2022 has been, by and large, one of the most incredible years in horror movie history. We’ve seen instant classics rise one after another, and the slate for 2023 doesn’t show any signs of slowing. You’ll be seeing best-of-the-year lists with the most obvious suspects at the top: Nope, Prey, Pearl & X, Hellraiser, and many more films that I just don’t have enough space to list here. And those movies deserve all the praise they get! But I’m a champion of the underdog, and I can’t just sit by and let great films go by without showing them to as many people as I can. So, I’ve made a list of the most unsung heroes of horror in 2022, both creators and their creations, for you to check out in 2023. Because even though the year is over and Christmas has passed, its gifts of horror are far from gone!
Our Favorite Underrated Horror Gems of 2022
HONORABLE MENTION: THE LONG WALK
This is going to be the shortest of my mentions on this list, not for any fault of the film; it’s a heartbreaking and masterfully crafted venture, but my rewatch of the film has not radically changed my opinion of it. It’s still pretty dope, and you should still check it out!
If you need any more convincing, I have a more detailed (and positively glowing) review of The Long Walk already up on this site, and I think you should give it a shot if you’re at all a fan of horror drama or sci-fi horror. You will not be disappointed.
ALL OF GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, BUT ESPECIALLY THE VIEWING
And speaking of sci-fi horror, let’s talk about The Viewing…
Once I’m done ranting about how Cabinet of Curiosities did not get the flowers it deserved!
I was fully expecting Horror Twitter to prostrate itself before Guillermo Del Toro and all the artists he platformed for making such an excellent collection of short films, and instead I saw a mere sprinkling of tweets. A tiddlywink of tweets. For shame. All the shorts in this series are great in their own right, there’s not a single bad one among them, and I encourage you to check them all.
But the one I feel got the least credit was Panos Cosmatos’ The Viewing (written by Mandy collaborator Aaron Stewart-Ahn). The creature design in The Viewing is only matched by Hellraiser (2022)’s special effects wise, which tracks given that The Viewing feels exactly like something that Barker would have written. In it, a hedonistic hermit assembles a group of like-minded eccentric individuals to witness something incredible, wanting to reignite their hearts and minds. The viewing, like many sights man was not meant to see, goes terribly wrong, and Cosmatos makes it look earth-shakingly fantastic.
The Viewing is a slow-paced, coke-induced dream of an even dreamier late-70s aesthetic that is embodied in its upper-echelon set design and production. It brings together a colorful cast of the most unexpected character actors (Eric Andre, Sofia Boutella, and Peter Wellers together? Seriously?) all under the same roof, executing the intricate construct of a true-blue horror visionary.
NOCEBO
Nocebo released in early November, and despite the time that’s gone by, the internet hype wave never really carried this excellent film to the shores of cultural consciousness as it should have. This supernatural horror was a rare international collaboration of the Film Development Council of the Philippines and Screen Ireland, and like Detention which I spotlighted last year, is inspired by true horrific events; namely, the 2015 Kentex slipper factory fire that ravaged the Philipines.
Irish director Lorcan Finnegan and writer Garret Shanley, who headed the trippy sci-fi horror Vivarium, weave the tragic tale of Christine (Eva Green), a flourishing fashion designer who, after being attacked by a wild dog, begins suffering from a mysterious ailment and becomes the inadvertent employer of Diana (Chai Fonacier), a picture-perfect nanny with preternatural healing abilities.
It reminds me of both Possession, in following a descent into madness, and Hereditary, in following the slow and grisly dissolution of a family. Cinematography-wise, it’s well-executed but this tale of supernatural revenge and traditional medicine that harms more than it fixes shines when it lets the actors breathe. Green’s performance is wrenching and works perfectly in contrast to Fonacier’s reserved and captivating coldness.
The general atmosphere of the film is one that you can feel yourself walking through, slowly picking up the pieces of a tragedy that makes you feel helpless. The final sequence is shockingly powerful and hard to watch, so brace yourself for this one.
SISSY
When popular influencer Cecilia runs into her best friend and unrequited love Emma all grown up and engaged, the hen’s weekend she’s invited to takes a turn for the worst when confronted by her childhood bully; what begins as a reunion turns into a bloody brilliant rampage as Sissy…sorry, Cecilia, goes out for retribution.
I watched Sissy the same week as Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, A24’s smash hit, and was blown away by how great both were. Both are about parties gone horribly wrong, both are out of the park at being equal parts black comedy and horror, and both have a satirical streak that runs through their entire scripts. There’s a special kind of balance only these two movies achieve where they can have you ratcheted tight with anxiety one minute and cracking up laughing at grotesque absurdities (emotional and physical) the next.
Whereas Bodies opts for a much darker setting literally and figuratively, Sissy’s photography choices are aptly matched with one of the film’s core themes; though everything is cheery and bright on the surface, this is regularly juxtaposed with the sinister and rotten relationships we foster with our self-image and others, as well as some plain old nasty human cruelty.
In an age where toxic positivity is on a meteoric rise, and where the loudest mental health awareness advocates tend to have a beam in their eye the size of their follower count, Sissy is the film that tackles that modern attitude with acerbic wit.
And, no spoilers, but you will not look at kangaroos the same after this one.
SALOUM
But by far, the most underrated horror film of the year for me was Saloum.
Saloum follows a trio of mercenaries known as the Bangui’s Hyenas. Escaping a massacre they didn’t cause with gold that isn’t theirs, sabotage forces the guns-for-hire to hide out in the small coastal town of Saloum, where, the characters face phantoms from the country’s past as well as their own.
This Shudder exclusive release needs to get a reassessment from the public, and part of me wonders if it’s because of its structure. Horror fans are effectively watching a crime thriller for the first 40 minutes with only soft hints of horror dashed in. After that point, all hell breaks loose as the tale becomes a horrific story of survival for the crew, with some very frightening monsters to boot.
On the surface, Saloum is a tale of revenge, and it tells you that upfront. On a deeper level, Saloum is a movie about myth in a uniquely Senegalese tradition. The personal myth, the mythologization of war and its combatants, and the mythos of a country. It sells these ideas with an intensely charismatic cast and some impeccable directing. The movie is a perfect genre fusion, slick and stylish without losing its substance, Saloum was a tour de force that I enjoyed every minute of.
SO…
Did I miss any that you think should be on here? Let me know in the comments and talk to us on Twitter to get your voice out there, you know we love to hear from you!
Here’s to another great year of horror ahead!