We come at last to my favorite films of 2024. They may not be awards darlings or hailed as “true cinema” (though some of them are, surprisingly), but these are the ones made me laugh and cheer and pump my fist, proud to be a cinephile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Best Action (franchise)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Twisters<\/em> was one of many films in 2024 that nobody asked for or wanted, but it wasn’t a terrible movie by the standards of unnecessary sequels. At least it was a memorable film that delivered on the premise of the title, neither of which can be said about Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deadpool & Wolverine<\/em> was a landmark film for 2024, mostly by virtue of the fact that it was more of a eulogy for the 20th Century Fox era of Marvel on film, as opposed to a Marvel film or MCU entry proper. Sonic the Hedgehog 3<\/em> once again succeeds by virtue of the rock-bottom expectations set by the source material. By comparison, Transformers One<\/em> turned out to be a legitimately good movie despite similarly low expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But then we have Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, a film that beautifully delivered on sky-high expectations and got jack shit for it. This is a huge action movie with overblown spectacle and epic action sequences, everything we’ve been promised since Fury Road<\/em>. So let’s give it some long-overdue recognition, shall we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Best Action (standalone)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Monkey Man<\/em> was certainly an impressive directing debut from Dev Patel, so it’s too bad the script wasn’t quite up to snuff. Likewise, The Fall Guy<\/em> featured marvelous action scenes, though it sadly tried to be a romcom as well and couldn’t quite find the right balance. This year also brought us the unfortunate commercial failure of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare<\/em>, which didn’t do much of anything new but did it surprisingly well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Side note: Yes, I know The Fall Guy<\/em> is technically a remake of an old TV show, but the end result is an adaptation in name only. And seeing as we’re probably never getting a sequel, I’m counting it as a standalone film.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n All three of these movies have their issues, but The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is much more clear about what it is and what it’s trying to accomplish. It’s also the only movie that features Nazis getting slaughtered en masse, so that’s the one I’m going with. Seriously, Hollywood, show me more fascists getting blown up into red mist. I’m really not that hard to please.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Best Mindfuck<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I get what Sasquatch Sunset<\/em> was going for, but I totally understand how and why it left so many filmgoers bored and confused out of their skulls. Likewise, In a Violent Nature<\/em> is a neat little slasher movie subversion with a whole lot of mind-numbing boredom in between some of the most brutally graphic kills in cinema history outside of a Terrifier flick. Late Night with the Devil<\/em> got a much better reception, with some deeply unsettling sequences and brain-scrambling use of the “found footage” conceit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But all things considered, I have to give this one to The People’s Joker<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. This movie is so aggressively irreverent and defiantly nonsensical that it’s frankly enough of a mindfuck that the movie exists at all. I don’t know that I’d ever want to sit through it again, but I’m nonetheless grateful that the movie found its intended audience and I’m happy to live in a world where it exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Best Horror (franchise)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, The First Omen<\/em> is a franchise entry that nobody asked for, and it does surprisingly well by those standards. Similarly, Smile 2<\/em> turned out to be the sequel we didn’t know we needed. With Smile<\/em> and with Smile 2<\/em>, we’ve got two fantastic horror movies that each work perfectly well as standalone entries and yet work even better as a two-parter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But then we have A Quiet Place: Day One<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. The very notion of a prequel to this franchise was a minefield, and the filmmakers did a remarkable job dancing through all the potential setbacks. The film nicely handles the callbacks and connections to the previous films without making this any less enjoyable as a standalone entry. The technical sound-based gimmicks are no less effective, and opening up the scale of the premise to more of a global setting (instead of the same family over and over again) brings new life to the franchise in a way that I don’t think anybody could’ve expected. I had a genuinely good time with this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Best Horror\/Comedy<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s frankly a miracle that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice<\/em> finally made it out the door at all. It’s in no danger of supplanting the original movie, and the finished work is clearly overstuffed after 35 years’ worth of material got slammed into it, but I still thought it worked out well as a balanced horror\/comedy. Even so, I expect most other cinephiles would give this one to Late Night with the Devil<\/em>. And it is indeed an impressive piece of work, though it’s admittedly more “horror” than “comedy”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I’m giving this one to Abigail<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, a fantastic horror flick as only Radio Silence could deliver. This movie’s got action, suspense, comedy, horror, and so much more. You know I love a movie that effectively blends multiple genres into something greater than the sum of its parts, and that’s exactly what we’ve got here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Best Body Horror<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re a horror fan who happened to be expecting a child at any point in 2024, this was not a good year for you. This was the year that brought us The First Omen<\/em> and Immaculate<\/em>, an improbable double feature about women pregnant with the Antichrist. And that’s in addition to The Substance<\/em>, a movie built around female-driven body horror and one of the most ingeniously repulsive “birthing” scenes ever printed on film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All three of these movies turned out exceptionally well in their own way, but you already know this is going to The Substance<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. A Hollywood satire made all the more biting with its unapologetically over-the-top style, and outrageous beauty standards elevated to the most sickening extremes imaginable. I’m pleased and frankly astounded that this movie is getting awards love, because that means this movie is getting appreciated by those who need to see it most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Best Prestige Horror<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m not entirely sure as to whether Heretic<\/em>, Strange Darling<\/em>, or Cuckoo<\/em> even count as horror movies. I might be more inclined to call them “suspense thrillers”, myself. Even so, Strange Darling<\/em> has an innovative non-chronological storytelling gimmick (and some questionable themes), and Cuckoo<\/em> has some neat paranormal happenings to go with all the life-and-death stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I expect anyone else might say the year’s most prominent work of prestige horror would be Nosferatu (2024)<\/em> or the aforementioned The Substance<\/em>. Personally, I’m giving this one to Blink Twice<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, an intriguing work of psychological horror that elegantly morphs into a rape revenge thriller. I won’t pretend all the twists and reveals work perfectly, but it’s still a diabolically clever and razor-sharp work of cinema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greatest Wild Ride<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In retrospect, it’s weird how both of my top picks for this year are about isolated characters learning to adapt to the primal wilderness around them. I didn’t expect that and I’m not sure what that says, but here we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n