Well, it’s been another turn around the sun here at Legion Podcasts, and that means it is time for a look at the completely scientific and indisputable Top 10 Horror Movies of 2021! Each and every time I put together one of these lists, I begin thinking that I may not have enough to actually make a list of ten movies. And then I surprise myself with a list that is twice as long as I expected. Right out of the gate, let me mention some movies that didn’t quite make the list but are nonetheless worth your time:
Something in the Dirt is a great Benson & Moorhead film made during lockdown with minimal cast and crew, but still retains the otherworldly weirdness of their previous efforts. Fresh was a lot of fun, as was Sissy, both premiering on streaming services to show that there are some great new outlets for this kind of work. I also thought Bodies Bodies Bodies was a lot of fun, and even made me think more of Pete Davidson who turns in a genuinely good performance. But enough of the also-rans. Let’s count down some movies!
10. Mad God
Phil Tippet’s Mad God is simply unlike anything else on this list. Hell, it may be unlike anything you’ve ever seen. It reminds me most of the animated segments of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. I suspect that it has the same underlying anti-corporate and anti-establishment messaging, but as an allegory, it is somewhat obtuse. That doesn’t change the fact that the images you see in Mad God will haunt you like a waking nightmare. It is disgusting and startling and beautiful and it deserves to be seen, if not entirely parsed. It is the kind of movie you see and think, “How did this ever get made?!” But I am awfully glad it did.
9. Scream 5
You know a Scream movie is good when even I have it on a list. After being unimpressed with, oh, every Scream movie but the original, the series finally gets some new blood and some new moves. It’s brutal and clever and the humor mostly lands. The reveal of the killer is fun, too, and not just another ‘It was Sydney’s mom’s cousin twice removed sort of affair. Also, this was the first salvo of the amazing year Jenny Ortega has had, and it’s great to see her star really rise in genre work. Also, the movie knows enough to leave the original Scream cast at the margins and let a new cast, and a new satirical target, take center stage. Often laugh-out-loud funny and savage, just like a Scream movie ought to be.
8. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
Jane Schoenbrun’s limited-budget effort is like an earworm. The first watch is engaging and unsettling, and then comes the questioning. Was the fate of our protagonist avoidable? Are we all doomed to lead increasingly isolated lives until we spin off into our own lonely pocket universes? Is the internet the thing that will doom us all? Anchored by a stunning performance from Anna Cobb, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is in many ways the most real of the movies on this list. It speaks to the way that a world in which we are all connected somehow makes us all the more alone, and the effect of it is chilling. The simple plot serves a larger discussion, and this is the one that might climb higher in my memory as time goes on.
7. Orphan: First Kill
When I first heard there would be a prequel to Orphan, I dismissed the idea pretty quickly. And then I sat down to watch it, my expectation suitably lowered. At first, it plays like a retread of the original film, which is a good movie, if bloated. I assumed it would be a retread,a cheap way to turn a buck on a movie that needed no further story. Boy, am I glad I was wrong. After its familiar opening act, First Kill takes a turn. I won’t spoil that turn, but I will say that it reframes the whole movie and the character of Esther and then descends into some kind of bizarre Lifetime movie with way more profanity and violence. In short, it is glorious. When it comes to sheer fun, this was the best time I had watching a horror movie all year. If the filmmakers behind the franchise can top this madness, I say bring it on. One more outing like this and the Orphan series may sneak into the conversation of the best horror franchise.
6. The Black Phone
It’s been a big year for mainstream horror, and The Black Phone was an early sign that studios could still crank out an effective chiller. Scott Derrickson, of Sinister fame, reteams with Ethan Hawke for a 1970s-tinged serial killer movie with a twist. While Hawke’s The Grabber snatches neighborhood kids, a young man named Finney battles bullies at home and at school until he becomes the latest victim to be held captive by The Grabber. What our villain doesn’t know is that Finney has some secrets of his own. The resulting cat-and-mouse between Finney and The Grabber is satisfying and well-plotted, no surprise as the story comes from the pen of Joe Hill. Scary, earnest, and rife with subtext about bullies of all types, this is a terrific film.
5. Smile
And speaking of mainstream horror, one of the year’s biggest surprises was Smile. It feels familiar. A young woman working as a psychiatric nurse finds herself across the table from a woman who says she’s cursed and that something only she can see is coming for her. After seeing that woman meet her untimely end, our hero, Rose (an excellent Sosie Bacon), finds herself combatting the same blurring of reality and something darker and more insidious. It all feels vaguely J-horror, and that’s not a bad thing. Smile manages to pull off one of the more difficult acrobatics in horror – making the unreal feel real until it is suddenly… not. Portraying the unreliable nature of what we see and hear is tough, but Smile does it with aplomb and delivers some nasty shocks along the way. It would be nice to think studios could leave this alone and let it be a wonderfully spooky gem, but likely we’ll see a Smile 2 before long.
