10. “Under The Shadow”
The critical darling of the indie-horror Sundance set, Babak Anvari’s startling directorial debut, “Under The Shadow,” not only illuminated a cultural corner where the horror genre rarely treads, but also announced the arrival of a remarkable new filmmaker. Set during the post-war terror of 1980s Tehran, “Under The Shadow” centers on a malevolent Djinn apparition — a kind of Middle Eastern curse — haunting a family where the patriarch is all but absent. Accused of subversion and denied medical-school access, a disaffected mother (Narges Rashidi), living essentially like a single mom, falls into a funk while sequestered at home taking care of her precocious daughter as the threat of aerial attacks are a daily fear. As the national turmoil expands and relatives flee for safety, a relentless shadowy spirit begins to disturb all of the families remaining in their increasingly empty apartment complex. “Under The Shadow” also works as a metaphor and could easily be called “Under The Veil” as a horror commenting on sinning for not leading a completely virtuous life (mom’s rather modern and not keen on anti-feminist Islamic law). Whatever your slant is, on a basic level, “Under The Shadow” is well-constructed and tense as all get-out, with enough social texture to provide a thought-provoking experience you won’t soon forget.
9. “The Neon Demon”
A movie so destined for cult classic status it should have been shown exclusively at midnight, “The Neon Demon” is exactly the kind of horror movie you’d expect from Danish madman Nicolas Winding Refn. Set in Los Angeles’ vapid fashion world, it follows a naive ingénue (an alien-like Elle Fanning) as she struggles to understand the complexities of the marketplace and also stay alive. Aside from a couple of outstanding cameo appearances from people like Keanu Reeves and a delicious, scene-stealing Alessandro Nivola, the movie’s cast is almost entirely female (Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote and Abbey Lee are her central casting frenemies). And the entire movie feels like Refn approximating what a teenage girl would want out of this type of movie — couture clothing, tons of glitter, and, towards the end, some out-and-out grossness. People were decidedly er… mixed, when the movie opened (which it only sort of did thanks to a botched Amazon Studios deployment), but “The Neon Demon” should find fans on home video and streaming services for ages to come. It’s the work of a singular visionary, one whose twin obsessions of sex and violence are on full display, dappled in sparkles, and set to a throbbing Cliff Martinez score.
8. “Train To Busan”
Directed with taut intensity and comic precision, Yeon Sang-ho’s South Korean zombie apocalypse horror thriller “Train To Busan” is utterly electric. Starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi and Ma Dong-seok, ‘Busan’ centers on self-involved asshat father taking his daughter to Busan to see his estranged wife. Once on board, his selfishness alienates other passengers, including a pregnant wife duo with her hulking husband. What should be an ordinary, perhaps boring bullet train ride to Busan turns to utter shit when a zombie virus starts infecting nearby regions of South Korea. And these are the rage-y wicked-fast zombie breed, not the speed-challenged George A. Romero kind. Zombs board the train and all living passengers need to put their bullshit behind in order to survive. Shot with Edgar Wright-like intensity, plus nervous “holy shit!” laughs, once “Train To Busan” gets moving, this delirious runaway locomotive of a narrative never stops. The most fun you’ll have in a horror movie this year? Very possible. Don’t believe us? It’s been endorsed by Guillermo del Toro, so there’s that.
7. “10 Cloverfield Lane”
Damien Chazelle has had quite the year. In addition to writing and directing the rapturously received “La La Land,” he also had a hand in the script for “10 Cloverfield Lane,” the sideways follow-up to J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves‘ 2008 movie “Cloverfield.” How the two movies connect is anybody’s guess, since “10 Cloverfield Lane” couldn’t be more dissimilar, stylistically and content-wise. Whereas the first film was a shaky-cam found-footage monster movie, “10 Cloverfield Lane” is more of a controlled Hitchcockian thriller with an outrageous twist that you’ll either love or hate. After a brutal car accident, Mary Elizabeth Winstead winds up in the underground bunker of a survivalist played by John Goodman. (John Gallagher, Jr. is there, too, as a seemingly benign friend.) Goodman tells her that there’s some kind of devastating nuclear fallout and that she has to stay in the bunker, but as the movie progresses and the horror intensifies, she understands that there’s something far more sinister at play within the shelter. As directed by first-timer Dan Trachtenberg (who would also helm a stellar episode of “Black Mirror” this season), “10 Cloverfield Lane” is a good, old-fashioned, claustrophobic thriller, by turns hilarious and horrific. It would be a great drive-in movie if those actually existed anymore.
6. “Green Room”
Shit. This movie shreds. A nerve-destroying exercise in teeth-rattling horror, this punk-rock horror show from “Blue Ruin” filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier is almost unbearably intense. A shabby punk-rock band (led by the late, great Anton Yelchin) tools around the Pacific Northwest, playing shows, stealing gas, and getting interviewed by marginal zine reporters. When they agree to play a show in what is clearly a neo-Nazi club, they play an anti-skinhead song and barely get off the stage alive. But it’s what happens when they return to the grungy green room — accidentally witnessing a ritualistic murder that ends up really dooming them — that truly sets the madness in motion. The rest of the movie is like a John Carpenter siege movie, but amped up to a rafters-rattling level. Saulnier doesn’t skimp on the gore, but it’s in the construction of the movie’s numerous set pieces that he really displays his talent (and his punk-rock fuck-you attitude). Yelchin has a wonderful romantic foil in Imogen Poots’ bleach-blonde punk, but the movie’s biggest draw is Patrick Stewart, the courtly Englishman who disappears into the role of the Nazi’s bloodthirsty ringleader. If you only know the actor from “X-Men” or “Star Trek,” be prepared to see a whole new side of Stewart. Homeboy is, like the rest of the movie, scary as fuck.
