…the short, uncomplicated answer is “yes.”
While hardly in the same company as say, 1980, which boasts three of the genre’s best ever (The Shining, The Changeling and Maniac and also personal faves, Dr Butcher MD, Humanoids from the Deep and Don’t Answer the Phone!) 2015 is simply a cut above its 2010s contemporaries – for the most part. I mean, 2014 gave us the excellent Creep and the innovative, It Follows, the underappreciated Starry Eyes, and the ambitious, The Babadook…
However, here’s what 2015 gifted us:
Bone Tomahawk
The horror genre is occasionally as creatively barren as the dusty badlands this film inhabits. So it was easy to get carried away with seeing something new and wholly unique, and critics are justified in their effusive praise of this one. A horror-cowboy hybrid, Bone Tomahawk also upends western conventions by the coach-load.
Goodnight Mommy
Goodnight Mommy is an Austrian horror that is uber “unheimlich” (unsettling/unnerving). Its mise-en-scène juxtaposes Teutonic Architectural Digest orderliness with the chaos within the home’s walls.
There are even a few uncomfortable laughs, particularly in a scene involving overly earnest, folksily-accented door-to-door Red Cross solicitors.
The Witch
“Those fingers in my hair, That sly come hither stare That strips my conscience bare It’s witchcraft…”
The Witch divided a lot of people in the community. And while it may be a tough sell to an attention-blunted TikTok generation, there’s no denying it really comes alive and is transcendent, at least in parts. A Puritan family battles the wilderness, each other, and of course, the title character in this heavily atmospheric, biblical feature.
She Who Must Burn
Speaking of witches…She Who Must Burn wears its influences on its black smock, whether it’s Straw Dogs, Kill List, or Martyrs.
The Green Room
A really dismal title, as it conjures up a chain smoking standup ready to drop a tight 30, but all joking aside, this is well worth your time.
A hardcore band’s career is in freefall, with nary a Japanese tour to revive their fortunes. A fanzine talent booker gets them a gig at remote roadhouse in the Pacific Northwest. And all manner of shit goes down.
The Invitation
Jennifer’s Body director Karyn Kusama gave us this little gem about a dinner party going horribly awry in the Hollywood Hills. The Invitation is definitely part of that grief-horror movement that was tapped by Hereditary and Midsommar, and stands in good company with both (and trumps the latter, quality-wise).
We Are Still Here
We Are Still Here is a loving, crafty, capable tribute to haunted house horror. Instead of the usual suspects, however, this one derives its inspiration from the Italian master of the macabre, Lucio Fulci.
Honorable mentions: A Christmas Horror Story, Containment, Krampus, High-Rise.
Really Awful Movies 