Have there been any good horror movies this year?

[Dr Kain]

Maybe I am looking in the wrong places, but all of the horror movies I have seen this year just down right sucked. Has there been anything good at all this year? I've looked at the list for next month's stuff and nothing I've seen listed looks like it is going to be any good either.

[walshiam]

Horror these days just plain sucks. It's no wonder the lot of them go strait to video.

[jellydonut25]

Yeah! Recent horror movies all suck!
Except for The Bay, The Cabin in the Woods, Maniac, Prometheus, The Woman in Black, Curse of Chucky, The Conjuring, Evil Dead, We are What We are, World War Z, You're NExt, Don't be Afraid of the Dark, The Hatchet films, The Human Centipede, Black Swan, Let Me In, Stakeland....

As for 2014 films, I've not heard good things about Oculus, The Purge, The Quiet Ones, or Paranormal Activity Again, but I HAVE heard good things about the following films:
The Babadook (Aussie independent film, scheduled for US release on 11/23)
Dead Snow: Red vs Dead (Coming to select theaters 10/10)
Honeymoon (released on 9/12)
The Guest (released 9/17)

and who knows? There's still time left for something to surprise. There's ABCs of Death 2, Annabelle, Dracula Untold, Horns, Jessabelle, Ouija, Tusk, Demonic...granted, none of these look or sound great to me (maybe Demonic) but you never know for sure until it's out and you see it yourself.

The Babadook sounds like the one to keep an eye out for.

[Benjamin Haines]

I enjoyed Oculus. It has a cool premise, a talented cast, a lean runtime, and the whole thing is done solidly.

I saw Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and I don't really remember it that well.

[walshiam]

[jellydonut25]

The Human Centipede is an awesome movie. Part 2 sucks, but the first one is an extremely tense, terrifying, morbidly humorous horror outing that I've seen a couple times now.

[DannyBeane]

[klen7]

i'm looking forward to Tusk. Red State really won me over that Kevin Smith can do horror (better than his more recent comedies)

[Reaper G]

[Dr Kain]

[walshiam]

My sentiments EXACTLY on every one of your points, Dr. Kain. Horror has lost it's punch since the '80's in my opinion and I'm crossing my fingers that when the Universal Monsters are revived, they can be done so that restores the fright generated with the originals in their day. I tried watching ABC's of Death and it's movies like these that make me wonder how financing was achieved for crap like this. Most everything done with horror these days is (bad) indie fodder and even then, every once in a while, we'll get a gem like "Night Breed". Where have we seen an original character in the past 5 or 10 years in a horror movie? None, in my opinion. Not one horror movie in my mind is worth 2 cents if nothing about it is memorable.

[MouthForWar]

Anybody that says horror is any worse now than it ever has been hasn't been paying close enough attention. Yeah, in the mainstream horror is pretty "blah" but there are great indie films released every year. And honestly, great horror has always come more from the indie world than the studio realm. Get your hands dirty and do some digging and you'll find that good horror movies are still being churned out on a fairly consistent basis. If you think the indie stuff is bad, you're watching the wrong indie stuff. One of the best zombie movies in at least 10 years, The Battery, just got a fantastic Blu Ray release from Shout Factory. Adam Windgard's THE GUEST just opened in mid-range theatrical release this weekend and is fantastic. An old school Carpenter-esque suspense flick. There's plenty of great stuff out there.

[Dr Kain]

I will agree, that there probably are movies I have missed out on. However, I miss them because they aren't ever advertised or discussed any where I go to, especially since I don't work at Best Buy anymore (not that they would carry anything not mainstream these days anyway). When I worked at Best Buy I got introduced to movies like Trick r Treat and Fido.

Walshiam, I definitely disagree that there hasn't been anything good since the 80s, because even the 80s had horrible horror movies. The only difference is, there was a better balance between good and bad horror movies. Lately though, it seems to be 9 bad ones for every good one. On the other hand, if I were to compile a list of my top ten horror movies, the amjority of them would be fro the 70s and 80s thanks to movies like Halloween, Alien, The Thing, and The Shining.

