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5 Great 2016 Horror Movies Streaming Right Now

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With the wide array of home video options available, it’s easy for good horror movies to get lost in the shuffle. The year is almost over, and many horror fans will be making up their “Best Of” lists before too long. If you’re one of these folks, you may want to take a look at these five 2016 horror movies that mostly (sadly) bypassed theaters on their way to home video. Some of these played film festivals, while others got blink-and-you-missed-it theatrical runs before popping up online. Don’t miss them before the year is out!
2016 Horror Movies

The Monster (A24)

The Monster

Bryan Bertino scored a genre hit with his feature directing debut The Strangers in 2008, but he’s been mostly quiet since then. His follow-up Mockingbird (2014) went more or less straight to video, but his latest film was picked up by indie distributor A24 for a brief theatrical release this year. A24 had a great year in 2016 (including releasing Green Room and The Witch), and The Monster was a great way to cap it off. Young mother Kathy (Zoe Kazan) is driving her daughter Lizzy (Ella Ballantine) to stay with her father, but on an isolated stretch of road she nearly runs over a dog and totals her car. While the rain pours down, something in the woods watches and waits. The Monster has a deceptively simple creature feature setup, but the excellent performances by Kazan and Ballantine and some perceptive writing by Bertino help make it a monster movie that will linger in the memory long after the credits roll. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that there’s also an awesome monster largely depicted with great practical effects. The Monster is available now on various VOD platforms.

2016 horror movies

Summer Camp (IMDB)

Summer Camp

Spanish-language film distributor Pantelion isn’t known for horror movies, but they did release Más negro que la noche (a fun 3D haunted house movie) in some U.S. theaters in 2014 and dipped their toes into English-language genre fare with The Vatican Tapes the following year. In 2016, they quietly released Summer Camp in a handful of theaters in the States before it hit home video. Most of the time when that happens, it’s a sure sign that the film in question is not that great. This time, it’s entirely possible the movie was mostly hamstrung by its painfully generic title, because it’s a surprisingly fun and inventive take on some very familiar territory. Four American college students arrive at a remote Summer camp in Spain and get more than they bargained for when something starts turning them into rampaging killers. Can they stop this mysterious outbreak before the campers show up tomorrow? On paper this sounds like the setup for another tired zombie/infection movie, but writer Danielle Schleif and director/co-writer Alberto Marini throw in some highly unexpected twists to the formula that elevate Summer Camp above the crowd. The movie also features a pair of fantastic lead performances by Jocelin Donahue (The House of the Devil, Insidious: Chapter 2) and Maiara Walsh, and it’s just fun as hell. Summer Camp is available on DVD as well as VOD platforms from Lionsgate.

2016 horror movies

Beyond the Gates (Official Facebook)

Beyond the Gates

Cursed and haunted objects are the center of many horror films, but Beyond the Gates may be the first horror movie whose plot is set in motion by an evil VCR board game. Estranged brothers John (Chase Williamson, John Dies at the End) and Gordon (Graham Skipper, The Mind’s Eye) are forced to spend time together when their alcoholic father disappears and leaves them his old video store. While packing up the shop, they discover a VCR game called Beyond the Gates. When they take it back to their father’s house and pop in the tape they’re greeted by the mysterious Evelyn (the legendary Barbara Crampton, who had a great 2016 including a fantastic turn in Zach Clark’s Little Sister), who seems to be watching them as they struggle to figure out how to play the game. After they play, bodies start piling up around town and the brothers discover they have to win the game before things get much, much worse for everyone. Bathed in neon colors that strongly call to mind Stuart Gordon‘s From Beyond (starring Crampton) and propelled by a driving synth score by Wojciech Golczewski (Late Phases, We Are Still Here), Beyond the Gates is a fast-paced, gory love letter to 80s horror. Beyond the Gates has played a few big-screen dates around the U.S. since its festival premiere earlier this year, and it’s currently available on VOD from IFC Midnight.

2016 Horror Movies

They Look Like People (Official site)

They Look Like People

Some of the scariest films ever made are those that closely examine the mental state of deeply troubled characters. Lodge H. Kerrigan’s classic arthouse horror film Clean, Shaven (1993) used disorienting cinematic techniques to mimic the way a schizophrenic character sees the world as he tries to find where his ex-wife has taken their daughter. It’s a profoundly unsettling film made with very limited resources, and Perry Blackshear’s feature directorial debut They Look Like People is a worthy modern successor to that film. Wyatt (McLeod Andrews) travels to New York to see his old friend Christian (Evan Dumouchel), but while Wyatt tries to keep things normal it’s not just a friendly visit. Wyatt receives phone calls from unknown parties who warn him demonic forces are about to take over the world, and they infiltrate the ranks of humanity by taking the guise of normal people. While Wyatt desperately tries to save Christian and prepare for the imminent war Christian struggles to succeed at his competitive job and figure out his relationship with co-worker Mara (Margaret Ying Drake). They Look Like People is a deft hybrid of low-key indie relationship drama and psychological horror, with a sense of humor that helps relieve what would otherwise be unbearable claustrophobic tension. Lead actors Andrews and Dumouchel are great and absolutely convincing as longtime friends, and that relationship drives a film that is funny, scary, and moving. They Look Like People is available on Netflix as well as VOD from Gravitas Ventures.

