There have been a ton of horror movies again this year. Horror has had a renaissance over the last few years and there have been some high concept horror that have been great. There have also been several horror films that did not reach the levels you might hope for.

Let’s start with…

The Worst Horror Movie of 2021: The Devil Below

It has a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. Admittedly only 11 reviews, but still, 0%? The film deals with coal miners and their heading into an underground area in an abandoned place nestled deep in Appalachian country. They find something there that is deadly. Could it be…

Or not. Maybe just some horrible CGI demon of some sort. Either way it was not memorable and not enjoyable.

Dis-Honorable Mentions: There was a new Paranormal Activity movie called Next of Kin which did not feel like a Paranormal Activity movie at all. Unholy featured a hearing impaired girl who was supposed able to heal people after being approached by the Virgin Mary. Or maybe not. Could it be Satan, Again? Don’t Breathe 2 tried to make me cheer and root for the mass murderer/rapist from the first film. Didn’t want to do that. Spiral: From the Book of Saw was a film I saw coming. The Forever Purge lacked the power of some of the franchises previous films. Halloween Kills was such a disappointment and a bad, bad film.

Previous Winners:

Best Horror Movie

Previous Winners:  A Quiet Place, It, Don’t Breathe, It Follows, The Conjuring, As Above So Below, Cabin in the Woods, Doctor Sleep, Black Box

Best Horror Movie(s) of 2021: Fear Street trilogy

This may be cheating, but I am connecting all three films, Fear Street 1994, 1978 and 1666, together as a trilogy. This three week release strategy on Netflix was awesome and the quality of the three films had me looking forward to the next Friday almost immediately.

Honorable Mention: I almost gave this award to PG: Psycho Gorman from Shudder. It was one of the most entertaining films, not just horror films, of the year. Antlers featured a fantastic performance from young Jeremy T. Thomas. Willy’s Wonderland showed Nic Cage in a role where he didn’t speak. A Quiet Place 2 was a solid sequel, though not up to the first one. Last Night in Soho was a supernatural story of two time periods. Just saw Lucky, also on Shudder, and it was a new take on slasher movies with a shock end.