While the year of 2023 housed phenomenal movies in its timeline that audiences around the world anticipate, it was host to a lot of great horror movies too. One simply cannot forget Oppenheimer and Barbie being released on the same day, or Napoleon, Foe, Anyone but You and Saltburn that made great impressions among cinemagoers, 2023 was a memorable year for new movies.
Thanksgiving
Slasher director, Eli Roth brought new meat to the table with this horror that featured actresses Addison Rae and Gina Gershon and actor Patrick Dempsey. Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees need to make room for this well-dressed killer as his attire consists of a John Carver mask and a glinting axe; the Carver mask becoming a popular pun as the film is centred around America’s Thanksgiving holiday and the fact that it is not just turkeys getting “carved”.
After a Black Friday riot in the town’s store RightMart turns into a bloodbath of fatal injuries and death, the town is plagued by the presence of someone who is seeking revenge for the tragic night. Is a waffle iron worth that much trouble? It scored an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and an audience score of 79% with reviews stating “some entertaining kill scenes make it a lot of fun for horror fans, even if it isn’t all that scary.”
The Exorcist: Believer
A direct sequel to the 1973 film, this movie could not afford to disappoint horror fans as it released on October 6. Director David Gordon Green, whose other projects involved the Halloween franchise, put a great deal of work into this movie, but unfortunately a lot of fans disagreed. It scored a 22% on Rotten Tomatoes with the audience calling it “a halfway decent possession thriller”. However, there is such a thing as being too critical, but the movie brought back the return of Chris and Regan MacNeil and the original actresses that played them in the ’73 film which was nostalgic for fans.
The possession scene of Katherine and Angela was so powerful and horrifying that it grabbed everyone and pulled them towards the edge of their seats. This movie deserved a higher rating, and the end lesson in the final scenes is sure to stick with people; our selfish choices have consequences.
Scream VI
This well-known slasher always has a screaming ovation, their sixth instalment in the franchise proving to be a favourite among Ghostface fans as his knife slices through the Big Apple, wielding closer and closer to the Carpenter sisters. Scream VI hit cinemas on March 10, scoring a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes and the audience saying; “Building upon the requel and even improving on it with the lovable ‘core four’ and some gnarly kills, this sequel is a total scream.”
A slasher franchise that begun in 1996, it is one of the longest running franchises in the world of horror with Ghostface making it in the Top 10 slashers on Entertainment Weekly.
Evil Dead Rise
Another horror franchise that has been running a long time, since 1981, with the latest instalment introduced on April 21. Perhaps there are some books you don’t read, some records that shouldn’t be played, some places that are buried for a reason, but in a horror movie all these things must be done. Audiences are in for a gore packed one hour and thirty-seven minutes when sitting uncomfortably to watch this new addition. The movie scored a whopping 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and there are a few lessons we will learn from it; you can’t always trust your mother, never eat glass, and always hold on to your ponytail.
A new year of horror has just begun and the genre has some exciting new projects in store; Night Swim which is out now in cinemas, Founder’s Day, Imaginary, Abigail, The Strangers: Chapter 1, and loads of others.
Rachel Garvey is a Co-Editor for Features for Student Independent News for the year 2023/24. She works full-time, but dedicates her free time to writing and being involved in SIN. Rachel has been a contributor to SIN since 2017.