Year-end roundtable: 2022 was scary good for horror movies

In a series of special year-end roundtable discussions, The A.V. Club looks back at the stories that made the biggest impact on pop culture in 2022.

Horror, as a genre, has enjoyed a strong run recently, and 2022 continued that trend in a big way. Between legacy franchises like Scream and Halloween adding new chapters, directors like Ti West making their mark, and creative endeavors like Terrifier 2 breaking through to mainstream audiences, there was plenty to talk about across the genre. Below, three A.V. Club staffers talk through their thoughts on the year in horror.

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Drew Gillis: Over the past five or so years, as studios have embraced the concept of “elevated horror,” horror has become increasingly successful, both with fans and with critics. What has been interesting to me this year, though, is the stuff like Terrifier 2 or the upcoming Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey that are almost anti-elevated horror; they’re classic B-movies, and Terrifier 2 found pretty astounding word-of-mouth success, even beyond the regular horror fandom.

Hattie Lindert: Vive la B-movie! I’m so glad to see it back, and John Carpenter really said it best in his interview with our own Will Hughes this year: What even is elevated horror? I love a good art-house horror psycho-drama as much as the next girl, but it feels like the genre has really opened up space for some fan-fueled levity this year. I covered Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey a lot and it was genuinely a joy to watch the film grow from a viral Twitter meme with just two set images to its name into one of the fewer and fewer films that actually get in-theater releases. In a year that was so heavy with adaptations of previously used material or well-established characters, Blood And Honey was definitely a unique inroad to jumping on that trend!

Saloni Gajjar: I loved the variety of horror we got this year. I also think that word-of-mouth was so crucial, even for movies like Smile and Barbarian, which wouldn’t have been as big without it. So I love that while we got Scream, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Men, Halloween Ends, etc., these movies also got time to shine, especially stuff like Terrifier 2. The fact that Terrifier 2 did so well in theaters is a sign that horror is genuinely a top genre now, and I love that creators are experimenting so much within it.

DG: Honestly, I found Scream to be one of the most disappointing movies I saw this year. I’m a huge fan of the franchise, but this was the first time I saw one of the movies and it felt immediately dated. Having the central topic for parody be the concept of “elevated horror” could have worked, but it felt like they had only a passing interest in exploring it—it was still very much only the bones of a Scream movie. I rewatched Scream 4 after, and that felt mostly like it could have been released in 2022 as much as in 2011. I’m still very excited to see Scream: Ghostface Takes Manhattan but in a year that had plenty to offer, the warmed-over classic becomes much less appealing. I think the same is true for Halloween Ends.

SG: I think that’s fair and accurate. I’m personally devoted to the Scream franchise, unfortunately, so I still enjoyed most of it, even if the lack of Neve Campbell was infuriating. The next one’s going to be worse in that regard, obviously. But even I thought the “requel-prequel-sequel” ideas in Scream 5—courtesy of Mindy Meeks’ speech—that they tried to bank on didn’t work well. Or, as you said, they had a passing interest in exploring it properly.

Halloween Ends was on another level. It was divisive because I think people either loved what they tried to do, or hated that they didn’t get enough Laurie vs. Michael Myers action in apparently Jamie Lee Curtis’ final turn with these movies. I’m somewhere in the middle.

HL: As far as the requel-prequel-sequel complex goes, I think Pearl is an interesting example, and maybe even an antidote. Although it’s a direct prequel to X, the film really stands on its own aesthetically, and it felt like Ti West really gave Mia Goth the opportunity to expand on the character beyond the confines of a standard prequel. Not to mention that, even though Pearl had A24 star-power behind it, the way it resonated with viewers, especially on social, was huge. I think that has given the movie serious staying power, and like Saloni said, really proves that horror is a top genre that breeds bonafide stars, diverse subcategories, and serious cultural relevance.

DG: Okay yes I was hoping we could talk about Pearl. I was talking to a friend the other night about how I really believe that Mia Goth as Pearl is the most iconic pop culture image of the year, horror or otherwise. That damn red dress has really burrowed itself into everyone’s brain already—whether they’ve seen the movie or not.

And sure, this year we had a Top Gun and an Avatar, but those are pre-existing IP. Seeing a totally original character take off in this way makes me super optimistic that we will get more movies like this, and that studios will be willing to take risks on new ideas… I know Pearl is kind of a sequel, kind of a prequel, but I saw it before X and still enjoyed it on its own merits.

SG: Yup it still stands on its own. And Mia Goth’s performance was absolutely incredible. It’s honestly impressive that we got X and Pearl in the same year, and I’m elated that another sequel is coming.

My favorite element of Pearl is how twisted the homages to American classics were, and I did not expect that. They really did such a good job playing around with the same idea Scream has in looking at how movies impact the audience.

Speaking of X and Scream, can we talk about how Jenna Ortega is emerging as a total star here?

