10. The Night House
Put Rebecca Hall in your movie and it will automatically shine. That holds true for numerous films including David Bruckner‘s The Night House which, happily, has plenty of other assets worth championing as well. Hall plays a recently widowed woman who, alone in the immense and isolated house that her dead husband built, begins to suspect his presence is still around. Hall’s performance as a grieving woman is the heart of the film, but Bruckner also includes some stellar scares, attractively eerie visuals, and some pitch perfect sound design. Turn the lights off, crank up the volume, and settle in for a terrifying ride.
Available on Blu-ray and VOD. Read my full review here.
9. Werewolves Within
If I had to name two subgenres that don’t get nearly enough new movies each year, I could easily go with ensemble murder mysteries and werewolf flicks. Josh Ruben‘s latest, the funny, bloody, and highly entertaining Werewolves Within, does a brilliant job of combining both. When a park ranger is assigned to a small mountain town, he finds more than he bargained for as a series of murders begins just as the town is isolated by fierce winter weather. Worse, the killer might be a hairy beast! Sam Richardson and Milana Vayntrub headline this goofy good time that balances a compelling mystery with plenty of laughs, and it doesn’t shy away from the red stuff either. Think Clue meets The Beast Must Die, and you’ll have a vague idea what joys await you.
Available on Blu-ray and VOD. Read my full review here.
8. Psycho Goreman (Canada)
Imagine Harry and the Hendersons, but this time Bigfoot hates the parents, isn’t all that fond of kids, and wants to tear everyone limb from limb. That’s the vibe in Steven Kostanski‘s terrifically funny, sweet, and bloody Psycho Goreman. Two siblings find a buried gem that summons an ancient, intergalactic warrior to do her bidding, and soon all manner of hell breaks loose. Alien bounty hunters come looking to kill PG — the kids shorten his nickname while also giving a nod to the film’s somewhat family-friendly nature — leading to more chaos and mayhem, and all of it unfolds with a double dose of sass and sweetness. It really is the heckin’ best.
Available on Blu-ray and to stream on Shudder VOD. Read my full review here.
7. Come True (Canada)
Horror movies about sleep paralysis had a good run over the past few years despite all of them being junk. Writer/director Anthony Scott Burns switches things up by actually delivering a great one with Come True. A young woman suffering from nightmares joins a sleep study that allows the doctors to “see” what she does in her dreams, and it ain’t pretty. The film makes a compelling character out of its lead, and her journey becomes an intriguing one that keeps viewers on their toes even as the film itself descends into a dreamy pace and atmosphere.
Available on Blu-ray and to stream on Hulu and VOD. Read my full review here.
6. The Feast (UK)
Eco-horror movies — films where the earth fights back against its shitty human stewards — are always welcome in this house, and this Welsh import more than fits the bill. A well-to-do family has a dinner party at their country estate with help staffed from locals, but one of the young women has something more planned beyond merely serving drinks. She’ll be serving justice. (An action film from the 80s or 90s must have used that line by now.) The Feast is an atmospheric slowburn turning the knife into classism and those who dare spoil the environment, and its third act isn’t shy about spilling a little blood here and there to drive its point home.
Available on VOD. Read my full review here.
Continue reading our list of the best horror movies of 2021 on the next page…
Related Topics: 2021 Rewind, Horror
