“I Saw the Devil” (2010)
Brutality is synonymous with horror films, but Kim Jee-woon’s “I Saw the Devil” can turn the stomachs of genre veterans like no other. You would be hard-pressed to locate a single viewer who did not wince once; if you do, that person is probably lying. This gore-drenched South Korean thriller stars Byung-Hun Lee (“The Good, the Bad, the Weird”) as a secret agent on the hunt for Min-sik Choi (“Oldboy”), the serial killer who murdered his fiancée. However, do not be fooled by the premise’s action-flick façade; the heart, mind, and soul of “I Saw the Devil” stay true to horror even when the film occasionally crosses over into revenge-thriller territory. Nevertheless, the film retains its ruthless spirit throughout by showcasing humanity at its absolute lowest moral point. Any inkling of hope is swept away into a blood-soaked gutter, and although you might find yourself nervously chuckling at its intermittent moments of dark humor, “I Saw the Devil” is guaranteed to make you delightfully sick. — JC
“It Follows” (2015)
For better or worse, “It Follows” might be remembered most for changing a generation. Arguably, no other film since has managed to meld the sincerity of quality indie cinema with the unsettling tone of classic ’80s horror better than David Robert Mitchell’s sophomore outing. From the moment it stepped onto the scene, “It Follows” counted itself among the premier wave of arthouse horror that swept through the genre during the mid-2010s, and for good reason. Even though Mitchell’s film owes more than few debts to John Carpenter (i.e. that fantastic score by Disasterpeace), “It Follows” adopts an identity of its own and runs with it. Balancing symbolism with smart writing and visually gorgeous prestige, the movie evokes a quietly iconic aura by subverting tropes—let’s start with the fact that these teenagers are not horribly annoying and move on from there—and refuses to fall prey to nostalgia in order to evolve into a timeless work of art. Similar to the “The Witch” and “The Babadook,” this dreamlike cautionary tale assisted in perfecting a formula that horror films will be following for years to come. — JC
“Kill List” (2011)
Like fellow Brit Edgar Wright, Ben Wheatley’s films often feel like a cross-pollination of various genre hybrids. Road trip ennui and thoughtless bloodshed make intriguing bedfellows in “Sightseers,” and “Free Fire” is a wickedly entertaining gangster shoot-‘em-up with the dark soul of a character-driven comedy. All that said, “Kill List” – Wheatley’s most unsettling and accomplished work – refutes any and all easy comparisons, although some have compared the movie’s early, kitchen-sink passages to Mike Leigh, and its hair-raising finale to the original “Wicker Man.” “Kill List” is nothing short of pure nightmare fuel from start to finish, working on a level of elemental terror that most directors are simply incapable of summoning. “Kill List” was more than enough to justify Wheatley’s arrival onto the radars of most in-the-know moviegoers, and even if he’s made some worthwhile pictures since (“A Field in England” and “High-Rise” are both seriously underrated), nothing he’s made comes close to the black metal levels of evil on display here. The story of two hardhearted hitmen whose murder spree through the British countryside becomes increasingly depraved and divorced from reality, “Kill List” concludes with one of the most hellacious gut-punches of any movie we’ve ever seen, climaxing with a final shot that is, quite simply, something you can’t unsee. – NL
“Mandy” (2018)
“Mandy” could have easily just been another straight-to-VOD revenge dud starring everyone’s favorite living meme, Nicolas Cage. And yet, Panos Cosmatos’ phantasmagoric tale of ass-kicking and spiritual rebirth is a surefooted reminder that Cage is indeed capable of giving a terrific performance with the appropriate guidance. To be fair, it’s hard to classify “Mandy” as strictly a horror movie: it’s got a little bit of everything, from backwoods fairy-tale ambiance to John Carpenter-esque action/sci-fi, with dashes of earnest romance and Lovecraftian mysticism thrown in for good measure. And yet, the film conjures waves of subterranean dread and fear – the kind of stuff you regularly see in bad dreams, but seldom on a movie screen – that makes it horrific in all the best ways. “Mandy” often suggests a Ralph Bakshi dreamscape slithering to demonic life and powered by a titanic score from late, great Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (the film is touchingly dedicated to his memory) that sounds like a synthesizer symphony played from within the ninth circle of hell. At the very least, “Mandy” includes tigers, chainsaw battles, a murderous cult known as the Children of the New Dawn, and one of the great Nic Cage meltdown scenes of all time. – NL
“The Cabin in the Woods” (2012)
As great as the film itself is, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more damaging film to the horror genre than “Scream,” which set a bad precedent for the imitators to repurpose their middling slasher screenplays to contain a “meta” aspect as if pointing out your own flaws immediately absolves you of them. With “The Cabin in the Woods,” writer Joss Whedon and director Drew Goddard also followed in Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven’s footsteps, only to thankfully not fall victim to the self-referential trap by creating an intentional deconstruction with a killer hook. What starts as an amusing sendup of “cabin in the woods” flicks like “The Evil Dead” and “Friday the 13th” turns into a world where the fate of humanity hinges on a blood sacrifice of horror movie archetypes and the assistance of said deaths are aided by corporate overlords. It could be because this endlessly rewatchable film performed poorly at the box office, or because its gonzo energy is consistently at 11 and would be difficult to replicate, but there aren’t many “The Cabin in the Woods” imitators. Perhaps Goddard and Whedon are to thank for encouraging this decade of horror films to embrace and manipulate tropes to their advantage instead of drawing attention to them? It’s entirely possible. – RO
“We Are What We Are” (2013)
Not all horror remakes are created equal, but it’s safe to say that the batting average this decade – largely absent of the blatant (and mostly Platinum Dunes) cash-ins on marquee titles – was much higher than it was in the decade before. Jim Mickle’s revision on Jorge Michel Grau’s film bears little resemblance outside of the general conceit of a family of cannibals. Where Grau’s film was more about class structure in Mexico, Mickle’s film is more methodically paced and focuses on an intensely isolated religious family, but keeps the push-and-pull of the younger generation begrudgingly holding onto the old way while questioning whether or not it’s right. As he proved with “Stake Land” a couple of years prior and “Cold in July” a year later, Mickle has a unique gift for taking stories that could be straightforward, melancholic dramas and injecting them with a genre bent. The mystery at the center of “We Are What We Are” is unnerving and its sense of loss and grief is universal, even if the leads are unrelatable in other facets, which hurts all that much more when it spirals into a harrowing climax that upends that shred of hopefulness. – RO