I gotta say, this was a good year for movies, especially horror movies. Looking back on the ones I watched throughout the year, I enjoyed them all and had a hard time narrowing it down. I’m not even including a worst movie mention this year like I normally do because nothing I saw was bad enough to rant about.
**Content Warning: Some trailers contain disturbing images**
Azrael
Azrael is an interesting movie for a few reasons. First, you can never go wrong with Samara Weaving as your lead, especially in a horror film. Her performance in this reminded me a lot of my favorite role of hers, Grace from Ready or Not (2019), not so much because of their personalities, but because both Azrael and Grace are regular girls who endure several gruesome injuries at various points in the story. They aren’t action heroes, they’re just doing their best and forced to keep going despite the physical toll it’s taking on them. Second, there is essentially no dialogue in this movie. A title card at the start of the film explains the basic world state and the fact that many people have chosen to become mute, so the film relies on body language to convey what’s happening and what the characters are thinking. There is only one speaking character in the entire movie, and he speaks in a foreign language that isn’t translated, so we (and Azrael) still can’t really understand what he’s saying other than through his body language. Regardless, I still found the plot to be easy to follow and the only things I wasn’t clear on were things deliberately intended to be vague.
The First Omen and Immaculate
These two movies have a very similar plot and were equally enjoyable in my opinion, so I decided that they’re a tie. Although they are pretty similar, both are still worth watching for their own reasons. The leads, Nell Tiger Free in First Omen and Sidney Sweeney in Immaculate, do a great job, and each had a standout scene in their respective films. In First Omen, there is a scene in which Free replicates a famous scene from Possession (1981), a oner (continuous shot) that requires a lot of dedication from the actress. In Immaculate, Sweeney also has an amazing oner, this one being the final scene of the film and, honestly, my favorite movie ending of the whole year. In fact, Sweeney impressed me so much, in the film as a whole, but especially in that final scene, that I went and binged Euphoria (2019-) after watching this. A good thing, too, since several other actors from the show popped up throughout the year in other movies coming up on this list.
Deadpool & Wolverine
I’m a huge comic fan, and Wolverine has a special place in my heart due to sharing the name Logan. I’ve also enjoyed all the Deadpool movies so far, so I was stoked for this one. It’s such a fun time, especially if you get all the references – and boy, are there a lot of references! To fully appreciate it, you have to have watched/read a bunch of other stuff besides the Deadpool movies (2016, 2018), such as the X-Men movies – especially Logan (2017) – the Blade movies (1998, 2002, 2004), the Daredevil (2003) and Elektra (2005) movies, the old Fantastic Four movies (2005, 2007), the Loki show (2021-2023), certain X-Men comics, and, for some reason, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). In fact, I was a little worried after watching it that it relies so heavily on references to so many things that people who hadn’t seen/read them all would be lost, but I spoke with a few people who went into it knowing pretty much nothing except maybe the Deadpool part, and they still enjoyed it just fine. The chemistry between Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is perfect, and Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) is not only an excellent portrayal of her comic counterpart but, seriously, one of my favorite MCU villains now.
I Saw the TV Glow
This movie… I mean, it’s not quite like anything I’ve ever seen before. I talk more about it in my review, but essentially it has a really eerie yet nostalgic vibe to it, and it’s an intriguing trans allegory. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I found it utterly rapturous, and out of all the movies on this list, it’s the one that lingered with me the most – it’s one of those movies that left me needing time to process my thoughts and feelings about it. I was especially torn about the ending, which I think I initially may have misinterpreted but ended up deciding was a pretty interesting choice. Also, the lead, Justice Smith, was in my number one movie of 2023, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, so it was nice to see him again.
The Substance
This could have easily been a Cronenberg film, either David or Brandon. Much like the movies by them, The Substance leans heavily into visceral body horror while asking questions about identity, humanity, and individuality. Some of the imagery is downright gnarly, and the conflict between two versions of the same person is so fascinating to watch. I was only vaguely familiar with the two lead actresses, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, going in, but they work really well opposite each other. And at the 2025 Golden Globes, Demi Moore won her first major award as Best Actress for this role!
Oddity
Oddity had me in its grip from the very first scene. Right out of the gate, the dilemma presented is something that would be so distressing if it were to happen out of the blue. Then it skips ahead a year before we even find out how that scenario turned out, leaving us wondering what happened. The answer is provided gradually throughout the rest of the film as more and more details are filled in until we finally get the full story. Meanwhile, there’s an unsettling vibe, both from the interactions between the characters and the mysterious, eerie mannequin often in the background. There was something towards the end that I wasn’t super thrilled with, but that was mostly because of my own expectations by that point. Still, the rest of the movie was good enough that I don’t really hold that one thing against it, and it probably won’t bother other viewers as much.
