If you’re looking for the best horror movies of 2016, Amazon Prime now hosts a handful of them. Based on both rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, Amazon Prime is arguably hosting the four best horror movies of 2016. Their selections may not stick around as much as subscribers would like them to, but the company does a great job of constantly bringing in new titles. And now that we are in a new year, viewers are likely to see even more horror films from 2016 to start trickling in. But the few that they currently have from last year are a must-watch for genre fans. Coincidentally, they all have two things in common: they are set in the remote woods, and they are A24 movies.
Green Room
A young punk group (The Ain’t Rights) are short on gas and out of cash. Due to their desperate situation, they reluctantly accept a gig at a Nazi-skinhead club located in the remote backwoods of Oregon. After their performance, they witness a murder backstage and they have to border themselves up in the green room for safety. But time is not on their side as the skinheads’ leader starts figuring out the best way to dispose of them.
Patrick Stewart, Imogen Poots, Joe Cole, and the late Anton Yelchin star in this brilliantly done picture. There are moments of brutal violence, dark humor, visual artistry, and edge-of-your-seat suspense, but it ultimately plays out like a fun thrill-ride. When Green Room debuted in April of 2016 it was considered one of the best new horror movies of the year, and it remains one of the most popular from the last several.
The Monster
A dysfunctional mother (portrayed by Zoe Kazan) takes her teenage daughter (played by Ella Ballentine) on a late night trip for her to stay with the father. While traveling the countryside roads near the woods, they have a collision with an animal during a storm. The car is damaged to the point of not being able to start, and the duo seeks refuge in the vehicle because of a monster lurking in the near distance.
With all the flurry of horror flicks that came out in 2016, this one seemingly got lost in the shuffle when it initially debuted. Monster movies often come across as campy and unrealistic, but this one feels very real, largely due to the masterful directing of Bryan Bertino ( The Strangers ) along with brilliant performances from Kazan and Ballentine. Because of the strong dialogue between the mother and daughter in the film, their relationship is very believable. This movie is often as dramatic as it is scary.
Into the Forest
Critics raved for this movie that blends the genres of horror, drama, sci-fi, and disaster-film. Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood portray sisters who have to fight for their survival in the Canadian woods after a worldwide power outage. The Los Angeles Times describes why this is one of the best horror movies of 2016 .
“Patricia Rozema’s Into the Forest walks a blade’s edge between terrifying and uplifting, taking place during an apocalypse that’s all too plausible…the apocalypse catches up, swiftly and brutally.”
The Witch
Originally titled The Witch: A New England Folktale , in circa 1630, a devout Christian couple with five children settle on new land on the edge of the woods. But it’s not long before terror closes in on the family: their newborn vanishes, their crops fail, the animals act in bizarre ways, and the family starts to turn on one another. Someone in the woods is responsible for this supernatural macabre.
Those who love jump-scares in their horror movies should look elsewhere. But the absence of cheap thrills aside, this film is very unnerving, thought-provoking, and wrought. It is sure to linger with the viewer long after the credits roll.
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[Featured Image by A24]