Author: Major Tom

More often than not, the strength of a film relies on the strength of its performers.  You can have the best story, best effects and the best action, but if you don’t have the performances to anchor those aspects, the film will still fail.  On the flip side, you can have the worst film in the world in all aspects, but if the acting is stellar than the film will still be at the very least watchable.  There’s definitely a balancing act when it comes to film-making.  You have to balance acting with the writing and other production values.  Acting is pretty critical in many regards, especially in certain genres like drama and horror, but we tend to let the acting slide in action movies.  You’re not necessarily there to see an Oscar-worthy performance.  No, you’re there to see stuff blow up and that’s fine, but acting is still required in order to get the audience to go along with the ride.  For this list, I’m going to go over what I consider to be the best performances from both male and female actors.  I’m a firm believer in equality, so I’m not going to separate the two.  Understand that some of these films are not necessarily going to be the best movies ever made.  So let’s get into some of the best acting in 2018.

Toni Collette – Hereditary

Hereditary, if you recall from my post about 2018’s horror films, is one of the best in the genre.  It’s a slow-burn film, to be sure, but that allows the film to really get under your skin.  None of that would matter if the acting wasn’t strong.  While Alex Wolff and Gabriel Byrne are fantastic in this film, it’s Toni Collette that truly anchors the film.  This is her show and she gives one of the strongest performances of her entire career.  The character is very well-written, but Toni is the real emotional force behind the film.  I haven’t seen a performance like this in a horror film in years.  On one hand, you’re kind of not necessarily liking the character at first, but over the course of the film, especially when tragedy strikes in the second of the film.  It’s a very heart-wrenching performance and Toni just really hammers it home.  Hereditary is an amazing film, but it’s worth watching for Toni’s performance alone.

Lance Henriksen – Gone Are The Days

Lance Henriksen is an absolute legend in the acting community.  Whether he’s voicing people in video games or playing villains in movies like Hard Target, Lance really ups the ante in whatever project he’s working on.  He’s never really gotten the recognition that he deserves with mainstream movies, but he’s definitely made his mark over the past 40 or so years.  Most people would recognize him as the android Bishop from Aliens or the villain from Hard Target, but some of his best work is in stuff where there’s not a whole lot of action.  His role as Taylon Flynn in Gone Are The Days, is one of his strongest performances that I’ve seen in years.  He plays an aging outlaw that finds out that his estranged daughter is whoring herself out just to make ends meet, so he goes to the town where she’s at so he can try and make things right before he dies.  The film is anchored by strong performances across the board including Tom Berenger, but it’s Henriksen that gives the film its emotional core.  Lance’s age actually allows him to settle into the role and gives the character a level of humanity that you would not expect from a character like that.

Emily Blunt and John Krasinski – A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place is another really strong horror film that came out this year and for good reason.  This movie is awesome.  Conceptually, the film shouldn’t really work, especially when you’re dealing with monsters that are hyper-sensitive to sound, so a pin dropping on the floor could get you killed.  Yet, because of John Krasinski, the film is firing on all cylinders.  It’s intense from beginning to end, and it actually feels more like a family drama.  Here’s the thing, though, most of the dialogue is done using sign language, as any sound will attract alien monsters that have decimated humanity.  The performances here are extraordinary.  John Krasinskiy, who comes from a fairly comedic background, is really good as Lee, the head of the family, as he tries to protect them and find a way to fight back against the creatures outside.  Emily Blunt is just as fantastic as Lee’s wife, Evelyn.  A lot can be said in a performance that doesn’t use any spoken dialogue and A Quiet Place is a perfect example of that.

