The halfway point of the year is here and it’s time to look back to remember the highlights of these 7 months, this time focusing on the horror film genre, which has been plagued with disappointments and surprises ranging from photocopied men to sinister grandmothers with hidden plans, through multiverses of madness and ghosts who help against child molesters.
We recover 9 of the most outstanding titles that have appeared in Spain, waiting for a good handful of very powerful works to arrive in our cinemas and platforms. You can also check the list of the best horror movies of 2021, those of 2020 or all the best so far this year on platforms like Netflix or Amazon Prime
nope! (Nope, 2022)
Direction: Jordan Peele. Cast: Steven Yeun, Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Terry Notary, Donna Mills.
Jordan Peele’s third feature film after ‘Let Me Out’ and ‘Us’ has been received with a number one enthusiast at the US box office, becoming the only original film (not a sequel or remake, or franchise) to gross $44 million in one weekend since… ‘Us.’ Just for the originality of its concept, it is already an achievement.
Malnazidos (2022)
Direction: Javier Ruiz Caldera, Alberto de Toro. Cast: Miki Esparbé, Aura Garrido, Luis Callejo, Álvaro Cervantes, Manel Llunell.
Much better than expected and also better than what is being said, this mixture of war films and zombies in the Spanish Civil War not only knows the tropes of a genre that is too crushed to know how to fight them gracefully, but also prevents the typical Spanish comedy tone from creeping in too muchmaking a good film with black humor and well-written characters, with an unprecedented effort in our cinema to collide genres.
Criticism in Espinof by Jorge Loser
Available on Netflix
Terror in Studio 666 (Studio 666, 2022)
Direction: BJ McDonnell. Cast: Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffee, Whitney Cummings, Jenna Ortega.
A bittersweet farewell from the Foo Fighters drummer, taylor hawkinsdeceased very shortly after the release of the film and its accompanying album. An experiment of the rock band in the form of a tremendously gory horror movie (featuring some of the best deaths to be seen this year), practical special effects, and a connection to ’80s heavy metal cinema that’s stronger than many would believe, where even Dave Grohl’s loader works.
Apple tv available for rent
Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, 2022)
Direction: Sam Raimi. Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Xochitl Gomez, Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Marvel promised us a horror movie and delivered it, more or less. Actually a dark adventure full of monsters and black magic, it is a full-fledged Sam Raimi movie, mixing his Army of Darkness and Drag me to Hell with the current MCU, leaving us lovecraftian monsters, possessions, doppelgängers, zombies and demons. It deserves a prominent position.
Available on Disney+
Criticism in Espinof for Jorge Loser
X (2022)
Address: Ti West. Cast: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Kid Cudi, Martin Henderson.
A24’s slasher, or proof that the production company is today the refuge of independent horror films treated with care and adequate budgets, but without the studio restrictions associated with this type of plan. That is, we have blood and violence, but also sex and antipuritan provocation. He has his detractors within the horror fandom because perhaps they have forgotten that his director was until recently wandering around television and none of his previous films came out of the “I cook it, I eat it” ghetto.
Criticism in Espinof, by Jorge Loser
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)
Direction: David Blue Garcia. Cast: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Jacob Latimore, Moe Dunford, Olwen Fouere.
In front of the slasher of the hehehe of Scream, Netflix welcomed this direct sequel to the Tobe Hooper classic that could not be released in theaters because, basically, it is a barrabasada. A collection of savage kills, executed with butchery sensitivity and sticky special effects that blend the two techniques well. A nasty, misanthropic, short and to the point movie which goes to the essence of body count more like a sequel to Friday the 13th than Texas Chainsaw.
Criticism in Espinof, by Mikel Zorrilla
Men (2022)
Direction: Alex Garland. Cast: Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear, Paapa Essiedu, Gayle Rankin, Zak Rothera-Oxley.
A24 surprising us once again with the strangest work of the genre of the year, a visual metaphor condensed into three ideas that come to life as a classic visit to the English countryside with horror encounters ranging from Cronenberg to MR James, through the cosmic, folk, or corporealall through the lens of a woman on the run that could be seen as this decade’s Repulsion (1965), managing to stir and provoke, as a good horror film should.
Criticism in Espinof, by Jorge Loser
Black Phone (2022)
Direction: Scott Derrickson. Cast: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Jeremy Davies, James Ransone.
Scott Derrickson had to return to horror to restore lost prestige to a Blumhouse in low hours, achieving not only one of the ‘commercial horror successes of the year, but the best adaptation of a Joe Hill work to date. A reformulation of the Lost Hearts story by MR James in Stranger Danger key, black phone it works thanks to its characters and a great load of emotions, melancholy and fear, in contrast, with a very harsh theme of child abuse hovering over it, from which it emerges unscathed thanks to an urban fable tone.
Criticism in Espinof, by Jorge Loser
Grandma (2021)
Address: Paco Plaza. Cast: Almudena Amor, Vera Valdez, Karina Kolokolchykova, Chacha Huang.
Pazo Plaza establishes himself as one of today’s great horror authors with this disturbing and devastating look at helplessness in old age in which Carlos Vermut’s script recycles some classic stories, seen in movies like Allison Birthday a Water’s drop by Mario Bava and gives it something sinister from a sophisticated staging full of visual symbolism, clues, clues and details to unravel an evil background hidden in a seemingly simple plot.
Criticism in Espinof, by Kiko Vega
Available on Amazon Prime Video
