When we first announced our Criterion picks for this year on our podcast , I wondered if you could pick ten films from the Criterion Collection about prison. So I tested this idea. Here’s what I found:
This year my theme for Criterion Month was a film from every decade starting with the 1920s and ending with the 2010s. Criterion’s physical collection currently contains 21 films from the 1920s, four of which I’ve already seen. So I picked Robert Flaherty’s 1922 documentary Nanook of the North, which is one of those building-block films you hear about in film school. “This was the first film to do blank!” You get the idea. Nanook of the North is a film acclaimed for its storytelling techniques but not so much its actual story. That’s because the story is as Phil Collins might say “a pack of lies.”
We’re finally at the finish line! The Big 10! The Best of the Best! The oh-my-god-i’m-so-tired-of-doing-these-lists-please-make-it-stop! Are these the best? For now. I didn’t get a chance to revisit as many horror films as I’d hoped. Or even watch other horror movies I’ve heard are great but haven’t seen. There’s so damn many.
Again the order of these films was based on no metric. I went by my gut. One observation is we’re getting into a lot of horror movies I’ve already written about on this blog. If I can’t shut up about these movies I must like ‘em. So without further ado…
We’re down to the top twenty and you know what I just realized? I forgot Attack the Block. All this recent news about Joe Cornish wanting to make a sequel with John Boyega and I totally spaced (no pun intended) on that film. I used Letterboxd to put together my list and apparently they don’t consider that film horror. I do. Then again that’s been the struggle.
What is a horror movie? I’m almost done with this list and I still don’t know. Maybe I’ll know next week when I finish this whole experiment? Also, I forgot Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers. Fuck!
Every week I discover new trends with this ongoing list. This week’s top ten marks at least three sci-fi horror films and two coming-of-age vampire films. Otherwise, it’s a diverse bunch with low budget flicks, high budget flicks, international films, you name it. Now, you read it.
I’m already regretting this list. It isn’t easy coming up with something profound to say about all of these movies. I try to tell myself what’s important is getting the recommendations out. These are all great movies. Even if I don’t have much to say about them.
One observation I made was that my first list had a lot of horror-comedies. This list has a lot of found footage. Is there a psychology to how I’m ranking these films? I’m not sure. Maybe it means nothing. Maybe I’m going mad. But we’re all a little mad, aren’t we? So without further ado, here’s 40-31 of my “Top 50 Horror Movies of the 2010s” or whatever I’m calling it.
It feels strange to write a post about horror movies when there’s so much real horror in the world right now. Maybe there’s never a good time. This is a list I’ve been meaning to do for a while. The prospect of ranking so many films seemed overwhelming but a week ago I cracked it. So get ready for five weeks of top tens counting down my favorite horror flicks of the decade. I’m hoping to wrap this up before we have “Criterion Month” in July and will try to be thorough re-watching as many films as I can instead of coasting off nostalgia.
This isn’t a list of the “Best Horror” of the decade as much as it’s my personal favorites. I’m sure there are many great independent horror films I don’t even know about that could make this list. That being said I hope I can recommend some great horror movies to you (the reader) and hope you enjoy yourself even in these terrible times. So without further ado… Or should I say A-BOO! Here we go!