[MouthForWar]

Nothing has gotten worse. If you look at the 80s, do you know how many AWFUL slasher movies were clogging up the genre? Or how many super low budget, sh*tty rubber creature movies were coming to drive thrus on a weekly basis? We've obviously forgotten most of them since time has a good way of weeding out the crap and the good stuff survives, at least as a cult film. Same thing here. Its only a bit difference now because not only do we have the internet to keep us updated on everything, but also because SO many more movies are getting distributed because the market has changed. There are so many distributors and different ways of putting out a movie and so many more ways of getting movies seen right now. Things are no worse than they ever were before.

Yeah, there are more bad horror movies being produced than good ones, but there are also more bad MOVIES in general being produced than good ones. And that's the way its always been.

[jellydonut25]

If you think the first Human Centipede is just gross then you haven't seen it. It's not just a gross-out movie. There's VERY little gore or grossness. It's much more cerebral. Seriously, don't knock the movie if you haven't seen it. It's one of the better horror movies in recent memory. It's unsettling, well-shot, relies on the viewer's imagination rather than schlocky gore effects, and it's penetrated the public consciousness and broken into the mainstream a bit. The Human Centipede is a great little horror movie.

Stay away from part 2 though. It's everything awful you thought the first one would have been.

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

Honestly, I don't normally care for horror besides the classical kind. You know: crumbling castles and/or mansions, graveyards, full moons, black cats, bats, howling wolves, terrified villagers who know more than they say, ancient curses, poetry recitation, fallen aristocracy consumed by their own decadence, lots and lots of fog, and violence more expressionistic and less realistic. A few exceptions here and there, but those that fall within those parameters and more likely to be hit with me. The dreamworld of horror iconography is interesting and appealing to me, while people getting chopped to pieces in graphic detail/jump scares/constant tension with no release just leaves me cold.

... with a few exceptions, of course,

Similar thing with me and action movies: love samurai films, love swashbucklers, love westerns, but the moment you set them in the present day I loose interest. I don't know why! I might just be completely disassociated with reality!

[klen7]

'It Follows' is picking up some good buzz off of Fantastic Fest

[Rodanex]

They weren't 2014 movies, but I highly recommend checking out Ti West's The Innkeepers and House of the Devil. Really well done, very suspenseful films, probably the best horror movies I've seen in recent years.

[Dr Kain]

I guess we'll be seeing Annabelle as I just got invited by the Alamo Drafthouse to an advanced screening of it on Tuesday.

[jellydonut25]

http://www.fangoria.com/new/the-year-in ... 10-movies/

I haven't seen a good number of these, but here's a list of horror movies of 2014 that at least one person thinks were good.

I can vouch for The Babadook, Cheap Thrills, and The Battery and I'd also add Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead to the list of good 2014 horror movies.

Cheap Thrills, Battery and Dead Snow 2 are all available on DVD right now and Babadook is on VOD...so there are things out there to see.

[jellydonut25]

I saw a movie mentioned in the Fangoria article as a runner-up: Late Phases.

The werewolf design is not so great but the movie itself is pretty solid. Nick Damici from Stake Land (which, if you haven't seen, go see. There's zero reason anybody who claims to be a horror fan shouldn't have seen Stake Land by now aside from perhaps not hearing about it. Seriously, stop reading this post and see the damn movie. Not joking. See it.) carries the movie, but he's in 95% of it, so most of the movie works. It stumbles a little in its climax, becoming a bit too B-movie and I think the direction became a bit too focused on feeling like they needed to "show off" the werewolves instead of filming them from interesting angles to make them look better, but there's some great stuff in the movie too.

So now, The Babadook, Cheap Thrills, The Battery, Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead and Late Phases are all 2014 horror movies I've seen and liked. Granted Cheap Thrills and Dead Snow 2 lean more toward the comedy side of things, but they fall within the genre and are enjoyable movies.

Big Bad Wolves was just okay for me personally, but I know a few people who really liked it.

Horns was another one that was some good some bad, and is a little more comedy than horror.

Under the Skin I personally didn't like at all.

The Guest is awesome sauce. Not sure if it's strictly horror, though elements of it CERTAINLY are.

So there IS horror being made today that is good, solid, excellent, you just gotta look beyond the Ouijas and Annabelles and As Above, So Belows.

[Rodanex]

I just saw Occulus. I think it's one of the best horror movies I've seen in recent years.

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

I didn't see that one. I saw "WWE Studios" and just laughed. It does get decent reviews, so I may check it out, but I definitely wanna see Housebound first

EDIT: And another one to add to the list of good horror: Starry Eyes. Great? No, I didn't think so. Good, though.