Hello everyone One important thing distinguishes a good horror movie from a cheap DIY is that it will certainly contain a scene or even just one frame that you will remember forever. These brilliant episodes don't have to be scary, sometimes it's enough to surprise, cause anxiety, or even just show something disgusting. The main thing is that you should be touched by it in the same way as when you first saw grudolom in Alien, the nun in Enchantment 2, or the twins in Shining. Fortunately, 2024 can be safely called a successful year for all horror fans - there are enough films on the screens for us to pump up our "sense of fear" - and I want to remind you of some particularly impressive ones.
Since everyone has their own concept of "scary", and the movie affects all viewers individually, the top turned out to be subjective and even somewhat one-sided. But that, in my opinion, is more interesting. Based on this collection, you can easily determine whether we are on the same wavelength or not, and therefore whether we are on the way in the future. I warn you right away that there will be no spiders below, although two excellent films about these frightening creatures were released in 2024. There was no place for clowns here, because "Terrifying" doesn't touch me in any way. Well, black comedies like "Beetlejuice 2", with all due respect, I bypassed - horrors should still excite, not amuse. Otherwise, there will be a lot of spoilers and bloody scenes. I'm telling you what really chilled my soul in 2024.
10. Mannequin - "Astral. The medium."
The Irish film "Oddity", which our distributors turned into a clueless "Astral. Medium" begins with a detective storyline - a maniac breaks into an old mansion, killing a woman. A year later, a blind medium arrives at the house to investigate the death of her sister - the woman brings a creepy wooden figure with her. A strange mannequin sits motionless at the table, constantly appearing somewhere on the periphery of our attention, but no matter how much we expect a trick, the figure only moves at the end, when its owner is in mortal danger. Then the mannequin turns into a sinister, implacable golem, from which there is no escape. And the darkness only helps him.
9. Sister - "Omen. The first sign."
Prequels often find themselves in thrall to their "older brothers" - the screenwriters have to work within the circumstances set by others, relying on the characters prescribed by their predecessors. It's difficult to come up with something impressive under such pressure, but the authors of The First Omen, a film whose events precede the plot of the classic horror Omen, managed to surprise us. At the center of the story is Sister Margaret, a young nun who is to become the mother of the Antichrist, known to us as Damien. Everything seems to be pretty predictable, except for an important detail in the finale - at the time of Damien's birth, we see that Margaret was carrying twins. The son of the Devil has a sister! With a simple and even banal trick, the creators of The First Omen gave their brainchild a new path of plot development. We know what happened to Damien next, now tell us about your sister urgently!
8. Aurora's death is "Undead."
The horror film "The Undead" seemed sluggish and not very interesting to many - well, what a pleasure it is to watch for an hour and a half as a certain masked killer wanders through the forest and kills young people. Meanwhile, this picture has its own twist - we seem to see a traditional slasher, but not through the eyes of victims or an outsider, but from the point of view of a monster. And the monster here is very inventive - which is worth at least the murder scene of a girl named Aurora. I will not describe in all colors the horror that the diabolical spirit of cruel nature created in her, who possessed a person, but I will only note that yoga classes did not help the girl. A cruel trick with a chain and a hook, in my opinion, would look more appropriate not in a movie, but in one of the fatal Mortal Kombat games.
7. Pay the demon - "Midnight with the devil."
One of the best horror films of the past year, Midnight with the Devil, catches the viewer from several sides at once. There is a well-played mockumentary style, multiplied by the scenery of a retro show, and the mysterious story of the main character, a TV presenter who has experienced a personal tragedy, and a mixture of cheap tricks with a genuine manifestation of the supernatural. In general, you will enjoy even the very beginning, which usually makes you yawn in horror movies. But closer to its denouement, the film takes on a truly grandiose scale and culminates in a scene of a clash between the demon, nicknamed "Mr. Riggles," and the main skeptic of the TV show and the whistleblower of charlatans, Carmichael Hague. Until recently, Carmichael denied any hints of paranormal phenomena, but now he felt like a bug in front of a giant. In desperation, the man tries to buy off the demon with a check for 100,000 dollars, but it doesn't work, and Hague turns to ashes.
6. Shall we dance? - "Smile 2".
Admittedly, I did not expect that the quite competent and sometimes truly creepy horror film "Smile" would receive a worthy sequel. Of course, the story of a murderous curse stalking its victims under the guise of smiling people can be exploited for a very long time, but will it be interesting? Fortunately, "Smile 2" managed not to get lost in the shadow of the original and gave the audience a few disturbing minutes, especially in those moments when it is absolutely unclear whether the popular singer Sky Riley is really going through terrible events, or whether her poisoned mind is playing tricks on the girl. The signature touch of the dilogy was fake smiles stretched out to outrage, but if before they were worn by some static characters, then in the episode of Sky's nightmare, an entire troupe of escorts with creepy grins came to Riley's house to whirl her into a crazy dance. It's very scary when such a crowd rushes to you - there's no laughing matter.
