HICKEY'S TOP 20 HORROR FILMS OF 2015 – PART 2

The first part of my look at the best genre flicks of the past 12 months included fantastic films such as Bone Tomahawk, Krampus and The Hallow. Those are some pretty damn good films, but this second crop contains a selection that I feel is even stronger.

Ready?

Well, plough on!

TOP 20 HORROR FILMS OF 2015 — PART 2

10: THE FINAL GIRLS




Worthy of mentioning in the same breath as Cabin in the Woods, Scream and Behind the Mask: The Rise of Lesley Vernon, Todd Strauss-Schulson's The Final Girls is a brilliant deconstruction of genre tropes. With plenty of laughs and a surprisingly moving amount of heart, this is a great homage to the heyday of slasher movies.
Read my review here.


9: DEATHGASM





Jason Lei Howden's splatterific love letter to metal played out like a gloriously gory hybrid of Spinal Tap and The Evil Dead, directed by a young Peter Jackson. Deathgasm makes for an absolutely awesome fun viewing-experience and is a sure-fire, stonewall cult classic.
Read my review here.


8: WE ARE STILL HERE





Any film that pays homage to Lucio Fulci's bloodily barking Gates of Hell trilogy gets a thumbs up from me. Combining a quiet and personal haunted house film with spectacularly violent kills and starring Scream Queen great Barbara Crampton, Ted Geoghegan’s We Are Still Here was a tremendous find.
Read my review here.


7: UNFRIENDED






It had a terrible name, boasted a cast of irritating shiny teens and a concept that couldn't possibly work – the whole film unfolds in realtime on a computer desktop – yet somehow Unfriended overcame all of that to secure a place on this list. Extremely clever and surprisingly dark and creepy, this is a perfect example of stellar high concept executed flawlessly.
Read my review here.


6: CREEP





A Found Footage (sort of) movie with a cast of two, Patrick Brice's Creep foregoes blood and guts and a metronomic bodycount for deeply personal scares. When Brice's Aaron is hired to document a day in the life of Mark Duplass's Josef we are treated to one of the most unnerving and creepy genre performances in a long, long time plus a legitimately unsettling ending.
Expect a review soon...


5: MAGGIE





Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin make for another fantastic central pairing in the surprisingly moving Maggie. A bittersweet look at mortality and the relationship between father and daughter, it's deep, depressing, complex and, at times, utterly beautiful. See it.
Read my review here.


4: IT FOLLOWS





Another film with a central theme of mortality and ageing, It Follows was EASILY the most hyped genre film of the year after it blew audiences away at the Cannes Film Festival. Ok, maybe it wasn't this year's The Babadook (despite what plenty of critics wrote) but Robert David Mitchell's film was a fantastically rich and entertaining film that offers plenty to enjoy to horror fans and 'serious' film watchers alike.
Read my review here.

3: SPRING





I'll be honest, I only watched Spring this week because I'd heard such great things about it and was about to compile this list. I’m so glad I did.
A beautifully shot Euro-romance, that just so happens to be a creature feature and body-horror shocker too, Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead’s movie is unique, original and one of those films that I know I’m going to be recommending to people for years to come. Absolutely fantastic.
Expect a review very soon...

2: THESE FINAL HOURS






The best film I saw at Film4’s FrightFest this year, in my review of this Antipodean Apocalyptic movie, I called it: ‘A beautiful, heart-breaking but ultimately hopeful tour de force, it is one of the finest movies I've seen in a long, long time’ and ‘an absolute must-see’. Two months on I stand by that. A character driven work of deeply personal horror, Zak Hilditch’s film is near flawless. If there’s one thing I hope my work as a reviewer achieves, it’s bringing These Final Hours to the attention of more genre fans.
Read my review here.

1: CRIMSON PEAK





Guillermo del Toro. Jessica Chastain. Tom Hiddlestone.
Gothic Victorian ghost story.
When I first heard about Universal and Legendary’s hugely ambitious ghost story (or is it a story with a ghost?) my mouth started watering. The film did not disappoint. Forget about the lackluster box office performance, Crimson Peak is a joy to watch. It’s sumptuous, atmospheric and exquisitely crafted with a host of incredible performances and some genuinely frightening spectres on display. An utter masterpiece.
Read my review here.

But it's not been a 12 months without letdowns. Allow me to present the most heinous of those...

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: GHOST DIMENSION





I’m a big fan of the low-fi chills of the Paranormal Activity franchise. Even when audiences started to turn on the series upon the release of Paranormal Activity 4 and the criminally underrated The Marked Ones, I remained a staunch defender of the films. So I was excited to see the ‘final chapter’ of the saga. 

I wish I hadn’t bothered. 

