Moviegoers still love sequels, James Wan remains one of the most prolific horror producers and directors, and independent and low-budget films have every chance of success, True Scary Television has found by publishing the Absolute Horror Rating 2021. It has also become clear that female directors are actively infiltrating the dark world of horror, bringing new themes and therefore new audiences.
The unique top horror film list is calculated using a unique methodology: it is based on data from 28 international publications with a total reach of around 1.2 billion people per month. These include the opinions of viewers, film critics, expert juries of film festivals, as well as the opinion of the NST film channel programming directorate – the country’s main horror TV channel based on years of research by the Modern Media Institute (MOMRI). The following sources were chosen as the basis for the Top Top: Rotten Tomatoes, Rolling Stone, IMDB, Metacritic, Paste Magazine, Thrillist, Slashfilm, Bloody Disgusting, Hell Horror, WatchMojo, HorrorZone, and others.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
The top-rated mystical horror film, Bane 3: Devil’s Will, was the third film in the Bane series and the eighth in the Bane universe (which also includes Annabelle, The Nun and Curse of the Weeper). The action once again revolves around the activities of paranormal hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren. The film is based on a true story from 1981 about a criminal who claimed to have been possessed by the devil at the time of the murder. Now his fate hinges on the investigation of a pair of demonologists. James Wan, director of the first two parts of The Curse, gave up his chair for the third film to Michael Chavez (who directed The Crying Curse) because of other projects, but remained as a producer. In an interview, he revealed that there could be more films in the Spell series because “the Warrens had a lot of stories”. The third part of Spell is mentioned in half of all the sources used for the Top of the Top and ranks at the top of them.
A Quiet Place 2
After the death of the family’s father, his family and their newborn baby try to survive in a land overrun by monsters. Other heroes now appear in their world: a neighbour, a group of crazy survivors and an entire settlement that has managed to escape. The second instalment of the successful 2018 horror hit is bigger and louder – the family members are forced to leave their hideout, there are more heroes, and consequently more noise and screechers too. It’s no longer a chamber family horror, but a true action film with horror film elements, chases and action scenes that make viewers clench in their seats. The critics were mostly lukewarm about the film, pointing at its weak script (the writers of the first film did not take part in the new project, and John Krasinski wrote the script himself), but in the top audience votes The Quiet Place 2 was confidently leading – perhaps because it was one of the first releases shown on the big screens after the cinemas opened.
Saint Maud
Rounding out the top three is one of the brightest debuts of recent years, the religious body-horror The Saviour (original: Saint Maud). The protagonist, nurse Maud, works as a nurse to a dancer dying of cancer. The former star spends her last months before her death following her past bohemian lifestyle: mornings begin with brandy and cigarettes, evenings are spent partying and nights in the arms of a young mistress. The fanatically religious Maud tries to save her “lost” soul, while torturing her mind by talking to God and mutilating her own body in religious ecstasy.
Last Night in Soho
Young Ellie arrives in the English capital to study design. The romantic girl, who lives her dreams of “swinging” 1960s London, finds no common ground with her peers, and at night she has strange dreams in which horrific crimes that happened more than 50 years ago unfold. A stylish and original thriller with horror film elements, raising themes of abuse and violence, it will appeal to fans of the 60s, neon London and rock and roll. Fans of Edgar Wright, who remember the director from the trilogy “Cornetto”, “Scott Pilgrim” and “The Kid on the Drive”, will not like it very much. The film has been praised by critics, who have voted for it, as well as by programme directors of various film festivals – it was shown at the Venice and London Film Festivals and in Toronto.
Censor
In fifth place was the psychological retro-horror The Censor, also filmed with love for the atmosphere of England, but in the 1980s. Enid works as a censor and cuts the most violent and provocative scenes from films. A few years ago her own sister went missing and Enid still can’t come to terms with the loss. One day, in one of the pictures, she sees a girl who looks a lot like her sister. The woman tries to track down the producer of the film to find out the truth. Like the previous two films, Censor also deals with the world of a woman whose depth of psychotrauma drives her to the point where she can’t tell the difference between madness and reality. And while in The Saviour the protagonist sought solace in religion, in Last Night in Soho she sought solace in the fantasy world of the past, Enid sees her sister, whose death she can never get over, on the cinema screen. Prano Bailey-Bond’s debutante film has already been dubbed the year’s most aesthetic horror flick and a hymn to a bygone era for its visuals, which feature numerous references to works by the genre’s giants – Cronenberg, Carpenter and De Palma.