Dave Bautista – Final Score

While most wrestlers-turned-actors are not successful in the transition, you have a few that are absolutely fantastic.  Dwayne Johnson is one of them and Dave Bautista is the other.  Most people would recognize Bautista as Drax from the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Infinity War films.  This guy has a very surprising amount of range.  He’s obviously got the physique and size to be a bad-ass action star, but his performance in Final Score is easily one of his best performances.  His character is a former special forces soldier who is in London to look out for his niece.  He brings a real father-figure type to the character, but when asses need to be kicked, he can switch that on and off like it’s nobody’s business.  I’m absolutely amazed at how good of an actor that Bautista has become over the years.  While Final Score is definitely a Die Hard/Sudden Death rip-off of sorts, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Alicia Vikander – Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider has long been one of my favorite video games, especially the recent reboot trilogy.  It was only a matter of time before a movie based on the 2013 video game reboot was made.  I have to say that this year’s Tomb Raider film is probably one of the best video game-based movies in years, but that’s not really saying a whole lot.  That being said, the new film is a blast.  I have to say that Alicia Vikander is a much better choice for Lara Croft than Angelina Jolie was over a decade ago.  Not only is Alicia a stunning woman, she’s got the acting chops to match, and she brings it in Tomb Raider.  She handles a lot of the physical stuff herself, and her performance.  She allows the character to come across as a real human being with actual flaws and not some cartoon caricature.  The character makes mistakes and Ms. Vikander rolls with it, sometimes literally.  It’s clear to me that effort was really made to make Tomb Raider a pretty decent experience, if not an exceptional one.

Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen – Apostle

When I first laid my eyes on Apostle about a week or so ago, I was floored by how intense and how brutal the film was.  It didn’t shy away from a whole lot.  When it comes to movies dealing with cults, I’m not really the biggest fan, mostly because they aren’t done very well.  Apostle is.  As with any good movie, what really drives Apostle is the performance of its two main leads, Dan Stevens, who plays a guy who is looking for his sister that was kidnapped for ransom by a cult.  Michael Sheen plays Malcolm, the charismatic, yet, ruthless leader of said cult.  Both characters’ motivations we can understand.  Thomas, Dan Steven’s character, is looking for a missing relative, something that most people can understand, but at the same time, Malcolm doesn’t want to be ruled by government interference in his beliefs.  Again, that is completely understandable.  Thomas, though, has a very nihilistic view on religion, due to his experiences as a former religious person.  The performances of both actors are just absolutely incredible.  Michael Sheen is charismatic and pretty likable at times, while Dan comes across as an unlikable vagrant, but you see how similar these two characters really are.  It’s a great movie, definitely check it out.

Jamie Lee Curtis – Halloween 2018

It’s really surprising to find out how many horror movies are on this list, considering that I’ve already done my best horror movies of 2018.  Here’s the thing, the performances in a lot of the horror movies this year are leagues above almost anything you will see in nearly any other genre.  The genre is not really known for the acting aspect, yet, some of the best movies this year are horror movies.  The 2018 Halloween film starring Jamie Lee Curtis isn’t exactly a ground-breaking film.  Far from it.  In fact, it kind of plays it safe when it comes to the slasher formula.  That was actually a good thing, though.  While the film is definitely a traditional slasher film in every aspect of the term, what isn’t traditional is Jamie Lee Curtis’s performance.  Curtis plays Laurie Strode, who has been waiting and preparing for 4o years to kill Michael Myers, and that obsession has driven her away from her family.  Her attempts at reconnecting with her family is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, especially when her own daughter rebuffs her attempts.  The only one that’s actively trying to salvage the relationship is Laurie’s granddaughter.  The family dynamic is one of the best parts of the film and Jamie Lee Curtis is really at her best here.

I don’t care if you’re a man, woman or child in a movie, if you put in a great performance, you will get recognized for it at some point.  These are some of my favorite performances that I’ve seen this year, and I highly recommend you check these films out, even if it is just for those performances.  The Best of 2018 continues, and I hope that you folks will stick around when I do my Lifetime Achievement* award towards the end of the year.