None of the characters we’ve come to care about, godawful CG and 3D, and perhaps worst of all, NO SCARES WHATSOEVER. I’d say the series finished with a whimper rather than a bang, but the total non-ending to the film that leaves every single plot thread dangling even makes a mockery of that. 

A film so terrible I almost begrudge wasting any more time on it by writing a review. Maybe for the DVD release...

Anything you disagree with? Anything you think should be higher? What do you want to see in my top 10?
Let me know below!

If you haven’t already, do please check out and like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. It gives you a nice quick link to any new posts on this blog, plus regular news updates from around the web. I check the Internet so you don’t have to! Alternatively, follow me on twitter: The House@HickeysHorrors






Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.

HICKEY'S TOP 20 HORROR FILMS OF 2015

I'm sure you've seen plenty of these lists already.
In fact, just this last week I was asked to contribute a top 10 to the wonderful UK Horror Scene.
But what I realised as I compiled my list was what a great year 2015 has been for our beloved genre.
Honestly, I could have easily compiled a top 20, with indie efforts in particular raising the bar for horror films.
So, that's exactly what I'm doing here, expanding that Top 10 into a Top 20!


You're welcome, you lucky, lucky people...

TOP 20 HORROR FILMS OF 2015 — PART 1

20: GOODNIGHT MOMMY





Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala's German-language psychological horror film was one of the most hyped and atmospheric films of the year.
It was incredibly creepy and boasted some genuinely shocking moments but missed out on a higher spot on the list due to its overly telegraphed plot twist.
Expect a full review soon...


19: NIGHT OF THE SLASHER




I've said it before and I'll say it again — there is a HUGE amount of talent currently producing horror short films. In fact, some are significantly better than feature-length efforts.
In recognition of this fact, I'm going to place my favourite short of the past 12 months on this list, Shant Hamassian's self-aware and wonderfully clever, Night of the Slasher. It's amazing.
Read my review here.


18: CLOWN




Coulrophobes need not apply! Jon Watts' tale of the devilish Cloyne (brought to us by horror hotshot Eli Roth) was a shocking and sometimes darkly humorous body-horror flick. With a super cast and some surprisingly grim splatter, Clown is well worth your time.
Read my review here.

17: COOTIES




Produced by star Elijah Wood's SpectreVision, Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott's zom-com with a top cast of comedy talent was an excellent and darkly funny effort.
Never have zombified children proved as entertaining!
Read my review here.

16: HEADLESS




Arthur Cullipher took the fictional video nasty from Scott Schirmer's phenomenal Found and created a top-drawer visceral genre throwback.
Bloody and relentless, this feels just like a Seventies Grindhouse flick. Headless is a movie for the gorehounds.
Read my review here.

15: THE HALLOW




Corin Hardy's folk-horror opus is a wonderfully creepy dark fairytale and boasts some of the finest creature design work I've seen this year. It's a visual feast for genre fans and comes highly recommended.
Read my review here.

14: KRAMPUS




A recent release, but one that is entirely deserving of its place on this list. Trick 'r Treat's Michael Dougherty turns his attention to another holiday — with stupendous results. An unabashed creature feature with plenty of visual flair and lots of laughs, this is destined to become an annual festive tradition. Do check it out.
Read my review here.

13: HOWL




Along with Dog Soldiers, Paul Hyett's 'late-night commuter train' horror shows that Brit filmmakers are finally doing werewolves justice. This is a decidedly English film — it's quirky, creepy and built around some very realistic characters in a fantastical situation. Plus it has some great make-up work. Great stuff.
Expect a review very soon...

12: LAST SHIFT




Anthony DiBlasi's sterling John Carpenter-influenced haunted police station flick was one of my surprise finds of the year. Playing out like Silent Hill meets Assault on Precinct 13, and built around a commanding performance from Juliana Harkavy, I really hope this one finds the audience that it's quality deserves.
Read my review here.

11: BONE TOMAHAWK




The only reason that S. Craig Zahler's frankly gorgeous movie isn't higher on this list is that I'm not entirely sure it's a horror film. More a fantastic Western with a horrific climax (and one of the most disturbing sequences I've seen this year), this feels a lot like The Searchers — if it turned into The Hills Have Eyes for the climax. An amazing cast (including House fave Kurt Russell) and a superb script give us a Wild West Jaws — this is a film that will blow you away.

Expect a review very soon...

So, that's the first part of this epic study of the best horror films of 2015, expect the concluding part VERY soon.


Anything you disagree with? Anything you think should be higher? What do you want to see in my top 10?
Let me know below!

If you haven’t already, do please check out and like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. It gives you a nice quick link to any new posts on this blog, plus regular news updates from around the web. I check the Internet so you don’t have to! Alternatively, follow me on twitter: The House@HickeysHorrors

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.