15. WYRMWOOD: ROAD OF THE DEAD – Close to around a dozen years ago, I heralded a resurgence of zombie movies on my old site, Horror Express. I was correct as the following years saw several high-profile and independent pictures with the shambling, rotting creatures. However, I couldn’t have foreseen how huge this subgenre would continue to be all these years later. The resurgence has become an institution. But personally, I’m pretty much over zombies. I still love the older films but there have been few new items that do anything original with them. I don’t even watch THE WALKING DEAD.
This is why WYRMWOOD was such a great surprise. In this Australian film, a man has his life upended by a sudden and unexplained apocalyptic virus, a virus that quickly destroys his family. He meets up with a few fellow survivors and begins a quest to save his sister. Sounds pretty standard so far. But we continue to follow the sister as she is one of the few immune to the virus. She is taken prisoner by the government who begins to experiment on her and these experiments give her some unexpected advantages. In addition to these twists, WYRMWOOD benefits from some great direction from Kiah Roache-Turner. He keeps things lively while never mistaking a kinetic style for an invitation to slip into comedy. That’s a lesson several other genre directors could stand to learn.
14. WHEN ANIMALS DREAM (Når dyrene drømmer) – Another bizarre spin on the horror genre, Marie (Sonia Suhl) is a teenage girl living in a small Danish fishing town. She’s beginning a job at the local packing plant and continues to care for her invalid mother. Soon, Marie notices herself changing. Far from being just the standard onset of puberty, she is starting to grow hair and is developing some very strange appetites. Her reactions to this new evolution range from shame, disgust and fascination. All of this leads to some painful revelations about her family as the very people she has lived among for her entire life start to show their teeth.
This is a coming of age tale that shows how immense and powerful this genre can be. Through the horror medium, Jonas Alexander Arnby is able to touch on themes that would be harder to pin down in a straight drama. There is terror and suspense but most of it from the most unexpected places. WHEN ANIMALS DREAM slipped under a lot of people’s radar and it almost slipped under mine as well. I advise everyone to seek it out and discover that there is a heart to stories like this.
13. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS – There’s no doubt, the newest STAR WARS film has his share of plot holes. And yes, it does lead one to wonder how long this new series can recall the original trilogy before these thematic echoes become a crutch.
Having said that, there’s no denying the raw entertainment value of THE FORCE AWAKENS. But what really makes this film special isn’t the return of the old guard so much as it is a crop of interesting new characters, particularly Rey and Finn portrayed by Daisy Ridley and John Boyega respectively. The film fills you with waves of nostalgia but does some shocking and exciting new things that ensure it is more than a two and a half hour time capsule. Epic in scope and showing lots of promise for the future, the new STAR WARS was one of the most exhilarating big screen experiences of the year.
MOVIOCRITY 