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5. The BabadookDirected by: Jennifer Kent
Over the past several weeks, The Babadook has earned extensive critical acclaim and become one of the most buzzed-about horror films of the year. It’s also one of two movies on this list that also made it onto BuzzFeed film critic Alison Wilmore’s list of the best films of 2014. And with good reason! The Babadook is a simple but truly frightening horror film, and the creepy boogeyman at its center isn’t even the scariest thing about it. Amelia (Essie Davis) is a widow who can barely keep control of her hyperactive son Samuel (Noah Wiseman), whose rich imagination begins to get the better of her. While the Babadook itself is scary, Amelia’s insomnia-inspired descent into madness, which manifests in the form of rage and ambiguous delusions, is worse. How much of the threat is real and how much is in the heads of Amelia and her son? It’s terrifying either way.
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4. LyleDirected by: Stewart Thorndike
Lyle has been described as a “lesbian Rosemary’s Baby,” which is both entirely accurate and limiting. Yes, the plot — about a pregnant woman named Leah (Gaby Hoffmann) who is convinced there’s a conspiracy around her unborn child — owes a lot to Rosemary’s Baby, with a distinctly queer flavor. But Lyle is also a very different movie, exploring the loss Leah feels after the death of her first child (the titular Lyle) and her growing distance from her wife June (Ingrid Jungermann). Hoffmann is tremendous as always: Within the confines of a 65-minute micro-budget film, she manages to display varying degrees of grief, madness, and horror that — along with Stewart Thorndike’s tight script and direction — elevate Lyle past its already intriguing logline.
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3. Under the SkinDirected by: Jonathan Glazer
Jonathan Glazer’s bizarre arthouse film might not be considered horror by many, but its aims are deeply rooted in the genre. Under the Skin is a movie about the male gaze. As my colleague Alison Willmore puts it, “It confronts the very idea of what we do at the movies: watch.” Scarlett Johansson’s nameless alien creature lets the men she encounters look at her, but only so she can kill them — without touching them at all, it’s worth noting. Horror is often criticized as misogynistic, but so many horror films traffic in the same subversion and turn a knowing eye back on the viewer. Under the Skin isn’t a traditional horror or sci-fi film — but there’s really nothing traditional about it. Thematically, however, it’s about confronting the realities of the way men look at women and the destructiveness of sexual desire. What could be more horrifying than that?
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2. The GuestDirected by: Adam Wingard
Like Under the Skin, The Guest’s designation as a horror film might furrow some brows, even if it is Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett’s follow-up feature to You’re Next, my pick for the best horror film of 2013. Yes, The Guest is an action thriller, but the setup is pure horror: David Collins (Dan Stevens) claims to be a vet returning home to visit the family of his fallen fellow soldier, but turns out to be not what he seems. While the false identity narrative is familiar, Barrett’s predictably sharp script takes the film to unexpected places. At the helm, Wingard has an eye for tense action set pieces, of which there are many. The Guest is a full-speed, anxiety-inducing ride that all comes down to the brilliant final sequence, set in an otherwise unremarkable high school haunted house.
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1. A Girl Walks Home Alone at NightDirected by: Ana Lily Amirpour
Another genre-bender, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a stunning feature-length debut from Ana Lily Amirpour. Promoted as “the first Iranian vampire Western,” the film doesn’t falsely advertise. But beyond its inventive premise, it’s gorgeously shot and scored, making it one of the most stylish and memorable films of the year. Sheila Vand stars as the Girl, a vampire who preys on the residents of Bad City and makes time for a romance with Arash (Arash Marandi). As one of several female-driven horror films on this list, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is searingly feminist. The Girl’s righteous revenge against the evil men who rule Bad City is exceptional wish fulfillment, but she also demands a love story on her own terms, leaving Arash to accept her as she is. It’s all so satisfying to watch, and even more so when you realize Amirpour has, one hopes, a long career of daring and effortlessly hip films ahead.
rest of list @
buzzfeedwhat do you think, ontd?
