2022 in Genre (The Good)
The best I've seen so far this year in the horror, thriller, dark comedy space.
Hello, everyone, it’s Sunday again. Welcome to another Joshua’s newsletter.
I’m doing pretty good at keeping this up every Sunday for… *checks notes*…three weeks now. My upcoming newsletters will be very different from what I’ve been doing here for the past two weeks. So let’s wrap up this year in genre so far!
We will revisit in mid/late December to add additional favorites and I’ll briefly touch on more middle and more bad additions.
I also want to clarify that this’ll probably be the briefest article yet, I don’t want to go too in-depth, I just implore you to go into all of these blind if you can.
Alright, let’s go.
As keeping with the last two weeks, the image above is what I got when I typed in the word “horror” and I think this really cool image encapsulates the best of what I’ve seen in the genre space this year.
Up first, we have an absurd dark comedy.
FLUX GOURMET (dir: Peter Strickland) IFC Midnight
Peter Strickland’s fifth feature outing follows an art group attending an institute devoted to culinary performances and finding themselves involved in power struggles and artistic vendettas.
“Flux Gourmet” surprised me with how hilarious it was. I was expecting something a bit more comedically off-putting instead of outwardly funny, but I found myself laughing multiple times.
The performance sequences are so well-shot and performed. That sound design and score are also incredible.
It’s definitely not everyone’s taste, but if you’re open to it, it’s an uproariously strange time.
Next, we have a psychological thriller that’s effective in its simplicity.
WATCHER (dir: Chloe Okuno) IFC Midnight & Shudder
Chloe Okuno’s feature debut follows Julia as she moves to Romania with her husband and suspects the mysterious stranger watching her from across the street is ‘The Spider’, a serial killer on the loose in the city.
“Watcher” isn’t very original. It’s a basic stalker idea that has been the subject of countless movies, shows, books, etc. What makes this stand out is Chloe Okuno’s great direction and stellar performances from the always reliable Maika Monroe and Burn Gorman.
No spoilers of course, but the final act really makes this one stick. I’ve been looking forward to Chloe Okuno finally directing a movie after seeing her great short ‘Slut’ and ‘Watcher’ doesn’t disappoint.
It’s even more impressive how solid this turned out considering the bare bones screenplay and how with the wrong director and cast, it could’ve felt more like a Lifetime movie.
Simplicity done right.
Next, we have an animated Netflix original.
THE HOUSE (dir: Paloma Baeza, Niki Londroth von Bahr, Emma De Swaef & Marc James Roels) Netflix
Netflix’s macabre animated dark comedy follows a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady becoming tied to the same house across different time periods.
“The House” has three different stories set in the same house.
The first story follows a family moving into said house and discovers somethings not quite right. This is the creepiest of the bunch and shocker, it’s my favorite story. It’s also quite funny when it wants to be (The Baby).
The second story, about a developer renovating said house, leaves a little to be desired. I wanted a bit more out of it, but it’s not a bad story by any means.
The third story, about a landlord trying to keep said house together while water keeps rising outside, is surprisingly really sweet. Definitely my second favorite story.
“The House” is a very solid and humorous dark comedy that I would recommend for nearly all ages.
Next, we have a witchy folk horror.
SHE WILL (dir: Charlotte Colbert) IFC Midnight & Shudder
Charlotte Colbert’s first film follows Veronica, an aging film star, who retreats to the countryside with her personal assistant after a double mastectomy. While trying to heal, mysterious forces give Veronica the power to enact revenge within her dreams.
“She Will” is a gorgeously shot, well-acted slow burn that provides eerie imagery and a mystifying grandeur.
I think it loses just a tad bit of steam near the end, but it doesn’t detract from the experience at all. I think this one’s definitely worth seeking out.
Up next, we have a Steven Soderbergh original.
KIMI (dir: Steven Soderbergh) HBO Max
Steven Soderbergh’s techno-thriller follows an agoraphobic tech worker who discovers evidence of a violent crime through a data stream and must face her biggest fear of going outside to get help.
“Kimi” does have a bit of a slow start, but once it gets moving it turns into a really exciting, tense crowd-pleaser.
Steven Soderbergh’s camerawork certainly won’t work for everybody, but I really enjoy it a lot and find it unique. Zoë Kravitz also turns in a really solid performance.