Cuckoo
Starring another Euphoria lead, the wonderful Hunter Schafer is one of the main reasons Cuckoo is so high on my list. Her performance is so good, especially when she’s pointing out how sketchy everything is. Also, Dan Stevens is always fantastic and excels here in his role as the villain. The movie itself gave me some Vivarium (2019) vibes, though it goes in its own direction. I also thought the use of a distortion effect was cool, and I love how things come together during the final showdown.
Abigail
I had an absolute blast with this one. It definitely helps that I recognized almost all of the cast (ironically, Abigail herself, played by Alisha Weir, is one of the only people I didn’t know of going in), and there are some amazing picks in there, including the aforementioned Dan Stevens, Melissa Barrera, Kevin Durand, Giancarlo Esposito, Matthew Goode, and another Euphoria actor, Angus Cloud (who sadly passed away last year). Also, there’s Kathryn Newton, who has been popping up a lot lately, mostly in horror (she was also in Lisa Frankenstein this year, which I enjoyed though it didn’t make the cut), and this was probably my favorite performance of hers. That poor girl… Anyway, the story itself is a bit predictable, at least at first, but the energy throughout is a large part of what makes it so good, and towards the end, it diverts into a direction I genuinely didn’t expect.
Challengers
I watched Challengers for my Luca Guadagnino spotlight and found it to be so much more entertaining than I anticipated from a movie about tennis. This one has yet another Euphoria star, Zendaya, though I’ve loved her long before watching Euphoria this year. The two lead actors, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor, were new to me, but they give some of the best performances of the year, in my opinion. The Luca spotlight goes into more detail on what I loved so much about this movie, but overall it was a standout among all the other amazing movies this year due to the dynamic between the three main characters, the nonlinear storytelling, and the visual style.
Wicked: Part I
Back when I was in high school, the Wicked soundtrack was something I listened to on repeat, but I always lamented that there was no easy way to watch the play. Since there was no movie version, or even a video recording of the play (that I know of), the only way to actually experience the full story was to go to a live theater performance, which isn’t always a convenient option. I’ve only had the opportunity to see it once ever, and it was a decade ago so while I have many of the songs memorized, I could barely recall the visuals or some of the important plot details that happen between the songs. So I’ve been eager for a film adaptation for a very, very long time, and now that it was here, I got a little nervous that it wouldn’t do it justice. I’m very pleased to say I had nothing to fear. Honestly, I think I enjoyed the movie version more than the time I saw it on stage because they were able to make full use of the wonderful world of Oz rather than being confined to only what could be portrayed in a limited amount of space. They did an amazing job casting the two legendary lead roles: Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Galinda/Glinda. I’ve loved Erivo in every role I’ve seen her in, but I didn’t know enough about Grande to really know what to expect from her. I gotta say, she absolutely nailed the role, perfectly encapsulating the nuances of Galinda’s personality and reactions, and her chemistry with Erivo is exactly what this story needs. It was so great to see the musical numbers in all their intended glory, and I liked how they managed to both keep them true to the classic version, while also giving them the leeway of incorporating unique moments so they weren’t merely a copy/paste version of the play. It’s been a while since I listened to the soundtrack, and it was really nice to fall back into this world while also experiencing it in a totally new way.
Honorable mentions:
In a Violent Nature
In a Violent Nature had some definite flaws, but there were a few things about it that made it worth mentioning. For the most part, it’s a really solid shoutout to the classic slasher films, with several of the deaths using that over-the-top violence you expect to find there. On the other hand, it also interweaves moments that you’ve seen a hundred times before, but instead of the norm, they are shot static from a distance as if you’re a fly on the wall for these moments. It’s unfortunate that it falls apart towards the end because this could have made it in my top ten if it had stayed consistent.
Rebel Moon – Part One Director’s Cut
Technically, Rebel Moon – Part One came out last year, but the director’s cut version didn’t release until this year, so while I didn’t feel right putting it in the top ten of 2024, I felt I could at least give it a shout-out. I tried to watch the original when it first came out but gave up early on because it was clear they were holding back, and it didn’t seem worth watching when the “real” version would be coming out a while later. Since I didn’t watch the entire original version, I couldn’t say what all the differences are, but I was shocked when the opening scene of this version contained such a beautifully tragic scene that definitely wasn’t how the other version started. I thought this scene was vital to truly understanding one of the characters, Aris (Sky Yang), and it set the stage for later scenes that wouldn’t have been nearly as impactful without it, so I think it was a good call that I didn’t bother with the incomplete version. In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. All of the major characters have such interesting arcs and backstories, it’s quite violent, and the visuals are stunning. I haven’t gotten around to Part Two quite yet but I have high hopes for it.
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