Fear speaks in a language older than words, but retains the same power of communication. And today, that language is best harnessed through film. The horror genre has and still is producing some of the most visionary artists in cinema. Robert Eggers, Nia DaCosta, Ari Aster, and many others have proven that horror can enliven and enrich some grand metaphors for the human experience. Fans of horror, even those who are older and wise to the panicked shivers induced by the camera can respect that the genre is undergoing something of a renaissance. Filmmakers are finding more fearful and more profound ways to connect with audiences than ever.
This year, a number of horror films have enjoyed critical and box office success, and some have even become the subject of intense internet discourse and debate. Here are the top ten horror movies of 2021.
10 Slumber Party Massacre
Slumber Party Massacre, a remake directed by Danishka Esterhazy, takes a while to come into its own after retreading the ground of the original, but becomes a wholly different movie through its subtext and directorial choices. It retains the beats of the familiar slasher B movie: a group of girls takes to an isolated cabin to party and unwind, and end up encountering the same killer that haunted the main character's mother some thirty years ago. This is a movie that's perfectly aware of what it is, and smartly reworks some of the sleazy, male-gaze style exploitation that the original drew upon for its scares. Close up shots of women's bodies from the perspective of the killer is a trend best left in the 80s, and Esterhazy moves the story along with plenty of intelligent satire paid to the same issue. Stylish kills and plenty of comedy make Slumber Party Massacre a standout slasher of 2021.
9 The Fear Street Trilogy
Creator R.L. Stein praised this adaptation of his Fear Street series of books, which came to the big screen through Netflix this year in three installments. The Fear Street Trilogy captured the same aesthetic that drew so many audiences to the popular Stephen King-style media of the last decade (think Stranger Things, IT, etc.). There's a small town, an ancient curse, and a group of undead, relentless killers that pursue the main cast to the point of exhaustion. A central romance plot ties the three movies together and provides just enough heart to keep you interested in the fates of these characters. What the movies lack in character depth and subtext, they make up for in stylish action and a genuinely intriguing mystery that is smartly interwoven through the three films. The mystery's twists and turns are smartly placed, unpredictable, and work very well dispersed across its roughly seven hours of runtime.
8 Titane
Titane is very weird. A young girl gets in car crash, a metal plate is installed in her head, and she grows up to be a murderer who is horny for cars. She's also pregnant, but the baby is actually also a car. What's even stranger than these individual elements is what underlies them all: a deep sorrow for the failing processes of the body and its imperfection as a canvas for personal presentation. It's sensationalized subject matter will not work for everyone, but there is a narrative underneath the bizarre presentation. Director Julia Ducournau's world is one where bodies, gender, and sex are as mutable as the day's weather, and Titane is a terrifying, well-realized vision of that world.
7 V/H/S/94
A return to form for the series, V/H/S/94 capitalizes on what makes found-footage horror so effective: combining ingenious practical effects with a low-defiition camera style. The movie has five different narratives, four of which are self-contained, the fifth being the "frame" story, or the one that unites them all. The frame narrative is relatively simple, following a SWAT team entering a compound occupied by dead cultists. Each of the vignettes far outpace the frame story, offering unique thrills and scares crafted to perfection by different creators. The combination of these vignettes is terrifying enough to become proof that the genre still deserves acclaim for its creativity.
6 Censor
Enid reviews films for Britain’s board of film classification during the Video Nasty period, during which legislation was passed to control the content of violent movies. Uptight, well-dressed, and conservative, she delights in presenting herself as objective and hyper-competent. These qualities are carefully undone when she encounters a film with plot details that share uncanny similarities with the disappearance of her own sister. By the halfway point of Censor, the remainder of the film seems somewhat bound and expected once you understand where her obsession might lead her, but the real joy is watching her prim and proper personal philosophy unwind as she loses her grip on sanity. Censor delights in reminding viewers that the line between righteousness and depravity is a thin one.
5 Werewolves Within
Werewolves Within shares almost nothing in common with the video game that it is based on, and ironically, is one of the best received video game adaptations ever. Forest ranger Finn Wheeler, played by Sam Richardson alongside a cast of talented veterans of comedy, is trapped by a blizzard inside a lodge along with other residents of a small town, and begins to suspect that one of them is a werewolf. It's a shame that the film seems to restrain itself when it comes to its comedic elements, which have a solid foundation in this horror comedy. Despite that, it is still a quick-witted, classic-style whodunnit with plenty of laughs and scares to keep viewers entertained.
4 Nightmare Alley
Nightmare Alley is acclaimed director Guillmero Del Toro's latest work, and one of his most twisted stories to date. A carney named Stan joins a circus and finds he has the abilities to manipulate people through a variety of circus acts. Soon after, he becomes involved with others who do the same and gets drunk on his own power. Beautifully, shot and styled, it's difficult to say which aspect of its neo-noir aesthetic contributes the most to its success. The strongest contender might just be Cate Blanchett’s presence as a leering, snide femme fatale that acts as the perfect foil to Bradley Cooper's arrogant and prideful Stan. It’s a slow descent that feels increasingly doomed with every minute of screentime and plummets to a crushing depth that lingers in the mind.
3 Lamb
Maybe the weirdest A24 movie, Lamb doesn’t fit neatly within any genre, which makes it difficult to impart the tone of the movie. The premise: a lamb-human hybrid is born to two lonely Icelandic farmers who begin to raise it as they would a human child. An atmosphere of paranoid and intimate introspection, paired with a slow, evocative cinematography will make this at least somewhat reminiscent of other A24 horror films. The two leads are given space to deliver as much empathy towards their child and to the audience as possible, making each moment feel emotionally rich. The film builds to a strange and potentially confusing ending, and has been equally maligned and celebrated by viewers. Questions of man’s relationship to nature pervade the film, and for those who will meet the filmmakers in their strange ideas, the film offers a bleak but truthful portrait of the human experience.
2 Candyman
Director Nia DaCosta repurposes the legacy of the first Candyman to deepen the mythology behind the monster and explore the lingering effects of gentrification and institutional violence. Candyman’s legend is tied to his name - say his name five times and he will appear and kill the summoner. The key to the metaphor is the resurrection of the tragedy that created the legend, which becomes an amalgam of several racially motivated murders of Black men. Some felt that the message was too heavy handed, but the ideas that Nia DaCosta presents are undeniably poignant.
1 Malignant
A seemingly classic possession thriller takes several steps into extra gruesome territory when the details of the killer and his relation to the main character, Madison, is revealed. The kills in Malignant are so over-the-top and exaggerated that several scenes went viral on Twitter, and reviewers noted a mix of heightened fear and incredulity at the style of the film. Some of the characterization is one-note and boring, but the film shines during its action and gore sequences, which include an inventive mix of choreography and CGI that is equal parts hilarious and terrifying.