In 2020, the global pandemic gave us an interesting dynamic in film. Stripped down productions. The re-rise of independent horror. Big budget films either shelved, delayed, or cancelled all together. Last year’s horror scene definitely had a peculiar and, well, dystopian quality.  Enter 2021! The big budget films that coldly sat on the shelves for the last year, or in some cases years, or in other cases almost a half century, are now out in the theaters for us all to enjoy. And enjoy them we did! It shouldn’t be a terrible surprise that (often) the more money, time, energy, and talent you ply to your project the better quality you’ll receive in return. Mostly.  Here's some of the best from another spooky year...
Chalk 2021 into the history books! And, every year that I do this, I find it hard to separate my favorite films, and this year was no different. There were really good films from both the festival side and the studio wide release efforts from the past year.
When the great 2020 pandemic got its hooks into the world in April, and the Cinemas across the country were shuttering their doors, I was guessing that we were going to have really slim pickings for great horror films this past year. I'm so happy to be wrong! There were some absolutely fantastic horror films released, but you had to get to most of them via streaming festivals.
2020 sucked but these films did not! Check out Liz's Top 10 Horror Films of 2020 year end list! Good riddance 2020! Hey 2021, I am ready to get off the couch and back into the theaters!
So many great intentions. This here podcaster was going to smash, crash, and rush to the theater to see all the latest spooky offerings Hollyweird had to offer. I "intended" to give a careful and thoughtful look at Halloween Kills (delayed to 2021), Antebellum (not willing to throw down for its initial asking price), St. Maude (weirdly delayed a bunch of times, but available for streaming overseas), and I'm Thinking of Ending Things (I saw this! But it was pretty so/so). 2020 was far from perfect, but despite all its real-world horrors, it brought a respite in the form of gaggle of scares, shrieks, and ghouls.
Can music make a film? Break a film? Raise the hairs on the back of your head? Make you curl up in a ball and weep? You bet your bottom dollar! Open you ears and tune in to the ten most evil soundtracks your little ears ever did hear!
Congrats! You’ve wandered down to the end of the cul-de-sac and discovered the world of sci-fi-horror. Is is horror? Is it sci-fi? Is it horror-sci-fi? Does it have space aliens? Are those furry little space aliens scary? All these questions are answered with the Top 10 Sci-Fi Horror Films of All Time!
You love ’em. You hate ’em. You don’t know where to start. You worship at their altar. All these things are true. One of the most polemic (and satisfying) devices in the horror genre — shaky cam/found footage flics.
Thumper, Ben, Lassie, Willard, Cujo…my pet gator? Why have you chosen to forsake me? In Episode 16 we explored this very question and got down and dirty in the animal kingdom. These are some of the scariest pets and animals to have ever graced the silver screen and boy have they gone bad! They PRETEND to be man's best friend but ultimately they've got other things in store for us weak and inferior humans. Before you race out to the pet store watch the ten scariest films ever made featuring animals!
Once again Hollyweird cranked up the almighty money-making hype machine and got to work on some very fine artistry. While it's got to be more and more difficult for graphic designers to cram all of the fear, fright, and gore on to an iPhone screen, designers have not yet thrown in the towel!
It was a great year for Horror Films, and without an individual film that was head and shoulders above the rest, making this a bit of a challenge to pick a top 10. There was a nice mix of film festival independent darlings, as well as some surprisingly good major studio offerings this year. If you haven't done so already, go listen to our favorite movies of the decade. I believe we are still in the middle of the golden age of quality horror stories.
2019 was as year that was awfully similar to its most recent astrological brethren, 2018. There were some awfully big, earnest, and well-heeled horror offerings – while at the same time, 2019 served up the weird, the indy, and the quirky in spades!

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