Movies & TV / Columns
The 411 Horror Movie Awards 2024, Part 2: Best Film, Best Performance, More
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures
Here we go with the second (and final) part of this year’s 411 Horror Awards for 2024! I had some delays getting this done but hey, better late than never! For those who may have missed part one, here are the winners thus far:
* Worst Horror Movie of 2024: Tarot
* Most Anticipated of 2025: 28 Years Later
* Best Movie Monster: Monstro Elisasue (The Substance)
* Best Effects: The Substance
* Best Kill: Yoga Kill (In A Violent Nature)
* Best Scare: The Tent (Oddity)
Same panel as last time, same guys giving their thoughts on the best of the year. This year it consists of (in alphabetical order):
* Theo Sambus
* Jake Chambers
* Joseph Lee
* Rob Stewart
* Jeremy Thomas
Now that we have all the introductory stuff out of the way, let’s get into it!
BEST SCORE
Music has been integral to great horror film since horror films first gained sound, maybe even before. It can be part of what makes a great scare or even help set the mood for what’s to come.
And the nominees are…
Alex G (I Saw the TV Glow)
“There are a lot of things to praise about I Saw the TV Glow, but the overall vibe is one of its most distinctive elements. There’s something about the mood of Jane Schoenbrun’s film that just takes you back to a different era, and a big part of that is the music, both the soundtrack and the score. Frankly, it takes a lot for me to actually listen to film scores; I tend to be more about the soundtracks. But G’s score is one of the more evocative in terms of mood and it is an essential part of the film’s success in telling the Schoenbrun wants to tell. This is one of those rare score albums that I not only played; I kept it on repeat and it helped wrap me in the melancholic, questioning nostalgia that is this wonderful film.” – Jeremy Thomas
“It’s really difficult for me to talk about why I love film scores. Or music in general. I don’t know the right things to say, just how the music makes me feel. The music in Longlegs made me feel uneasy, which is why I remember it. I hardly ever remember film scores. But there was something about how minimalist it is and that made it work. The opening scene, which I’ve praised a lot in this thing, is a good example. The music is almost playful until Longlegs is revealed and it’s not. Kinda like Longlegs himself.” – Joseph Lee
“Minimalist scores are good, but a movie like Nosferatu required a very ‘movie’ score. It needed something that evoked Universal and Hammer, even if its source material was older than both. And hey, it got one. It’s surprisingly beautiful and appropriately haunting, especially in a movie where Nosferatu eats kids on camera. A great example of a score that compliments its movie, not overpowers it.” – Joseph Lee
“Since the main character didn’t talk that much, the score had to do a lot of heavy lifting in this movie, especially for creating a mood and tone that wasn’t always obvious in the acting or on-screen storytelling.” – Jake Chambers
“Much like Alex G’s I Saw The TV Glow score, Dominique Plante’s score for Red Rooms was absolutely essential in the film’s mission. Plante, the brother of director Pascal Plante, put together a musical score that takes the audience on an emotional journey. It’s epic without being ostentatious, intimate without being small, and immersive from start to finish. It’s just one of the many things that keeps this little French-Canadian thriller dangerously close to my heart.” – Jeremy Thomas
“The Substance in general was a buffet of things that hardcore horror fans had likely seen before, but not this big or in this context. It’s not the first time we’ve seen disgusting gore and an audience soaked with blood at the end of one of these things. It’s all about how it’s done. The same could be said for the score. It feels familar, especially for modern horror, but the industrial vibe it gives fits the grotseque body horror we’re watching our lead go through. It’s just yet another example of how everything came together to make one of the genre’s best of the year.” – Joseph Lee
The Substance
BEST WRITING
Believe it or not, horror movies aren’t as easy to write as you’d think. It’s not all jump scares and gore. An effective horror movie has to have well-written characters we care about or none of that works. It has to have a story we’re invested in or the kills mean nothing.
