Attention, movie fans! We’ve reached that time of year when I turn the blog over to a celebration of the previous year in film, leading up to the Oscar ceremony on March 12.
Over the next five weeks I’ll write about my 2022 top ten, my favorite performances of the year, and my favorite use of music in last year’s films. But before I get any of that, I’ll spend this week writing quick blurbs about some of the other memorable movies I saw last year.
I’m kicking things off with a look at the horror movies of 2022. This is a genre perennially ignored by the Academy Awards, so I thought I’d give it some love out of the gate.
2022 was the year I officially embraced horror movies. After avoiding most horror films for decades, mostly out of fear of jump scares because I’m a skittish sort who hates to be startled, I finally decided that if I want to consider myself a true cinephile I can’t close myself off to one of cinema’s most inventive and beloved genres.
That kicked off a horror movie binge that I will write about in detail later this year. I’m in the process of seeing as many classic and contemporary horror films as I can get my hands on, and I’ll have thoughts on all of it.
Last year was a particularly good one for horror fans. Even setting aside four (!) scary movies that made my top ten list, I still have more than a dozen to cover here.
In alphabetical order…
The Black Phone
Based on a short story by Joe Hill, the son of Stephen King, this tale about a kidnapped teen helped out by the ghosts of past abductees feels like it could have come from his father. It’s clever and exciting, and features a juicy turn by Ethan Hawke as “The Grabber.”
Bodies Bodies Bodies
A hilarious satire of Gen Z disguised as a slasher movie, with one of the best twist endings I’ve seen in a long time.
Bones and All
More romantic than frightening, this creepy saga of two cannibals in love is buoyed by great performances by Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance and Michael Stuhlbarg.
Crimes of the Future
David Cronenberg’s latest exploration of gonzo body horror imagines a world where people no longer feel pain, evolve new organs, and perform surgery on each other for sexual pleasure. I await the Disney remake.
Day Shift
A rather stupid horror comedy that finds Jamie Foxx battling vampires alongside Snoop Dogg. A Netflix movie, in other words.
Fresh
Our second cannibal story, although this one is a dark comedy satirizing toxic masculinity and the perils of millennial dating. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan star.
Halloween Ends
The final installment of the latest trilogy in the Halloween series, and perhaps the dumbest movie I saw last year. Michael Myers has never been less scary.
The Menu
A delicious (excuse the pun) eat-the-rich dark comedy that explores foodie culture and the creative process. Some of the best performances of last year came in horror/thrillers — this film’s Ralph Fiennes, Nicholas Hoult, Anya Taylor Joy and Hong Chau top-lined a brilliant ensemble cast.
No Exit
An occasionally clever mystery about a group of travelers snowed in at a rest stop. Our heroine discovers an abducted child in one of the cars and has to figure out the identity of the kidnapper.
Run Sweetheart Run
Another attempt to satirize the modern dating scene through horror comedy, but this one falls pretty flat.
Scream
The fifth installment in the popular series is too glibly self-referential for even this ultra-meta franchise.
Speak No Evil
The most unsettling film I saw all year, but also one that annoyed me because it sacrifices believable characters to arrive at its disturbing conclusion.
Smile
A big box office hit that earns its nickname ‘Jump Scare: The Movie.’ I wasn’t happy with all the jolts, but I found this well-made and entertaining until the ending went completely off the rails.
Watcher
An entertaining riff on Rear Window that follows an American woman living with her boyfriend in Romania and growing increasingly uneasy over the man staring out of the window across the way.
That’s a lot of movies, but here are the five I’d recommend checking out if you’re interested: Bodies Bodies Bodies, The Menu, Black Phone, Bones and All, and Watcher.
I think you always had a feeling
Like you knew it all along
I kept believing I was never meant to be
But maybe I just had it wrong
[Chorus]
In a world that isn’t ours
In a place we shouldn’t be
For a minute
Just a minute
We made it feel like home
For a minute
Just for a minute
You made it feel like home
[Verse 2]
And I will haunt these hills forever
Without a reason to believe
When I can feel you beating inside of me
I have everything I need
[Chorus]
In a world that isn’t ours
In a place we shouldn’t be
For a minutе
Just a minute
We made it feel likе home
For a minute
Just for a minute
You made it feel
I’m With You (A Way Out)
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
[Outro]
(Home, home)
(Home, home)
(Home, home)
Meet Me In Montauk 
This recent embrace of horror movies feels much like your embrace of country music not so long ago — in that, in both cases, this is a rabbit hole your most loyal frequent commenter is not going to follow you down.