*not affiliated with the AFI(American Film Institute)’s Lifetime Achievement Award

In story-telling, the ending can be considered to be one of the most important, if not the most important aspect of the story.  It caps off everything that the characters had gone through, and brought closure and tying up certain loose ends a very complete entity.  When Iron Man came out back in 2008, the whispers of an Avengers film started coming around, even though the plan for one was already thought up by Marvel.  After Iron Man’s success, followed by Captain America and Thor, it came time for the main event: The Avengers.  Released in 2012 to a massive box-office success, The Avengers wasn’t just a blockbuster, it was an event.  Featuring some of the most well-known heroes in the Marvel universe in one movie, the bar was raised for comic-book movies.  Thus began Phase 2 of what would become the MCU or the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  We began seeing sequels to each of the main character films that have been released thus far, as well as Guardians of the Galaxy, all leading up to Avengers: Age of Ultron.  While not the critical success that the first film was, Ultron helped usher in Phase 3 of the MCU, and this is where things start coming together for the coming showdown with the Avengers’ greatest villain yet, Thanos.  Avengers: Infinity War was the culmination of 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe building to this point.  Not only did Infinity War NOT disappoint in any way, it also raised the bar again with much higher stakes by the time the film ended.  Everything that we, as fans, have seen is all coming down to what may be the final Avengers film, at least as far as the current team goes: Endgame.

In Infinity War, Thanos was traveling through the universe to collect the 6 mystical and powerful Infinity Stones so he could “bring balance” by destroying half of all life in the universe.  Despite a very heroic attempt by Thor, Captain America, Black Panther, Bruce Banner, Iron Man, Spider-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos would ultimately succeed in destroying half of the universe with a single snap from his Infinity Gauntlet.  We saw the effects of the snap as we witness Black Panther, Winter Soldier, Falcon, Peter Quill, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange disintegrate into dust, leaving Iron Man stranded on alien planet and the Avengers as well the planet completely decimated.  People had often complained that Marvel was unwilling to kill some its main characters over the past 10 years.  Well…..that’s exactly what they did here.  Now, to be fair, like in the comic book story of Infinity War, a good number of these deaths are likely to be reversed, mostly because some of these characters still have movies coming out, so killing them isn’t really an option.  Some of the characters appear to be truly dead: Loki, Gamora, and Heimdall among others.  The ending of Infinity War left things on a very down note, and with the stakes never having been higher than they are now, we will be given Avengers: Endgame in April which will conclude the MCU’s version of the Infinity War.  The Infinity Stones are still going to be in play, particularly the Time and Reality Stones.  But what is also going to up the ante is the inclusion of a new superhero, Captain Marvel, who will be getting her own film in March, but she will figure heavily into Endgame’s outcome.  The trailer that Marvel released just recently gives you an idea of where things stand in the MCU, but it doesn’t really give anything away, which is what a teaser trailer should do.  In the months leading up to Avengers: Endgame, there’s going to be a lot of speculation as to who will survive and who won’t and how some of these deaths will be reversed.  Make no mistake about it, the MCU will be very, VERY different after Endgame.  With Chris Evan’s and Robert Downey, Jr.’s contracts expected to expire, one has to wonder what will happen to these characters.  Will they die or will they ride off into the sunset.  Honestly, I expect one of them to die, specifically Captain America.

While I could go on for hours speculating what will happen in Avengers: Endgame, I’m far more curious as to what other people have to say about this.  I have to be honest:  I’m a huge fan of the MCU movies, even though some are not as good as others.  Like many other fans, I’ve invested ten years into these stories and I can’t wait to see how it all comes to an end in its current form.  The Avengers will most likely continue into the future, as well as the rest of the MCU, but form will it take and will future movies continue to be interconnected with each other?  Only time will tell.  Honestly, I can’t say I’ve been more excited for a story arc to be concluded.  Not because it’s been going on for ten years, but because of where the previous films have brought us.  I want to see how this ends and if it will surpass Infinity War in terms of scale and scope.  Infinity War set the bar really high, and I hope that Endgame will be more than up to the challenge.

