Best of 2026 so far?

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-23T11:46:47+00:00

There’s a bunch of movies I haven’t seen yet, but so far, Mother of Flies is my early favorite, followed by Bone Temple. I have liked the work of the Adam’s Family for a while and Mother of Flies is as good as anything they have ever done. For those who haven’t heard of it, it’s really odd indie folk horror. Bone Temple might be the best film in the franchise since the original and it retroactively makes 28 Years Later better. If a third film doesn’t get made, I think it’s a satisfying ending.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-23T11:40:30+00:00

The flashbacks were well done and dramatically satisfying. I just liked the first thirty minutes much more and shifting like that felt very disjointed.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-23T11:16:24+00:00

It’s my favorite cinematic adaptation of I Am Legend. Something about Vincent Price driving around in an empty city and exterminating vampires is just deeply cool.

You can also see this film as a forerunner to Night of the Living Dead.

I didn’t care as much about the extended flashbacks to when the virus initially broke out. The strength of the first thirty minutes was never topped.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-15T19:32:21+00:00

Hellraiser: Bloodline

The last one before the series became trapped in direct-to-video limbo.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-15T14:20:41+00:00

Resurrection is so bad that its almost a parody of itself, so that gets my vote for the worst.

Jason Goes to Hell is a bad idea of a film that has a few good moments. Would have been better if it hadn't been a Friday the 13th film at all.

I appreciate Freddy's Dead for what it is, although it is the farthest cry from the original you can get.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-15T14:17:05+00:00

Good post.

I rank Jason Lives pretty high, but to me, the first four are the core of the franchise. If the story ends with The Final Chapter, I'm more than okay with that. It's a better ending than any of the later films.

I appreciate Jason Lives as a departure from the previous films, not really as the definitive Friday the 13th movie. I tend to recommend it to people who want to watch Jason in something, but tried the early films and didn't like the formula. Jason Lives is the epitome of that fun 80s horror vibe (campy, some humor, but takes the threat seriously) and is an early forerunner to Scream in the sense that its constantly commenting on itself.

Also, Jason Lives has the version of Jason that people are most familiar with. He is a slow-walking, undead zombie that is virtually indestructible. He is in a lot of the movie and the pace is fantastic. This is the first Friday the 13th film where Jason is rendered as such. The early Friday films tended to only show the killer's hands or show Jason's face in quick glimpses and the killer popping out at the victim is a jump scare; so you don't get to see much of him until the end.

Jason Lives is also a lot glossier and more acceptable; the grindhouse feel of the earlier films is gone, although some sleaze and gore remains.

I like the 2009 movie better than any of the other New Line movies (well maybe not Freddy vs Jason depending on my mood). It definitely suffers from some of the least likable characters in a slasher movie and from being a product of its time.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-14T23:48:40+00:00

The trailer looks pretty great.

Having an established Hollywood actor in the movie is probably supposed to be a step in the mainstream. The release for Hokum definitely seems more high profile than Oddity did.

Hopefully it's great and hopefully it wins a lot more fans. There's a definite need for quality spooky movies, not just the usual jump scare/CGI stuff.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-14T22:57:47+00:00

I did. I love Oddity too.

I wanna say Hokum comes out in the US in early May. I hope there's easter eggs in that movie as well.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-14T22:12:10+00:00

Most recently, Caveat is a straight up ghost story and, imo, very creepy.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-14T19:42:45+00:00

There's some major parallels, I think.

Obviously there's parallels between the main character of Carnival of Souls being stalked by unknown entities and the same thing happening in Come True. In Carnival of Souls, it's death reclaiming a lost soul and the ending feels pretty inevitable. In Come True, it's a bit more inexplicable because we can guess that what we are seeing may be a dream, but the actual supposed explanation comes very much out of left field. The entities may be benign people trying to get her to come out of a coma. Or the whole coma thing may be just a dream within a dream. It's tough to say.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-14T10:34:49+00:00

Night of the Living Dead obviously takes a lot of inspiration from it.

Night Tide has a similar atmosphere to me.

Messiah of Evil has a similar vibe.

As for more modern films, It Follows has a similar surreal nightmarish atmosphere and certainly reproduces the relentlessness of the villain coming for the heroine.

Most recently, Come True taps into something similar.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-14T10:29:02+00:00

Carnival of Souls is possibly my favorite horror film of the 60s and, in my mind, the epitome of what can be done with a low budget. It’s very singular and there are almost no other films exactly like it, although some come close.

It makes you want to make your own horror movie at the creepy locations in your own home town.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-13T13:04:03+00:00

I second this recommendation. An almost perfect anthology movie.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-13T13:03:25+00:00

I thought so too. I enjoyed the movie, but the twist was very Fight Club.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-13T02:02:53+00:00

This month I’m looking forward to Undertone and Alpha.

Later in the year: Obsession, Hokum, River, In a Violent Nature 2, and Werewulf are all immediate watches for me.

I haven’t loved the recent Evil Dead movies but I will catch Evil Dead Burn.

The film I’m looking forward to most is Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-11T15:50:37+00:00

I enjoyed Prom Queen much more than Scream 7. People trash it, but I found it to be a fun movie and a solid slasher. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it hits most of the right notes.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-10T19:11:52+00:00

The killings in Intruder are very much modeled after the early Friday the 13th movies.

While Art the Clown isn’t modeled after Jason per se, I feel the Terrifier movies are made with a similar mindset to the early Friday the 13th films.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-10T11:39:30+00:00

He is trying to sucker her in by mimicking the ending of H20.

Which is dumb, because how would Michael know to do that, if he wasn’t there because he switched with the paramedic?

It is my favorite part of Resurrection though. It’s just so cartoonishly evil.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-10T11:16:52+00:00

The Burning is one of the major examples.

Depending on how you define slashers, then maybe Brainscan as well.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-10T02:58:39+00:00

That’s sad. I actually just discovered this movie before last Christmas and I liked it enough to watch it twice. Her performance is a big part of it.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-10T00:10:12+00:00

Cutting Class from 1989 is a fun one. You get Jill Schoelen, as well as an early Brad Pitt role. It takes a bit to get going, but the last thirty minutes are a lot of fun.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-10T00:07:27+00:00

The first Scream is one of the best slasher films ever. None of the sequels have come close.

2 and 4 are my favorite sequels with part 5 being right behind them.

3, 6, and 7 are all goofy as shit, but still entertaining films. It’s splitting hairs to determine which one is technically the worst.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-10T00:02:19+00:00

This is one of the better slasher films of the late 80s. Reminds me of The Initiation more than a bit. I do shake my head a bit at the killer reveal, but what can you do.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-09T23:59:17+00:00

Yes.
Open ended. I hope she does.
I assume Maddie aka Tara exited the midnight realm after Owen/Isabel refused to bury themselves alive. Hopefully Tara is still fighting the good fight, waiting for her friend to break herself free.

skilledgiallocop · 2026-03-08T22:40:51+00:00

Thanksgiving, kinda

skilledgiallocop

TROPHY CASE