And here we are. More than halfway through January, a month I somehow forgot about while booking both the Podcast and planning the Unnamed Footage Festival... But that's not why this month is important. It's important because it's 2018 and I am just now finished with our Top 10 Horror Movies of 2017 list! I do apologize for those of you that have been following The Overlook Theatre into our now 5th year! It's just been a lot busier lately, from the Overlook Hour Podcast to the Unnamed Footage Festival, and attempting to create some steady video content all while trying to wrangle the creatures for a weekly screening!
Excuses aside, it's honestly very tough to create a Top 10 list that pleases every one of these fiends, so this year I didn't even try. I had Math Mage prepare for the most brutal Top 10 list in Overlook history. A list decided by projecting every horror film we could think of from 2017 and everyone debating, manipulating, and yelling to see their favorite films make it to the number 1 spot. Some were excited by the turn-out, most were confused, and a few were just angry. But the numbers don't lie and after everyone wrote a personal Top 10 the mage worked his magic and conjured up the results:
Excuses aside, it's honestly very tough to create a Top 10 list that pleases every one of these fiends, so this year I didn't even try. I had Math Mage prepare for the most brutal Top 10 list in Overlook history. A list decided by projecting every horror film we could think of from 2017 and everyone debating, manipulating, and yelling to see their favorite films make it to the number 1 spot. Some were excited by the turn-out, most were confused, and a few were just angry. But the numbers don't lie and after everyone wrote a personal Top 10 the mage worked his magic and conjured up the results:
Two parts faux-doc, one part found footage, Phoenix Forgotten was a much anticipated film. After a trailer was spotted during a random screening of John Wick 2, Trash became obsessed with learning more. This seemed silly to most of us at the Overlook, until she told us about how no one was talking about it. I think she ultimately found two others on Twitter scouring the web trying to learn more about the film, and coming up empty handed... We still aren't sure what the super early trailer with no buzz and a different name was about but had Blair Witch done better in the box office, I'm sure we would have seen more advertising.
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How does a film like Wish Upon make it to our top 10 list of 2017? I'm not sure, it might have been the authentic descent our protagonist goes through, or the fact that Wish Upon is a movie that doesn't do the "careful how you word your wish" crap we're so sick of. Or maybe it's because dumpster diving dads are hot like Sriracha and the Overlook digs on the multiverse... That's probably it.
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A film that will forever be compared to Joe Lynch's Mayhem, James Gunn's The Belko Experiment achieves a much broader range of emotions than one would expect from "The Office meets Battle Royale". Capturing office microcosms and butchering likable characters for maximum effect, The Belko Experiment is one that definitely had the Overlook feeling everything from joy to horror.
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Raw is a French/Belgium co-production that left a lot of horror fans disappointed. The marketing for this film was something along the lines of "we dare you to watch this" (the Alamo screening we attended came with branded barf bags). So why did Raw make #7 on our list? It's a beautifully shot film that employees a powerful visual narrative, as we watch a girl find herself in college... Not only does Raw have one of the best shot party scenes, it's also got a very adult French rap that rules!
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6.) Dark Night
Dark Night is the film I get the most slack for. Technically not a horror film, yet easily the scariest thing I saw in theatres. Simply the fact that it made #6 is a testament to the film's impact, considering only a handful of us saw this film. Tim Sutton's brilliant character exploration is now on Netflix, but I just can't imagine a home viewing feeling as off putting as sitting in a theatre... Still, watch it!
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5.) The Evil Within
Never have I seen a film that could rightfully be called equal parts transcendent and The Room. The Evil Within was a buzz in 2017 as this 15 year project was finally released after director and heir to the cursed Getty's family fortune passed away. Come for the crazy story and stay for stunning visuals. This is a very special film (and I feel bad for saying this, but no pun intended).
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It's insane to think that the writer/director or Child Eater Erlingur Thoroddsen would follow up his microbudget slashers with Rokkur??? (Rift). Rift is a film about a relationship set in the beautifully barren back drop of Iceland, in a house that has so much character it rivals the Amityville horror, and filmed by a director who knows how to craft a mood. Oh and yes, Erlingur is also a huge horror fan... Keep an eye out for his Don't Look Now homage.