Some people think that 2018 was not the best year for movies.  For certain genres that may be true, but when it comes to horror and action films, 2018 came down on us like the hammer of Thor.  The action films released this year are some of the best I’ve seen in years.  Whether they are direct to video, Netflix, or theatrical, action movies have been a major staple of cinema since the beginning of the medium.  Over the past decade or so, we’ve seen different kinds of action films that we really haven’t seen before.  Movies like The Raid have made a huge impression on a lot of people with the level of violence and brutality.  For this post, I’m also going to be including comic book-based movies, because there really wasn’t enough coming out this year that warrants their own post.  Overall, 2018 has been a fantastic year for action addicts such as myself.  So…with that in mind, let’s blow shit up with The Best Action Movies of 2018.

Mission Impossible: Fallout

While the plot device of the new Mission Impossible uses the tried-and-true nuclear weapon cliche, it’s the rest of the film surrounding it that is exceptional.  Say what you will about Tom Cruise, but this guy puts in 150 percent in every role that he does, especially when it comes to action movies.  The Mission Impossible films have always been pretty solid action flicks with number 2 being the weakest of the bunch, but Fallout is easily the best of the bunch, especially when it comes to the action.  Tom Cruise does all of his own stunts and then some.  He goes all out here.  In the first 30 minutes, we see Cruise actually perform a HALO jump, which is a High Altitude Low Open jump.  This thing is usually reserved for the military’s special forces, because of the training involved.  It’s nuts.  But Cruise keeps one-upping himself to the point where he’s actually flying a helicopter in one of the craziest vehicle chases I’ve ever seen in a movie.  The stuff that happens on the ground is equally fantastic.  This movie is a huge roller-coaster ride from beginning to end.

Avengers: Infinity War

There are big blockbuster movies and then there are event movies.  The first Avengers in 2012 was an event movie.  The second film?  Not so much.  But neither of those films compares to the grand and epic scale of Infinity War.  People have often complained about Marvel’s movies playing it too safe and not upping the stakes in terms of who lives and who dies.  Well, Infinity War not only raises the stakes, but it also takes the risk of ending the film the way it does.  This is the Empire Strikes Back of the Avengers films.  It is easily the darkest film the MCU has seen in years.  The Avengers finally go up against a villain that is not only extremely intelligent and powerful, but could take on the entire team and win.  The entire MCU after the first Avengers film has been building to this point, and it does not disappoint.  The trailers don’t do it justice.  This is by far one of the most epic and action-packed mainstream movies I’ve seen in years.  This means that Avengers 4 is going to have to up the ante quite a bit in order to match Infinity War.

The Night Comes For Us

Netflix has really come through as a platform that can produce its own content.  The Night Comes For Us is easily one of the most violent and brutal action movies released this year.  In certain corners of the interwebs, this film could also count as a horror movie because of its extreme violence.  It’s a solid story about a former Triad enforcer who refuses to kill a child, and ends up on the run from his former employers.  It’s a simple redemption story, but one that works in a film like this.  Joe Taslim and Iko Uwais worked together on The Raid, but to see them fighting each other in this film is one for the record books.  Uwais usually plays the good guy, but he’s fantastic as a villain.  This movie doesn’t shy away from the gore.  There’s more gore in this film than you would find in a bog-standard slasher film, which makes The Night Comes For Us one of the most over-the-top action films that I’ve seen in years.  That’s not just hyperbole.  If you like your action movies brutal and unrelenting, The Night Comes For Us is fantastic.