4. Hellbender
Moving far from the studio system now, we find ourselves in a world of modern-day witches with Hellbender. One of the first movies I caught in 2022, it has remained a bar to measure every movie this year against. I like a good witch movie and this one flat-out rocks. It’s got a punk heart, a keen eye for family dynamics and the restlessness of youth, and a grim sense of humor. It is stylish and cool, a vortex of a movie that sucks you in as you follow young witch Izzy’s attempts at something like a normal life while her mother tries to keep her safe. Or is it the rest of us she’s keeping safe? This movie rules and the aptly named Adams Family scored with making The Deeper You Dig and this film in back-to-back years. Why can’t I have Thanksgiving with this family?
3. Men
Has Alex Garland made enough movies to be rightfully called an auteur yet? After terrific movies like Ex Machina and Annihilation, he goes all-out experimental body horror with Men. Starring Jessie Buckley as a woman looking for some refuge after the death of a partner, Men starts with a measured pace that escalates into pure fever dream as every flavor of toxic masculinity is birthed before her eyes. This is certainly not for viewers unwilling to be challenged by a film’s narrative, but I found it poignant and disgusting in equal measure. It’s the movie I most wanted to talk to people about after seeing it, and I think it’ll have some legs as one of the finer examples of post-Cronenberg body horror. If you haven’t, see this one.
2. Barbarian
Writer-director Zach Cregger, previously of The Whitest Kids U’ Know, shifts gears from comedy to horror and delivers one of the most talked-about films of the year. And there’s a reason for that – Barbarian is amazing. It falls into that “know as little as you can before hitting play” type of movie, but even knowing the twists of the movie doesn’t take away any of the sting. Barbarian isn’t just about its clever plotting, but about the expectations of women in our culture and how the horrors visited by men upon women can have effects that reach down generations. Also, it’s pretty damn funny and has some of the nastier gore effects seen in a movie this popular in some time. Justin Long always plays a great asshole and this performance is no different. The real star here is Georgina Campbell. She squeezes anxiety, terror, sympathy, and vengeance out of her performance here and it is a sight to behold. This tops a lot of end-of-year lists for a reason. That rare film that has style AND substance.
- X / Pearl
I recall years wondering how writer-director Ti West lost his mojo and when he might return to the genre he rocked with the sublime The House of the Devil and the terrific ghost story The Innkeepers. Well, friends and neighbors, turns out he was prepping not just one but TWO mind-blowing horror experiences for 2022. Listing both in the top slot may be a bit of a cheat, but it’s my list so suck it. Also, these are really two chapters in the same tale. One, Pearl, is the story of a truly psychotic young woman trying to manage her impulses with decreasing success. More than this, it is a tour de force for Mia Goth, who manages to make a monster not only sympathetic, but someone to root for. Her hunger for stardom or, failing that, as close to a normal life as she can manage is heartbreaking and horrifying. And, my goodness!, what an axe murder. I actually think Pearl is better than the film that preceded it, which brings us to…
X, a throwback to the Texas Chainsaw vibes of 1970s grindhouse. It’s to West’s credit that he made a better Texas Chainsaw movie in the same year that an actual sequel to Texas Chainsaw Massacre hit streaming. The less said about that movie, the better. X is the story of a bunch of young kids who are making a porno on location at a remote farmhouse. Litle do hey know that the old couple they are renting the place from have some substantial screws loose. Pearl explains the massacre’s roots, but when X gets bloody, it gets real bloody, and that is no complaint. Along with the grue is a strangely touching tale of agism and the longing that remains long after the body begins to wither. It is an oddly mature piece of work, a grand Guignol Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and I loved every second fo both of these films. I cannot wait for the third entry and anticipate bearing witness to one of the great horror trilogies.
And there you have it! Ten great movies to chew on while you nurse that New Year’s headache. This has been a great year for horror and I anticipate even more dark wonders ahead in 2023. Thank you, as ever, for being part of the Legion Podcasts community. And join me weekly at The Dark Parade right here: You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon Music and Audible, iHeartRadio, Podchaser, Google Podcasts, and anywhere fine podcasts are found. And drop by the Discord server right here!