 

2016 Horror Movies

I am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (Toronto International Film Festival)

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

In both of the years 2015 and 2016 Osgood Perkins, son of late horror icon Anthony Perkins, has directed one of the best horror films of the year. In 2015, his debut feature February played a number of festivals and was picked up for distribution by A24. Before that film even sees a release in the States (A24 is releasing in January 2017 under its new title The Blackcoat’s Daughter), his second film I am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House was picked up by Netflix where it appropriately premiered the Friday before Halloween. This is a “haunted house” story pared down to the bone and then some, damned close to the marrow. Lily (Ruth Wilson) is an in-home caretaker hired to live with reclusive author Iris Blum (Paula Prentiss). The old 19th-century house is creepy enough, but Lily tries to read one of her charge’s best-known books–The Woman in the Walls, supposedly dictated to Iris by the ghost of a young woman murdered in the house–and her already fraying nerves begin tightening toward an imminent, inevitable breaking point. This is not a horror movie about thrills and scares, but one about creating an overwhelming atmosphere of oppressive dread. In that, it succeeds tremendously. I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House is available for streaming on Netflix.

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Editorial

Yay or Nay: What’s Good and Bad in Horror This Week

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Horror Movies

Welcome to Yay or Nay a weekly mini post about what I think is good and bad news in the horror community written in bite-sized chunks. 

Yay:

Mike Flanagan talking about directing the next chapter in the Exorcist trilogy. That might mean he saw the last one and realized there were two left and if he does anything well it’s draw out a story. 

Yay:

To the announcement of a new IP-based film Mickey Vs Winnie. It’s fun to read comical hot takes from people who haven’t even seen the movie yet.

Nay:

The new Faces of Death reboot gets an R rating. It’s not really fair — Gen-Z should get an unrated version like past generations so they can question their mortality the same as the rest of us did. 

Yay:

Russell Crowe is doing another possession movie. He’s quickly becoming another Nic Cage by saying yes to every script, bringing the magic back to B-movies, and more money into VOD. 

Nay:

Putting The Crow back in theaters for its 30th anniversary. Re-releasing classic movies at the cinema to celebrate a milestone is perfectly fine, but doing so when the lead actor in that film was killed on set due to neglect is a cash grab of the worst kind. 

The Crow
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Lists

The Top-Searched Free Horror/Action Movies on Tubi This Week

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The free streaming service Tubi is a great place to scroll when you’re unsure what to watch. They are not sponsored or affiliated with iHorror. Still, we really appreciate their library because it’s so robust and has many obscure horror movies so rare you can’t find them anywhere in the wild except, if you’re lucky, in a moist cardboard box at a yard sale. Other than Tubi, where else are you going to find Nightwish (1990), Spookies (1986), or The Power (1984)?

We take a look at the most searched horror titles on the platform this week, hopefully, to save you some time in your endeavor to find something free to watch on Tubi.

Interestingly at the top of the list is one of the most polarizing sequels ever made, the female-led Ghostbusters reboot from 2016. Perhaps viewers have seen the latest sequel Frozen Empire and are curious about this franchise anomaly. They will be happy to know it’s not as bad as some think and is genuinely funny in spots.

So take a look at the list below and tell us if you are interested in any of them this weekend.

1. Ghostbusters (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016)

An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.

2. Rampage

When a group of animals becomes vicious after a genetic experiment goes awry, a primatologist must find an antidote to avert a global catastrophe.

3. The Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren uncover an occult conspiracy as they help a defendant argue that a demon forced him to commit murder.

4. Terrifier 2

After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to Miles County, where his next victims, a teenage girl and her brother, await.

5. Don’t Breathe

A group of teens breaks into a blind man’s home, thinking they’ll get away with the perfect crime but get more than they bargained for once inside.

6. The Conjuring 2

In one of their most terrifying paranormal investigations, Lorraine and Ed Warren help a single mother of four in a house plagued by sinister spirits.

7. Child’s Play (1988)

A dying serial killer uses voodoo to transfer his soul into a Chucky doll which winds up in the hands of a boy who may be the doll’s next victim.

8. Jeepers Creepers 2

When their bus breaks down on a deserted road, a team of high school athletes discovers an opponent they cannot defeat and may not survive.

9. Jeepers Creepers

After making a horrific discovery in the basement of an old church, a pair of siblings find themselves the chosen prey of an indestructible force.

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News

Morticia & Wednesday Addams Join Monster High Skullector Series

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Believe it or not, Mattel’s Monster High doll brand has an immense following with both young and not-so-young collectors. 

In that same vein, the fan base for The Addams Family is also very large. Now, the two are collaborating to create a line of collectible dolls that celebrate both worlds and what they have created is a combination of fashion dolls and goth fantasy. Forget Barbie, these ladies know who they are.

The dolls are based on Morticia and Wednesday Addams from the 2019 Addams Family animated movie. 

As with any niche collectibles these aren’t cheap they bring with them a $90 price tag, but it’s an investment as a lot of these toys become more valuable over time. 

“There goes the neighborhood. Meet the Addams Family’s ghoulishly glamorous mother-daughter duo with a Monster High twist. Inspired by the animated movie and clad in spiderweb lace and skull prints, the Morticia and Wednesday Addams Skullector doll two-pack makes for a gift that’s so macabre, it’s downright pathological.”

If you want to pre-purchase this set check out The Monster High website.

Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Footwear for Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Morticia Addams Skullector doll
Morticia Addams doll shoes
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