{"id":9738,"date":"2022-12-27T15:03:41","date_gmt":"2022-12-27T15:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mattshorroraddiction.com\/?p=9738"},"modified":"2022-12-27T15:03:41","modified_gmt":"2022-12-27T15:03:41","slug":"end-of-the-year-wrap-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/?p=9738","title":{"rendered":"End of the Year Wrap-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It was an interesting year for horror films in 2022. We got a few new classics, a few surprises, and two of the biggest franchise disappointments in recent years. We also got a glut of high-profile but incredibly mediocre films from critical darling directors. Here’s a quick wrap-up of the horror titles I was able to watch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honorable Mentions<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BARBARIAN<\/strong> The best horror film of the year, Barbarian<\/em> is a breath of fresh air. Funny, suspenseful, topical, and, most importantly, unpredictable, the movie succeeds in an area where so many have failed: it’s all about the strong, well-written characters. Fast-moving and exciting, Barbarian<\/em> is classic horror storytelling without having to resort to cheap theatrics or media hype. A<\/strong>– <\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE BLACK PHONE<\/strong> After dabbling in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Doctor Strange<\/em>, Scott Derrickson returned to horror with this terrific ghostly tale of a kidnapped 13-year-old who must communicate with the spirits of his captor’s previous victims in order to escape. As with Sinister<\/em>, Derrickson delivers a strong story, smart characters, and an intense climax. B<\/strong>+ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SMILE<\/strong> Smile<\/em> is the kind of slow-burn horror tale that never grows old. While investigating the gruesome death of her patient, a psychiatrist uncovers a supernatural plot that literally gets under its victims skin and drives them to the brink of sanity – and suicide. Much like The Ring<\/em>, Smile<\/em>‘s story is structured as a mystery, building to a nerve-jangling resolution that’s both bleak and honest. B<\/strong>+<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X<\/strong> Having been a fan of director Ti West since 2009’s House of the Devil<\/em>, it was a pleasure to see him grow into the mature filmmaker he is today, and X<\/em> is his best work yet. A small group of people looking to break into the porn biz during the turbulent time of ’79 unknowingly walk into hell in the form of an elderly farmer and his unstable wife. A witty, scary slow-burn into madness, X <\/em>will leave you smiling for many<\/em> reasons. B<\/strong>+ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Dis)honorable Mentions<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SCREAM<\/strong> It was only a matter of time until Scream<\/em> lost sight of its core and adapted the silliness of its self-referential movie-within-a-movie Stab <\/em>series. As with most franchises nowadays, the new Scream<\/em> goes backwards by introducing new characters related to the originals and creating an overly complicated web of relatives and suspects, and – just like the first movie – it all climaxes at Stu Macher’s old house. Neve Campbell is always lovely, but she, along with Courtney Cox, are pushed to the side in a scare-free plot that rarely makes sense. Flat and empty. D<\/strong>+<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOPE<\/strong> Critics can’t seem to praise Jordon Peele enough, even giving this borefest rave reviews, despite the fact it rips off Close Encounters of the Third Kind<\/em> without attaining any of that classic’s energy and awe-inspiring chills. Instead Nope<\/em> offers a story about horse breeders trying to catch a UFO on film for fame and fortune, an interesting premise that’s unfortunately swallowed in humdrum character arcs and a massively pointless subplot that’s nothing more than the product of over-indulgent filmmaking. D<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE<\/strong> In the history of bad sequels, there has never been one quite as horrendous as the new Texas Chainsaw<\/em> (that is until Halloween Ends<\/em>). Limping along like a zombie looking for brains, the new Massacre<\/em> is devoid of plot, character, personality, and energy – it’s a dumb byproduct that feels so disingenuous to the original, one wonders if the writers actually paid attention to Tobe Hooper’s masterwork. The return of Final Girl Sally Hardesty smacks of desperation, and when Leatherface is about to chainsaw her, she asks him to say her name. When at any moment did Bubba actually speak, and why would he know her name? D<\/strong>– <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HALLOWEEN ENDS<\/strong> After a rough start with the 2018 Halloween<\/em> reboot, followed by a spike in creativity with the energetic Halloween Kills<\/em>, the newest, and allegedly last, chapter in the Michael Myers saga is a sucker punch to the gut. Lacking any shred of suspense or story fluidity, Halloween Ends<\/em> removes everything that made the earlier Halloween<\/em> movies work so well – even eliminating MM for most of the movie! – replacing those elements with a needless and boring “doomed romance” subplot involving characters you couldn’t care less about. The worst. F<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was an interesting year for horror films in 2022. We got a few new classics, a few surprises, and two of the biggest franchise disappointments in recent years. We also got a glut of high-profile but incredibly mediocre films from critical darling directors. Here’s a quick wrap-up of the horror titles I was able […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-capsule-reviews","category-new-releases","category-reviews"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9738\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}