Thelma

+

Also liked this quite a bit! 2020 ending with a bit of a hot streak! Who knew Thought it was really well made. That opening shot was a BEAUT! What a great opening in general with him turning the gun on her, really smart. Immediately gets you invested an intrigued. I was always interested to see what exactly was up with her Definitely NOT a witch or occult movie! So we flopped there. I guess you can claim she has witch powers but uh..nah! You can just as easily claim it was a superhero ORIGIN story! I did like her ability, it was unique The crush vanishing sequence was a highlight. And when the dad died. I saw someone point out that she punished the dad like how he held her hand over a candle flame when she was a kid and told her that's what hell feels like all the time. Then she made him choose between dying via that way or dying via drowning. And being super religious he chose...not fire. She's TWISTED! Like...she was also beckoning her crush towards her right? That's how she wandered straight to where she lived without knowing where she lived. Definitely some morally gray stuff going on here THELMA! The baby ice scene was brutal too. That shot. Woof Felt like the runtime was a lil long but also felt like most if not all moments ended up mattering in the end so what can you do I love lonely cold Northern European horrorish movies ★★★½ very good/well executed Paranormal: Witches & Occult The Blackcoats Daughter vs. Midsommar vs. Thelma. Another very easy one. And another tough break for 2020 at the end here! Last place is the disappointing Blackcoats Daughter. First place is easilyyyy Midsommar, my favorite out of all 117 movies between the three years, cant beat that! One point to Thelma Thelma ties it again near end for 2020 while 2019 gets back in the face but it wont be enough. Winner will be either 2018 or shockingly, 2020. And the final movie is The Innocents which I have hope for so uhhh....could be a huge upset here. I don't know the matchup though. I think I'm gonna go through all the matchups again too now that recency bias isn't much of a factor so there may be some adjusting. WHO KNOWS! 2020: 39 2019: 36 2018: 39

Angst [Psychological - Home Invasion]
November [Psychological - Fanaticism]
Images [Psychological - Phobia & Isolation]
The Quiet Family [Psychological - Madness & Paranoia]

The Wolf of Snow Hollow [Monster - Werewolf]
Nosferatu [Monster - Vampire]
Night of the Living Dead Remake[Monster - Undead]
Phase IV [Monster - Animals & Nature]
Night of the Creeps [Monster - Virus]
Gremlins 2 [Monster - Small Creatures]
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [Monster - Classic]
Alligator [Monster - Giant Monsters]
The Thing From Another World [Monster - Neo Monster]
The Hidden [Monster - Aliens]

American Mary [Gore - Torture]
Bad Taste [Gore - Splatter]
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 [Gore - Cannibal]
Maniac [Gore - Extreme]

Christine [Paranormal - Possession]
Thelma [Paranormal - Witches & Occult]
Cronos [Paranormal - Supernatural]
Relic [Paranormal - Haunted House]
The Masque of the Red Death [Paranormal - Devil/Demon/Hell]
The Innocents [Paranormal - Ghost & Spirits]

The Burning [Killer - Backwoods & Redneck]
Stage Fright [Killer - Slasher]
Blood and Black Lace [Killer - Crime & Giallo]

Horror Noir [Misc - Meta]
The Duke of Burgundy [Misc - Horror Romance]
The Brood [Misc - Creepy Kid]
The Stuff [Misc. - Body Horror]
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? [Misc - Revenge]
Dead of Night [Misc - Anthology]
Trouble Every Day [Misc - French Extremity]
Little Shop of Horrors [Misc - Comedy Horror]
The Borderlands [Misc - Found Footage]
The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Misc - Gothic Horror]
Color Out of Space [Misc - SciFi Horror]
Cam [Misc - Technology]

URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT!

I finally made a google spreadsheet with all three years of movies on there and their averages. I entered all my ratings and then got real with myself and did some adjusting, some up, some down. Then I went through and chose the winner of each matchup without thinking about what I chose in this thread the first time around, I didnt want it to influence me or anything. The totals................

