By Stephanie Scaife
Overall I think that 2014 has been a strong year for film, and genre film in particular. In a time when we see endless remakes, reboots and sequels it has been refreshing to see a number of high profile original and independent films being released. As always there have been a few standout films, for both good and not so good reasons, and here are my picks of the films I’ve seen in 2014.
The Good…
Love it or hate it, you can’t deny the unique vision and cinematic accomplishment that is Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin. Scarlett Johansson is the last person you’d expect to see driving around Glasgow in a white van, and this was utilized exceptionally well by the director who filmed a lot of her interactions with the public on the sly with hidden cameras. On the streets of Govan, in the shopping centres and dreary nightclubs this ethereal Hollywood film star really is an alien, and this sense of otherness takes the film to a whole new level, along with the fantastic score by Mica Levi and the flawless direction from Glazer, making this a film quite unlike anything I’ve seen before. Having read Michael Faber’s book, which is far more of a straight up horror narrative, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the film, but by stripping the story down to its barest of bones Glazer managed to create something that, whilst capturing the essence of the novel, has created something completely different and fresh for the big screen.
I saw Under the Skin three times in theatres when it was released which says something in itself as to what it is that I love about film… the ability to create a sense of awe and wonder. Interestingly, two of the people I saw it with took away completely different and sometimes contradictory things away from seeing the film – a film to be experienced and admired more than it is to be enjoyed, but undeniably a triumph.
2014 has been a fantastic year for female filmmakers with Jennifer Kent’s incredibly successful Aussie creepfest The Babadook, which features a powerhouse central performance from Essie Davis as the embodiment of every mother’s worst fear – driven to madness and violence through the grief of losing her husband and subsequently not being able to unconditionally love her child in the way we’re led to believe every mother should. The manifestation of this mother/son relationship comes in the form of the sinister Mr. Babadook, a children’s storybook bogeyman that is one of the most genuinely frightening horror movie creations in recent years. The ending is also my favourite of the year by far!
Leigh Janiak’s Honeymoon also impressed with that very rare of feats – the creation of a believable onscreen couple. As a viewer you come to care about and invest in these characters and the actors (Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway) have genuine onscreen chemistry – so when things take a turn for the worse I was genuinely devastated. To have two exceptionally good films, made by first time female filmmakers that come from original material is really great and absolutely something we should be seeing more of in future! Both come highly recommended.
Comedy horror is usually neither, so it was great to see both Housebound and Life After Beth this year, both of which surprised me by being extremely funny as well as effective horror films. Housebound is a kiwi film that harks back to the likes of Braindead in the screwball stakes with petty criminal Kylie being sentenced to eight months under house arrest with her mother in the spooky family home (an interesting way to get over the problem of why she doesn’t just leave the house, which is a complaint often made of the haunted house film). What elevates Housebound above bring merely just a competent horror comedy (a feat in itself) is the performances from Morgana O’Reilly as Kylie and Rima Te Wiata as her mother, both of whom manage to bring some real human drama and emotion into characters that could so easily have been stock performances.
With Life After Beth I’d read some not quite favourable reviews beforehand so was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually quite good and that it managed to do something slightly different with the zombie subgenre, which has been feeling a little stale in recent years. Aubrey Plaza is hilarious as the titular Beth and clearly a star in the making; again it’s very exciting to see original fimmaking with strong female characters. Speaking of which, although far more serious in tone Starry Eyes features the standout performance of the year by Alex Essoe as an aspiring actress who makes a Faustian deal in exchange for fame, which goes about as well as you’d expect. With echoes of Isabelle Adjani in Possession, Essoe really needs to be seen to be believed. I’d also like to give a shout out to Jake Gyllenhaal whose performance as Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler is genuinely terrifying, a Patrick Bateman for the internet generation.
The Bad…
One of the biggest disappointments for me this year was Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo’s Among the Living as I’d been a huge fan of Inside and the coming-of-age premise sounded intriguing. To begin with I thought it might’ve held out on its promise as we follow a group of three friends who skip the last day of school before the summer vacation and whilst investigating an abandoned fairground they witness something terrible. However, things quickly go downhill, characters you are invested in are killed quickly and off screen, everyone behaves in a completely ridiculous and unrealistic fashion and the film morphs into a substandard slasher before the ludicrous ending. A real disappointment and one that has left me very dubious about the directors’ upcoming Leatherface project.
The Green Inferno was another that I was eagerly anticipating. Although I’m not a huge fan of Eli Roth’s work I always found his films to be entertaining and good fun, and as this was his return to the director’s chair after Hostel 2 in 2007 I was keen to see what he’d do. Turns out it was pretty darn awful, and there’s a good reason the cannibal tribe subgenre has (mostly) remained a thing of the past – it’s actually a bit racist. To add insult to injury the group of student activists who travel to the Amazon to save the rainforest all look like American Apparel models and are so annoying that you are relieved when they are killed. So not only is The Green Inferno saying that all environmental activists are stupid, egotistical or both, but also that the savage tribes really do want to eat people, with a few added penis and poop jokes thrown in for good measure. I see a lot of films that I don’t like, but rarely do I see any that make me this angry.
Another major disappointment for me was Alexandre Aja’s adaptation of Joe Hill’s Horns. It had a great cast, good source material and a capable director… so where did it go wrong? Tonally it was all over the place; one minute a crime thriller, the next a fairytale, the next a black comedy… the separate elements work on their own, and the cast is great, but as a joined up piece of filmmaking it just didn’t come together in a way that made any sort of sense to me. A shame really, because as with a lot of the films I’ve loved this year it was trying to do something unique, so I respect it for that but I can’t recommend it either.
The Ugly…
I’m really not sure why, but I was looking forward to seeing Zombeavers… I should’ve really learned my lesson by now when it comes to these high concept movies where the entire sell is reliant on a ridiculous title. This was basically an exercise in why sometimes having a solid script is important and that just because the cast think they can improvise doesn’t mean they should. It’s not in the least bit funny, in fact the humour is so repetitive and low brow that it isn’t even offensive, it’s just plain dull. Not to mention the irritating, schlubby male leads who happen to have found themselves girlfriends that look like porn stars. A vanity exercise on behalf of the filmmakers and actors who clearly think they’ve created something a lot funnier and subversive than it actually is.
My Top Ten of 2014…
- Under the Skin
- Honeymoon
- The Babadook
- Nightcrawler
- Starry Eyes
- The Guest
- Housebound
- Life After Beth
- The Rover
- Nymphomaniac
Special Awards…
Most Fun Had in the Cinema in 2014: The Guest
Best TV Show: Hannibal
Scariest Non-horror Movie: Nightcrawler
Best Non-horror Movie(s): Frank, Pride, Paddington.
Biggest Disappointment: Godzilla
Most Overrated: The Sacrament
Why the Hell Hasn’t This Been Released (because it’s awesome) Award: Snowpiercer
The I’m-Sorry-but-I-Fell-Asleep Award: Only Lovers Left Alive
Best Beard Award: Macon Blair in Blue Ruin
Surprisingly Good for a Sequel: Wolf Creek 2
Most Anticipated of 2015: It Follows