Malignant
The sixth rated film begins with the same topical theme – nurse Madison is the victim of her tyrant husband. After another assault, she loses consciousness and begins to dream of future murders. And the first victim is her husband. Madison tries to prevent the violence, but the police officers at the town station think the woman is crazy and only one of them believes in her mystical connection to the criminal. James Wan, known for his work in the Saw, Astral and Bane film franchises and in previous years for Fast and Furious 7 and Aquaman, has returned to his beloved genre: in 2021 he produced the horror films Jigsaw: Spiral, Bane 3: Devil’s Will and Someone’s In Your House, all of which have been cited in top horror film ratings more than once. ‘Wicked’ was his first directorial effort in the horror genre in five years, and as such it has been the subject of particular attention. Accusing Wang of using dozens of cliches and clichés, connoisseurs, meanwhile, unanimously admit: he juggles them so masterly and unexpectedly that the expectations of horror fans have been fully met.
Candyman
The seventh film in the rating is a sequel to the 1992 film of the same name about a black maniac with a hook instead of a hand who killed his victims by appearing from a mirror. In the new version, the protagonist of the film is the artist Anthony McCoy, who finds in the legend of Candyman a source of inspiration for his performance art. The morning after the premiere, he finds success and enthusiasm among art lovers as well as a couple of dead bodies in the gallery. Nia Dacosta’s film was predictably praised by foreign film critics, but failed to make it into almost any Russian rating. Domestic cinema viewers saw in the film an overly obsessive exploitation of BLM-theme, which was obviously helped by the presence of Jordan Peele as a screenwriter. It is worth noting, however, that the filmmakers did not repeat their predecessors, but complemented and expanded the Candyman universe. The result is a beautiful, atmospheric film that in many ways surpasses the box office failures of the second and third parts of the franchise.
The Boy Behind the Door
‘Hide’ is another striking genre debut of the outgoing year. Two boys, Kevin and Bobby, wake up in the boot of a car where they have been dragged by a mysterious kidnapper. They are taken to an abandoned house on the outskirts, where Bobby manages to escape at first. At the last moment he hears Kevin scream and returns to rescue his friend. The next hour and a half sees Bobby and the outlaw wandering around the house, playing hide-and-seek and cat-and-mouse at the same time. Events are predominantly shown from the point of view of a 12-year-old child. The whole action of the film takes place practically in one location, and this is due not only to the rules of the genre, but also to the limited budget. Debutant directors David Charbonnier and Justin Powell said they couldn’t even afford to re-paper the room, and props consisted almost entirely of improvised materials. As a result, Hide was an example of an interesting independent film that ended up on American Fantastic Fest and received 97% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite more than modest box office receipts, the filmmakers dream of developing the story into a franchise.
Titane
The fifth film with a hint of unfair treatment of women and the fourth female director on the Top of the Top. As a child, Alexia is involved in a car accident, after which she is left to live with a titanium plate in her head. Fifteen years after the operation, she works as a stripper, concurrently killing anyone who encroaches on her body in one way or another. Alexia has a particular passion for cars, and this completely transforms her body and essence. The 74th Cannes Film Festival triumphant, greeted with a 10-minute standing ovation, sparked heated debate and discussion in the film community. Some will be shocked and disgusted by the film, others will be enthralled, while others will be puzzled by its already complex themes of feminism, acceptance of the body and gender, the family crisis and techno-fetishism. In any case, director Julie Ducorno is widely predicted to become the new leader of transgressive French cinema, and Titan has meanwhile made its way into all sorts of genre tops, including best horror films, best sci-fi films and in general the ratings of the best films of the year.
Halloween Kills
Rounding out the Top Horror Movies of 2021 is the 12th film in the Halloween series. The silent maniac Michael Myers is alive again and continues to haunt Laurie Strode and her family. But now the whole town stands up for its defence – people unite to put an end to evil forever. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Fans of “Halloween” will be pleased with the cast – the main character Laurie Strode is once again played by Jamie Lee Curtis. The role of Michael Myers is once again played by Nick Castle in some scenes. Also joining them are Kyle Richards, Charles Cyphers and Nancy Stevens, returning to the roles they played in the original 1978 film. There are reviews criticising the new film, accusing it of being a stretch, but the popularity rating suggests that the new Michael Myers picture will still be watched. The final part of the trilogy, dubbed Halloween’s End, will be released in late 2022.