Counting down to our Year in Review issue, we present our picks in a variety of genres, wrapping up on December 27 with the year’s worst movies.
This time tomorrow: the year’s best revival.
The Innkeepers With a tip of the hat to Calvin Lee Reeder’s undervalued avant-garde nightmare The Oregonian, I reckon Ti West’s The Innkeepers rose head and shoulders above the rest of the year’s horror fare. Simultaneously classic (it’s an east coast ghost story of the highest caliber) and modern in design (much of its scares reside in internal characterizations, rather than an external force), West’s second feature proved a welcome departure from similar films that either lacked ambition (The Possession, House at the End of the Street) or were too quick to pat themselves on the back (Cabin in the Woods, V/H/S). —Drew Hunt