2023 began with a slew of entertaining theatrical releases. M3GAN, Infinity Pool, Knock at the Cabin, Scream VI, Cocaine Bear, Renfield, The Pope’s Exorcist and Skinamarink all hit theaters in the first four months of the year. Satanic Hispanics, The Blackening, The Wrath of Becky, Cobweb, Slotherhouse, A Haunting in Venice, Saw X and Thanksgiving kept the fun going in theaters throughout the year.
Horror focused streaming service Screambox filled the year with quality releases. Jethica, Project Wolf Hunting, Holy Shit!, Yellow Dragon’s Village, Signal 100, Dawning, Night of the Missing, HeBGB TV, Subject, Shaky Shivers, We Might Hurt Each Other, New Religion, The Ancestral, Family Dinner and Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls…to name more than a few. They also continued their excellent documentary releases with RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, Living With Chucky and Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story.
Shudder had another good year in their own right…dropping movies like Influencer, Huesera: The Bone Woman, Birth/Rebirth, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, Perpetrator, V/H/S/85, Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor, It’s a Wonderful Knife, Spoonful of Sugar and The Sacrifice Game.
Streaming services not solely focused on horror got into the fun with quality releases like Sick (Peacock), Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism (Tubi), Bury the Bride (Tubi), Totally Killer (Prime Video), Appendage (Hulu), Clock (Hulu), Jagged Mind (Hulu), No One Will Save You (Hulu), The Conference (Netflix), Sister Death (Netflix), Unlocked (Netflix) and The Pale Blue Eye (Netflix).
Video on Demand releases were no slouch either. Brightwood, Craving, Parable, #chadgetstheaxe, That’s a Wrap, Suitable Flesh, KillHer, The Offering, Candy Land, There’s Something Wrong with the Children, Unseen and Night of the Killer Bears all offered up something fun.
This was a deep year for quality horror releases. Nearly 70 good to great movies are listed above. Not one of them made this year’s top ten list. Some will certainly be seen again in tomorrow’s Scare Value Awards nominations.
Any movie that was widely available in The United States for the first time in 2023 was eligible. If it debuted at a festival or in another country prior to 2023…but was released in the US for the first time in 2023…it is eligible. If it made the festival rounds in 2023 but hasn’t seen a release of some kind during the year…it won’t be eligible. That goes for the Scare Value Awards as well.
This year’s top ten features movies released theatrically, on demand and via streaming services.
Presented in alphabetical order. Write-ups may contain spoilers.
The Top Ten Horror Movies of 2023
Brooklyn 45
Brooklyn 45 works so well as a discussion of actual horrors that you might forget there is something supernatural afoot. Thankfully, the movie doesn’t forget and turns up the ghostly occurrences in its third act. It gives us a climax that is surprising, entertaining, poignant, and haunting. A lesser screenplay would give the characters something to defeat as an out…a way to send you home happy without having to deliver a true resolution. Brooklyn 45 makes the lack of easy answers a feature…not a bug. Its obstacles reinforce what it truly means to be haunted.
Read our full review
Streaming on Shudder
Evil Dead Rise
The most important thing that an Evil Dead movie can be…is an Evil Dead movie. Evil Dead Rise is pure Evil Dead. Someone finds the Necronomicon…they accidentally unleash hell on earth…a bloodbath follows. Everything you’re looking for is here. Taking the story out of the woods and into a family home raises the stakes and makes the destruction much more personal. Another win for the franchise.
Read our non-spoiler review
Streaming on Max
Godzilla Minus One
It’s amazing that we’re still getting fresh takes on Godzilla in its seventh decade of existence. While Shin Godzilla took on government bureaucracy…Godzilla Minus One excises the government completely to show a much more personal side of the story. It creates a unique opportunity to explore characters dealing with losing a war…and being presented with a way to win the battle. When Yamazaki sets his sights on delivering the spectacle of the King of the Monsters…he shows off the most impressive destruction we’ve seen in the history of the franchise.
Read the full review
In theaters at time of writing – Fandango
Moon Garden
Moon Garden puts a child into a nightmare they don’t fully understand. What makes it so effective is that adult viewers do. Specifically, anyone who was raised in a difficult household. The visual effects, led by gorgeous stop-motion animation, create a striking world. Emma’s journey is full of emotion and wide-eyed wonder. No matter how surreal the world around her becomes the story remains tethered to reality in unique and creative ways.
Read our full review
Rent/Buy on VOD from Vudu and Amazon
The Outwaters
Building to an all-out assault on the senses, The Outwaters delivers one of the finest third acts in modern horror. Sound design, practical effects and performance combine into a nightmare. One of the obvious ideas of the found footage concept is to give you the perspective of the person filming. The Outwaters gives us characters who feel confused, terrified, lost and confronted by something they don’t understand. A movie has rarely been so successful putting you in their shoes.
Read our full review
Streaming on Screambox
Summoning Sylvia
With more laughs per minute than most comedies, Summoning Sylvia squeezes every ounce of joy out of its set-up. A non-stop good time that feels fresh from start to finish. Witty and bitingly clever. A perfect cast deliver memorable characters in hilarious moments…as they’re scared for their lives. A ghost story with the right twists. A comedy with a terrific script. Summoning Sylvia is must watch entertainment.
Read our full review
Rent/Buy on VOD from Vudu and Amazon
Talk to Me
Talk to Me is an instant classic. A must watch for horror fans looking for new ideas executed with expertise. From its wild opening scene through its exciting climax, Talk to Me packs in enough creeps and moving moments to fill a movie twice its length.
Read our full review
Rent/Buy on VOD from Vudu and Amazon
Visitors
A bloody, unexpectedly hilarious, wild ride. One that you should take whether you just want to enjoy the view from the surface…or dig deeper into. This is one of the craziest movies of the year. From chainsaw hands to a Lloyd Kaufman cameo. Every moment of it rocks.
Read our full review
Streaming on Screambox
When Evil Lurks
When Evil Lurks is a strong, confident take on the possession story. We’ve been spoiled this year with two fresh looks at an old design (Talk to Me). It makes up for The Exorcist: Believer being such a disappointment. This is a dark movie that offers no rays of hope. Bleak, devastating and horrific. Everything a story about demonic possession should be.
Read our full review
Streaming on Shudder
Where the Devil Roams
It’s gorgeous, it’s funny, it’s shocking…there doesn’t seem to be anything that the family Adams can’t accomplish in the realm of independent horror. Unforgettable imagery and a darkly hilarious script set this film apart from the pack. Whatever is next for this filmmaking family…get excited now. Then watch Where the Devil Roams and get even more excited.
Read our full review
Rent/Buy on VOD from Vudu and Amazon
Related Link
The Top Ten Horror Movies of 2022
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