And the nominees are…
Scott Beck & Bryan Woods (Heretic)
“It’s a rare case in which you can make a movie suspenseful just through dialogue. And that almost never happens in horror, and yet it happened twice in the past few years. The first that I can recall was the monologue at the end of Pearl, delivered by Mia Goth. Sure, her performance sells it, but the script plays to her strengths and becomes unhinged the more it goes on. And then there’s Heretic. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods manage to squeeze tension out of a lengthy discussion out of religion. Not because you’re particularly worried if Hugh Grant is going to upset the girls’ delicate worldview. You are given multiple clues that something is not quite right and the longer the discussion goes, the more you feel like something very bad is about to happen. And the more they challenge him, the more it feels like that bad moment is getting closer. Just a master class in writing suspense, carried by Grant’s against type performance.” – Joseph Lee
“I know that I Saw The TV Glow wasn’t a film for everyone. But even if you didn’t like it, I can’t imagine not appreciate what it’s trying (and succeeding, in my estimation) to do. To zero surprise, that’s heavily down to the script which might as well be Schoenbrun’ heart poured out onto the page. They’re able to thread a very difficult needle as they envision two very different sides of the same coin in the characters of Owen and Maddy, one of whom rejects their realization of their identity and the other of whom embraces it. Schoenbrun doesn’t give their characters easy answers, a trap that would have been very easy to fall into (and one that a more mainstream-accessible film would have done). Their choice makes for a far better, bolder film. The incorporation of TV nostalgia is a brilliant move that not only gives Owen and Maddy a language to communicate through; it provides a different avenue for audiences to connect with the film. The script for TV Glows is a massive leap in evolution for Schoenbrun as a writer, and that’s from someone who liked We’re All Going To The World’s Fair.” – Jeremy Thomas
“The script for Longlegs shouldn’t work. A somewhat psychic detective hunting a Devil-worshipping serial killer feels very passe, which is probably why this one is set in a time when that was a popular type of movie. Osgood Perkins makes it work with the writing, which keeps you on your toes by giving out nugget after nugget of the mystery, before tying everything in a neat bow later on. You may realize where it’s going, and that’s okay. Because this is one of those movies where even if you can guess the turns, you won’t guess all of them. And it’s a very enjoyable roller-coaster ride getting to the ones you know about.” – Joseph Lee
“A really great screenplay that keeps the audience guessing about character motivations for most of the movie, right up until the nail-biting and unconventional climax. And the scripting of the key courtroom opening statement monologues was exceptional.” – Jake Chambers
“What a powerhouse of a set of screenplays we had to choose from this year. The bar was quite high, which only makes how it wasn’t much of a contest more impressive in terms of my top few picks. Pasacal Plante’s Red Rooms is an emotionally savage narrative that doesn’t shy away from looking at the dark side of humanity — including its characters. For a story that stays rather minimal, there’s a lot of heavy lifting being done in the relatively sparse dialogue and choices that the characters make. It’s a force of nature and one of the economical stories in terms of packing the most punch into every word typed onto the page.” – Jeremy Thomas
“I continue to bang the drum of The Substance, as this movie took one of the most overt messages of the entire year–a society that only cares about women for their looks is disgusting and severely damaging–and managed to make it so damn entertaining that you can overlook the fact that the movie is beating you up with its lesson. There are aspects of it I also NEVER saw coming, and I truly loved that.” – Rob Stewart
The Substance
BEST DIRECTION
Romero. Craven. Carpenter. A great horror movie usually has a great director the helm, leading things with a steady hand. You can tell when a movie has great direction. It looks good. It sounds good. It scares good. Everything that can go right does, because all the elements tie together perfectly.
And the nominees are…
Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw The TV Glow)
“I haven’t seen a film as intentional in every creative choice as I Saw The TV Glow in a long time, nor have I seen one hit its choices right on target as consistently as it. Schoenbrun’s ability to wash their stories with pure mood makes for compelling watches — and again, as much as I liked We’re All Going To The World’s Fair, this was a seismic step forward in terms of the boldness of their vision. I was swept away by how strong they are behind the camera here, with some incredibly striking scenes (that hallway in particular walk has lived rent-free in my head for months). It’s a wistful dream of a movie that carries big ideas and confronts some difficult notions that I think many filmmakers might not be able to carry off like this. I was already a fan of Schoenbrun’s, but their work on this film turned me into someone who will always be seated and ready to be transported by whatever they might do next.” – Jeremy Thomas
