It was the best of years and the worst of years. Really, 2023 contained some of the best horror films of ALL time, but it also contained a lot of duds. Not just crappy little indy films that couldn’t scratch two nickels together, but the big boys laid down garbage all over the cinema interstate.
In many ways the 2023 horror offerings got off to an incredible start, but then petered out a bit, but THEN…sort of made a comeback toward the end of the year. At least that’s how this humble horror podcaster saw the year unfolding. A sea of middling mediocrity spotlighted with some stellar flicks.
And if you haven’t been paying attention 2023 really is the year of Australian horror. With offerings like Talk to Me, Late Night with the Devil, Puzzle Box, and Monolith, Australian filmmakers have been delivering truly wonderful horror.
Because 2023 also saw the rise of “hot labor summer” with the simultaneous writer and actor strikes, 2024 promises to be equally uneven. We may see some incredible holdover fare early in the year, followed by a dusty lull. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll see some great horror films back on the scene in late 2024. Until then, here are…
The BEST Horror Films of 2023
★★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed by Demián Rugna.
Uh…what did I just see? Dark as dark gets. The “feel bad” film of 2023. It will pull at your heart strings, see you reaching for a barf bag, and have you jumping clean out of your seat — all at the same time! This one is GROSS, VILE, and TERRIFYING. Everything a horror fan could ever ask for.
When Evil Lurks will definitely be talked about in the same circles as Hereditary, the Lodge, and the Dark and the Wicked. It’s a brutal bunch of business that will have you spooked well into 2024.
★★★★.5 out of ★★★★★
Directed by Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou.
Each and every year there’s THAT horror film that shakes things up. Hits the festival circuit and creates a tidal wave-sized buzz. Sometimes it’s deserved and sometimes it’s not. In the case of 2023’s festival darling Talk to Me, the buzz is profoundly deserved.
Directed by Australian newcomers, Danny and Michael Philipou, Talk to Me follows an exceptionally tight and integrated family. In an almost Speilbergian manner, the film carefully and humorously explores the familial bond as it wanders through the trials and tribulations of the spirit world.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed by Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes.
If you’ve even run across Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, or Dinah Shore you’ll know that they all roiled in a very specific talk show space in the 1970s. Talk shows were smarmy, boozy, and informal affairs that gave audiences time each day to let their hair down and forget about the doldrums of the Viet Nam War and the crushing presence of socio-economic injustice in America.
These talk shows were also incredibly competitive. Johnny Carson was king, but there was a lot of room under him to vie for advertisers and Nielson ratings. Late Night with the Devil follows that exact storyline, by exploring frustrated talk show host, Jack Delroy, played pitch-perfectly by David Dastmalchian.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed by Lee Cronin.
Evil Dead Rise is everything you would want a film in this franchise to be. It gets to the bloody action right from the start, and does not let up once it gets rolling. This incredibly gory film reconstructs the fundamental Evil Dead script in by making it a family-forward story, but it still walks a familiar path. If you’ve ever set foot in the Evil Dead universe, chuckled at amputation, or feared what’s in your basement, then Evil Dead Rise will make you smile with glee.
Hail Deadites!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed by Matt Vesely.
After failing to fact-check a story, a disgraced journalist, known to us only as “the interviewer” (Lily Sullivan) decides to turn to podcasting (naturally) as a way to revamp her career. Her podcast, “Beyond Believable” focuses on weird and unexplained phenomena where people can email her their stories for her to investigate. When an email providing only a name and the story of a mysterious black brick is delivered to her inbox, the interviewer is drawn into a web of stories (and possible alien conspiracies) that go back years, and as she untangles them, begins to hit very close to home.
Monolith was written by Lucy Campbell, who expertly crafted a wonderfully paced script. Despite the minuscule cast, this one-woman (and a turtle) show will keep you glued to the screen. Fans of Pontypool and Scariest Things favorite The Vast of Night, as well as the films of Brit Marling and Shane Carruth will not want to miss Monolith.
6. Angry Black Girl and Her Monster
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed by Bomani J. Story.
A hundred years on we’ve been blessed and not-so-blessed with hundreds, or maybe thousands of Frankenstein-related films. Remakes, reboots, re-imaginations, a reworking of the Mary Shelley source material, and even re-re-working of Shelley’s book. The Frankenstein mythos has comfortably slipped into our collective horror zeitgeist.
Is there any fresh way to explore “man’s inhumanity to man” in the context of the Frankenstein story? Turns out there is. Not only is it fresh, it actually contains a couple of decent jump scares packed into a story with empathy, love, and a black teen girl taking on the august role of Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed by Rob Savage.
Hard to believe that a 25-page story could be turned into a feature length film, but it has! The Boogeyman, originally released in 1978, was a taut and rather dark affair that explored the most corrupt fears in parenting. Fast forward 45 years and the Boogeyman is back as a full-on fright-fest.
If you haven’t had a chance to read up on the Boogeyman (again, it is 25 pages long and it’s been out for 45 years), it follows a deeply fractured individual, Lester Billings, who barges into a psychiatrist’s office to talk about the death of his children at the hands of…THE BOOGEYMAN!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed by David Gordon Green.
You know the story. You’ve got the gist of the Catholic Church’s involvement in exorcisms. Little kids probably freak you out. You are either terrified of demonic possession or you’re not. Point is, you probably have a well-defined idea of what the Exorcist: Believer is going to offer.
So is it good, great, or a pile of stale communion wafers? Now that we’re 50 years into the Exorcist mythos everyone has a clear idea of exorcisms and whether or not the 1973 original can ever be topped. Not just topped by another film in the Exorcist franchise, but actually topped as the scariest horror film of all time.
Fortunately or unfortunately, all entries into the Exorcist universe post-1973 have had both pluses and minuses. They all pale in comparison to Friedkin’s masterpiece, but each has differing levels and types of inadequacy.
★★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers.
It’s the story of Dre (Dominique Fishback) a junk food loving young woman who lives in Houston, Texas. She doesn’t have a job or a boyfriend but she has her aspiring make-up artist sister Marissa (Chloe Bailey), and she has music- specifically the music of Ni’jah, a pop star based, not loosely at all, on the queen of Houston herself- Beyoncé.
Taking place over the course of two years, Swarm dives into Dre’s psyche and follows her on an impromptu cross-country journey exposing the darkest sides of fandom and obsession.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed by Pablo Larraín.
The sleeper of the year! It’s funny, absurd, chilling, and beautiful to consume. Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is a 250-year-old vampire who is bored with life and ready to call it a career. Unclear where he left his mountains of ill-gotten gains, his greedy and clumsy family descends on his former death-camp compound to figure out where his treasures are hidden.
Using vampirism as a metaphor for right-wing dictators, the film unfolds with some of the sharpest satire since Dr. Strangelove. Interestingly, the film was released on Netflix on September 15, 2023, four days after the 50th anniversary of the 1973 coup d’etat, in which Pinochet seized power.
You won’t feel sorry for Pinochet — as you shouldn’t. But, El Conde will have you thinking about the deeper meanings of man’s inhumanity to man and the after effects of seizing power and stealing piles of cash. Much like vampires solo journeys, dictators too, must wander the earth in a soulless manner contemplating the pointlessness of their actions.
Bonus Honorable Mention!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed by Jack Dignan.
Skinamarink with real scares! Found footage follies! The year of Australian horror! Puzzle Box is the complete horror spook show!
If you haven’t been paying attention 2023 really is the year of Australian horror.
With offerings like Talk to Me, Late Night with the Devil, and Monolith, Australian filmmakers have been delivering truly wonderful horror. Puzzle Box is no exception.