The Best HORROR MOVIES of 2022

Nope!

Jordan Peele returns once again with the socially engaged horror he introduced us to in Get Out!. Siblings Otis “OJ” (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald “Em” (Keke Palmer) Haywood inherit a horse farm from their father (mysteriously killed by a coin that fell from the sky). Their family has been training these animals for film and television for decades. One day, the siblings discover strange phenomena in their home – the electricity goes crazy and the horses are restless. The situation escalates more and more, and they notice a huge UFO saucer over the valley. And in this film, Peele does not shy away from the topic of race (the theme of erasing black people from the history of cinematography is prominent here), but he focuses much more on telling the essence of cinema. Above all, however, you can see that Peele is once again having a great time making his film, and we along with him. This is a real auteur cinema, and the screening Nope! it’s a lot of fun.

Speak No Evil

Bjørn (Morten Burian), Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) and their daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg), who live in Denmark, spend their summer holidays in Italian Tuscany, where they laze by the pool, eat pasta and visit charming towns. One day they meet a family of nice Dutch – doctor Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and his wife Karin (Karina Smulders), who have a son aged Agnes, Abel (Marius Damslev), who unfortunately does not speak. The couples become friends, and upon returning home, Bjørn and Louise receive an invitation card from Patrick and Karin to their cabin in the woods. The heroes, of course, do not think much, not yet knowing that it will be the worst decision in their lives. Christian Tafdrup’s film has a pitch-thick atmosphere, and it brings to mind the works of Michael Haneke. This is an extremely shocking and terrifying horror about allowing evil and putting on social masks.

Men

Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear are a memorable acting duo. The cast in the new film by Alex Garland (known for the great Ex Machina and Annihilation) is really a hit. Buckley plays the widow Harper, who, after the death of her husband, goes on a lonely holiday to the English countryside, where she stays in a beautiful house. The owner of the estate is the slightly eccentric and quirky Geoffrey (Kinnear). Wanting to escape the painful memories of the past, Harper tries to focus on rest, but one day she notices that someone is constantly watching her. The film is sure to please fans of horror movies, who like when the screen is full of symbols and metaphors. Garland’s way of narration may tire some people a bit, which does not change the fact that it is a very intriguing horror film.

Barbarian

I discovered this absolute horror gem this Halloween. The starting point for Barbarian is very simple and brilliant in its simplicity, and so far untapped. Tess (Georgina Campbell) arrives in Detroit for a job interview. He books accommodation through the popular Airbnb website for renting apartments and houses. When she drives up to the house in the dingy, run-down suburbs of the city late in the evening, she discovers that someone is already inside. It’s Keith (Bill Skarsgård), as surprised as she is by the whole situation. The house appears to have been rented to two people at the same time. Tess is rightly suspicious from the start, but she loosens up a bit as Keith seems like a cool guy. It turns out that something is wrong with the house itself. It’s a very intelligent horror game that doesn’t reveal all its cards at once and keeps you in suspense as it reveals one by one. As befits a good contemporary horror film, Barbarian obviously have a double bottom – gentrification, violence, toxic masculinity or a clash of generations – which makes the screening even more interesting.

Fresh

This is another completely unknown gem, and Mimi Cave’s directorial debut. The main role is played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, known from the TV series Normal People or the film Where the Crawdad Sing, who plays the single Noa. The girl is frustrated with searching for a partner on dating apps, so when she is approached by hunk Steve (Sebastian Stan) in the supermarket, she decides to take a risk and give him her number. The subsequent dates are very successful and the sex is great, so without thinking Noa allows herself to be persuaded by Steve to take a weekend trip to a remote house together. After she doesn’t speak for a while, her friend Mollie (Jonica T. Gibbs) grows suspicious. Dating horror stories are nothing new – getting close to a stranger is a risk, after all. Fresh turns this topic into a well-constructed horror with the power of sisterhood, maintained in an atmosphere of horror and comedy at the same time.

Hatching

The protagonist of the film is a shy and delicate 12-year-old Tinja (Siiri Solalinna), who trains in gymnastics. Her overbearing mother puts constant pressure on her to be the best in her field. The woman runs a vlog in which she creates the illusion of a seemingly perfect family life in a white and beige house in the suburbs, surrounded by a manicured garden. Tinja tries to live up to these unrealistic expectations, but that façade is shattered when a bird falls into the family’s house one day. Like Fresh, Hatching is also a directorial debut. Hanna Bergholm’s film is a successful body horror about coming of age and family pressure.

X

A film crew travels to a remote house to shoot the best pornographic movie ever made. The cottage is located on a remote farm owned by two elderly couple who live next door. The man is not the friendly type, and his wife is infirm and largely bedridden. The film crew includes aspiring porn actress Maxine (Mia Goth) and her boyfriend, producer Wayne (Martin Henderson), director RJ (Owen Campbell) and his girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), and two actors Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow ) and Jackson (Scott Mescudi). The heroes quickly take action, although with time they realize that something strange is happening in the old people’s house. Ti West’s film is full of direct sex scenes and successfully combines various aesthetics and conventions: a horror film with a pornographic film, a slasher with an erotic film, and above all – a B-movie with an arthouse film.

Bodies Bodies Bodies

Generation Z lived to see its horror. It is from this generation that the heroes of the film come from, who spend the weekend in a luxurious villa of one of them in the absence of their parents. Sounds like a typical starting point for a horror movie, but director Halina Reijn has much more to offer. Bee (Maria Bakalova) arrives at the party with her girlfriend Sophia (Amandla Stenberg). She is an outsider in a crew of rich and privileged kids who have known each other for a long time. Alcohol, drugs and a seemingly innocent game played by the characters turn minor quarrels and disagreements into dramatic conflicts, and secrets hidden by the characters come to light. Bodies Bodies Bodies is a film in the convention of a typical slasher, and at the same time a brilliant satire on the present and Generation Z.

Michalina Peruga

Film scholar, art historian and lover of contemporary horror cinema and classic Hollywood cinema, especially film noir and the work of Alfred Hitchcock. In cinema, she loves mixing genres, breaking patterns and looking closely at characters.

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