Where do I start?! If 2020 was a bad dream, 2021 was a nightmare. Surely, we can wake up in 2022? I don’t mean “woke”, that bullshit can stay in 2021, but hopefully the awful elements of the past two years – mostly the result of the global pandemic – can be put behind us. Of course, that’s still yet to be seen, as the Omicron variant (and whatever mutations lie beyond) continues to infect millions. Only time will tell, as they say.
The pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the film industry, especially film festivals and release strategies. We have to roll with the punches.
Putting an end-of-year list together has been difficult once again as I sift through films I saw (mostly at home) and ones I didn’t see.
But the most notable factor is how few I reviewed for Cult Projections. Back at the end of 2018 I mentioned that moving forward I would make an effort to review more films, especially the ones I really liked, so that my end-of-year list would have more click-through links to full reviews, but the truth of the matter is, it has not happened.
This year I took over the reins as festival director & programmer for A Night of Horror International Film Festival, something I have wanted to do ever since I first started supporting the festival, back in 2008. This year proved a real challenge, as I made the decision to take the festival online due to the limitations the pandemic had placed on Sydney.
There were other factors that hindered my viewing capacity as a film critic and movie lover, in particular, homeschooling. I won’t even begin to explain that situation, suffice to say, that the pandemic impacted my family – as it has millions of other families – and caused a lot of frustration, exasperation, and duress.
But enough about the damn pandemic.
What about the movies? A real mixed bag. There was no film that spoke to me in the same way SAINT MAUD did, no film that I knew would likely be my absolute fave of the year. Even as I write this introduction, I still don’t know what film to single out. Go figure.
I’ll be straight up, and apologies to those expecting a more descriptive list, but I just want to get this year behind me, and I don’t feel an awful lot of enthusiasm in writing about all the films in my end-of-year list, as 90% don’t have full reviews already written and posted. Not sure if this is a culminative effect, or simply a case of wanting to have 2021 done and dusted. It’s even possible that moving forward I will be reviewing films less and less on this site, especially considering it’s been a labour of love for many, many years, and keeping in mind my role as a festival director & programmer.
Instead, I’ll let the movies speak for themselves, and just display the film’s poster art, in no particular order. Some of the titles are available to stream, some are available to rent, some are available to purchase, some are screening in cinemas, some are due for release next year.
Here are my twenty favourite movies (and a few honourable mentions) I have selected as part of my 2021. You should make some or all of them part of your 2022. Happy New Year.
SPENCER
KRIYA
THE DEEP HOUSE
MASKING THRESHOLD
THE SADNESS
RIDERS OF JUSTICE
ROADRUNNER
LUCA
THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES
PAUL DOOD’S DEADLY LUNCH BREAK
COMING HOME IN THE DARK
WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED
HUMAN ANIMALS
STRUWWELERROR
BLOOD RED SKY
ARMY OF THE DEAD
WYRMWOOD: APOCALYPSE
ZOLA
Honourable mentions: Dune, Behind Her Eyes, Black Widow, Nitram, My Cherry Pie, No Time To Die, The Night House, The Brilliant Terror, The Unsettling, Memory, Promising Young Woman, Shot in the Dark.