10 Recent Horror Films That Didn't Insult Your Intelligence
The smartest horror movies you need to see! Relic, Saint Maud & More!
The horror genre by large has had something of an intellectual revolution in recent years, practically everything that A24 produce manages to appeal to both the broad horror fan base and those who enjoy films with a brain, not just a pulse, bleeding or otherwise.
With cinemas closed for time being, the streaming revolution has provided a platform for more daring interpretations of the genre and with that distinct lack of theatrical releases, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Shudder and others have thankfully brought a lot to the table. So much, in fact, that it can be tough deciding what to watch.
The aim here, then, is to highlight some of the more recent and cerebral horrors available so you don't have to.
Horror shouldn't be just repurposed cliché; ghosts and zombies have their place yet so does more nuanced horror, often with a lot to say about the world.
So, that seat you normally reserve for your brain and a bag of popcorn? You won't need it. Here are ten of the best horror movies out now that tap into social context, modern themes and our deepest, darkest fears...
10. Saint Maud
Saint Maud is the feature debut from director Rose Glass and what a debut it is. A tense, claustrophobic tale of religious and personal obsession, Saint Maud is not just an above average British horror but one that should earn a place in the ranks of the best British horror films of the decade.
Maud (Morfydd Clark) is a nurse caring for terminal cancer sufferer and once celebrated dancer Amanda. They both live in a small coastal English town, itself an all too familiar wasteland of unemployment, shabby arcades and miserable weather.
Maud clearly has been through some unspecified trauma (Glass cleverly allows our imagination to fill these traumatic blank spaces) and as such has found God. Quietly seething over Amanda's hedonistic life as a performer and atheist's approach to her imminent death from lymphoma, Maud attempts to put Amanda back on the path to righteousness before it's too late...
Bleak, intense and disturbing, Saint Maud is a film that pulls no punches with its representation of fanaticism, piety and fatalism. The final sequence on the beach has drawn parallels with The Wicker Man and the comparison is entirely justified.
Film 4 and Studio Canal have a lot to be proud of here, this is straight from the A24 playbook, eliciting striking performances from both leads.
Saint Maud is a sombre horror film, a stark portrayal of deep rooted trauma from the point of view of two diametrically opposed women. Glass clearly has a deep understanding of both.