FAVE HORROR FILMS 2020

Look, we all know how much 2020 sucked. It was also the year that Facebook cancelled their Notes feature, where I’d previously been publishing these notes. I couldn’t find a free blog service that I was happy with that year so I kind of wrote the whole year off. Also, with so many films being postponed, there was very slim pickings to choose from. All my favorite films were basically the same as everyone else’s. The ones that won awards & are on everyone else’s lists. But while we were all watching Netflix content & being introduced to Tiger King, I was able to find a lot of Horror films that year that I loved, the vast majority of which premiered on streaming services anyway (usually Netflix or Shudder). So keeping to that theme, I’ve decided to retroactively create a Fave Films 2020 list – Horror Film Edition!

This list & my 2021 reviews were written from late 2021 to early 2022, after I found this new & free blog, which is provided by Google. I want to give a shout out to my friend Balbinder Bhatia, (balbinderbhatia.blogspot.com), who uses this site for his film reviews also, & whose influence helped make it possible for me to continue making these lists. He & I have different tastes, though some mutual love for many films.

Despite this website’s flaws, it’s good enough for what I want to use it for. I don’t even have the monetization feature switched on, nor am I interested in cashing in on these blogs. These ‘film diaries’ (as I call them) are just personal ways I’m able to exercise my love of writing, while creating nostalgic memories of my love of cinema every year. My intension is to introduce you, my many friends, to films you may not have been aware of so we can talk about them in person from time to time. And hopefully, you’ll do the same for me whenever you discover something that you love as well.

I decided to do a Fave 2020 Horror Film list in late 2021. During October, I watched as many 2020 Horror films as I could, taking recommendations from various websites, as well as friends’ recommendations. There are many more films that I enjoyed that didn’t make this list. Maybe some of those are your favorites. Please let me know.

This list is in alphabetical order

All my reviews are spoiler-free

BLOOD QUANTUM

A zombie plague is sweeping the globe & only the Indigenous inhabitants of a local town seem to be immune. It’s unclear exactly who else is immune in the world as the story is limited to the knowledge the characters themselves have in their rural community. According to IMDB, ‘the term "blood quantum" refers to a colonial blood measurement system that is used to determine an individual's Indigenous status, & is criticized as a tool of control & erasure of Indigenous peoples.’ On top of the typical zombie fare, this film deals with the culture clash of non Indigenous races being dependent on, & at times trying to exploit, the immune, ‘native’ population of a small, Canadian community, in order to survive. There is an interesting & dry humor at work in the story to counter-balance some of the harsher & horrific elements that must naturally come with such a story.

To be honest, I’m not that interested in zombies nowadays as a Horror subgenre. However, once in a while there’s an interesting one that I can’t deny the quality of (2019’S ONE CUT OF THE DEAD, 2016’s TRAIN TO BUSAN or 2016’s THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS, for example ). So having a story that provides a relevant social commentary subtext is often a great way to encourage me to watch a Horror film even if the subgenre seems to be currently played-out. Director Jeff Barnaby is an Indigenous Canadian filmmaker of the Mi'kmaq tribe from Quebec. His career thus far has focused on themes relating to his heritage. I liked his previous, debut film, 2013’s RHYMES FOR YOUNG GHOULS, a lot too. 

COLOR OUT OF SPACE

The 2^nd Nicholas Cage film in 2 years to make my list (MANDY was one of my top-10 Fave Films of last year & COLOR shares the same producers). But only because I’m limiting the list to Horror films this year. Based on an H.P. Lovecraft short story of the same name. This isn’t a Cage-‘unCaged’ film by any means. You could actually replace the actor & the film would still hold up. This is director Richard Stanley’s first feature film that he’s directed since being kicked off of 1996’s THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU. He hoped it would be the first of three Lovecraft films he got to direct. But he’s since been accused of domestic abuse & he’s been #MeToo’d out of Hollywood, maybe for good. He’s loved Lovecraft since he was a teenager, when he used to read stories to his mother, who was at home slowly dying of cancer. So this has been a life-long dream for him to be able to work on. But hopefully you won’t let any of that dissuade you from watching this film, which is really trippy & one of the best Lovecraft films out there.

