Maybe not everyone knows it, but CinePOP was born out of a love of horror movies and a desire to be in touch with its fans. Therefore, there is nothing more natural than the fact that we have placed a lot of importance on this genre, which is so loved by a large part of moviegoers in general. 2020 has not been an easy year for anyone. This shut down cinemas, forcing us to only support streaming platforms to check our movies every day. In the middle of it all, there was no shortage of horror films. Some gems and others so much waste.
Chaotic, scary and fateful as a good horror movie should be, 2020 hasn’t been able to defeat us and yet we’ve managed to put together ten great horror genre film productions to highlight on a list. Without further ado, let’s check out the best horror movies of 2020. Oh yes, without forgetting that this is not only the opinion of CinePOP, but rather a mixture of the average ratings of the generalist specialist press and, of course, of the General public. Find out below.
10 | Relic / Relic
Family relationships are a big part of what makes us human. This is what presents us with the first sensations of our life. This is what defines us. And such feelings can be related to love, joy, but also sadness and even horror. So, it is natural that the family bond gives a subject to appear in all film genres, from comedies, dramas and even terror. Still unseen in Brazil, this is exactly the theme of this feature film, written and directed by young filmmaker Natalie Erika James – who has already produced several videos and texts for criticism here in our country. In the very feminine plot, three generations of women (grandmother, mother and daughter) are plagued by supernatural forces in the family home. Think of the new Halloween (2018), trading Michael Myers for hauntings. The then trio are played by Emily Mortimer, Bella Heathcote and Robyn Nevin.
09 | #Living
Enjoy watching:
Ninth place on our list is in the Netflix collection. After the Oscar for best film that Parasita received this year, the other half of moviegoers who had not yet done so, began to take more interest in South Korean productions. And one of the specialties of the country are horror films, which have a great quality of narration and a technical part built with great care. Four years after having “enchanted” the world with the much appreciated Invasão Zumbi (2016) – which did not have the best sequels to call (we are talking about the sequence in the worst list) – the filmmaker Il Cho is investing in the sub -gender of zombies and returns to attract countless praise for a production of the theme in the country. The plot is very reminiscent of the French A Noite Devorou o Mundo (2018), and shows a character “waking up” to an infestation, struggling to survive, from the “security” of his apartment. Despite the lack of originality, everything is built with such commitment and frenzy, that #Alive manages to stand out as one of the best examples of the subgenre in recent years.
08 | Cursed friendship
Canadian production written and directed by Brandon Christensen, this is another film that drinks from the sources of some works of the genre, see Hidden Friend, The Babadook and Boa Noite, Mama, but adds its own spice to the mix, falling heavily in the graces critics and the public. Part of the subgenre of ‘scary children’, Amizade Maldita soon reveals her true colors, when it is discovered that there is much more to the original premise, inviting more serious discussions on topics such as schizophrenia and depression.
07 | The Snow Hollow Wolf
Another unprecedented film in our cinemas (and so far in our country in general), it is a feature film that falls into a new sub-genre – the “terrir“. Very popular after the success of Pânico (1996), films that mix terror and humor have fallen in the public’s taste and sometimes emerge with criticism. Here, young filmmaker Jim Cummings (who writes and directs) achieves what veterans Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson had unsuccessfully attempted in Cursed (2005), which is playing in a very fun way, but also very scary, with mythology. of the beast known as the werewolf. Here, the creature terrorizes a small town. Cummings also stars as a police officer, and the feature film marks the last work of actor Robert Forster (Oscar nominated by Jackie Brown).
06 | Possessor
Another feature unprecedented in our lands, Possessor has given the experts something to talk about, hailed as one of the best productions of its kind in the fateful 2020. While the highly cultured David Cronenberg does not return to the active life to give joy to his fans (his last film was Mapa for the Stars, in 2014 – with no new project on the horizon), they are satisfied with the productions of their child, Brandon Cronenberg. What we can say is that the baby fish is pursuing a career that makes dad (and the fans, of course) proud. After his debut with the Visceral and Grotesque Antiviral (2012), Cronenberg Filho returns to the helm of a production for this sci-fi, suspense and terror tale about body changes, and a tune like The Matrix. Items that are a full plate for the general public.
