A scary thing happened on the way to the Movie Forums - Horrorcrammers

Dead and Buried is just good, solid horror. Good character development. Great plot twists and turns. Legitimately disturbing and eerie moments.

The monster in The Ritual is good, but the movie is very average overall.


On The Pope's Exorcist; I was very disappointed when I saw the opening credits, because I misread it as The Pope's Exorcism. What little I saw of it was very formulaic.

2015-2022 Horror Recommended (4 out of 5 or higher on Letterboxd):

2022:
Nope

2020:
The Block Island Sound

2018:
A Quiet Place

2017:
Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil
It Comes at Night

2016:
The Dooms Chapel Horror
Hush
Raw
Train to Busan
Under the Shadow

2015:
Green Room
The Invitation
The Witch

2015-2022 Horror Thumbs Up (At least 3 stars on Letterboxd):

2021:
Boomika (environmental thriller/horror from India)

2019:
The Girl on the Third Floor

2018:
ZOMBIES (yes, the Disney Channel musical)

2017:
Talon Falls (brief, mild torture)

2016:
The Boy

2015:
The Blackcoat's Daughter
Hell House LLC
Maggie

Noted, thanks!

I watched Talk to Me and really enjoyed it. It's a great metaphor for the kinds of dangers teens/young adults flirt with at parties. It's common for them to turn drug use/underage drinking into games or competitions, but there's always the threat that their fun can backfire. Having the hand isn't just a coincidence. I also found Mia to be a compelling protagonist. A more cliché film would've had Jade as the emotional anchor since she's the most well put together of the group, but focusing on Mia allowed the film to explore her trauma really well and give more insight to the inner workings of how the hand works.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

Alright. Well, some of these I know you've spoken about, but I think this is how the years broke down for me.

2015:
The VVitch
Green Room
The Lure (I suspect you've seen this, but I think this is a Tak movie)
The Black Coat's Daughter
The Invitation
Bone Tomahawk

2016:
Raw
Neon Demon
The Love Witch
Under the Shadow
Anti-Birth
10 Cloverfield Lane
If you have time
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (barely squeaking in. I didn't like the last 15 minutes)
I am the Pretty Thing That Lives in Your House
The Void (more 3.5 stars than 4)

2017:
It Comes at Night
Huh, I did not watch much horror from 2017. I really liked It Comes at Night though!

2018:
Annihilation
In Fabric
Mandy
The Wolf House
Suspiria
If you have time
Hereditary

2019:
The Lighthouse
The Fall (Jonathan Glazer Short)
Us
Suicide by Sunlight
Color Out of Space
Saint Maud (this is probably a Tak movie)

If you have time
Midsommar
Come to Daddy
The Dead Don't Die

2020:
Possessor
The Last Matinee
The Wolf of Snow Hollow
Hunter Hunter

2021:
Titane
Mad God
Censor
We're all Going to the World's Fair
Lamb
If you have time
In the Earth

2022:
Crimes of the Future
Men
Flux Gourment
If you have time
Pearl
Barbarian
Glorious
Watcher

2023:
Infinity Pool

Even though most of these films have already been mentioned, I'll drop my recommendations into the mix. This first part of the post is all the horrors from 2015 and later that I've rated 3.5/5 or more (my "good" threshold):

2015: The VVitch, The Blackcoat's Daughter, Baskin
2016: The Eyes of My Mother, A Cure for Wellness
2017: Tigers Are Not Afraid, Terrified, The Evil Within, Annabelle: Creation*
2018: The Dark, Antrum
2019: Soul, Luz: The Flower of Evil, Impetigore, Doctor Sleep, Bliss, Captive State, Us
2020: All the Moons, The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw, Underwater
2021: The Innocents, Last Night in Soho

This second list is the films I've rated 3/5 or less, but that still feel worthy of recommendation:

2015: Hell House LLC, The Lure, Bone Tomahawk
2016: I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, Train to Busan, Conjuring 2, Sadako vs. Kayako, 1974: The Possession of Altair
2017: Our Evil, Hagazussa, The Laplace's Demon, Errementari, November, Satan's Slaves
2018: Liverleaf, The Head Hunter, The Axiom, Apostle
2019: Sator, The Lighthouse, Eli, Velvet Buzzsaw
2020: The Empty Man
2021: Martys Lane, Gaia, The Devil Below, The Deep House
2022: Venus, Project Wolf Hunting, X, Pearl, Incantation

*For some reason I haven't rated Annabelle: Creation, but based on my memories, it should be around the "good" mark.

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Very correct!!

Also very correct!

I had quite a good time with last year's Incantation and I'll have to remember to see it again to test it's rewatchability. I second it as a suggestion. A really great spooky found footage-type "supernatural folk horror" film.

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Bad news, folks. Criterion has the 87-minute version.

My wife conned me into watching this one against my will, and I ended up liking it a whole lot. The follow-up was pretty good, also. I didn't care for the first one.

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Some things that have been added to streaming services that make me very happy:

Hoopla
Cutting Class

Prime
The Signal (2007)

Tubi
Alice Sweet Alice
Spider Baby
THE VELOCIPASTOR

Shudder
Lake Mungo
May

Yes, Cutting Class, Alice Sweet Alice, Spider Baby, Lake Mungo and May are all good to great ones.

It’s the most wonderful tiiiime, of the year.

Started the season off on kind of a disappointing note. No One Will Save You didn’t quite nail what it was going for. The dialogue-free mood made moments where characters should have been talking stick out like a sore thumb rendering the conceit too gimmicky. There isn’t enough time at the beginning to build tension or tease out the creatures at all. And the monster design wasn’t anything unique or interesting, couple that with not-so-great CGI made this whole experience a let down.

Yeah, the dialogue-free concept had my mind continually distracted during some scenes - it didn't naturally fit some parts of the story, calling attention to itself to a degree that hurt the film somewhat.

Pieces (1983) -

A mystery person in a black cape and fedora is taking a chainsaw to Boston coeds in this pleasantly trashy slasher. As the prologue indicates, whoever it is got the taste for dismemberment early, not to mention for (erotic) jigsaw puzzles. As we watch the grownup version combine these hobbies, we soon realize that everyone is a suspect. They include ladies' man Kendall, undercover cop and tennis coach Mary, hulking groundskeeper Willard and Doc Brown (not that one), a shifty anatomy professor.

My favorite thing about this movie is its awareness of one of its genre's main appeals: guessing who the killer is. It's as if every moment between the slayings, everyone is winking at you while asking, "maybe it's me?" Having veterans of movies like this one such as Paul L. Smith (Popeye’s Bluto) and Enter the Ninja's Christopher George helps in this regard. Did I guess who did it before the reveal? Yes, but it happened later than sooner and after considering many possibilities. As for the good stuff, the blood and dismemberment are surprisingly realistic given the obviously low budget and they earn its hard R rating. The dialogue isn't great and not always in a "so bad, it's good way" - it's as if it was translated from English to Spanish and back again - and there are some moments that would have skirted bad taste then as much as they do now. With that said, when it comes to good old-fashioned cheap giallo-like entertainment and/or a movie that makes you feel like you're behind the wheel of your dad's Bonneville at a drive-in, you could do far worse. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself wondering what a "kung fu professor" is for a while after watching it (you'll see what I mean).

Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 should check out Pieces because it features Ian Serra, a.k.a. the "it stinks" guy from Pod People, who plays Kendall:

I didn't like the film at all, but the murders were good.

Understandable since they are at a level of quality the rest of the movie does not match. Those scenes and the mystery drew me in enough for me to give it a thumbs up.
Apparently, it's Eli Roth's favorite horror movie. Take from that what you will.

That’s a deep cut!