I really like this one and I find it still quite memorable even though it was released all the way back in February. I think this will go down as one of Soderbergh’s most underrated films in the future.
Here, here: Upcoming we have the Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner.
NANNY (dir: Nikyatu Jusu) Amazon Studios
Nikyatu Jusu’s feature debut follows Aisha, an undocumented Senegalese immigrant, who lands a job as a nanny of a wealthy Manhattan couple. As Aisha’s trying to save up money to bring her son to the U.S., terrifying visions take a hold.
“Nanny” is gorgeously shot and directed. Gorgeous cinematography by Rina Yang. A star-making performance from Anna Diop. Love the red lighting and water imagery.
I think the ending is a little too abrupt (easily excusable due to filming during COVID), but it doesn’t take away from the disquieting atmosphere before. Very much looking forward to Jusu’s next feature, which is already set up with Universal!
Next we have a Viking epic.
THE NORTHMAN (dir: Robert Eggers) Focus Features
Robert Eggers’s third outing is about Prince Amleth, whose uncle brutally murders his father and kidnaps his mother. Two decades later Amleth is now a Viking who’s on a mission to save his mother and kill his uncle.
“The Northman” is actually my least favorite Robert Eggers film. Which is saying something to how skilled of a filmmaker he is to still end up in my best section.
I think “The Witch” is near perfect (which is hilarious considering Eggers himself can’t stand watching it now), I loved “The Lighthouse” so my expectations for “The Northman” were pretty high, especially considering that amazing cast.
I gotta say “The Northman” is probably Eggers most unmemorable movie for me.
The weakest part of this film is undeniably the screenplay. The relationship between Alexander Skarsgård and Anya Taylor-Joy’s characters is so incredibly rushed that by the time that storyline reaches its conclusion, there’s no emotional component there. They had like three brief scenes together.
I also think the mysticism elements hurt the film more than helped it. “The Lighthouse” used its mysticism elements very well and it worked for the story that was being told, “The Northman” absolutely did not need them.
Also, for a revenge epic, it did not feel very epic. The final battle itself was quite underwhelming (I did like the ending though).
However, even though I have my fair share of problems, I cannot deny the SCOPE.
The production design is impeccable, cinematography incredible, performances mostly great and I actually felt sucked into the world (at least for the first act).
Film is a visual medium before a narrative one, and I gotta say the visuals are spectacular.
Next, we have the last movie I watched at this year’s Sundance film festival.
PIGGY (dir: Carlota Pereda) Magnet Releasing
Carlota Pereda’s expansion of her short of the same name, “Piggy” follows Sara, an overweight teenager who hides away in her parents butcher shop after constant bullying. After a particularly harrowing and cruel visit to a pool, Sara stumbles upon her bullies being brutally kidnapped by a stranger.
“Piggy” was already a very solid short so I was looking forward to seeing how a feature version would play out, especially with the same director and actor. Happy to report, it’s very good!
Pereda builds a really grimy, sweaty atmosphere that blends well with the ugly, cruel torment that Sara faces. The film raises many interesting questions and leaves a good amount to think about when the credits hit.
The performances are solid, it’s not afraid to get bloody when it wants to and the final act is memorable. Recommend this when it gets officially released in October.
Next, we have my most anticipated movie of the year.
SCREAM (dir: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett) Paramount Pictures
The fifth entry in the ‘Scream’ franchise follows a new killer donning the Ghostface mask and targeting the town of Woodsboro trying to resurrect deadly secrets of the past.
So, I feel like I should say, the 1996 classic ‘Scream’ is my favorite horror movie of all time. You heard that right. I could recite the movie line for line.
I’m such a fan of the franchise I saw ‘Scream 4’ twice in theaters back in 2011 when I was nine years-old. Y’all had no excuse why the movie underperformed if nine year-old me found a way into seeing it twice in theaters.
I’m such a huge fan of this franchise I have a massive poster of the original movie and the TV show. That’s right. Thirteen and fourteen year-old me loved the MTV show based off the films.
My excitement for this was off the charts. I love the filmmakers behind this new one, their great movie ‘Ready or Not’ is what got them the gig for this one and anyone could see why. They also directed my favorite segment in ‘V/H/S’.