Of the movies you listed, I did see and like The Menu, but I really don’t view that as a horror film. I was mildly curious to see Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, but that’s about where my curiosity ends.
How is The Menu not a horror film? It’s about a man who kidnaps a group of people, then systematically tortures and kills them. It even has a “final girl” character.
He doesn’t kidnap them. It’s a dark comedy, perhaps with some horror elements or tropes, in my opinion.
By not allowing them to leave, he kidnaps them. It’s a specific brand of black comedy — a horror comedy.
I’m not a fan of this genre but I did like the Menu and Watcher because they were clever and in the Menu’s case the actors. I’m excited we have reached my favorite time for your blog—the movies!
This reminds me of our age old discussions/debates. Does a movie have to be “comedy +” to be worthy of deep admiration? If Dana likes a song others would consider country, would he characterize it as blues or folk?
In other words, we all have our preconceptions of certain genres and most of us suffer from sort of confirmation bias. For instance, I do not like horror films. Jaws is my favorite film. Therefore, Jaws is NOT a horror film. Or, if I recognize that it has certain undeniably horrific elements (jump scares, blood, a body count), I will argue (effectively!) that what makes it a great film – and my favorite film – are not those elements but everything else… the writing, actors, direction. It’s the wit and heart of Jaws that pulls me in. So… it’s horror +.
I’m willing to guess your loyal readers, many who consider them film buffs if not cinephiles, will agree that we’re likely to see almost any type of film that is exceptional in multiple ways, regardless of whether we’ll ultimately like it.
For me, horror became synonymous with “torture porn,” where the plot and inventiveness was tied to how many clever ways the filmmakers could find to kill off the characters, and I have no patience for those films nor any desire to see them. I also don’t like to be scared. That said, I love a good thriller the way I love a good rollercoaster and would argue that thrillers are yet another, though related, genre.
Of the films you mentioned today, I saw and loved The Menu, which I would not have characterized as a horror film once I saw it but initially avoided for fear it would be the type I dread.I’m interested in seeing Bodies and Fresh for the humor/satire but likely won’t actually see either of them.
Now back to season 3 of The Sopranos, horror ++++
I have been guilty of putting horror in a box labeled “not for me” while loving certain horror movies that I convinced myself weren’t really horror. Get Out and Silence of the Lambs come immediately to mind.
The things we love about Jaws are the things we love about any great movie. The presence of great acting, direction, writing, etc. doesn’t make it any less a horror movie.
There are certainly many different kinds of horror, and some movies are more “pure” horror than others. Just as some comedies are more purely comic. And I think there are examples of true greatness all along that spectrum (which I’ll get to later this year).
Jaws is not a horror movie, and it is not classified as such (adventure/thriller). Silence of the Lambs is more of a psychological thriller, though it does have horror elements. And the Menu, in my opinion, is not a horror film, at least not in any traditional sense of the genre.
Jaws is certainly horror. It’s about a monster killing people in a small town until a band of heroes come together to try to stop it. It even has one of the most famous jump scares in movie history with the floating severed head.
A crucial aspect of any horror movie is that it invokes fear or dread in the viewer, and Jaws definitely works on that level as well. It had a whole generation afraid to go in the water.
All of these genres blend together. A movie can be a horror/thriller, a horror/adventure, a horror/comedy, etc. If a film has prevalent “horror elements,” as all three of the ones you mentioned do, it’s at least partly a horror movie.
Thus.. horror +. In these debates, we always come full circle. 😜
I also found myself watching quite a bit more horror this year. Off of this list, only Bodies bodies bodies – though I know we have some of your higher ranking horror films in common.
I would also recommend Bodies to everyone – it certainly is “horror +” which in this case just means it leans even further into comedy than most horror does.
In the case of The Menu – one of my very favorites of last year – I certainly believe it was marketed as a horror film and has some of the tropes that might allow people to consider it as one. That being said, I believe it falls more into thriller/satire as a primary genre with horror as one of the “+”
Excited for this series of musical moments in movies 🥰