THE DARK & THE WICKED

This is one of those ‘slow-burn’ & quite atmospheric Horror films that really leans into the drama among the characters & lets the Horror elements slowly creep in until they become more saturated as the story progresses. Everyone gives great performances & you may remember some of the actors from other films, but probably none of their names. I quite like it when this happens because I’m able to really suspend my disbelief that these characters aren’t just pretending but instead,  going through something real, instead of being distracted by some famous person who I know is just acting. Maybe you can relate. It has one of the most heart-breaking & disturbing endings of any Horror film on this list. Director Bryan Bertino has a short but respectable career in the Horror genre, having written & directed 2008’s THE STRANGERS & 2016’S THE MONSTER. He was also a producer on 2015’s THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER. WICKED was shot at the director’s family’s own farmhouse. I was motivated to watch it because of how often it was recommended on one of the Horror film Facebook groups I belong to. Despite its relatively low IMDB score (6.1 as of this posting), it’s got a genuine cult following.

THE EMPTY MAN

Imagine if David Fincher & Ben Wheatley worked together to make a film. The style of this underrated & completely overlooked gem, as well as the subject matter, is totally in their wheelhouse. First of all, the trailer for this film is terrible. You’re better off not watching it & just going into this blind. It made me not want to watch it. But a YouTuber I like (Chris Stuckmann) said it was one of his favorite films of the entire year, of any genre. And the rest of his list was very respectable. So I gave it a shot. I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about this film. It’s probably because nobody has seen it. It’s really good. I give it 8/10 stars. It’s a mix of Cosmic Horror, Mystery & Thriller. And it’s adapted from a graphic novel (but so different from it that reading it is a completely different experience – even more than the novel THE SHINING & the experience of its film). I agree that the title is dumb. But many great works have unfortunate titles.

First time director David Prior has ‘prior’ experience working with big-name directors like David Fincher, designing DVD packages with their special features, conducting interviews & had clearly studied their techniques closely. This film got buried after 20^th Century Fox got bought by Disney & Prior’s production support group was replaced by Disney big-wigs, who essentially just pulled this film from cinemas after like one weekend & buried this film in the anonymity of streaming services without any fanfare. The film had a budget of $16 million. It’s not a small, art film & it doesn’t have any ‘big-name’ stars in it, but the whole cast is wonderful. There’s a great twist ending, which makes it one of those films where watching it a 2^nd time changes your experience of it.

THE INVISIBLE MAN

I remember after Tom Cruise’s huge-budget THE MUMMY remake was released, after it bombed & all the critics hated it, that somebody said they wished a small & respectable production studio, like Blumhouse, would take over remaking Universal’s horror intellectual property. I think it was Jay from the YouTube channel Red Letter Media, but I can’t remember. Anyway, that’s exactly what happened. And the result has been critically & personally welcoming.

Horror films usually don’t have big budgets (if they do, it usually goes to A-list actors & giant set pieces). Those that do usually suffer in quality because of it. Digital effects usually ruin a Horror film more than make them better. I much prefer practical effects, even if they look cheesy, because they are much more fun to watch & I know a lot of time, energy & heart go into them. With only $7 million to play with, INVISIBLE MAN has everything you want in a Horror film. All the minimal digital effects in this film are subtle & well done. Obviously, they green-screened out the actual actor who is playing the title character, but he was really there, in each scene, giving the actors, like the great Elisabeth Moss, something to really react to, enriching the performances & heightening this film’s more frightening scenes. Directed by Leigh Whannell, who had previously directed 2015’s INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 3 & the criminally underrated & unseen 2018 film UPGRADE (seriously, go watch that film right now!).

THE MORTUARY COLLECTION

I love Horror anthologies. They are few & far between these days, but when they’re done well, it’s great. This one’s not quite on the level of 2007’s TRICK ‘R’ TREAT, but it’s pretty close. Sometimes, the individual shorts in anthologies are directed by different people, but not in this case. They were all written & directed by Ryan Spindell & this is his debut feature film (after a 10-year career of making short films). Actor Clancy Brown is perfectly cast as the funeral home’s curator. I know you don’t know his name, but you’ve seen him countless times in many things over the last 30 years. 