So did it live up to the hype?
Nope.
It’s my least favorite film in the franchise and not even within my top fifteen movies I’ve seen this year.
The screenplay for this reads like a first draft written in twelve hours by a dude who’s seen the original ten years ago and has just the basic knowledge of the franchise formula.
The writing for the OG characters feels particularly off, and I can’t blame this on Kevin Williamson not writing the script cause he didn’t write the third movie and the third movie still felt like it understood those characters.
We also get WAY too much time with Sam and it doesn’t help that Melissa Barrera isn’t a very good actor (she was smiling during her running scene in the hospital) and kept getting overshadowed by everyone around her. Also, time-wise her backstory doesn't even make any sense but I won’t get into it cause I don’t wanna spoil anything.
We don’t know these new characters. This made me appreciate ‘Scream 4’ so much more because I actually understood and cared about the characters while still giving the OG cast a lot of screen time. It had a great balance, one that this new movie severely lacks. Don’t get me wrong, the actors are trying their best, but these lines they’re given can be so…not good, that it’s hard for anyone to properly sell them.
I also understand that this was shot during the height of the pandemic, but holy shit the house in the third act is so clearly a set it’s not even funny. Whenever any characters were “outside” the house it was really funny. This is a twenty-five million dollar production, we should NOT be able to tell this is a fucking set.
So, if I have so many problems with the movie why the hell is it in the good section?
Honestly, I loved the opening scene, I thought it was really clever and introduced a lot of new horror topics that people talk about now. It was simplistic and still got the job done.
The movie is well-directed, it’s well-shot, it’s well-edited. There are some nicely crafted sequences.
However, most importantly, I got to see Ghostface back on the big screen again. I never thought I would (or at least not for another few years) being so close to the TV show airing and certainly not with the OG cast.
I re-watched it a few weeks after theaters and it got better for me now that I knew what happened. I don’t think it’s a perfect ‘Scream’ movie by any means, but it’s not a terrible one. The fact that five films into a slasher franchise there isn’t one outwardly bad one is incredible. I also gotta tell you, I’m excited for ‘Scream 6’ or ‘Scream II’ or whatever the hell it’s gonna be called. I think it has potential to be better than this one and I’ll be really grateful if it is.
Reading this back, it sounds really strange this is in the best section considering the amount of problems I have with it, but what can I say? That’s the power of Ghostface.
Up next, we have a South Korean thriller.
MIDNIGHT (dir: Kwon Oh-seung) Dread
This cat-and-mouse thriller follows a serial killer ruthlessly hunting down a deaf woman through the streets of South Korea after witnessing his violent crime.
“Midnight” is a solidly directed thriller that benefits from believable performances, pulse-pounding chase sequences and one very relentless villain.
Not really much else to add, but seek this one out.
Next, we have an A24 slasher.
X (dir: Ti West) A24
Ti West’s first film in five and a half years follows a group of young filmmakers in 1979 making an adult film in rural Texas. But there’s something up with their elderly hosts…
I’m a Ti West fan. I adore ‘The Innkeepers’ and enjoy ‘The House of the Devil’. West has a specific formula when it comes to his movies (or at least the ones I’ve seen). Most of the movie will be almost an uncomfortable comedy with ominous tones before turning into a full-fledged horror movie in the final ten-to-fifteen minutes.
I know many find ‘The Innkeepers’ to be really boring and dragged out, but I didn’t. I liked the characters and watching them creep around this near abandoned hotel.
I was very excited for Ti West’s horror comeback, or at least movie comeback since he’s been mostly directing TV episodes in the past few years.
Do I love this like I love ‘The Innkeepers’?
Probably not.
But I still think it’s really good.
Mia Goth plays dual roles, both as Maxine and donning old age makeup as the elderly Pearl (who’ll be getting her own prequel film next month) and has a very illuminating presence as both.
However, the standouts for me where Brittany Snow and Scott Mescudi (yes Kid Cudi) who have the funniest moments of the movie and have really good chemistry.
Shockingly, I actually preferred the first hour of the movie before the slasher element kicked in. While the film is definitely gory, the kills are not inventive or unique. In order to have your slasher stand out, you need to have different types of kills, new set pieces, etc. Doesn’t deliver on either.
