What was that 2022-released movie about some terrifying, highly intelligent entity that identified and hunted its targets in a way that was anything but human? It might have been called Prey. Wait, maybe it was called Beast. Correct. Both movies (each with an equally unmemorable name) revolved loosely around the same premise. The studios of each movie didn’t do each other any favors with what they could have done, if anything, with the release date. Each film is worth a watch, though I wonder if a home viewing would translate to the enjoyment of a theater viewing. Each was designed to be seen on the largest screen possible.
Category Archives: Horror
Fall (2022)
I have a weak spot for an “actually could happen” horror film that plays on social phobias that many of us experience. When one of these movies is based on actual events, my interest piques even more. The best example I can give is the 2003 film Open Water, which, despite its poor Rotten Tomatoes audience score (33%), struck a chord with critics (71%). I loved Open Water, but one of the two friends that I went with hated it, saying how frustrated he felt by it. Though “inspired by true events” of a married couple that, through an inaccurate head count by the dive boat crew, were inadvertently left behind in the middle of the ocean during a scuba diving excursion, what we witnessed for the next 80+ minutes was a fictional tale of what may or may not have happened. What we experience with our two leads is the despair of being stranded in shark-infested water until (spoiler…they don’t make it) they are either eaten alive, die of thirst, etc.; what could have happened was they hit collided heads when they each leaped off the dive boat and died instantly. I understand that. It didn’t stop me from being fully engrossed in the film or its first of two sequels.
The Black Phone (2022)
With its first scene set at a little league baseball game in a small town on the outskirts of 1978 Colorado (knowing that some frightful elements will emerge throughout the film), The Black Phone may feel eerily similar to one of your favorite Stephen King novels. And if it does, it should, as the movie is based upon a novel by King’s son, Joe Hill. In addition, director Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) reunites Ethan Hawke for the first time since 2012’s well-received horror Sinister.
Titane (2021)
French filmmaker Julia Ducournau’s (Raw) wildly uneven yet highly ambitious Titane is a frenzied, are you able to suspend your belief, adrenalin-pumping film that is not for the faint of heart or those who don’t deal well with queasiness in their filmgoing experiences. With Rotten Tomatoes Scores of 89% (critics) and 85% (audiences), I find it ironic that I couldn’t identify ten people to whom I might recommend this film. Yet for the film purists who crave the originality that mainstream movies too often fail to deliver, you’ll find a bizarre take on humanity richly laced with stylistic metaphors in what originates as a slasher-flick before transitioning into something incredibly more intimate in its progression.
Antlers (2021)
In an interview with Inverse to promote his 2021 horror film Antlers, director Scott Cooper said, “I tend never to make the same film in the same genre. The great danger as a filmmaker is in doing safe work. I always like to be in an uncomfortable space.” While admirable, if you can do something really well, there is also the argument to stay within that genre as you continue to perfect your craft. Antlers is the fifth film directed by Cooper and the first one that dips outside the norms of reality. Three of his first four (Out of the Furnace, Crazy Heart, Hostiles) finished in my End of Year Top 3, while his fourth (Black Mass) was a movie I did not enjoy. Antlers was far better than Black Mass, but it is not a candidate to finish in my Top 10 Movies of 2021.