All through October, I’ll be posting reviews of the best of the best films in the horror genre released since October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024. As an added bonus, I’ll be adding a secondary review that may be somewhat related to the main review or slightly missed the countdown by inches. Follow along the countdown every day in October. Feel free to agree, disagree, or better yet, give me your own picks for your favorite horror movies of the year. Happy Halloween!

#14 – DO NOT DISTURB (2022)
Released on November 21, 2023, and is available On Demand and digital download from Dark Star Pictures!
Directed/Written by John Ainslie.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/kXXscA6v794
Chloe (Kimberly Laferriere) and her husband Jack (Rogan Christopher) are in a troubled relationship. Chloe wants to settle down and have a family while Jack seems to want the exact opposite and party with no strings attached. The two are on a honeymoon of sorts, and when they encounter a man on the beach whacked out of his mind of drugs, the man throws all of his drugs at the newlyweds and then wanders into the ocean. Wanting to have a good time on the vacation with the promise of settling down into a quieter life afterwards, the couple decide to take the peyote and other drugs they have found. This experimentation opens up deep seeded aggressions and other unbridled behavior involving sex, more drugs, partying, murder, and even cannibalism.

DO NOT DISTURB is only the second film from writer/director John Ainslie after his debut with the subversively terrifying THE SUBLET. DO NOT DISTURB plays out like a horrifying version of THE HANGOVER as the couple wakes from their drug binge to find that they have done some very awful things while blacked out and under the influence of multiple types of drugs. While under the influence, the couple reveal some ghastly things about each other, making it all kind of hard to actually like these morally ambiguous protagonists. Though I wouldn’t call DO NOT DISTURB laugh out loud funny, the lengths the couple go on their binges and the following cleanup of their debauchery grows to insane levels by the end. Seeing this seemingly normal couple whittled down to primal urges, grunts, and barbaric acts guarantees you’ll walk away from this horrible honeymoon scarred and traumatized.

Both leads do a great job playing polar opposites who should not be together. Rogan Christopher plays a complete schmuck in Jack, who is overly aggressive, looking for a fight in crowds, looking to party instead of thinking, and willing to use Chloe’s trust to his benefit. He is a true piece of shit, but Christopher plays that piece of shit believably and not cartoonishly. Kimberly Laferriere is wonderfully nuanced as a woman pushed to her breaking point with her relationship with her immature husband. She wants to negotiate with him in order to get the level of commitment and maturity she needs, but like so many women, she’s obviously chosen the wrong horse to put her money on. She wants to still be seen as a fun person and goes along with Jack on his drug binge, but every time she tries to trust him, he ends up being more of an asshole. Seeing Laferriere juggle these complex emotions is the emotional core of the film and its the most compelling conflict. Laferriere also somehow is able to pull off sexy as she sinks her teeth into a writhing human being and tearing out a chunk of flesh. Now that’s some range.

While the scope of DO NOT DISTURB is small, as the bulk of it takes place within one blood spattered hotel room, the emotions and themes about relationships make up for it in size and scope. The two leads are able to speak volumes about the give and take necessary for a healthy relationship by showing everything one shouldn’t do to a partner. The gore is quite nauseating and feels pretty real, though I don’t know if this couple would be able to tear an arm off at the shoulder. Then again, once the blood is tasted, one can argue that this becomes a wendigo tale where the humans devolve into ravenous and ferocious animals and who knows what kind of devastation a feeding frenzy like that can do? There are some nicely stylized scenes of drug induced haze and a few fun scenes like the couple making a heart in the wake with jet-skis as they dispose of a body, but for the most part, you’re caught in one room with this couple who are literally tearing each other apart. DO NOT DISTURB is an intimate nightmare that is going to cut close to those who are in relationships that might not be all peaches and keens.

Plus – KILL YOUR LOVER (2023)
Released on June 7, 2024, and is available On Demand from Dark Sky Films!
Directed/Written by Alix Austin, Keir Siewert.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/M3qMPatzc5s
Rock band leader Dakota (played by Paige Gilmore) wants to get out of her relationship with chemist Axel (played by Shane Quigley Murphy). What was once fascinating and different for Dakota about the relationship with Axel is now stifling, boring and annoying. But just as Dakota is preparing to leave him, Axel comes home from the lab with a strange virus. As the virus courses through Axel’s body, Dakota calls the paramedics, but not before showing signs of the virus herself.

KILL YOUR LOVER maps out a wonderfully toxic relationship even before the virus is introduced. While Axel has his flaws of being controlling and serious about his future with Dakota, Dakota seems to want that type of control and stability at first with the relationship. But as time goes on, Dakota yearns for yesteryear and refuses to pursue something mature in her life. This creates a believable rift between two people who are basically good natured but are simply ill suited for one another. I liked how this film doesn’t take the easy way out and make one of these characters utterly reprehensible, instead choosing to develop two characters that are much more believable and relatable.

Actors Paige Gilmour and Shane Quigley-Murphy do a wonderful job of fleshing out these two tragic characters. Again, they make the relationship human instead of romanticized and try not to act like conventionally good and bad people. In doing so, you alternate liking and loathing these characters as the movie goes on.

KILL YOUR LOVER is quite gory. The virus is sticky and gross, growing from the body as thick, black veins not unlike the symbiote creature from the VENOM films. The film does a good job of highlighting the horror of some kind of invasive malignancy slowly taking over a body like cancer. But this infection is the metaphor for the toxic relationship here and it doesn’t hold back in driving that point home as both become vicious and brutal to one another for one last battle.

What also impressed me was the fact that mostly everything in the film takes place in one small apartment between these two unfit lovers over the span of one afternoon. Sure, there are all kinds of flashbacks revealing crucial details, but for the most part this is a small film made to look much bigger from the big performances and strong effects.

KILL YOUR LOVER is an uncomfortable watch. Not only because of the gross out body horror effects, but because it may be too on-the-nose for those of you in not so good relationships. If that’s the case, get out now before it’s too late. Still KILL YOUR LOVER is good at pointing out the bad in human behavior.

The Best in Horror Countdown 2023-2024
#31 – HERE FOR BLOOD (DESTROY ALL NEIGHBORS)
#30 – THANKSGIVING (THE SACRIFICE GAME)
#29 – MILK & SERIAL (LOWLIFES)
#28 – PROJECT SILENCE (FROGMAN)
#27 – THE SEEDING (DARK HARVEST)
#26 – BEEZEL (THE FRESH HELL TRILOGY)
#25 – ABERRANCE (COLD MEAT)
#24 – OUT OF DARKNESS (ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH)
#23 – ARCADIAN (A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE)
#22 – YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME (GHOSTS OF THE VOID)
#21 – NEVER LET GO (LOVELY, DARK, & DEEP)
#20 – ABIGAIL (BLACKOUT)
#19 – SPEAK NO EVIL (EIGHT EYES)
#18 – BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE (LISA FRANKENSTEIN)
#17 – MAXXXINE (SHERYL)
#16 – CUCKOO (AMELIA’S CHILDREN)
#15 – 15 CAMERAS (MIDNIGHT PEEPSHOW)
#14 – DO NOT DISTURB (KILL YOUR LOVER)

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