2020: 38
2019: 38
2018: 38

After adjustments and with ONE movie left, I'm in a dead even tie between all three years. That's too funny. My latest update in this thread has the scores at:

2020: 39
2019: 36
2018: 39

Which means 2020 and 2018 each lost a point and gave it to 2019. I know one was Borderlands, I knocked that down to a 5 and would put As Above So Below ahead of it now. Not sure where the other shift comes from though

Okay carry on

Curtis @ 27/10/2020 11:20

I was so worried I’d see an 8/10 Trouble Every Day from you

A very valid fear.

November

+

So, I sorta of loved this? The opening scene is one of the most ridiculous things Ive ever seen. The entire movie is so bizarre and unique. The characters are a bit underdeveloped and the story itself feels overly simplistic and disconnected at times, but the whole movie has this dark fairy tale vibe to it. The cinematography is gorgeous and the music is perfect. It’s a trip. SCORE - 8/10 Psychological. - Fanaticism. Martyrs v Santa Sangre v November Martyrs gets 2 points. I found Santa Sangre really interesting and bizarre, but I think I enjoyed November just a bit more, possibly due to recency bias. November gets 1 point and Santa gets 0. S3: 29 S2: 41 S1: 41

Angst [Psychological - Home Invasion]
November [Psychological - Fanaticism]
Images [Psychological - Phobia & Isolation]
The Quiet Family[Psychological - Madness & Paranoia]

The Wolf of Snow Hollow [Monster - Werewolf]
Nosferatu [Monster - Vampire]
Night Living Dead remake [Monster - Undead]
Phase IV [Monster - Animals & Nature]
Night of the Creeps [Monster - Virus]
Gremlins 2 [Monster - Small Creatures]
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [Monster - Classic]
Alligator [Monster - Giant Monsters]
The Thing From Another World [Monster - Neo Monster]
The Hidden [Monster - Aliens]

American Mary [Gore - Torture]
Bad Taste [Gore - Splatter]
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 [Gore - Cannibal]
Maniac [Gore - Extreme]

Christine [Paranormal - Possession]
Thelma [Paranormal - Witches & Occult]
Cronos [Paranormal - Supernatural]
Relic [Paranormal - Haunted House]
The Masque of the Red Death [Paranormal - Devil/Demon/Hell]
The Innocents [Paranormal - Ghost & Spirits]

The Burning [Killer - Backwoods & Redneck]
Stage Fright [Killer - Slasher]
Blood and Black Lace [Killer - Crime & Giallo]

Horror Noir [Misc - Meta]
The Duke of Burgundy [Misc - Horror Romance]
The Brood [Misc - Creepy Kid]
The Stuff [Misc. - Body Horror]
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? [Misc - Revenge]
Dead of Night [Misc - Anthology]
Trouble Every Day [Misc - French Extremity]
Little Shop of Horrors [Misc - Comedy Horror]
The Borderlands [Misc - Found Footage]
The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Misc - Gothic Horror]
Color Out of Space [Misc - SciFi Horror]
Cam [Misc - Technology]

A Quiet Family

+

Pretty great to watch a young Song Kang Ho and Choi Min-Sik bouncing around. Easily my two favorite korean actors. Weird to finally see Choi in a comedic role but he was great. So yea, the movie is a solid Korean ROMP. Nothing outstanding, but a good time nonetheless. Loved the bit with Song Kang Ho and the assassin. Just a lot of clever writing here. But yea, GOOD SHIT. SCORE - 7/10 Psychological. - Madness & Paranoia. Jacob’s Ladder v Berberian Sound Studio v A Quiet Family Tough to call. Jacob’s Ladder gets 0 points. I think I’ll give the 2 points to uhhhhh….ummmmm...I’m writing this in real time...uhhhhhhhhhh Berberian? AQF is fun and clever and Berberian does a great job of creating this uncomfortable dreadness and the creative use of sound. I think Berberian gets the edge for being so different and creative. So yea, Berbian gets 2 and AQF gets 1. I’m pretty sure that gives S2 the win, but we’ll make it OFFICIAL in the next post. S3: 30 S2: 43 S1: 41

