Charlie Shotwell in John and the Hole
Charlie Shotwell plays an intense teen who traps his family in a forest bunker in Pascual Sisto s disturbing first feature, also starring Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Ehle and Taissa Farmiga.
The minefield of early adolescence is a treacherous phase in Spanish visual artist Pascual Sisto s
John and the Hole, in which Charlie Shotwell gives a rivetingly affectless performance as an apathetic 13-year-old who holds his parents and sister captive in an underground bunker. The director has jokingly referred to his psychological coming-of-age thriller as a Michael Haneke version of
Home Alone, which isn t far from the truth. But it more specifically recalls the 2014 nail-biter by the Austrian auteur s compatriots Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala,
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Not really easy jump scares Daily News (via HT Media Ltd.)
The dollhouse at the beginning of The Lodge (2020) reminds you of the opening scene of Ari Aster’s Hereditary (2019). But it’s wholly coincidental: Hereditary was still in postproduction when the directors of The Lodge, Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, were wrapping up. The mood and the texture are different too: Ari Aster’s blend of supernatural horror and family feud looks, and feels, a world or two away from Franz-Fiala’s more restrained drama. Like all good horror, The Lodge doesn’t slip into easy jump scares; it grabs our attention because of, and not despite, its ambiance. The first half, in particular, is a tour de force: it simply goes on unnerving us, pitting child against adult and paving the way for the second half.
The Best Horror Films of 2020
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Heading into this year, horror fans were looking forward to celebrating a tremendous slate of new releases in some of the genre s most iconic properties. Whether it be
Spiral: From the Book of Saw or
Candyman or
A Quiet Place Part II or
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, no matter what your interests might be, 2020 was set to bring back a number of beloved franchises. The world had other plans for audiences this year, with a majority of the year s most anticipated titles delayed to sometime next year, all while audiences felt like they were living in their own personal horror movie.
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Although it may have felt like this year was devoid of a lot of movies we were initially excited to see at the start of 2020, hundreds of movies still came out one way or another. The best under-the-radar movies of 2020 is a strange list to compile this year in particular, because most new releases feel like they slipped past us and refreshed each week as we spent more time on streaming platforms and digital renting services. Because the movie cycle felt rushed and low on attention span, chances are you missed some bigger releases than this. Maybe youâre just now checking out some of the most talked-about movies of the year, like
Gif: Allison Corr
Don’t trust anyone who says it’s impossible to make a best movies list in 2020. There were plenty of films to like and even love over this dark, strange, unprecedented year. Just ask the 12 contributors to
The A.V. Club’s list. Each made a ranked ballot of their 15 favorites of 2020, and while there’s certainly overlap on all of them, you’ll also find passion picks sprinkled throughout: the movies that spoke, powerfully and singularly, to one critic in particular. We call those the outliers the films that appeared on one ballot and no others and they’re among the five superlatives affixed to each individual list. Keep reading to get a look behind the scenes of our best-of process, a sense of how our contributors aligned and diverged in their tastes, and maybe a few extra titles to add to your catch-up list as 2020 cycles over to 2021.