Welcome to 5 Favorites. Each week, I will put together a list of my 5 favorites (films, performances, whatever strikes my fancy) along with commentary on a given topic each week, usually in relation to a specific film releasing that week.
Initially, I wanted to make this week’s article about my favorite horror films of the 21st Century so far. With Fall releasing this weekend and Bodies Bodies Bodies expanding wide, I felt it was the perfect time to tackle such a list. Then I put it together. Sixteen titles made the list and that’s a lot to narrow down to five. Rather than isolate it down to the same five I’ve talked about a lot in the past, I decided to pick five films that are seldom cited on such lists or which have been somewhat forgotten for myriad reasons. For the record, the eleven films that didn’t make the cut were: The Others (2001), Berberian Sound Studio (2013), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), Get Out (2017), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Zombieland (2009), The Purge (2013), The Purge: Anarchy (2014), The Purge: Election Year (2016), Suspiria (2018), and Hereditary (2018). Now for this week’s five.
The Orphanage (2007)
Foreign language directors making horror films isn’t a new development. Making horror films that too many people have forgotten is. Gothic horror is often overly focused on supernatural events, such as haunted house dramas, and this film is no stranger to that concept. With so many such films out there, this is one that I feel a lot of people don’t talk enough about. The Orphanage was J.A. Bayona’s first feature film and preceded his more easily recognized The Impossible by five years. Although modern audiences might be more familiar with his blockbuster Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, it’s his smaller films like this, The Impossible, and A Monster Calls that deserve more of your attention.
The film tells the story of Laura (Belén Rueda) who returns to the orphanage she was adopted from with her husband (Fernando Cayo) and son (Roger Príncep). She hopes to renovate and re-open the facility as a home for disabled children. As her son begins playing with a mysterious child, the orphanage’s horrifying history begins to unfold before her. The performances in the film are top notch, but it’s Bayona’s skill as a director that keeps the suspense tight until the final act where numerous shocking truths are revealed. Among a myriad of other similar films, this one stands out as one of the finest so far this century.
Let the Right One In (2008)
While Tomas Alfredson’s vampire feature Let the Right One In was rightly celebrated upon its release, it became overshadowed for American audiences by the 2010 English-language remake Let Me In. This is the reason it’s made it onto my list of my favorite unsung horror films of the 21st Century so far. The film follows young Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) who has been having trouble with the local bullies. When a young girl, Eli (Lina Leandersson), moves in next door with her elderly caretaker (Per Ragnar), the pair form a fast friendship. Only later does Oskar discover Eli’s secret, that she’s a vampire.
Alfredson’s film was written by John Ajvide Lindqvist adapting his own novel for the screen. Photographed by future Oscar nominee Hoyte van Hoytema (
Us (2019)
Director Jordan Peele has impressed audiences with each of his three big screen efforts. He was of course celebrated for his stellar debut, Get Out, but that film has been talked about a great deal by many people, including yours truly. A lot of people felt Us was a step down from that watershed film, but I don’t subscribe to that notion, which is why I’ve picked this as one of my five selections for this week. Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o stars in Peele’s second film as a repressed mother who harbors a tremendous fear of the beach thanks to an incident at a funhouse mirror maze, which led her to becoming a mute. As she and her family return to the area where the incident occurred, a different series of strange events transpire as a group of dopplegangers begin terrorizing the people of the city, killing the counterparts.
Winston Duke plays Nyong’o’s husband while Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex play their children with Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker as their friends with twin daughters of their own (Cali Sheldon & Noelle Sheldon). Like many other horror films with a twist ending, the thrill of getting there is half the fun and Peele keeps the audience guessing from the first appearance of these strange duplicates to the ultimate reveal of what their intentions are. What feels like a modern, more twisting version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers stands easily on its own as a film of depth and tension, its gorgeously filmed frames filled with ample symbolism and plenty of sociopolitical commentary.
Identity (2003)
One of the few films I’ve written a separate deep dive article on, Identity opened almost twenty years ago and you hardly hear anyone talk about it anymore. That’s precisely the reason why I’m talking about it today. Director James Mangold has a varied and fascinating career as a filmmaker. From dramas like Cop Land and Girl, Interrupted to genre pieces like 3:10 to Yuma and Logan, Mangold has managed to put together a fascinating filmography that is strong on quality. Identity was his fifth film as a filmmaker and his assured hand is keenly felt throughout it. A modern twist on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the film follows ten strangers stranded in an isolated hotel who are killed off one-by-one.
The film stars John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes, Clea DuVall, William Lee Scott, Rebecca De Mornay, Leila Kenzle, John C. McGinley, Bret Loehr, Jake Busey, Pruitt Taylor Vince, and Alfred Molina. This batch of characters are seemingly unconnected, but one by one, their deaths begin to unravel a mystery that connects them all. When the twist is revealed, the audience will have had all the pieces to put the puzzle together, but there’s still one more shock to come. This is one of those films that might feel just a bit trashy and sometimes a little predictable, but is absolute fun to get to the bottom of and all of the actors are game to play along.
Exam (2009)
The initial reaction to Exam differs greatly on whether you’re a critic or a casual viewer. Critics were on the average positive about the film while audiences were mostly negative. That dichotomy is compelling since the film was also nominated at BAFTA for outstanding debut of a British filmmaker. The reason for its success is in its inventive tweaks to locked-room thriller tropes. Set in an unspecified future, eight job candidates prepare for their final exam and are locked inside a room where they face the most challenging job interview of their lives.
What the film does well is draw in the audience with a unique premise and carefully rations out clues across its snappy 101-minute length. The rules are simple, but deceptive and the job candidates are somewhat superficial, but the sociopolitical commentary is quite a bit deeper. This isn’t a movie that will shock and amaze you, but it’s an engaging effort that keeps your attention for its entire runtime. The performances are tightly controlled and compelling. The film wasn’t going to win any awards because its deficiencies are also obvious, but if you’re looking for an intriguing concept of a film to while away the hours, it’s not a bad option.
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