Angst [Psychological - Home Invasion]
November [Psychological - Fanaticism]
Images [Psychological - Phobia & Isolation]
The Quiet Family[Psychological - Madness & Paranoia]

The Wolf of Snow Hollow [Monster - Werewolf]
Nosferatu [Monster - Vampire]
Night Living Dead remake [Monster - Undead]
Phase IV [Monster - Animals & Nature]
Night of the Creeps [Monster - Virus]
Gremlins 2 [Monster - Small Creatures]
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [Monster - Classic]
Alligator [Monster - Giant Monsters]
The Thing From Another World [Monster - Neo Monster]
The Hidden [Monster - Aliens]

American Mary [Gore - Torture]
Bad Taste [Gore - Splatter]
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 [Gore - Cannibal]
Maniac [Gore - Extreme]

Christine [Paranormal - Possession]
Thelma [Paranormal - Witches & Occult]
Cronos [Paranormal - Supernatural]
Relic [Paranormal - Haunted House]
The Masque of the Red Death [Paranormal - Devil/Demon/Hell]
The Innocents [Paranormal - Ghost & Spirits]

The Burning [Killer - Backwoods & Redneck]
Stage Fright [Killer - Slasher]
Blood and Black Lace [Killer - Crime & Giallo]

Horror Noir [Misc - Meta]
The Duke of Burgundy [Misc - Horror Romance]
The Brood [Misc - Creepy Kid]
The Stuff [Misc. - Body Horror]
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? [Misc - Revenge]
Dead of Night [Misc - Anthology]
Trouble Every Day [Misc - French Extremity]
Little Shop of Horrors [Misc - Comedy Horror]
The Borderlands [Misc - Found Footage]
The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Misc - Gothic Horror]
Color Out of Space [Misc - SciFi Horror]
Cam [Misc - Technology]

Thelma

+

A solid supernatural coming of age story. Has some really great scenes, loved the opening and the flashbacks. Eili Harboe gives a very subtle and great performance. The relationship with the parents is really well done. The decision to kill off the father feels very cruel on Thelma’s part, yet is still motivated by the controlling nature and threatening presence he has on her life. It’s complicated, which makes it feel more real. I wish her abilities had more explanation to them, or at least a more concrete set of rules so there was a better understanding of what actually happened to Anja and how she returned. But yea, its a very touching, subtle yet sometimes too subtle, story. SCORE - 7/10 Paranormal. - Witches & Occult. Blackcoat’s Daughter v Midsommar v Thelma Super easy to rank to these. Midsommar nails the win here, giving S2 and the definite victory of the three years. CONGRATS TO S2! Thelma gets 1 point, unable to save s3 from last place, and Blackcoat gets 0, still giving s1 a close second. S3: 31 S2: 45 S1: 41

Angst [Psychological - Home Invasion]
November [Psychological - Fanaticism]
Images [Psychological - Phobia & Isolation]
The Quiet Family[Psychological - Madness & Paranoia]

The Wolf of Snow Hollow [Monster - Werewolf]
Nosferatu [Monster - Vampire]
Night Living Dead remake [Monster - Undead]
Phase IV [Monster - Animals & Nature]
Night of the Creeps [Monster - Virus]
Gremlins 2 [Monster - Small Creatures]
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [Monster - Classic]
Alligator [Monster - Giant Monsters]
The Thing From Another World [Monster - Neo Monster]
The Hidden [Monster - Aliens]

American Mary [Gore - Torture]
Bad Taste [Gore - Splatter]
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 [Gore - Cannibal]
Maniac [Gore - Extreme]

Christine [Paranormal - Possession]
Thelma [Paranormal - Witches & Occult]
Cronos [Paranormal - Supernatural]
Relic [Paranormal - Haunted House]
The Masque of the Red Death [Paranormal - Devil/Demon/Hell]
The Innocents [Paranormal - Ghost & Spirits]

