Our very own Sharai Bohannon rounded out the year by searching high and low to find the most and least-rated horror films on Letterboxd. Short films often go unrecognized in film and are relegated to off-hours blocks for film festivals–which is a damn shame! Festivals like Final Girls Berlin Film Festival, Popcorn Frights, and Brooklyn Horror Film Festival try to make short films accessible to festival-goers, but we need more festivals to actively endorse short films. Some short films are more interesting and well-done than features that play at certain festivals. One of the films Sharai mentioned in her article was Mosto. So, we decided to put our money where our mouth is and check it out!

If you’d like to find out which horror movies in 2024 were the most (and least) popular on Letterboxd, read our article here!

Elio (Sante Cinquetti) is a young boy who lives with his winemaker parents Ferruccio (Livio Pacella) and Adalia (Rossella Bergo). He spends his summer days forced to work in his parents’s vineyard in the Valpolicella region in Italy. Even with a broken arm, his father vows to “make a man out of [him].” As relations sour between Elio and his father, the wine transforms into a not-so-savory beverage. The hot summer day that Elio meets Stellina (Alice Salzani) is the day his life changes for the better.

A filmmaker’s true creativity and passion are put to the test when it comes to short films. Limited budget, time, and resources force creators to stretch everything in their power to make a compelling final product. Writers/directors Vernante Pallotti and Daniele Zen crafted a visually stunning and fantastically poignant film with Mosto. Mosto is an unconventional coming-of-age story that tackles its subject matter with class and tact. Familial domestic violence is hinted (heavily) upon, but it doesn’t do so in a heavy-handed manner or a way that feels exploitative.

Marco Biotto’s cinematography takes the viewer on a fantastical visual journey. He muddies the line between dream and reality in a way that is not just a joy to watch, but in a way that makes it seem like he has one hell of a career before him. Mixed with Pallotti and Zen’s brilliant directing, Biotto’s cinematography helps craft this compelling story into a short film with an immeasurable gut punch. One shot, particularly, caught me incredibly off guard. There’s a long static shot between Elio and Stellina (I won’t say in what context) where there’s solely dialogue and little action. As the action in the scene kicks up, Biotto picks up the camera and escalates the action through handheld shots. This singular shot could have easily been cut into two or three different shots, and it would have been fine. But having the camera go from a long static shot to a shaky handheld in one take proves these filmmakers know their stuff.

I hope this short gets a North American festival run this year because it deserves to be seen by many. Vernante Pallotti and Daniele Zen are young filmmakers who are just scratching the surface of their potential, and I hope they will take a swing at a feature horror film in the near future. While Mosto isn’t available on YouTube or Vimeo yet, you can check out the trailer below.

Out of all the snow-based horror films I could think of, one kept coming to mind. Tony Burgess’s Pontypool was an exceptional horror film that never got the love it deserved. While it may have received a physical release in 2009, very few people talked about it. A friend introduced me to this film in 2015 and I became obsessed with it. It wouldn’t be until Dead Meat released their Pontypool Kill Count, which currently sits on the verge of two million views, that it would have its much-needed comeuppance. It also helped that it was put on Shudder at some point around then.

Pontypool follows Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie), who was recently relocated to the small town of Pontypool after being fired from his long-time radio gig. He finds himself adjusting from his former shock jock life as he tries to build up an audience in this small town. He’s joined in the studio by his tech assistant, Laurel-Ann Drummond (Georgina Reilly), and his producer/station manager, Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle). Not too long into the broadcast, Grant receives a call from Ken Loney (Rick Roberts) in his Sunshine Chopper with troubling news. A horde of people have seemingly rioted into the office of Dr. Mendez (Hrant Alianak). What comes next is one of the most impressive and well-conceived zombie films of all time.

Pontypool is written by Tony Burgess, based on his novel Pontypool Changes Everything. Pontypool Changes Everythingis the second part in a trilogy with the first installment being The Hellmouths of Bewdley and the third being Caesarea; these novels were soon called The Pontypool Trilogy. Much like Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves, Pontypool Changes Everything seems unfilmable. It’s an incredibly unique and difficult novel that both itches and wrinkles your brain. Pontypool is a very loose adaptation of his own novel, but it gets all the boxes checked. Burgess’s novel is akin to Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange in overall reading difficulty. This novel is not a casual read. Burgess’s prose could definitely be a turnoff for casual readers. If you want to read Pontypool but don’t want to read Pontypool Changes Everything, there is a transcribed stage play that is incredibly fun and much easier for casual reading.

What makes Pontypool so intriguing is how the information regarding the zombie outbreak is disseminated. With this being a film about a radio show host, the majority of information regarding the zombies is told through calls to Grant from Ken (and a special appearance from another character but I won’t spoil who). Moreover, the infection isn’t spread directly through bites, instead it’s spread through words. The English language is infecting the residents of Pontypool. It should be noted that Pontypool director Bruce McDonald does not refer to the zombies as zombies; instead, they’re conversationalists. We’ll stick with calling them zombies for ease.

Pontypool releasing in 2008, is very important for the zombie subgenre. This is around the time the subgenre was taking over the shelves of Blockbuster and Walmart. I couldn’t go to one of these stores without seeing oversaturated shelves with low-budget, quick-turnout zombie films. Pontypool’s take on the subgenre was, in hindsight, uniquely refreshing. Burgess and McDonald give us a healthy dose of zombie action toward the end of the film, but Burgess edges the audience until there’s no other choice than to give us blood and action.

There’s nothing I can say regarding the spreading of the infection that hasn’t been said by people smarter than I, and that’s okay. If this novel or film was released today there would be heavy implications regarding why the infection is spread through language. Since I was just a wee lad when Burgess released his novel in 1998, I don’t necessarily know all the intricacies of what was happening politically at the time (I know a surface-level amount) but there’s no way you can read this novel or watch this film and not feel heavy undertones of social commentary. It also raises a very important question of just how quickly words can harm someone/a group of people. It’s like…a stand-up comedian being invited on stage by a presidential candidate and then calling a group of people in a certain U.S. Territory garbage.

Pontypool is a novel and film far ahead of its time. It will satiate the zombie lover who wants to see some flesh-ripping carnage and those who want a zombie story with deeper implications. (We don’t need to talk about the Christmas carol scene.) Plus, who doesn’t like seeing Stephen McHattie absolutely chewing the hell out of the scenery while drowning his sorrows deep in a bottle?