05 | Run
The Brazilian public doesn’t have much to complain about the flows we have here. Netflix, Amazon, Telecine Play, HBO Go, and the recent Disney + are big favorites. But if there is one platform that makes us needy a bit, it’s called Hulu. One thing or another ends up getting caught by Amazon (like Small Fires), but the first is that the recent run has left us salivating. Written and directed by filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty, Run has been causing a stir since its trailer, which showed an apparent abusive relationship between mother and daughter – the kind that has shocked the world recently, sparking several interpretations in the audiovisual industry. Ah yes, but the big draw was the Sarah Paulson cult’s presence as an abusive protagonist. However, Run has many surprises in store. A must and to stir up our anxiety even more.
04 | The invisible Man
2020 has been a short year for cinema, but we can’t help but be grateful that he has managed to bring us a film on the level of The Invisible Man even in its first three months. While many don’t realize it, every movie sends a message and has a speech. Even works of terror, which use fear to talk about a specific topic. So it gives us immense pleasure as moviegoers when a movie showcases and works its message well. This is the case with this pearl of Blumhouse, written and directed by Leigh Whannell, which gives a more powerful meaning than it ever had to the classic story of HG Wells by inserting in its plot a very theme. fashionable, very painful and which must be fought at every opportunity: domestic violence. Endless applause for this one.
03 | What remains behind
Speaking of strong meanings in horror movies, our third position in the chart also follows this narrative line. Here the issue of xenophobia and the delicate issue of refugees in Europe comes into play. The world can be a cruel place, full of inequalities. The search for a better life is inherent in human beings. Not everyone has the means to do this in a simple and practical way. Many need help. And you, have you done your part? Aside from the drama of leaving one’s home country due to heartbreak and self-preservation, this Netflix production, written and directed by filmmaker Remi Weeks (we can’t wait for his next work), of course, doesn’t Don’t forget to freeze all possible buttons of your spectators when the demons of the protagonist couple start to materialize.
02 | Lighthouse
One of the most anticipated productions of this early 2020, O Farol is the next work from filmmaker Robert Eggers – who stopped the world of terror five years ago with his much-loved The Witch (2015). So everyone was waiting for the director’s next move. Making noise everywhere he went, in festivals of the past year, the Brazilians could not bear to wait any longer and were able to find out in January. As terrifying as his first work, O Farol is perhaps even crazier than A Bruxa, promising to leave much of the public scratching their heads after his exhibition ends. But as Chacrinha would say, and Eggers is a supporter of his school: “I didn’t come to explain, I came to confuse”. What O Farol has above A Bruxa is the duel of “monstrous” performances between a flatulent Willem Dafoe and a Robert Pattinson of few words and friends. The two played the lighthouse keepers in the 1890s.
01 | The call
Let the drums roll. The first position at the top of the podium is with another South Korean job. Okay, to be honest, few people have watched or know this A Ligação, a Netflix production. But all the experts, as well as the fans, who have already verified it, guarantee the film the maximum score, without running out of praise. Likewise, this is not a script that uses such an original idea, referring to films like Alta Frequência (2000), for example, where a connection occurs between two separate timelines. In the aforementioned film twenty years ago, a radio show was what connected father and son. Here, it’s a phone call that brings the characters of the past and present together. In fact, A Ligação is a remake of a co-production between Puerto Rico and the UK, launched in 2011. Chung-Hyun Lee is directing.
Honorable mentions:
Freaky: In the body of an assassin
Speaking of terrir, this subgenre Blumhouse production was very successful during the pandemic, and we can’t contain our anxiety to check it out here anymore. Written and directed by a true expert in comedy slashers, the filmmaker Christopher Landon, the film brings a great double between Vince Vaughn and the charismatic Kathryn Newton. Landon had already scored a big goal by mixing fantastic elements in his tale of serial killers in Congratulations to You and its sequel, where he uses the “day that keeps repeating itself” feature. Here, the element brought by him is the famous “body swap”, very common in the 80s. Thus, a serial killer finds himself in the place of a beautiful and blond patrician schoolgirl, and vice versa. We can’t wait to see the director’s next idea, as long as it’s not about animals.
Vampires X the Bronx
Another terrir, but this original from Netflix, and with the theme of vampires – which had not yet appeared on the list. Written and directed by Oz Rodriguez, the feature film is a sort of The Lost Boys (1987) from the ghetto, also containing elements of the great and little-known Attack on the Building (2011), produced by Edgar Wright. In the plot, a group of sympathetic friends, residents of the Bronx, New York, find themselves in the midst of major changes in their neighborhood. Most frightening of them, however, is the presence of infiltrated vampires among the residents.