The first death, that happens an hour in, is easily the best one and none of the other death scenes live up to it.
However, it’s still fun and the editing here is so sick.
Really well-made and I’m looking forward to the prequel ‘Pearl’ and hope there’s a third installment.
Next, we have an Irish film that tackles ‘changeling’ folklore in effective ways.
YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER (dir: Kate Dolan) Magnet Releasing
Kate Dolan’s first feature follows a girl named Char who’s mother goes missing. When her mother returns acting strangely, Char must uncover the truth of her disappearance and unearth the dark secrets of her family.
Don’t let the film’s terrible poster fool you, “You Are Not My Mother” is an effective, eerie and intense horror that boosts strong performances, even stronger direction behind the camera and an interesting exploration of ‘changelings’.
Looking forward to whatever Dolan directs next, this was a really solid debut.
Next, we have a dark fairy tale of sorts…
HATCHING (dir: Hanna Bergholm) IFC Midnight
Bergholm’s debut feature follows twelve year-old Tinja who is desperate to please her family vlogging, image-obsessed mother. One night, Tinja finds a strange egg out in the woods. What hatches is unbelievable.
“Hatching” is a pretty great debut. I think the scares in this movie are really fun and well-done. It feels a bit like a dark fairy tale/fable to me.
I think the acting from our lead is great, the animatronic creature effects work is SO good and it has a doozy of an ending.
Really strong work all around.
Up next, we have a Norwegian thriller.
THE INNOCENTS (dir: Eskil Vogt) IFC Midnight
Vogt’s second directorial effort follows four kids who become friends during the summer and out of sight of adults discover they have hidden powers. Whilst exploring these powers in the woods and playgrounds, their innocent play takes an extremely dark turn.
“The Innocents” shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does. Don’t get me wrong, it has a really strong and tight screenplay, but the entire movie rides or dies on the kids performances. Happy to say, all the kids here do a great job.
Don’t think of this like a sci-fi thriller like ‘Stranger Things’ or any other project where kids have powers. There’s none of that here. It isn’t even a sci-fi movie.
It’s an incredibly dark, suspenseful thriller that has great direction behind the camera.
Seek this one out, most definitely.
Next, we have a Blumhouse production from the same creative team who brought you ‘Sinister’.
THE BLACK PHONE (dir: Scott Derrickson) Universal Pictures
“The Black Phone” is about a thirteen year old boy named Finney who gets kidnapped by a sadistic serial killer and trapped in a soundproof basement. Then a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, where Finney discovers he can hear the voices of the killers previous victims who are dead set on making sure what happened to them doesn’t happen to him.
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy “The Black Phone” as much as I did. The nearly three-minute trailer has been everywhere since last October and the four and a half month move from its original early February release date to late June didn’t help matters. I felt like I had already seen the movie multiple times by the time it arrived in theaters.
Thrilled to say I actually really, really enjoyed it. Love the dream sequences were shot on Super 8.
The acting’s strong, Ethan Hawke did exactly what he promised, the scares were well-crafted and most importantly, the script made an attempt to make you care about these characters. And it paid off emotionally in the end!
I really liked this one.
Up Next, we have the return of the master of body horror.
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE (dir: David Cronenberg) Neon
David Cronenberg’s return to body horror is about the human species adapting to a synthetic environment with the body undergoing new transformations and mutations.
I’m a huge Cronenberg fan and kind of new immediately this was going to be my thing and shocker, it is.
The performances are good, the direction is strong and not everything is explained to a T, but so is every other Cronenberg work. I really enjoyed this, more than I was expecting honestly.
Alright, I’ve been writing all day I’m ready to publish this, so let’s get speed through these next five picks. Quick rounds let’s go:
Next is the latest edition of the Predator franchise.
PREY (dir: Dan Trachtenberg) Hulu
This prequel to the first ‘Predator’ film takes place 300 years prior in the Great Plains in 1719. Naru, a skilled and fierce Comanche warrior, sets out to protect her people against an unknown danger that turns out to be a highly evolved Alien predator with technically advanced arsenal.
This totally could’ve been a theatrical release. Most of the other 20th Century/Searchlight collaborations with Hulu I could see why they would opt for streaming, but this really could’ve went to theaters. I understand why it wouldn’t though, the last movie underperformed and a lot of people did not exactly have hope reading the plot-line.