The Burning [Killer - Backwoods & Redneck]
Stage Fright [Killer - Slasher]
Blood and Black Lace [Killer - Crime & Giallo]

Horror Noir [Misc - Meta]
The Duke of Burgundy [Misc - Horror Romance]
The Brood [Misc - Creepy Kid]
The Stuff [Misc. - Body Horror]
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? [Misc - Revenge]
Dead of Night [Misc - Anthology]
Trouble Every Day [Misc - French Extremity]
Little Shop of Horrors [Misc - Comedy Horror]
The Borderlands [Misc - Found Footage]
The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Misc - Gothic Horror]
Color Out of Space [Misc - SciFi Horror]
Cam [Misc - Technology]

The Innocents

+

Good stuff! I had a very unfortunate issue with this movie. I got a few episodes into Haunting of Bly Manor and gave up on it because I thought it was pretty bad but uhhh....this is the same story! Both Bly Manor and The Innocents are based on the same story, I didn't know that until I started The Innocents and I was like........wait a minute. So it kinda sucks that I started Bly first and had a bad impression of it, it kinda just kept getting in the way due to inevitable comparisons and I felt like I knew all of the beats in Innocents already. A REAL SHAME! But it was still good, I just def would've liked it more otherwise. I watched the proper way, late at night alone with the lights off, headphones on, and volume way up. And while the sound design and mood were both great, and the ghost appearances were a lil chilling, the movie didn't get to me as much as I would've hoped. I wanted to feel some heebie jeebies! The scene with her in the halls and all the ghost whispers was the best part for sure, that was really well done. That ASMR! After I finished the movie I went back and played that great Halloween 2018 track, The Shape etc, during a ghost sighting scene that featured some pretty uninspired standard 1960's horror theme. Boy oh boy, that track from Halloween greatly improved it and gave me a lil chill. I love doing stuff like that Wasnt crazy about the ending, kinda wish they went balls to the wall like the hallway scene with that final encounter. And then Miles dies and...fade to black! Felt a bit anticlimactic ★★★½ very good/well executed Paranormal: Ghosts & Spirits Ringu vs. Tigers Are Not Afraid vs. The Innocents. Ringu comes in third which means 2018 loses for me, surprising! Tough call between Innocents and Tigers, I liked both. Tigers hasn't stuck with me this past year though. I'm gonna give the two points to Innocents, which means somehow 2020 wins the showdowns by oooooooooooone point. Just one point separated all three years. Woweeeeee! 2020: 40 2019: 39 2018: 38

Angst [Psychological - Home Invasion]
November [Psychological - Fanaticism]
Images [Psychological - Phobia & Isolation]
The Quiet Family [Psychological - Madness & Paranoia]

The Wolf of Snow Hollow [Monster - Werewolf]
Nosferatu [Monster - Vampire]
Night of the Living Dead Remake[Monster - Undead]
Phase IV [Monster - Animals & Nature]
Night of the Creeps [Monster - Virus]
Gremlins 2 [Monster - Small Creatures]
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [Monster - Classic]
Alligator [Monster - Giant Monsters]
The Thing From Another World [Monster - Neo Monster]
The Hidden [Monster - Aliens]

American Mary [Gore - Torture]
Bad Taste [Gore - Splatter]
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 [Gore - Cannibal]
Maniac [Gore - Extreme]

Christine [Paranormal - Possession]
Thelma [Paranormal - Witches & Occult]
Cronos [Paranormal - Supernatural]
Relic [Paranormal - Haunted House]
The Masque of the Red Death [Paranormal - Devil/Demon/Hell]
The Innocents [Paranormal - Ghost & Spirits]

The Burning [Killer - Backwoods & Redneck]
Stage Fright [Killer - Slasher]
Blood and Black Lace [Killer - Crime & Giallo]

