The Babadook (2014)
Dir: Jennifer Kent / Studio: IFC Films
It’s doubtful that 2014 will be remembered as a particularly successful year for the horror genre.
Many of the year’s scary movies were very poor and lacking in any real fear value. Then, on top of that were mediocre efforts like The Pyramid and Deliver Us From Evil that weren’t as bad as the films on this list, but failed to take the genre in an interesting direction. The former, in particular, only avoided a spot on the worst films list by virtue of a third act foray into glorious mayhem.
However, thankfully, there were a handful of films to remind audiences just how good horror can be when it’s done well. Here are the best genre efforts of the year, based on UK release dates.
Honourable Mention: The Borderlands
The Borderlands (2013)
Dir: Elliot Goldner / Studio: Metrodome Distribution
Little seen due to its weird release (it premiered in 2013, but got limited screenings and a wide DVD roll-out in 2014), The Borderlands is a brilliantly atmospheric British found footage horror film from first-time filmmaker Elliot Goldner.
The film follows a team of paranormal investigators trying to get to the bottom of weird events at a church in the remote English countryside. At first, they believe that the local vicar is responsible for fabricating the strange activity, but it later emerges that something malevolent might have made a home in the church.
The Borderlands relies on slow-burn pacing to unsettle the audience and is a perfect display of how to make found footage work as a concept. Boasting a genuinely chilling finale – which flattened film critic Mark Kermode – it’s a triumph of simplicity.
5. Horns
Horns (2013)
Dir: Alexandre Aja / Studio: Dimension Films
Daniel Radcliffe is making very interesting choices in the wake of the Harry Potter franchise. Following period horror The Woman In Black, beat poet biopic Kill Your Darlings and smart-mouthed romcom What If, Radcliffe has teamed with Piranha director Alexandre Aja for the genre-defying horror/fantasy/thriller Horns.
Based on a novel by Stephen King’s son Joe Hill, Horns follows Ig Perrish (Radcliffe) as he is demonised by his small town after the murder of his girlfriend, especially after a pair of horns begin to protrude from his head. However, the horns give Ig the power to reveal people’s darkest thoughts, which gives him the tools he needs to find the person who was really responsible.
The beauty of Horns is how uninhibited it is in terms of genre. It refuses to obey the conventions of any style and, as such, rockets along at an entertaining pace, mixing supernatural thrills with genuinely funny black comedy and Aja’s splattery sensibilities behind the camera.
It’s far from perfect, but Radcliffe is excellent and it’s a delightfully offbeat movie in just about every way.
4. Cheap Thrills
Cheap Thrills (2013)
Dir: EL Katz / Studio: Drafthouse Films
Few horror films reflect the backdrop of the post-Recession world more sharply than Cheap Thrills. Pat Healy and Ethan Embry portray broke old classmates who meet a rich couple whilst drinking in a bar. The rich guy soon begins to throw his money around, offering the two men money to perform increasingly elaborate and violent dares.
Cheap Thrills is a masterclass in escalation. The initially innocuous challenges soon become harrowing acts of violence, creating a shocking depiction of how the dynamics of society have changed since the financial collapse. This is a world in which the poorer in society are willing to debase themselves just for a morsel from the table of the rich.
It certainly won’t win any prizes for subtlety, but there’s a pitch-black realism to it all and a rich vein of gallows humour that turns it into an unpleasant, but deeply entertaining, experience.
3. Oculus
Oculus (2013)
Dir: Mike Flanagan / Studio: Relativity Media
Perhaps surprisingly, Oculus is another film on this list that evokes the spirit of found footage. In fact, director Mike Flanagan had to fight off studios who wanted him to make the film as a straight found footage feature. Instead, this is a horror film in which there are cameras everywhere, but the one we see everything through has the licence to tell lies and distort the truth.
Karen Gillan plays Kaylie, who has been desperately pursuing a mysterious mirror, which she believes is to blame for the events that led to the death of her parents and the incarceration of her younger brother. When her brother is released, Kaylie sets them both up in an encounter with the mirror in order to prove its supernatural powers and vindicate the family.
Flanagan does a terrific job with Oculus, primarily as a result of the world he establishes. Early on, he makes it clear that the audience cannot believe anything that they are seeing. Even the most obvious and real event can be revealed as a trick of the mirror, which repeatedly warps reality around the central characters, played beautifully by Gillan and Brenton Thwaites.
Released quietly, Oculus wasn’t seen by enough people and deserves to receive a whole new audience on DVD/Blu-ray.
2. The Guest
The Guest (2014)
Dir: Adam Wingard / Studio: Picturehouse
Adam Wingard made a huge splash in the horror genre a few years ago with slasher pastiche You’re Next. His follow-up, The Guest, is equally steeped in the conventions of 1980s horror/thriller movies and shows just as much affection for the genre.
A strange military man, played by Dan Stevens, turns up at the house of a bereaved family. He claims to have been a comrade of their deceased son and promises to watch over the family. Soon, though, a series of bizarre deaths occur in the local area that seem to be connected to the new arrival.
Just like Wingard’s previous film, The Guest is a real delight for anyone who has a knowledge of horror’s past. The final sequences, set at a Halloween party and scored with a pulsing synth track, evoke John Carpenter to great effect and Dan Stevens clearly has a ball in the terrifically unsettling lead role.
Wingard continues to prove himself as a terrific filmmaker, adept at combining the old and the new to break new ground in the horror genre.
1. The Babadook
The Babadook (2014)
Dir: Jennifer Kent / Studio: IFC Films
I can’t think of any genre other than horror in which a tiny Australian film, made by a first-time female director, could get a major release in the United Kingdom. Thankfully, though, Jennifer Kent’s genuinely frightening The Babadook did get its chance to be seen.
The film follows Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman as a mother and daughter damaged by the loss of their husband and father respectively. One night, they discover a strange pop-up book on a shelf. Initially sweet, it soon takes a dark turn and unleashes the title character – a manifestation of the family’s grief. From here, the narrative twists in some wonderfully unexpected directions as it defies genre conventions.
Kent’s storytelling is nothing short of terrific, pulling the audience into the narrative without the need for endless jump scares or third-act exposition dumps. Essie Davis’ frazzled performance creates a realistic portrayal of grief and how it can absolutely drain a person, aided by the breath-taking subtlety of Kent’s script and direction.
The use of colour, sound and performance synthesises perfectly throughout The Babadook to create a masterpiece that is absolutely the best horror film of 2014.
Do you agree with my list? What were your favourite horror films of 2014? Let me know in the comments section.
The Gore Gaze 