5. “The Invitation”
At this point, it’s become its own cliché — an independent feature that presents itself as a straightforward narrative but (surprise!) has some crazy genre element that only really becomes clear in an oftentimes-belabored third act. “The Invitation” could have fallen into these traps, but mercifully sidesteps the conventions to become a wholly engrossing, edge-of-your-seat horror film that is, more or less, about people sitting around a dinner table talking to each other. Scary, I know. Karyn Kusama, the criminally underrated filmmaker behind “Girlfight” and “Jennifer’s Body,” reteams with her “Aeon Flux” screenwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi for a different kind of cosmic voyage — this time journeying within, as a group of people (mostly Hollywood douche-bag types) meet for a dinner party that becomes increasingly unhinged. First, the subject of “The Invitation,” a cult-like self-help tool, is introduced, and then, as the group starts to get more confessional, well, they also get more murderous. Patiently told and solidly acted (although the only person you’ll recognize is probably Logan Marshall-Green, aka the poor man’s Tom Hardy), “The Invitation” lulls you into a sense of security before pulling the rug out from under you and then splattering it with blood. Accept this “Invitation,” but don’t say we didn’t warn you.
4. “The Eyes Of My Mother”
If enigmatic Italian auteur Michelangelo Antonioni made a torture-porn movie, it would probably look a lot like “The Eyes of My Mother.” Disquieting and surreal (and starkly photographed in black-and-white, which makes it even creepier), “The Eyes of My Mother” feels both subdued and batshit crazy. It’s a film that ambles when it should sprint, and part of the fun is watching it take this wobbly narrative path, which is completely unexpected and strange. Giving away any part of this film feels like a criminal act worthy of imprisonment in a family farm, but here’s the basic gist: A young girl named Francisca witnesses her mother being brutally murdered by a man posing as a door-to-door salesman. She takes her revenge on the man, alongside her father, employing the surgical techniques that her mother showed her before she was killed. Years later, Francisca struggles to form an emotional connection with… well, anyone, and her eerie dispassion and clinical curiosity about human anatomy dig deeper into disturbing territory. Explaining “The Eyes of My Mother” further gives away too much; let’s just say, there was no other horror film in 2016 that looked (or disquieted) quite like this. Ick.
3.”Don’t Breathe”
Fede Alvarez‘s first film was “Evil Dead,” a blood-soaked reimagining of Sam Raimi‘s horror classic that felt both too slavish to the original and imbibed with a restless, punk-rock energy that tried to dismantle everything that was so beloved about the earlier film. The result was a film that felt like the filmmaker behind it was better than the material itself. Which is why the raw and visceral “Don’t Breathe,” co-written and directed by Alvarez (and once again shepherded by Raimi and producing partner Robert Tapert), felt like the fulfillment of that initial promise. Here was a scary-as-shit, cut-to-the-bone (with a running time of less than 90 minutes), booby-trapped horror thriller that absolutely blew anybody who saw it away. It’s the story of three dipshit criminals (led by Alvarez favorite Jane Levy) who break into a dilapidated mansion in the outskirts of Detroit (linking it to recent horror favorites “It Follows” and “Only Lovers Left Alive“) and fall victim to the house’s owner — a blind man (Stephen Lang) who has an agenda all his own. The twists and turns never stop coming, with Alvarez managing to stage suspense set pieces along the way that are simply breathtaking (the political undercurrents are outstanding, too.) The fact that the filmmaker has openly talked about doing a sequel doesn’t fill us with dread, but with delight.
2. “The Wailing”
Something is happening in a small village in South Korea. People are sick. Murders increase. Strange occurrences are popping up. And, oh yeah, there’s that pesky zombie problem and a mysterious spirit. The villagers assume that the Japanese man who just moved to the area is to blame, but there are signs that something ancient and altogether more evil is at the heart of the matter. It’s up to a bumbling cop (Kwak Do-won), whose family is personally affected by the weirdness, to figure out just what the fuck is going on and how to stop it. Na Hong-jin‘s epic (clocking in at an otherworldly 156 minutes) is jaw-dropping for many reasons — for the lyrical beautiful of its photography, the audacity and complexity of the script, its brazen examination of xenophobia, the dangers of finger-pointing, and the open-endedness of the conclusion. But the analysis has to happen after you initially watch the film; you just have to let “The Wailing” wash over you. It’s the kind of movie that’s too ballsy for most American audiences; for those willing to take the plunge, it’s very much worth it.
1. “The Witch”
The sleeper success of “The Witch,” released early this year by indie film juggernaut A24, felt like more than a validation of its rapturous film-festival response from the previous year, but also an indication that audiences were craving, well-crafted arthouse horror. In 17th-century New England, a family is banished from their colony for heretical reasons. While staying on the edge of some very creepy woods, the family comes under attack — but is it a psychological unraveling or something more supernatural? Part of the fun of “The Witch” is watching just how far writer-director Robert Eggers, who was seemingly inspired by actual journals from the period and Hammer horror films, pushes the movie into the more outwardly sinister, surreal, and sexual. At the heart of “The Witch,” too, is one of the best performances of the year, by Anya Taylor-Joy (making our 2016 Breakthrough list, no less). It’s her journey of empowerment and independence that gives the film additional metaphoric weight and turns it from a painterly freakshow into something more allegorical and profound. In terms of horror in 2016, no other movie cast a distressing spell quite like “The Witch.”
Honorable Mention
Otherwise, there were a few movies that came close to making the list, including Morgan Spurlock’s horror-doc “Rats,” which possibly contains more disturbing images than many of the movies above, period sniper thriller “Carnage Park,” Polish vampire/mermaid pic “The Lure,” gorgeous Romanian pregnancy horror “Shelley,” better-than-you’d-think sequel “Ouija: Origin Of Evil,” “The Boy,” and divisive Brian Cox-starrer “The Autopsy Of Jane Doe.” And that’s excluding a few films that were more thriller than horror, like the excellent “The Shallows,” or a few that aren’t officially open yet in the U.S. yet, like well-executed British zombie pic “The Girl With All The Gifts” (which has opened there, but not here). Any others you would argue for? Let us know in the comments.