Accident Man

When it comes to DTV action movies, Scott Adkins is pretty much the go to guy.  This guy has made an absolute name for himself over the past decade, being involved with not only DTV films, but some really big theatrical films like Doctor Strange.  So…yeah, he gets around.  Accident Man is one of two action films released in 2018 starring Scott Adkins, with the other being The Debt Collector.  Accident Man is actually a movie based a comic book that Mr. Adkins is a huge fan of, so this was a passion project for him.  The film is about an assassin whose specialty is making his kills look like accidents.  When he finds out that a former flame of his was murdered, possibly by one of his own, he goes on a rampage.  The action sequences in this film are incredible.  One fight has him taking on Michael Jai White AND Ray Park at the same time.  Not only is it intense, but it also has a sense of humor, and that’s what really separates this film from a lot of others.  It gets pretty funny at times, and a lot of that comes from Scott himself, whose character is a motormouth.  It’s funny, it’s intense and it’s a lot of fun.

Buybust

Watching action movies from other countries gives you an insight into how they approach action film-making.  Buybust is a film from the Philippines that takes place during the country’s war on drugs.  It follows a police officer, whose previous team was slaughtered because of corrupt officers, and she’s recruited into a new team that’s been assigned to take out a notorious drug lord.  This is one of the most ruthless action movies I’ve seen this year, but it also shines a light on the actual problems that were instigated by this war on drugs and how it affects everybody involved.  The police team is surrounded not only by the drug gang, but also civilians who have had enough of both the police and the gangs.  It makes for an incredibly intense film that when the action starts, it doesn’t let up.

Black Panther

When the character of Black Panther showed up in last year’s Captain America: Civil War, people were very excited for the prospect of a stand-alone film.  Black Panther is one of the best films that Marvel has ever put out.  While the film is definitely spectacular in terms of its visuals, it’s a far more character-oriented film than we are used to seeing from Marvel.  Not only do we have a fantastic hero in the Black Panther, played to perfection by Chadwick Boseman, but the film also has a villain that is sympathetic and that you can understand where he’s coming from.  What makes this film really standout, is not just how visually interesting it is, but also in terms of set and costume design.  These are some of the most unique costumes I’ve ever seen, and they are all based on designs from various African tribes.  It also helps that while the film acknowledges the events of the other films, it keeps the focus on a much smaller scale.

The Debt Collector

This is the second Scott Adkins film on the list, and it’s just as good as Accident Man.  Director Jesse V. Johnson not only gets a great performance out of Scott, but he pairs him up with Louis Mandylor, who is pretty damn good in his own right.  The chemistry that these two have is simply fantastic.  There’s quite a bit of hilarious back-and-forth between the characters, but there’s also a pretty strong emotional element that I wasn’t expecting from this movie.  The action is far more grounded and realistic than what we are used to seeing from Scott, but he puts everything into it, including getting thrown through walls.  For a DTV action movie, The Debt Collector has a lot going for it: Solid writing, fantastic acting, decent story, and decent action.  Jesse V. Johnson knows how to take a low-budget action flick and make it look like a million bucks, that’s a pretty unique talent, so yeah, I do recommend The Debt Collector.

There are a number of other action movies released this year that missed the list, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad, it just means they didn’t do enough to really wow me the way these ones did.  So, these are what I consider to be the Best Action Films of 2018.  Looking at what’s coming up in 2019, I’m legitimately excited for what next year is going to bring us.

With 2018 winding down and the holidays starting to go into full swing, I figured this would be the best time to start looking back at the films that stood out for me in 2018.  I’ve seen a lot of movies this year, with some being theatrically released and others going straight-to-video or Netflix.  It’s been a wild year for movies, with some ranging from incredibly amazing to unbelievably terrible, as well as everything in between.  Considering how this year has gone for me, I’m very grateful for the existence of this particular medium as it allows for an escape from reality for a couple of hours.  Well, I figure I would start off this month with a look back at some of my favorite horror movies that came out this year.  Horror is definitely not a genre you would associate with Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate this month.  The genre has had a pretty difficult time over the past few years, because there have been a lot of cheap teenage-scare movies that do only the bare minimum.  The films that I’m going to look at today are ones that take risks and are legitimately thrilling and can be disturbing as well.  Before I begin, I should mention that I haven’t properly reviewed some of these films, so just be aware.  I will be reviewing them at some point, hopefully soon, but I did watch them.  Let’s get this party started!

