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!

#10 – STOPMOTION (2023)
Released on February 23, 2024, and is streaming on Shudder from IFC Films!
Directed by Robert Morgan.
Written by Robert Morgan, Robin King.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/Debr5KI1QIU
Suzanne (a famous stop motion animator played by Stella Gonet) suffers from some kind of hand paralysis, leaving it up to her daughter Ella (played by Aisling Franciosi) to be her hands in the pain-staking process of bringing the small sculptures to life. When Suzanne suffers what looks to be a stroke and must stay in the hospital, Ella meets a young girl (played by Caoilinn Springall) in her apartment building who inspires Ella to scrap her overbearing mother’s project and begin a new one with the young girl’s ideas as inspiration. But the deeper into this new project Ella gets, the more her mind seems to fracture, as Ella is dredging up deeply repressed personal memories as inspiration for this new piece. Though her boyfriend Tom (played by Tom York, not the Radiohead lead singer) tries to be supportive of Ella during this fragile time, Ella’s obsession with completing this new animation is all encompassing and becomes destructive to Ella’s own personal safety.

Director Robert Morgan doles out one hell of a metaphorical powerhouse in STOPMOTION which basically depicts the slow descent into utter madness due to what seems like years of all sorts of abuse. While the film keeps things rather vague, the answers are all right there to parse through in STOPMOTION. Ella is first shown as a fragile young woman, burdened by her overbearing mother and her peers in the stop motion profession who seem to be getting all the breaks she desires. With her mother out of the picture, the structured life Ella was living, no matter how abusive it was, is shattered and with it goes Ella’s mind. At first, there is creative elation as Ella and her new young protégé create exciting new characters out of unconventional materials like mortician’s wax and raw meat. But while this process seems to benefit her greatly, it also unleashes memories Ella seems to have buried deep inside. As those memories come to the surface in the form of a story for her new animation, Ella is not prepared for where the story, that hits a little too close to home, will go.

STOPMOTION delves into some deep Freudian psychological horrors, suggesting all kinds of childhood abuse in some very not so subtle ways. Those who prefer to be spoon-fed their story will have issue with how deep into metaphor this film gets, but I found this deep dive into surreal symbolism and abstract representation to be refreshing. The world has become too literal these days, especially the world of horror where every film has to have the obligatory info dump from some kind of expert at the end. You won’t find that in STOPMOTION, and wow does it make the movie all the more powerful. Early on, there are obvious fractures to Ella’s mind, and they are quite easy to point out—especially if you’ve seen as many descent into madness films as I have. Still, I love it that Director Morgan doesn’t rely on these delusions as some kind of gotcha hook. It’s quite obvious from the midway point that a lot of the stuff we see is only going on in Ella’s head, but the depths this movie goes is what kept me riveted to the screen.

And wow, does this film go there. It is dark. Horrifyingly and disturbingly dark. Sure, there is some body horror going on and things get bloody as all get out as Ella begins to rely on grosser and grosser things to make her puppets out of. But the absolutely spine-quiveringly disturbing stuff has to do with the memories that these animations Ella makes are inspired from. We are never told exact details, but these dark visions she is concocting with all kinds of malleable materials are hints that she has had a very, very tragic life. STOPMOTION has some moments where you’re going to want to cover your eyes and curl your toes into little fists as Ella confronts the heinous horrors of her past.

Not since those Tool videos of old directed by Adam Jones and the haunting films of Jan Švankmajer has stop motion animation been so creepy and disturbing. The sculptures which seem to be by Art Director Ben Andrews are wonderfully grotesque. The sculpts are dirty and malformed, like a nightmare you try to recall but it keeps evading you. Even the sculpt of the girl is ragged, wet, and distraught. But compared to the monster at the girl’s window, the little girl is downright adorable. These creatures are made of organic objects that feel rotten and squishy. They look like they smell awful. These sculptures are simply awful to look at, like ragged open wounds, which exactly represents these hidden memories ripped from Elle’s damaged psyche. Seeing these little creatures come to life and interact with Elle is the stuff of raw and unnerving night terrors.

STOPMOTION is a highly effective psychological horror film that delivers on gore, intense themes of abuse, and feelings that hurt just to think of them. Lead actress Aisling Franciosi and director Robert Morgan masterfully bring some very complex emotions to vibrant and uncanny life. If you don’t mind the brain-fuckery and stomach-churning imagery, I think you’re going to get as big of a charge as I did with STOPMOTION. Highly, highly recommended for those who thought the horror genre doesn’t have teeth anymore.

Plus – MONOLITH (2022)
Released on February 16, 2024 and is streaming on Amazon Prime from Well Go USA!
Directed by Matt Vesely.
Written by Lucy Campbell.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/kwuJ4fs2-Fg
EVIL DEAD RISE’s Lily Sullivan plays a disgraced journalist who now runs a conspiracy blog. When she receives a strange anonymous email concerning a vast mystery, she tracks down a series of unexplainable phenomena concerning solid black bricks showing up containing strange codes within their structure. As she digs deeper, more strangeness occurs as she seemingly manifests a brick of her own simply through thought alone and uncovers deep, dark secrets from her own past.

MONOLITH is not going to be for everyone. For the most part, it centers on one actor in a room talking with various people over the phone and online. Most likely filmed during the pandemic, this film remains a big mystery in a small package. While it is professionally made in every way, MONOLITH is a shining example of less is more, maintaining a solid and transfixing story on a very low budget. Some may find the continuous switching from one conversation to the next as Sullivan’s character desperately gets pulled into this conspiracy and frantically investigates to find the truth that becomes more personal the longer she looks into it. But Lucy Campbell’s script peppers in revelations and more mysteries on top of one another and I was transfixed the entire way through.

The black brick is quite the metaphor as it could represent almost any kind of negative thing that occurs in one’s life come back to haunt them. It basically is Sullivan’s dark past made form and once it hits personally, one could argue that it involves any dark secret one has kept buried and unaddressed. MONOLITH’s story keeps the true meaning under wraps, allowing the viewer to hypothesize as to what exactly it is. Is it a vast government conspiracy? An alien invasion? Or simply a personal nightmare come to life? Those looking for definite answers are going to be disappointed, but those who allow a little wiggle room for interpretation might enjoy how vast this subject matter can be canvassed.

While answers are not certain in MONOLITH, the fact that Lily Sullivan is one hell of an actress certainly is. She was kind of overshadowed by all of the blood and spectacle of EVIL DEAD RISE, but here it’s simply her, raw, full of passion and emotion, attempting to uncover a mystery that gets more compelling the longer it remains unanswered. Director Matt Vesely should also be complimented greatly for making this movie look and feel interesting, though it only moves outside of one house towards the end of the film. This is a vibrant film, despite its closed confines. MONOLITH is one hell of a mystery and while the answers are left up to you, the performances, the struggle, and the absolute horror of secrets unearthed are apparent from beginning to end. This is one hell of a quiet, yet pervasive shocker that shouldn’t be missed.

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)
#13 – WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS (HELL HOLE)
#12 – ALIEN: ROMULUS (INFESTED)
#11 – HELL HOUSE LLC ORIGINS: THE CARMICHAEL MANOR (V/H/S/85)
#10 – STOP MOTION (MONOLITH)

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Music Written by Tim Heidecker
Music & Arrangement by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy https://youtu.be/PDySbxQgZMg
(I do not own this music)