Another year of horror has come to an end. There have been some gems this year and a few films that I wish never existed of course. A few Hollywood directors went the indie route made some stuff actually worth watching. Also, a fantastic debut by Jackson Stewart, whose film, Beyond The Gates sets high marks for indie features. His wasn’t the only one with Justin M. Seaman’s The Barn also showed the indie horror scene how to make a throwback that actually feels like one rather than a gimmick. 

Among the lot were of course another batch of tired twist dramas that were marketed as horror films. Green Room (excellent but not a horror film AT ALL) and The Invitation (yeah, um… no.) were two that come to mind.

As for the bad, well, I could go on all day, but stuck to the 5 most offensive. As always, these lists are subjective. These are just my picks and may (probably) differ from yours. So without further adieu , here is my Best And Worst 2016…

Honorable Mentions

There are a few films that didn’t rank, but I urge everyone to check out. They bring something to the table and deserve your viewing at least once. PET – Exploitation done with modern intelligence and a great twist.  THEY’RE WATCHING – Found footage horror that completely delivers and goes ape shit in the final act. Plus it has Kris Lemche, who adds the perfect edge to any film he’s in. BLAIR WITCH – This film blew me away on the initial viewing. However I realized that was partly due to the exciting surprise reveal. Stepping back from it, I believe it is still a great film that delivers, but perhaps it is only for fans of the original. Hmmm. This year also brought the feature return of Director Dave Parker, who came back with a vengeance with the film IT WATCHES. A fun film that reminds us why we feel weird in a place we don’t know. We never know who…or what may be watching us.

THE BEST

THE WORST

On the average, I see about 70 movies a year, that’s a lot of movies. Most are absolute garbage that are little more than home movies with friends. Sad but true. The ones that made this list are films that I had some semblance of hope for. Oh the disappointment…