Glad this proved everyone wrong. I'm a big Dan Trachtenberg fan, I adore ‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ and even though it isn’t one of my favorite episodes, I still really like his ‘Black Mirror’ episode ‘Playtest’. I knew he wouldn’t disappoint and he didn’t.
It’s brilliantly crafted, has really realistic characters and has really cool Predator that make this a fun thrill ride.
Next, we have my favorite directorial debut of the year.
MASTER (dir: Mariama Diallo) Amazon Studios
Diallo’s feature debut follows two women striving to find their place at an elite New England university built on the site of a Salem-era gallows hill. The women encounter terrifying manifestations of the school’s haunted past and present.
Regina Hall is reliably great in everything, but this is one of my favorite performances I’ve seen from her. Really great work.
I found the story really investing, it’s well-shot, well-directed.
I am a little confused by a major revelation in the final act that doesn’t get fully explained, but everything else is so solid it doesn’t sour the experience.
Very excited for Diallo’s next film.
Up next, we have a pretty much homemade film.
HELLBENDER (dir: Toby Poser, John Adams, Zelda Adams) Shudder
The Adams Family’s second (or third idk) feature follows a teen and her mother who live simply in the woods and spend their time making metal music. A chance encounter with a fellow teen causes her to uncover a connection between her family and witchcraft, which causes a rift with her mother.
It took me a few moments to fully adjust myself to the amateurish camera quality, but once I did I realized how special this was. A movie completely written, directed, edited, produced, designed, acted by a father, mother, daughter team.
There’s some really cool imagery here, the music’s cool and I think it’s a really neat story.
I really want them to get a bigger budget to make something bigger, but clearly with how good this movie is, they don’t need it.
Next, we have my favorite dark comedy of the year so far.
DUAL (dir: Riley Stearns) RLJE Films
Stearns’s third film follows a terminally ill woman who opts for a cloning procedure to ease her loss on her family. When she makes a miraculous recovery, her attempts to have her clone decommissioned fail and lead to a court-mandated dual to the death.
This is my first time watching a Riley Stearns movie and clearly I need to watch his other two cause this really surprised me.
I think his pitch black almost monotone humor really works for this kind of story and Karen Gillan is game, nailing the deadpan expressions to go along with it.
It’s funny when it wants to be, it’s suitably strange when it wants to be and it’s even pretty tense when it wants to be.
A nerve-wracking, weird, dark comedy that I think is honestly great.
For our last movie, we have the third film of one of the newest masters of horror.
NOPE (dir: Jordan Peele) Universal Pictures
Peele’s third feature is about two siblings who own a horse ranch witnessing an uncanny, chilling discovery.
This is the best time I’ve had at the theater all year. Peele clearly loves Spielberg, specifically ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ and ‘Jaws’. This movie feels like a huge love letter to classic summer blockbusters.
I don’t think this is Peele’s overall best movie, but it’s his most re-watchable for me.
I know I’m definitely in the minority here, but I think this might be, for me, his ‘scariest’ movie yet. I love the chimp scene, love the ‘abduction’ scene (& was equally horrified to discover why we hear screaming at night) and the visual of the house being covered in blood is too good.
The cinematography is also INSANE. The night-time sequences look so good. The sound design and score is truly great. Performances are really good too.
Script isn’t perfect, it’s a better script than ‘Us’ though, which was the biggest problem I had with that movie.
But overall, this feels like an original movie. It feels like a Jordan Peele original.
It’s one of the handful of movies released in the last few years that I can see people referring to years in the future being like ‘I wish I was around/old enough to see that in theaters’.
Yeah, I loved it. Loved the experience and the spectacle of it.
Oh thank God, we did it! This one was a struggle to write, you might’ve been able to tell I kind of gave up on the last few, I just want to get this out.
Thanks for reading, sorry for any grammar issues.
My next newsletters will be different and I’ll be more in-depth talking about various subjects, not just acting like I’m a critic lol.
Hope you enjoyed.
We’ll look back on this in mid/late December to see if any opinions of mine have changed, what’s new in the bad section, what’s new in the middle section and what’s new in the best section.
See you next Sunday!