A Quiet Place

I know a lot of folks that refuse to watch PG-13 horror movies because the rating doesn’t allow the film to push the envelope.  I find this to be categorically untrue.  There have been a number of PG-13 films out there that are legitimately scary.  A Quiet Place is one of those films.  Certain horror films tend to rely on certain gimmicks to generate scares, i.e. jump scares.  A Quiet Place utilizes sound, or rather, the lack of sound to power its tension.  The film takes place after humanity was devastated by creatures that are hard to kill and hunt by sound.  A Quiet Place focuses on a family that’s trying to survive in a world without making a single sound, because even a pin drop could get somebody killed.  The movie dares to up the stakes in the film in the first five minutes with an act of tragedy and that sets up the rest of the film in a rather brilliant way.  It is intense from beginning to end and the use of sign language and other methods to avoid making unnecessary noise make for a white-knuckle experience.  The acting is amazing and the whole experience is amazing.  A Quiet Place is a damned good PG-13 horror movie.

Apostle

Apostle is one of those movies that I decide to go back to Netflix for.  It was one of my most highly anticipated horror film of the year, and it didn’t disappoint.  The film is about a man, Thomas, who infiltrates a cult on a mysterious island to find his sister, who was kidnapped by this cult.  What starts as a typical period piece during 1905 takes a very bizarre turn as soon as Thomas gets to the island.  The cult, on the surface, is led by a man named Malcolm, who wants his people to be free from the shackles of Christianity and the rest of the world.  The further that Thomas digs, the more he realizes that there is something far more sinister at work.  This is not the kind of movie that offers cheap jump-scares.  Horror movies are often a mirror for society and how we behave as people, and Apostle takes a shot at religion and the dangers of being a zealot.  It’s not going to be for everyone.  This is a film that pulls no punches and goes to some very dark territory, but it still ends up being one of the most satisfying thrillers that I’ve seen this year.

Hereditary

This was a rough year for me.  After dealing with so much tragedy, watching a horror movie about a family dealing with tragedy should have been the last thing for me to see.  I’m glad I did, though.  This was a film that I needed to see, because tragedy can bring out demons in everyone and can destroy entire families.  Hereditary is about one such family that not only deals with the death of a grandparent, but they are confronted with another tragedy which threatens to tear the family apart.  This is a slow-burner of a film, so it takes its time in establishing the characters and slowly upping the tension to the point where it’s almost unbearable.  The acting across the board is fantastic, but this is Toni Colette’s film through-and-through.  She gives the strongest and the most tragic performance in the film as a mother who is driven to the brink of insanity after dealing with an overbearing mother and a tragic event.  The best horror movies are the ones that make it personal, because the film wants you to be able to relate to these people.  While the film does take on a bit of a supernatural element later on, the rest of the film feels more like a family drama than it does a full-on horror flick, and that’s what makes this film so impressive.  It’s a soul-crushing film for sure, and very bleak, but it is one of the best horror films in the last decade or so.

Hellraiser: Judgment

This one may seem a bit controversial as it is a direct-to-video sequel to Hellraiser.  I will fully admit that this film is far from perfect and has a lot of really bizarre issues, but as far as being a Hellraiser film goes, Judgment is perhaps the best entry in the series since Hellraiser V.  The film follows two detectives on the trail of a notorious serial killer when they come across a house that hides the legendary demon Pinhead.  Considering the outright disaster that was Hellraiser: Revelations, Judgment is a much stronger movie, thanks to the efforts of director, producer and special effects guru, Gary J. Tunnicliffe.  He did a really good job with this one.  The guy who plays Pinhead this time around, Paul T. Taylor, does a very good job.  As far as I’m concerned, Taylor is a worthy successor to Doug Bradley, who refused to continue to be a part of the franchise.  I actually love the visual aesthetic of the film, as it kind of drifts between a film-noirish detective story and an other-worldly supernatural fright fest.  It introduces a few new ideas that I’ve never seen in the franchise before, and I hope that they expand on those ideas in the next film.  If you’re a fan of Hellraiser, I think you should at least give this one a rent.