5. Escape from the face grapplers - "Alien: Romulus".
Admittedly, Romulus is the best thing that has happened to the Alien franchise since the sequel directed by James Cameron (with all due respect to David Fincher's noir). Yes, the movie turned out to be flawed, it has logical inconsistencies, excessive emphasis on nostalgic strings and a distracting cameo by digital Ian Holm, but on the whole the picture captures, captivates, and most importantly scares! And the main fear here lies not in the final hybrid, which looks as comical as possible, but in how creepy and deadly Fede Alvarez made the face grapplers. As part of the natural growth cycle of xenomorphs, face grapplers appear in every Alien painting, but they usually don't get as much time. In Romulus, these minimonstrums are allocated a large segment with an extremely energetic chase scene. A dozen creatures are chasing the heroes, trying to fulfill their natural destiny, but the horror is not even caused by those smeared shadows that fly by in a jump, but by the noise of broken flasks and the rumble of fallen furniture - it feels like there are thousands of them, and they are very close.
4. Talon - "Doomsday Night in Arcadia".
The best horror masters know one simple and perfectly working rule - the viewer is afraid of the unknown. Monsters hiding somewhere outside the frame confirm this in the best possible way, and the painting "Doomsday Night in Arcadia" is no exception here. The main characters of the film live by simple rules - they must lock themselves in the house before sunset, so that some cruel and scary creatures do not get inside. Up to a certain point, we don't see them, so we can assume anything, up to and including falsification, as in Shyamalan's "Mysterious Forest." But then the peephole scene happens. While Joseph, one of the teenagers, is dozing at his guard post, the monster manages to open the tiny dormer window in the door and stick his furry paw in there. It seems that nothing threatens the person, he is far enough away, the paw cannot reach him. But then the monster's claw begins to slowly extend. Inch by inch, more and more, further and further. The three-meter-long appendage turns out to be ten centimeters from the guy's face - there is something to hold your breath and dig your fingers into the armrests of the chair...
3. Interrogation - "Soul Collector".
I know that many people did not accept the "Collector of Souls", considering that the picture was too overrated, and the eccentric game of Nicolas Cage negated all the horror associated with the serial killer nicknamed Longlegs. I disagree. In my opinion, the mixing of detective fiction with mysticism and acting in "Soul Gatherers" are worthy of all praise, and you can analyze this "Silence of the Lambs for Millennials" almost indefinitely. And if you don't take it apart, then review it - at least one scene definitely deserves it. I'm talking about the interrogation of Dale Cobble, a follower of the devil who commits monstrous crimes. Initially, we don't see the main villain's face for a long time, it remains either off-screen or out of focus. It's only in the police that they can see the skin disfigured by unsuccessful plastic surgery, and behind it is madness. A few minutes alone with Cobble becomes a real challenge. He has a breakdown, he sings and cries, shouts words to the glory of Satan and confesses, and in the end just smashes his head on the table. It's a real monster, a nightmare in a human body.
2. Childbirth - "Omen. Immaculate."
I would still venture to point out that the process of childbirth is still one of the most frightening in human culture. And it is this undoubtedly important event in the life of every woman that becomes the culmination of the horror film "Immaculate" (which in Russia was held in the category of "another Omen"). Sydney Sweeney's character, a young novice named Cecilia, arrives at an ancient Italian monastery, where she soon discovers that she is pregnant, despite the fact that she has never lain with a man before. The "miracle" quickly unfolds - the nuns and the holy father here are trying to artificially breed a new Messiah by implanting the DNA of Jesus Christ into the womb of the victims. The runaway Cecilia is forced to deliver the baby herself - and this is one of the most terrifying scenes in the cinema of 2024. No, they won't show you any physiological details or focus on the monster that came out of a woman's womb. But even Cecilia's face, distorted by grimaces of pain and horror, will be enough to freeze the blood in her veins.
1. Elizasue - "Substance".
Strictly speaking, I was tossing between two episodes of the body horror "Substance" until the last moment, and I'm not sure I'll be happy with my choice after the publication of the material. I was equally scared, excited, and awed by both scenes of Elizabeth Sparkle's clones appearing-the "birth" of Sue, and the transformation into Elizasue. To add to the horror, let's focus on the latter, because, firstly, it shows how important it is not to deviate from the rules, and secondly, it connects Demi Moore's character with the monster that her dream of an ideal body has turned into. The supplier of the "substance" separately indicated that the liquid can only be used once, but a woman who has lost her head can hardly be convinced of anything. The new creature, named Elisasyu, is disgusting and nightmarish in itself, but Sparkle's face looks especially creepy on it, with her lips frozen in an eternal silent scream.
Once again, our tastes may well not match, and we may be afraid of very different things. Therefore, do not take this collection too seriously - what is scary for one person only makes the other laugh. To all who have read to the end, thank you for reading!!
How do you like the top?0
