joel.'s top 13 horror films of 2016.... #3

Every year, you never know what the horror genre is going to unleash upon the world. You have an unsuspecting audience, just waiting to have their deepest and darkest fears manipulated.... all in the comfort of an air conditioned theater or their home. Not every year has been full of winners, some have proven to be better than others, but 2016 has yielded some very interesting genre fare that is full of a little bit of everything under the sun. My fellow creeps, I've put together what I feel (in my humble opinion) to be the best of the best for this year. There were a few that were nudged out by only inches and that's not a bad thing. It just proves that there are more stories to tell and makes me dream about all the amazing scares yet to come. So, without further adieu, I give you my top 13 horror films of 2016! (based on release dates and not the years they were filmed.... although some may be in the last quarter of 2015.)

3) Darling

The horror genre is often seen as a form of escapism that has no real artist merit. A way for people to exorcise their demons through monsters and madmen. What is often taken for granted, is what it's actually capable of. Just look at the films of Alfred Hitchcock, those are marveled at as masterful tales of suspense and cinematography. However, they're never even thought of in the same breath as the modern works of horror. It's a shame, really, because with the 'Deathwave' movement and some of the rising stars in the genre, we're seeing some new ground being broken on a daily basis. Mickey Keating is another one of the directors on this list that is pushing those boundries. Every one of his films is entirely different from the next. Never one to settle for any specific prototype, he's doing what he wants and it's amazing. 'Darling' is his latest outing and surely to be considered as a masterwork in his body of work. It's a spiritual successor to Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' and has some of the most beautifully shot sequences of any film to date. I can't say enough good things about this film and Lauren Ashley Carter's portrayal as the lead. It's not only a character study in psychosis, but a film about the occult, and a meditation on loneliness. I know that's saying a lot, but you have to see it to understand. This is one not too miss.



Suggested snack to eat while watching: coffee and cigarettes