Halloween 2018

I have a confession to make:  I was never really a big fan of John Carpenter’s original film.  It came across as cheesy and predictable.  It wasn’t until years later, after watching other slasher films, that I realized that the original film was so important to the genre.  This new film does something extraordinary:  It takes every other sequel and re-make of the franchise and throws them out the window.  In essence, this new Halloween is the real sequel to the 1978 film.  We see Laurie Strode as she’s been preparing for decades to confront and finally kill Michael Myers, who terrorized her when she was a teenager.  While I won’t say that the new Halloween re-invents the genre, it’s still light-years above any of the other film, with the exception of the original.  It honesty feels like a natural progression, despite taking place decades later.  Jamie Lee Curtis is one of my favorite actresses ever, and she puts in her best performance in years with this film.  Her character is not only tough, but she’s also emotionally damaged from the events of the first film, and despite her attempts to reconnect with her daughter and granddaughter, her obsession with Michael doesn’t seem to go away.  Yeah, the film doesn’t do anything new and it restrains itself in terms of its violence, but that is in the film’s favor.  Too often, we see slasher movies that go so over-the-top, they’re no longer frightening.  Michael Myers is the original Boogeyman and he doesn’t waste time coming up with elaborate kills.  He just grabs a knife and stabs away.  That kind of simplicity and purity has been missing in the slasher film genre for for over twenty years, and it’s nice to see a slasher film actually do some slashing.

Revenge

Revenge is another take on the whole “rape-revenge” genre that’s been a part of the horror genre for decades.  While the film definitely follows in the footsteps of other flicks like I Spit On Your Grave, the film doesn’t feel as exploitative as other films in the genre.  In fact, the film goes out of its way to avoid directly showing the assault on Matilda Lutz’s character.  You can still hear it, and in some ways that’s actually worse.  It’s a very uncomfortable sequence to sit through to be sure, but it serves as motivation for the girl to take revenge on the people that took advantage of her.  This movie is brutal as hell and while it’s not as gory as some other films, the degree of violence in this one is very startling.  There was a point in which even I was wincing, and I don’t wince at ultra-violence.  I really don’t.  This is a film that has no frills and no extraneous twists or turns.  It’s very straight-forward and gets to the point, and that makes it stand out as one of my favorite horror films of the year.

Mandy

I mentioned Mandy before in my post about direct-to-video movies, but it bears another mentioning here.  Mandy is by far the the trippiest horror film this year.  Nicolas Cage just knocks it out of the park with the craziest and best performance he’s had in years.  It’s a simple revenge film, but it’s one that’s clouded in a very ethereal and other-worldly vibe.  While the film definitely takes its time getting started, the visual aesthetic of the film can’t be denied.  It’s a visual feast.  While the film definitely gets violent, it’s Nick Cage that really delivers on that aspect.  Cage always puts 110 percent into his roles, regardless of how good or bad the movie might be, but his performance in Mandy is going to be one of his most recognized roles for years to come.  It’s a messed up movie that will have you thinking about it long after you switch off the TV.

While there were other horror movies that came out this year, either on Netflix or direct-to-DVD, these are the ones that got my attention, and there’s a reason for that.  These horror films are really damned good and offer more than just cheap thrills.  This was a solid year for mainstream horror movies, and even better for DTV/Netflix horror.  Here’s hoping that 2019 gives us more.  I hope everybody enjoyed this post, and stay tuned for more of The Best of 2018.