Horror Noir [Misc - Meta]
The Duke of Burgundy [Misc - Horror Romance]
The Brood [Misc - Creepy Kid]
The Stuff [Misc. - Body Horror]
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? [Misc - Revenge]
Dead of Night [Misc - Anthology]
Trouble Every Day [Misc - French Extremity]
Little Shop of Horrors [Misc - Comedy Horror]
The Borderlands [Misc - Found Footage]
The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Misc - Gothic Horror]
Color Out of Space [Misc - SciFi Horror]
Cam [Misc - Technology]

FINAL RANKING

1. Horror Noire
2. The Wolf of Snow Hollow
3. The Quiet Family
4. Stage Fright
5. Images
6. Thelma
7. The Innocents
8. Relic
9. November
10. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
11. The Brood
12. Little Shop of Horrors
13. Night of the Creeps
14. The Hidden
15. Night of the Living Dead
16. The Thing From Another World
17. Cronos
18. Nosferatu the Vampyre
19. Alligator
20. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
21. The Duke of Burgundy
22. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
23. Maniac
24. Angst
25. Color Out of Space
26. Bad Taste
27. The Borderlands
28. Phase IV
29. The Burning
30. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II
31. Blood and Black Lace
32. The Masque of the Red Death
33. Dead of Night
34. Christine
35. American Mary
36. Cam
37. Trouble Every Day
38. Gremlins 2
39. The Stuff


Holy moly, talk about saving the best for last. ALLLL four final movies, all five counting Images, made it into my top ten and completely reshaped it which I am very thankful for because it wasn't looking too great. Now I have a top ten that I can live with

aaaand done

https://letterboxd.com/curtislost23/list/challenge-39-horror-subgenres-30/

I havent been too impressed by this years list for the most part but it did have a strong finish. In fact that strong finish helped put it at a final yearly average of 3.0 for me, so at least it isn't below that dreaded line

2020: 3.0
2019: 2.7
2018: 3.1

Despite coming in last in the showdowns, 2018 gets the win that matters with the best overall average proving that the showdowns are a bit of a farce but hey, THEY'RE FUN! The 2020 roster hasn't been great but it basically got by because it got the highest total of second place finishes so it was usually always racking up at least one point, there was just always a movie in either of the other years that I liked less

While 2018 is my favorite year both personally and on paper, it got the most amount of GOOSE EGGS with 14 third place finishes

Horror Noire ends up as my favorite this year which feels...weird! There was just no Midsommar, Martyrs, Fright Night, ReAnimator, Braindead, etc for me this year. Makes sense though, we knew it would be a struggle as the years went on since we would've hit a lot of the great classics in the first edition. In fact, EVERY 8/10 movie for me is from the 2018 list, there isn't a single 8 in the next two years. Between all 117 movies there is one NINE out of ten though, and that's Midsommar from 2019. Unfortunate that I couldn't find anything to love this year but that's how it goes! Still worth it and still some solid movies in my top ten for sure. I've got 12 movies that are a 7 for me so that's nothing to sneeze at. Last year I had 10 and the year before I had 11, so 2020 wins with the most 7s or up for me. I'll take it!

MORE STUFF!

- Best movie: Midsommar
- Worst movie: Wer
- Best Subgenre was Meta and Revenge with 3.5 averages between all three years
- Worst Subgenre is Tech, Sci-Fi, and Small Creatures with 2.3 averages. Could've guessed small creatures, Sci-Fi comes as a surprise but tbh I've probably seen a lot of the sci-fi horror bangers that are worth watching already. Bottom of the barrel!
- Best single subgenre year, 2020 Psychological and 2018 Gore & Disturbing with 3.4s.
- Worst single subgenre year, 2019s Gore & Disturbing with a 2.3. Yuck!

Final genre rankings by average:

Psychological 3.0
Paranormal 3.0
Killer 2.9
Monster 2.9
Misc 2.9
Gore and Disturbing 2.8

aaaand done. Will definitely be doing this next year. Gonna have to do quite a bit of digging for some of these subgenres, that's for sure

now what do I do