Mike Cleopatra’s Top 10 for 2021
10. V/H/S/94 – The fourth volume of the VHS series, this one was not expected to be as good as it was, and the first two segments are arguably the scariest no-budget visions I’ve seen all year.
9. Army of the Dead – A movie that received a huge amount of hate simply because of the director’s history, this one was a fun roller coaster from start to end. Took the adrenaline that fueled his ‘Dawn of the Dead’ remake from the early 00’s and raised its own bar.
8. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City – Much like ‘Mortal Kombat’, it was wonderful to see a franchise I adore get treated with respect. As far as a ‘Resident Evil’ movie goes, this one swings hard and I believe it works. I really wish the reviews were kinder to it’s heart.
7. Horror Noire – A wonderful horror anthology based off of the documentary covering black figures in the history of horror, which takes some of the greater minds in cinema and puts them to work on essentially fixing what was wrong with the two sequels for ‘Tales from The Hood’.
6. The Night House – A horrifying vision of a woman uncovering her deceased husband’s dirty laundry, which has a much darker reality than one might suspect. Shot with beautifully haunting images and a fantastic lead performance by Rebecca Hall.
5. PG: Psycho Goreman – One of the most fun and creative experiences I’ve had this year. Take the energy of the ‘Power Rangers’ and drench it in many coats of multicolored blood.
4. The Amusement Park – A long lost George A. Romero film had finally surfaced, and it was everything I had hoped for. Dreamy, suggestive, and horrifying, even without the use of proper violence or visceral gore. Reality horror can often be the most upsetting.
3. Titane – I’ll be honest, I’m kind of messed up with this one. The director’s mind seems to be a terrifying place and this movie doesn’t hold back on a thing. Expect a full length review in the future, but man oh man… for the first time in a long time I think I’ve been offended?
2. Malignant – James Wan made ‘Aquaman’ just to take time and make this ballsy giallo-psychological-slasher with an ending that will no doubt piss off half its audience, but make super fans out of the other half. Equally beautiful as it is psychedelic, and the killer ‘Gabriel’ is yet another brilliant horror image from Mr. Wan.
1. Last Night in Soho – Another masterpiece from Sir Edgar Wright. The setup is lovely, the character evokes empathy, and the mystery continues to untangle until the credits roll. If you’re a fan of his other works, this is a fantastic foray into the psychological horror genre for a man who otherwise hasn’t touched the genre in nearly a decade.
Notable Mentions: Mortal Kombat, Gaia, Censor, The Reckoning, The Deep House. The only movies I didn’t get to see that I really wanted to see was ‘Lamb’, and ‘Black Friday’, so expect a full review on ‘Lamb’ in the upcoming weeks.
What were your top films this year? Anything new coming out you’re excited for? Let’s talk about it below
‘Til Next Time,
Mike Cleopatra
