The year is 2022. We’re two years into (“post”) the Pandemic. Things are slowly going back to how they were before in terms of outings and openings. One thing that always remains constant though is horror. We should really add that to the “death and taxes” quote, but I digress…
Just as the world has become more nihilistic, so have horror movies. With brutal, gory horror on the rise, it’s strange to think it’s actually not a second coming of the blood-fests of the 70s and 80s, but more so the melancholic insanity of 90s — with more blood. Elevated horror and slashers are assimilating into one another.
Take Terrifier 2, for example. Arguably the best movie to come out this year, Terrifier 2 ramped up its already-demented legacy and gave us not only a new final girl (Lauren LaVera as Sienna), but a new slasher solidly placed with the greats: Art the Clown (played fantastically by David Howard Thornton, with a special shoutout to his small sidekick, Amelie McLain as The Little Pale Girl). One month into its release Terrifier 2 has gained notoriety as one of the infamous few films making people faint and vomit, all while making history by making 32 times its budget at the box office, in limited theater release. If anything, we all should have expected this to happen; 3 years ago, its Indiegogo campaign goal of $50k was blasted out of the water with donations equaling $250,000, a 430% increase. Now, there are talks of submitting Terrifier 2 for an Academy Award, something which is highly unlikely to happen, but definitely telling of horror movie goers views on it.
While Terrifier 2 showed audiences just how much they could take in terms of torture, we had other films release that brought us that same sense of pessimism, just prettier. Incantation, Barbarian, X, Pearl, and Nope all graced the screens with their presence, garnering fanfare from new and old horror junkies. Incantation in particular was a surprise find because it lacked marketing for such an extraordinarily good foreign horror movie. Nope, of course, received wild success, granting Jordan Peele yet another reason to be taken seriously as a horror filmmaker. X and Pearl, both starring Mia Goth (previously seen in 2018’s Suspiria and 2016’s A Cure for Wellness), are contending with Terrifier 2 as “Best Horror Movie of the Year.” Barbarian is up there on the list too, though there has been a slight decrease in likability as time moves on, not unlike Halloween Ends.
Speaking of, Halloween Ends has come to be hotly debated in the horror community with viewers either liking it or utterly despising it. As the third installment in the David Gordan Green Halloween trilogy (2018’s Halloween, 2021’s Halloween Kills, and this year’s Halloween Ends), the film premiered both in theaters and streaming on Peacock; Halloween Ends put a stop to the violence that had plagued Haddonfield, IL for over 40 years, bringing back old faces as well as introducing a new kind of evil… or at least attempting to. As of early November 2022, Halloween Ends has made over $100 million at the box office, despite it’s debated “goodness” compared to other Halloween sequels. Regardless, the story will no-doubtedly live on, with or without Michael Myers.
It’s almost hard to remember now, but new installments of decades-old horror movies have been coming out since the beginning of the year, as seen in Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Scream 5 made an appearance as well with yet another show-stopping performance (both on screen as well as in the box office); and though Scream 6 won’t premiere this year, the controversy over Neve Campbell’s absence from it stirred up more press surrounding the series. The Black Phone, while not a series and not as old as the TCM and Scream franchises, did resemble another loved movie in 2012’s Sinister; The Black Phone is said to be the next type of Universal/Blumhouse universe of horror films.
Feature films aren’t the only business going on. In the gaming realm, Autopsy Simulator took the internet by storm. Everyone needed to get their hands on this narrative-driven, psychological thrill fest. It was the perfect transfer from Phasmophobia in 2020 and the latest versions of FNAF.
TV and limited series on streaming services also had a good year, particularly related to true crime. Girl in the Picture, DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi, and Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes broke records in terms of streaming. The Dahmer docuseries caused quite a stir as audiences were confused as to whether we should be praising Evan Peters’ performance as the prolific Killer Cannibal or leaving true crime alone altogether for the sake of victim’s families. On a lighter note, Netflix’s Wednesday is bringing the fun antics of the Addams Family back to the screen as she starts her tenure at the Nevermore Academy. And if anthologies are more your thing, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is already highly praised; we wouldn’t expect anything less!
There’s just so much that went on in 2022. It seems that this year flew by with a million releases and a million more announcements. And that’s a good thing. Horror is perennial, always coming back and back again. Although, it doesn’t really die in the first place, now does it? The more people are accustomed to seeing horror, the better. As always, one can only hope that this trend continues into 2023!
What was the highlight of 2022 Horror for you? Let us know in the comments!
