the same time as Skinamarink, maybe the most divisive horror film of 2023. Both generated plenty of healthy debate in the horror community, and while I really appreciate Skinamarink and its portrayal of childhood fears and (maybe) abuse, The Outwaters is a leaner movie with some truly Lovecraftian horror moments. It’s currently streaming on Screambox.

Talk to Me

Talk to Me is now A24’s highest grossing horror movie. That’s right. It beat Hereditary. This year, I included the feature on the syllabus for my Horror Literature and Film class, and it generated the most discussion out of any film on the list. Some students told me it was their favorite film we covered, so I’m not surprised this movie generated so much money at the box office. It found an audience and through a spooky hand, it put a clever spin on the tired possession subgenre. Sophie Wilde’s performance as the grief-stricken Mia really carries this film. After losing he mother, she’ll do anything to communicate with the dead, including holding a creepy hand and saying, “Talk to me and let me in.” While this movie deals with grief, the “possession” plot here is also an apt metaphor for addiction.

The Passanger

Okay, okay, so The Passenger is a bit more of a thriller than straight-up horror, but there’s plenty of violence after fast food worker Benson (Kyler Ganner) shoots a bunch of his co-workers and boss after one of them bullies the hapless Randolph Bradley (Johnny Brechtold) to eat a day-old burger. From there, the two go on a twisted joy ride and Benson urges Randolph to take control of his life and be more active instead of well, a passenger. Director Carter Smith (The Ruins, Swallowed) is no stranger to genre films. His work often explores male relationships, and that’s very much true here. Benson comes across like an alpha sorta male who refuses to let anyone tell him what to do, but he’s also prone to eruptions of violence, be it with his fists or a gun. The performances here are top-notch, especially Ganner. For as explosive as this one is at times, it’s also really funny at moments.

Birth/Rebirth

Birth/Rebirth was a festival darling this year, and for good reason. Writer/director Laura Moss’ feature debut is a clever and feminist take on Frankenstein. It stars Marin Ireland in a knock-out performance as Rose, a doctor who harbors dead bodies in the hopes of well, finding a cure for death. Ireland stars alongside Judy Reyes as Celie, a nurse who loses her daughter and will do anything to bring her back. The performances are great, and this feels like a fresh take on a classic story.

Appendage

Anna Zlokovic’s Appendage started out as a short that played Sundance a few years ago. The feature, which debuted at SXSW in March before hitting Hulu, expands upon the short’s concept about a fashion designer plagued by self-doubt who has a foul-mouthed appendage monster that jumps to life. The feature fleshes out the initial concept and calls to mind films like Basket Case, The Fly, Raw, and other body horror and creature features. This one also contains two fantastic female performances, Hadley Robinson as the lead and Emily Hampshire as the cunning Claudia.

When Evil Lurks

I suspect Demian Rugna’s second feature, When Evil Lurks, will be on a lot of best-of lists this year. The Argentinian film is one of the most brutal movies released this year to have a theatrical release before it landed on VOD and Shudder. Like Rugna’s first film, Terrified, When Evil Lurks tackles the theme of possession again, only this time, an entire village is possessed. There are sequences in this movie that you just can’t forget once the credits roll, and there’s no promise of any sort of happy ending here. Like Talk to Me, When Evil Lurks did something new, interesting, and horrifying with the well-worn possession subgenre. This is my favorite horror film of the year and the scariest on this list.

Thanksgiving

Ever since the fake Thanksgiving trailer that debuted as part of the Grindhouse double feature in 2007, Eli Roth has teased turning the concept into a feature-length film. Well, this year he finally did that. In short, Thanksgiving is an absolute blast with plenty of dark humor and gnarly kills. It sticks to the mission at hand and doesn’t stray. Oh, and it’s already getting a sequel. Me thinks the crazed John Carver killer pilgrim will be a new slasher icon. It’s also nice to have a new slasher in which every character isn’t hyper-aware they’re in a slasher movie.

Godzilla Minus One

Who would have thought 70 years into the franchise, we’d get a kaiju movie as great as Godzilla Minus One? This one returns the franchise to its post-WWII roots and focuses on a disgraced kamikaze pilot. Part horror and part Japanese melodrama, the movie, like the 1954 original, addresses trauma and effects of war and the bomb. Oh, and the King of the Monsters is horrifying in this film. HIs blue atomic breath has the effects of the bomb. It slaughters civilians, shatters windows, and pulverizes buildings. The shots of the big G at sea are equally as terrifying. All hail the king!

Overall, while 2023 wasn’t quite as strong for the horror genre as the last few years, there are still plenty of features I plan to rewatch heading into 2024. I’m looking forward to covering more film fests in the new year and seeing what films end up on my best-of list for 2024!