“Late Night with the Devil is one of those movies that, for me at least, I knew right away how I’d feel about it. Surprise, I loved it. And the directing team of Colin & Cameron Carines made that happen. It’s partly a found footage movie, until things drastically change, and then so too does the filmmaking style. This movie floats between different styles to present its story and the Cairnes do so seamlessly. If the off-air segments didn’t work, then the on-air segments don’t work. And the swing they take at the end definitely wouldn’t have.” – Joseph Lee
“Maybe it’s me, but I think I prefer Osgood Perkins’ more commercial stuff than his other wildly praised films. Longlegs is hardly commercial, but it’s more so than I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. In that, Perkins proved he’s capable of creating dread (the film is essentially a build to one single jump scare) and he does that in shades in Longlegs. The movie is creepy, it made me feel uneasy and I left in a state of anxiety, which doesn’t happen. I know it’s not for everyone (look at how many awards it hasn’t won to this point) but Perkins made my favorite horror film of 2024 here.” – Joseph Lee
“I didn’t love Nosferatu nearly as much as some others did, and I think the fact that it didn’t make my top 7 nominees for Best Horror Movie will be my shouting against an army. STILL. Eggers has some great vision, and when he wants to make a scene or moment stand out, he’s got the eye to do it. He really knows how to shoot and frame shots. So while I’m not always enamored of his writing, I think his ability to MAKE a movie gets him my #1 spot here.” – Rob Stewart
“Pascal Plante is another director who shot onto my “must watch all films going forward” list in 2024. It can’t be overstated what an effect that Red Rooms had on me, and I can’t imagine what a film like this would have looked like without Plante at the helm. Actually, that’s not entirely true; I could easily see this film looking like a preachy knockoff of a dozen other serial killer thrillers with a broad approach to the film’s themes about our obsession with serial killers and true crime. Plante never takes that easier road, and his use of a careful, grounded approach in the design and look of Red Rooms allows us to fully immerse in the small corner of this dark world that he’s showing us. He wrings a lot out of subtlety and gives us one of the most stunning scenes of the year in a courtroom scene that I’m still thinking about. Just amazing work through and through.” – Jeremy Thomas
“That this is only JT Mollner’s second feature film is astounding to me. The way the story is told, the way it’s shot, he does it all seemingly without effort. A good director knows to surround themselves with a good production crew and Mollner does that too. He wrote and directed this to be the way it was, and worked with Christopher Robin Bell to edit it into what we got. It’s told in a nonlinear fashion and it’s still incredibly easy to follow. The scenes that happen early on, even if they are set in the past, inform how the next scenes are viewed and so on. Sorry if this sounds vague and describing every other movie ever, but I’m trying to limit spoilers. Trust me, the way this movie is set up and plotted out should get Mollner a lot of gigs. I’m very interested to see what he does with the script for The Long Walk (and kinda wish he were directing, even if Francis Lawerence is no slouch). ” – Joseph Lee
“Talk about ‘left turns’; this movie kept re-inventing itself along the way, and the surreal, blood-soaked final act took it onto a new plane. It felt like every shot had been pored over, with a delicious heightened style throughout, from some over-the-top performances (see: Dennis Quaid), jarring jumpcuts and off-kilter color scheme to show that everything is Not Quite Right(TM). I’ll be there day one to see whatever Fargeat does next.” – Theo Sambus
“The Substance had some tremendous technical merit going on for it, especially in terms of the sound mixing and editing, and that’s the kind of thing I only notice when it’s either exceptionally good or poor. Fargeat put real care into every aspect of her movie, and the final product bears that out.” – Rob Stewart
Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
As with any genre, a supporting performance is one that is limited on screentime but not on ability to steal the show. In a horror movie, it could be someone we like that gets killed off quickly. It could be the final girl’s best friend. Or it could be the monster itself.
And the nominees are…
Alisha Weir (Abigail)
“It’s undoubtedly an unenviable task for a horror casting director to find child actors, especially in the case of Abigail, where said child actor has one of the primary roles. As such, they must have felt like they struck gold when Alisha Weir walked in, absolutely nailing the intricacies of the Abigail character. This wasn’t just ‘a good performance for a kid’, this was genuinely a great performance bar none…I mean, she out-acted Dan F’n Stevens, are you kidding me?! Hitting every comedic note, while also flitting between vulnerable child and intimidating monster, this performance was a big win, elevating the movie into ‘better than it had any right to be’ status.” — Theo Sambus
“Again, as with my #1 pick, I’m not 100% sure this is a Supporting Role instead of a co-lead, but Leading Performance was SO stacked, I wanted to give him a shout-out here. He and Cailee Spaeny carried an Alien sequel that would have been truly forgettable in anyone else’ hands. The way he realistically flips a switch in his role as Andy was amazing.” — Rob Stewart
“Not sure if this should be a Leading or Supporting Performance, but he does kind of vanish for swaths of the movie so Naomi Ackie can shine, so I’ll call it Supporting. It was a really strong turn against form for Tatum, as he plays a charmer who just has this quality that makes you so uncertain if he is unsavory or not.” — Rob Stewart