HL: Yes, we finally made it to Jenna Ortega! I’ve absolutely loved watching her blossom in the horror realm, and her performance in X has to be a highlight. She’s also one where, when I read interviews with her, I’m really curious what her slate will start to look like when she becomes more established and has more creative control over her projects. Now that Wednesday is out in the world, I definitely look forward to what’s next.

SG: That’s so true. I was relieved that Melissa Barrera wasn’t the only final girl in Scream, because Jenna Ortega deserves it. Plus, that’s the other thing about this year’s slate of horror movies: we got so many formidable performances.

DG: There have been plenty of scream queens over the years, but I can’t recall a time when it felt like one was positioned for such a mainstream blowup as Jenna Ortega. More than a typical scream queen, it almost reminds me of Emma Stone around 2010 when she was making Easy A and Zombieland—good movies that were hardly prestige but set her on a path to win an Oscar within a few years. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jenna Ortega spring from Wednesday and Scream and X into more awards-y movies very soon.

Mia Goth is another person who has been around for a minute but this year feels like her real breakthrough. She always seemed to play the sidekick—roles like Pearl don’t come around often (plus the dual role in X) and she proved she could really sink her teeth into something.

SG: Correct! I also feel like so many of these movies should be frontrunners for various awards in general. The Academy keeps snubbing horror (shoutout to Toni Collette who deserved a win for Hereditary) but this year has some amazing choices. So hopefully you’re right about Jenna and Mia breaking out in a big way.

HL: I would love to see Mia Goth receive a Best Actress nomination—Pearl’s credits scene alone could warrant that.

Looking towards next year, what catches your respective eyes most in upcoming horror? On the campy side, I can’t wait for M3GAN’s January 6 release— Allison Williams was pitch-perfect in Get Out and I’m excited to see her back in the horror space (especially opposite an evil doll with a perfect blowout). There’s no official release date, but I’m also keeping an eye out for Jane Schoenbrun’s latest I Saw The TV Glow, which wrapped principal photography in August 2022. Her debut We’re All Going To The World’s Fair was one of the most unique and memorable horror movies of 2021, and I think Schoenbrun’s voice stands to become even more significant to the genre next year.

SG: I fear M3GAN and Cocaine Bear will become my entire personality once they release, although I know the latter is not strictly horror at all.

But in general, I’m now waiting with bated breath to see what else Mia Goth and Ti West get up to in MaXXXine. Plus, we get Nic Cage as Dracula, and the Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey movie. I know we sort of touched on this, but that last one has the potential to be another Terrifier 2.

I also can’t forget the new Scream. Like I said, I’m a franchise devotee, so I will be seated on day 1 to watch Ghostface take on NYC’s subway system.

HL: Ultimately, as long as more weird movies get made and get to theaters in 2023, I’m happy. We can definitely hit Scream together.

SG: That’s so true. I do think we should brace ourselves for more bizarre horror movies. Not that they didn’t exist or thrive before, but the last few years have kind of put them on a mainstream map again. You know I’m curious to see Winnie the Pooh and Bambi slasher movies just as much as I’m excited for Scream 6 or Knock At The Cabin or whatever Jordan Peele and Ari Aster get up to next.

DG: I think the gulf between the so-called elevated horror and the bizarre, B-movie horror right now is super interesting. It feels like more and more are falling into one category or another, and there’s less room for something like a Scream or a Halloween. I guess even the original Scream would have been considered elevated when it first came out, and then it kind of reset everything to become the norm. But it doesn’t feel like we’re getting things like Paranormal Activity anymore, which I think reflects a broader trend in film—we have our Marvels and our Avatars and we have indie films that get made for a couple million dollars, but the middle-tier movie is largely gone. The horror genre is kind of just a microcosm of that right now.

Not that Hereditary is a Marvel movie by any means, but there’s the stuff that studios are willing to pump money into and there’s the stuff like Terrifier 2 that exists thanks to a Kickstarter.

SG: That makes me think of how production companies like Blumhouse and A24 made horror their niche, even though they do other stuff too, and I’m so thankful for that.

But yes, I still don’t think that’s led to a Terrifier 2. I don’t think anyone saw the success of that coming, which points to how much viral conversations and word-of-mouth also matter I guess.

HL: Blumhouse feels like such an interesting divining rod for the industry as a whole right now as well. Jason Blum has really tapped into a way to make mid-budget horror commercially profitable without, to put it bluntly, fucking over creators and performers in the process. In a guest essay for The New York Times earlier this year, Blum cited Blumhouse’s success as a result of the company’s decision to “give artists a lot of creative freedom and a little money upfront but a big stake in the movie’s or TV show’s commercial success.” If that can work in horror, who’s to say it can’t work elsewhere—Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are certainly trying!

I guess the beauty of another Terrifier 2 really is that, like the original, it could come from anywhere, as long as the virality and fan excitement is there.

[This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.]