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3.) IT
Our poster paints an accurate picture or how split some of the creatures were on IT. The ones who loved the second coming of Stephen King however LOVED IT. In our annual debate of the Overlook Top 10, The Impostor was very vocal about how IT should be number one and was noticeably upset after the Math Mage ran the numbers... IT didn't make my Top 10 list but I will say, it's a quick 2h30m watch and that's no smallfeet feat. 😉
Our poster paints an accurate picture or how split some of the creatures were on IT. The ones who loved the second coming of Stephen King however LOVED IT. In our annual debate of the Overlook Top 10, The Impostor was very vocal about how IT should be number one and was noticeably upset after the Math Mage ran the numbers... IT didn't make my Top 10 list but I will say, it's a quick 2h30m watch and that's no small
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If a film lets out and the theatre lobby fills with audience members discussing what they just watched, would you say the film failed or succeeded? This was a debate all across the web after Darren Aronofsky's new film went wide. And I am very proud to say that the Overlook fiends have learned a good film is one that warrants discussion. Honestly it was a bit surreal seeing so many people leave in passionate discussion over something they had just watched (even if 80% of the crowd was traumatized squares).
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Who knew 1 half of Key and Peele would end up writing/directing one of my favorite films this year, and more importantly the #1 film chosen by the Overlook Theatre to represent horror in 2017!? I don't think Get Out winning the day really surprised anyone; it appeared somewhere on everyone's list, except for The Great Hornito who still hasn't seen it. Dabbles and the Ascendant both placed it at #1 with 6 others putting it at #2. Clearly Jordan Peele had married Horror and Scifi together in a very satisfying way, but the new dialogue about modern race relations was astounding. I'd be amiss not to mention how the theatre came alive when Childish Gambino's blossoming hit played loudly in the Alamo. I think more monsters might have ranked it higher had it not been so openly embraced by the masses, but then again, that's why we have the shouting match scored by the Math Mage!
- Lord Battle
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Individual Top 10 ListsThe Impostor
1. IT
2. Get Out
3. Tragedy Girls
4. Mother!
5. Better Watch Out
6. The Evil Within
7. Cure For Wellness
8. The Belko Experiment
9. 68 Kill
10. The Lure
Lord Battle
1. Dark Night
2. Descent To Darkness
3. Nocturama
4. Get Out
5. Wish Upon
6. Assholes
7. Pheonix Forgotten
8. Rift
9. Raw
10. Better Watch Out
Trash
1. The Belko Experiment
2. Mother!
3. The Evil Within
4. The Lure
5. Brawl in Cell Block 99
6. Rift
7. Tragedy Girls
8. Better Watch Out
9. Get Out
10. Colossal
The Berkeley Blazer
1. Mother!
2. Get Out
3. It Comes at Night
4. The Evil Within
5. Raw
6. Rift
7. Nocturama
8. Alien Covenant
9. Colossal
10. Wish Upon
Dabbles
1. Get Out
2. IT
3. Annabelle Creation
4. Hell House LLC
5. Wish Upon
6. Happy Deathday
7. Pheonix Forgotten
8. The Evil Within
9. Prankz
10. Prevenge
The Great Hornito
1. Pheonix Forgotten
2. Personal Shopper
3. Bad Ben
4. Death Note
5. Alien Covenant
6. Descent To Darkness
7. 68 Kill
8. Prankz
9. Devils Candy
10. Bedeviled
Huntress
1. The Evil Within
2. Get Out
3. Wolf Cop 2
4. Rift
5. Mother!
6. IT
7. Hounds of Love
8. Annabelle Creation
9. Good Time
10. Tragedy Girls
Clark Little
1. Dark Night
2. Hounds of Love
3. Killing of a Sacred Deer
4. Mother!
5. Raw
6. IT
7. Hell House LLC
8. 1922
9. Get Out
10. Good Time
Randy The Reverberator
1. Mother!
2. Dark Night
3. Killing of a Sacred Deer
4. Get Out
5. The Lure
6. The Shape of Water
7. Raw
8. Pheonix Forgotten
9. Hell House LLC
10. IT
Wandering Panda
1. IT
2. Get Out
3. Mother!
4. Geralds Game
5. The Belko Experiment
6. Happy Deathday
7. Annabelle Creation
8. Jigsaw
9. Split
10. It Comes at Night
Midnight Bloom
1. IT
2. Get Out
3. Rift
4. The Belko Experiment
5. Mother!
6. Split
7. Hounds of Love
8. Wish Upon
9. Death Note
10. Bedeviled
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Missed the White Elephant Debate
The Ascendant
1. Get Out
2. Raw
3. The Lure
4. Hounds of Love
5. The Killing of A Sacred Deer
6. We Are The Flesh (Tenemos la carne)
7. Circus of the Dead
8. The Void
9. Super Dark Times
10. A Dark Song
KillDozer
1. Black Coats Daughter
2. Get Out
3. Kong Skull Island
4. A Cure for Wellness
5. I Don't Feel Safe in this World Anymore
6. Dark Night
7.War for the Planet of the Apes
8. The Triangle
9. Better Watch Out
10. N/A*
*Didn't like enough films to make a list of 10. #Can'tWaitToHate 😊
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