The start of a new year and a chance to use the way back machine to check out what we were into ten years ago. We travel to 2015 checking out the hot horror of that year and what the people involved those films have done since in horror. Some may even have project we will get to see this year. So if you want something to watch tonight you should find something in this article that will wet your whistle. Scanning multiple sites and top movie list for the year this list is of the most highly ranked horror films for that year.
The Hallow, The Visit, The Gift, We Are Still Here, The Blackcoats Daughter all fine films and highly ranked.
So what have the directors and actors been up to since?
The Hallow's Director Corin Hardy used the folk horror entry to land a bigger job and turned that into 2018's The Nun which had mixed reviews but in general was liked. Hardy has an upcoming project called Whistle described as "A misfit group of unwitting high school students stumble upon a cursed object, an ancient Aztec Death Whistle. They discover that blowing the whistle and the terrifying sound it emits will summon their future deaths to hunt them down." Co-writer Tom De Ville (Curtis Brown) has last year's pretty good entry Lord of Misrule (2023) which I thought was pretty good. The lead actress Bojana Novakovic after the Hollow moved more towards television for work but managed the 2018 horror entry Malicious (See Trailer Here). She has an upcoming horror film called Bloat which is described on IMDB "It follows a mother and two sons vacationing in Japan. Their younger son almost drowns in a lake, and soon after the accident, the parents realize that something is wrong with their boy." No trailer available at this time.
The Visit M. Night Shyamalan's solid horror film about astranged Grandkids visiting their Grandparents for the first time and discovering a secret the old couple has. Shyamalan has a spotty filmography but is a solid director if sort of pigeon holed as a writer. He has an untitled Horror Thriller coming up but its to early in development to even have a name. His current film which is getting mixed reviews is Trap (2024) Actress Olivia DeJonge is a rising star since her role in The Visit as a teenager. She stayed in horror after this film with costar Ed Oxenbould and was in the wonderful Better Watch Out (2016) before moving into more mainstream film and television.
The Gift - Writer, Director and villian (?) in The Gift Joel Edgerton is also an actor currently in the pretty solid show Dark Matter, his other writing has been more mainstream and not in the genre. Jason Bateman continues to crush a career and his current thriller Carry-On can be seen now on streaming services. Rebecca Hall when she does horror does it so well and in the last decade we got to see her is a couple things The Night House (2020) and Resurrection (2022) establishing her into the genre as well as appearing in the wonderfully strange series Tales from the Loop (2020)
We Are Still Here - "In the cold, wintery fields of New England, a lonely old house wakes up every thirty years - and demands a sacrifice." I used to Twitter follow Writer / Director Ted Geoghegan after seeing an earlier film of his The Disco Exorcist (2011) but his career is starting to really blossom with his last two efforts Satanic Panic (2019) and Brooklyn 45 (2023) have Ted at the forefront of horror. A couple of horror icons star in this film about a haunted house. Barbara Crampton a legend from her early days in Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986) and Chopping Mall (1986) she has been a scream queen her whole career. She started being notice by the horror community after a supporting role in You're Next (2011) Since 'We Are Still Here' in 2015 she has 40 credits on her imdb and most all of them are horror. If I were to recommend just one I would go with the Frankenstein adjacent Suitable Flesh (2023) Not only does this film have Barbara Crampton but another legend in the horror genre in Larry Fessenden. I first saw him as an actor in the off putting vampire film Habit (1995) and like Crampton, Fessenden stayed in horror and has too many credits to list, just a few are Session 9 (2001), I Sell the Dead (2008), Stakeland (2010) and the underrated Jug Face (2013) Fessenden always seems to be Acting, Directing or Producing film and his imdb will have several projects in the works, maybe we should watch for The Demonatrix: "A dominatrix unwittingly summons an incubus demon and joins forces with a priest to defeat it." - imdb
The Blackcoat's Daughter - Writer Director Osgood Perkins just hit top ten lists for 2024 with his thriller Longlegs (2024) which is still streaming everywhere. This earlier entry was a surprise hit in 2015 making many lists that year too. Longlegs is the recommendation just for the Nic Cage of it all. We are looking forward to his upcoming The Monkey(2025) about that wind up toy monkey featured on the posters for Steven King's Monkey Shines (1988) although who knows how these two things connect? Emma Roberts is one of the stars in an earlier horror entry but after this film she went on to star in two different horror shows, Scream Queens (2015-16) and American Horror Story (2011- ) she also had a small role in the odd and fun The Hunt (2020), Kiernan Shipka also stars and is also a rising star in the horror world. Since the Blackcoat's Daughter she was the lead in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-2020), rocked it in the horror film Totally Killer (2023) and also appears in this year's Longlegs. Lucy Boynton after a couple more horror entries Don't Knock Twice and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House both from 2016 is sticking to less horrific material.
This should give you a start for your 2025 viewing, Enjoy Horror!
