Two big thumbs up for It Comes at Night (currently available on Netflix) and a somewhat hesitant head-nod for The Blackcoat’s Daughter (currently available on Amazon Prime)
YAY! Someone else liked it. Same on Blackcoat’s Daughter. I’m glad I watched, but I didn’t find much in it to be that memorable.
I liked It Comes at Night, in a sort of abstract film-school way, but I felt it ultimately didn’t have anything to say. Get Out is a far better experience. Plus, I definitely prefer some social satire over, well, nihilism … which is all that It Comes at Night Offers. Not that I don’t enjoy nihilism!
It Comes At Night is worth seeing for horror film buffs only, I’d say.
Anyways!
Other 2017 horror movies listed in this article:
- Tragedy Girls
- Cult of Chucky
- 1922
- Happy Death Day
- Gerald’s Game
- Better Watch Out
- The Babysitter
- Creep 2
- Super Dark Times
- Split (gag)
- Raw
- Prevenge
- Lake Bodom
- Killing Ground
- It Comes at Night
- It
- Hounds of Love
- The Girl With All the Gifts
- Get Out
- The Devil’s Candy
- A Dark Song
- The Blackcoat’s Daughter
- Berlin Syndrome
- Annabelle Creation
If any of those jump out at you as highly recommendable (and not already obvious, like the aformentioned Get Out), definitely pipe up!
I’m thinking Killing Ground or Hounds of Love might be my next watch. I’m checking out Devil’s Candy now since it is on Netflix and easy to get to; it had 92% on rotten tomatoes.
If we can vote on what you watch, I want to read people’s reactions to Killing of a Sacred Deer. I imagine it’s a, uh, divisive movie. But even if it doesn’t work for you, Barry Keoghan’s performance is a magnificent thing to watch.
But in terms of quality, you should totally see Raw and Killing Ground, both of which have been reviewed on the front page.
They’re superb examples of horror moviemaking, along with It Comes At Night. I kind of agree with your point that It Comes at Night “doesn’t have anything to say”, because I think it’s posing a question instead of telling you something.
In terms of interesting movies on that list, I’d highlight A Dark Song, Hounds of Love, Super Dark Times, Girl with All the Gifts, and The Babysitter.
-Tom
I do think about It Comes at Night a fair bit, which is a sign of a good movie. OK, so it’s a meditation on the meaning of life, yes. But when the answer is that nothing matters, death is inevitable no matter what you do, it’s difficult to er… recommend. It’s hard to come out of that movie feeling like you accomplished anything. A very well made movie, and fans of the genre should watch it, just not everyone.
I’ve seen The Babysitter which is fantastic, and I liked Girl With All The Gifts but it is overall a bit too british for my tastes; the book is better.
Agreed. The fact that it asked a question and left it at that made it much more of a thinker. How would I react? What does this say about me? About society? About humanity? Could things have turned out differently or was the course of events unavoidable based on the individuals?
I don’t mind the questions at all in this film nor the lack of answers and I think that is what made it intense, gripping, and for me, heart wrenching. I certainly understand people not being satisfied with the film, but I’d much rather see movies like this than so much of the predictability we often get.
A good example is the IT remake, which I did enjoy. Good film with wonderful performances, but it didn’t show me much new and I certainly have not given it much thought since I left the theater other than in discussion where I say, “Yeah, it was a good film…” and that’s about it.
I want to see RAW due to the universal praise, but it looks like a lot. I’ll need to be in the right mood to stomach all the snacking.
Yes, this was much better of an actual story than It Comes At Night, which is more like a visual poem.
You must be really, really immune to children in peril because this is now the 2nd worst child in peril scene you’ve made me watch, you bastard. At least there were consequences in this case.
The dumb thing about the movie is that the door was supposed to be locked from the inside. When your entire movie hinges (no pun intended) on the macguffin of a sleepwalking four year old finding an unlocked door it is considerably less amazing than you think it is.
Very, very well made and filmed though. I just don’t agree it’s so fucking incredible as a total package that everyone needs to see it.
We watched The Babysitter last night and I just thought it was terrible. Okay, not terrible but certainly not a film I’m glad I spent my Nier: Automata time on (it may have given me bonus Mad Men spoilers too, which doesn’t seem like a good trade). Even though it was only 1 hour and 20 minutes long, it somehow felt much longer. I suppose you can only a watch a kid fail to run away and hide so many times.
Don’t get me wrong, I like a good silly movie but this felt like a weak and sloppy attempt at mashing some Scott Pilgrim into a splatter film. I found the characters unconvincing and daft, and the events even dafter. And do you really get redknee tarantulas the size of cars in your crawl space?
Sticking to the babysitting horror theme I’d take Emelie over this, and for that off-kilter blend of action, gore, humour and sass I’d take Wyrmwood or Deathgasm.
Edit: d’oh, so many edits.
Do you really get weird murderous cults doing babysitting?
Honestly, that was a legit question at first until I looked up where redknee tarantulas come from. They just looked too exotic to be domestic US spiders. I see your point though.
The only bit I really disliked in The Babysitter was the on-screen text pops. They never worked for me.
re: It Comes at Night
I felt similarly, until I started looking at it from the angle that Travis opened the door during his nightmare. Andrew couldn’t have done it as he’s too short. Kim, Will, and Andrew were all healthy, just Travis was sick. Paul murders three healthy folks that were just trying to get away from the illness, once Will realized what had happened.
^^^Yes, that’s what I thought^^^
Did you see Creep 2?
I watched Hounds of Love, which was solid until the very very end. They blew it at the end. I just couldn’t deal with music overlaid on the soundtrack and a miraculous happenstance at the same time.
I didn’t care for Creep 2.
-Tom
I am working on the 2018 thread.
Theme for 2018: spinoffs and resurrections (although I have no doubt there will be plenty of good films).
Happy Death Day I’m sure could be picked apart, but it was a lot of fun.
I’ve got Super Dark Times, Raw and The Babysitter all cued up for the weekend…can’t wait!
To my mind, all the credit goes to the ebullient Jessica Rothe.
-Tom