My #4 pick for best Horror films of 2016 By William S. Mayfield

I went into this, not with the best intention. It came from an internet gimmick, so it had that going against it and to be honest it freaked me out. But my daughter bugged me till I caved and watched it one day. I was generally surprised.

The movie starts off just like the small vine video it came from. A woman in a dark setting turns off a light and in the background we can see the out line a humanoid form. The woman quickly turns the light back on and this thing disappears. Now in the original its in a house, but this is in a warehouse and she quickly tells her boss, who is played by Billy Burke. He goes to investigate and is at the mercy of what I call "the reason I don't like to get up at night and have to pee". Let's move our story a little forward and we are introduced to Rebecca, played by the lovely Teresa Palmer of Warm Bodies and I am Number Four fame. She is the daughter of Billy Burke's character, Paul. She is living alone and it is very apparent that she likes it that way. We are introduced to her little brother Martin, played by Gaberial Bateman, when he seeks out his sister because of the things happening at his house where he lives with his mom, Maria Bello. After the death of the dad, which gets breezed over if you ask me, things start to get very weird and dangerous at home. Rebecca confronts her mom over the safety of the little brother. I have to say this movie really surprised me. Now the boyfriend is played by Alexander DiPersia and is kind of guy that really wants the girl for one thing in one scene and then wants to be the night in shinning in armor. Now the whole movie does revolve around the creature, and it is a really nasty one. Lights Out uses some top notch effects to make this thing come to life. I'm serious that just writing this, I am kinda looking over my shoulder just thinking of the creature. The story is well written and has a very likable cast. To me this story wraps up nice and ends on a good note. No sequel is needed.

joel.'s top 13 horror films of 2016.... #11

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.)

11) Lights Out

It's amazing today, the power of social media and fan reaction. People can make their own short and feature length films and upload them onto the web and let the viewers do the rest. 'Lights Out' is one of those short films that caught the attention of the public and soon was optioned to be a feature length movie. Does it carry over to the long form medium and still hold up? I think so. It may not be quite the same simple story anymore, but you can't turn something that short into 90 mins, without expanding on your base storyline. It may not go down as a classic in the horror genre, but it's well worth your time to invest in watching it. The scares are solid, the story is good and the atmosphere is spot on. I'm looking forward to what David F. Sandberg has to offer us in the future.



Suggested snack to eat while watching: dark meat chicken and dark chocolates