MORTUARY has 4 short stories that are ‘bookended’ by the opening & closing scenes. My favorite is the 2^nd short, called UNPROTECTED, whose ending is one of the most fucked-up scenes in any Horror film on this list & is worth ‘the price of admission’ alone. The film is unrated & at first, I thought it would be a PG-13 kind of film. But no, it would certainly be R for sure! The 4^th short, THE BABYSITTER MURDERS, has a great twist as well. Save this one for next Halloween. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

POSSESSOR (UNCUT)

A Horror / Sci-Fi / Mystery directed by Brandon Cronenberg, yes, the son of David Cronenberg! And there are a lot of nods to his father’s career of body horror & unsettling moments. I have not seen the ‘censored’ version of this film, but it’s easy to guess what shots were removed. For one thing, there’s full-frontal nudity, male & female, as well as a lot of blood. Actress Andrea Riseborough (who is kind of like a discount Tilda Swinton), gives a wonderfully self-possessed & creepy performance in this time-travel, hitwoman, mind-fuck. Jennifer Jason Leigh is also wonderfully creepy. I love the heavy stylization & color palette of this trippy film. Even Sean Bean has a role! Not the most original story, to be honest, but the way this story is told is very artistic & nuanced. A highly-recommended & unforgettable evening awaits any fan of Horror / Sci-Fi in general.

SWALLOW

‘Against the backdrop of insufferable domestic ennui, the soft-spoken former saleswoman & newlywed housewife, Hunter, is struggling to stretch the bars of her gilded cage, a lavish & immaculate modernist villa in New York, even though she seems to have it all. But, more and more, as sad Hunter tries, unsuccessfully, to meet her controlling family's expectations, compliance turns into submission, obedience transforms into obsession, & pica, a compulsive eating disorder, starts to take over.’ – Nick Riganas, IMDB. I couldn’t have described it better myself. More of a disturbing Drama than a traditional Horror film, I’m still including it because it freaked me the fuck out. This is director Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ debut feature film. Actress Haley Bennett is superbly creepy in this psychological & body-horror character-study that will haunt you long afterwards.

THE VAST OF NIGHT

In a ‘normal’ year, a year without a global pandemic postponing numerous releases & leaving everyone to their streaming services for distraction, a micro-budget film like this would have been almost completely lost in the shuffle. One of the biggest surprises of the year is how this gem somehow got noticed & people had enough time on their hands, not to mention the patience, to watch this slow-burn, but completely rewarding, indie Sci-Fi / Horror. There are numerous Steadicam shots that are many minutes long, some of which give you the layout of the setting in real time. It’s set in a small town in the 1950s & you really get a sense that you are a part of that space, almost as if you’re personally involved in the story. The entire cast are complete ‘unknowns,’ prior or since, & are all perfectly cast in their roles. The ending is so fucking creepy you’ll never forget it. The director is Andrew Patterson, but IMDB says he’s ‘uncredited’ with doing so & has no previous titles on his CV. He funded the film himself & this was a complete passion-project for him. And it shows.

THE WOLF HOUSE (LA CASA LOBO)

As of this posting, the entire film is on YouTube, which is how I watched it. This is an Animated / Horror film out of Chile. A fuck-ton of work went into animating this & the result is gorgeous. I fucking love stop-motion animation & there are very few Horror ones, in general, especially ones this artistic & creepy. The film feels like the love child of David Lynch & Czech director Jan Švankmajer after a night of drinking & drug use. It’s almost incomparable to anything else. This is directors Joaquín Cociña’s & Cristóbal León’s debut feature film (after a career of many animated shorts). It’s only 1 hour & 15 minutes long, but every minute is an absolutely absorbing triumph. It took 5 years to make. And instead of using miniatures, every set piece & character is ‘human-sized,’ which is quite unbelievable as an accomplishment. The entire film is edited to seem like a single-shot & the camera never stops moving either. Seriously, this is an outstanding work of art that I highly recommend to anyone, even those who don’t traditionally love the Horror genre.