“Dan Stevens had a hell of a 2024, turning in a trio of delightful performances in Abigail, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and Cuckoo. The latter is undoubtedly the one I think about most often, though. Stevens brings the off-kilter charm of German doctor Herr König to life, giving the kind of bizarre performance that in earlier times we would have seen played by Udo Kier or Klaus Kinski. Those aren’t easy boots to walk in, and yet Stevens does it like it’s the most natural thing in the world. He brings a real sense of fun to this batshit film that, for all it’s messiness, I love. It’s another feather in the cap of one of the more underrated genre performers working today.” – Jeremy Thomas
“Demi Moore got most of the accolades for The Substance, and she deserved every one of them. (I will save the rant about the Oscars hating horror for another time, happy as I was to see Mikey Madison win.) But Margaret Qualley more than held up her end of this little twist on a dual performance. Sue is, of course, every bit of an important character as Elisabeth and seeing the interplay between the two characters is half the fun of Coralie Fargeat’s body horror film. Qualley gives lets us in to see the other side of a character who could have easily been viewed simply as Elisabeth’s antagonist, making it clear that there is no villain between these two; just two wounded people who truly are one. There were a number of great supporting performances in 2024, but none quite so compelling as Qualley’s.” – Jeremy Thomas
“Part Freddy Kreuger, part Charlie Chaplin, Thornton’s demented mime-act as Art the Clown in Terrifier 3 was another powerful notch on his sure to be Slasher Hall of Fame career.” – Jake Chambers
“I’ve never been shy about how I feel about the Terrifier films (until the third one, which I liked), but David Howard Thornton has never been the problem. Art the Clown is why you go to see these things and Thornton is very aware of that. Terrifier 3 may be his best work yet as the character, as he continues to lean into the dark comedy. Honestly, I’m looking forward to him finishing this series so that he can hopefully move onto bigger paydays. Imagine this guy as Freddy. I’d say The Joker, but he’s actually already done that (and very well).” – Joseph Lee
Margaret Qualley (The Substance)
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
The villain. The final girl. The hero. Archetypes in horror became that way because of an iconic lead performance. Bela Lugosi made the definitive Dracula. Jamie Lee Curtis became the ultimate Scream Queen. A strong performance can carry a horror film or it can make a great movie greater.
And the nominees are…
Hugh Grant (Heretic)
“Hugh Grant spent a lot of his career playing charming characters, or at least that’s the reputation he built up. He’s been using the latter half of it playing against type in a lot of ways, including villainous roles. The Undoing is a great example of that. Heretic is another, because it answers the question no one but Scott Beck and Bryan Woods thought to ask. Can Hugh Grant be scary? Turns out, he’s a lot better at it than you might think. This movie seems written with him in mind, as he starts out in a role that you’d imagine him to play, before he turns sinister. And yeah, Mr. Reed is a scary man, because he believes completely that what he’s doing is right. It’s hard to talk down someone like that. Grant plays it perfectly, almost winking at the audience at first to get them to drop their guard before the other shoe drops.” – Joseph Lee
“David Dastmalchian is what I would call the very definition of a journeyman actor. He pops up everywhere. In 2023 alone he appeared in seven projects. He does the most with what he has but doesn’t often have the chance to play the lead. I think that’s why a lot of horror fans were thrilled with the idea of Late Night with the Devil, as he got that chance. Naturally, he knocks it out of the park as Jack Delroy, a talk show host desperate enough for ratings that he’ll exploit a possessed young girl to do it. Delroy is charming, tragic, and obviously a bit of a scumbag, and Dastmalchian isn’t afraid to explore all the facets of the character as they are revealed. I hope this opens the door for meatier roles for him in the future. ” – Joseph Lee
“It isn’t easy to pull off the king of internalized role that Juliette Gariépy does in Red Rooms. Acting generally requires you to go big at some point; it’s inevitable in most films that the lead character is going to be deeply affected by their narrative arc, and usually that means it’s time to let it all hang out. Kelly-Anne, our Ludovic Chevalier trial-obsessed model, doesn’t allow for any of that. Kelly-Anne makes some shocking choices over the course of the film, but except for one particular courtroom scene she stays generally as even-keeled as she can. That’s quite a challenge, but Gariépy masterfully captures the little nuances and allows us to see Kelly-Anne’s ticks through subtle shades. It’s a performance that could easily turn out frustrating but I remained compelled by her throughout her wonderful work here.” – Jeremy Thomas
“In a year when a lot of actresses had to carry a whole movie as a “final girl”, Scott’s work in Smile 2 was the best. The range she needed to cover was pretty intense, from born-again pop star to freaked-out investigator to bad friend, flashback junkie, and full-on final act insano; it was just an awesome performance.” – Jake Chambers
“This was a HARD category to nail down, as I had almost half a dozen performances where I initially thought “Oh yeah, that should win”. But ultimately, what Naomi Scott did in Smile 2 takes it for me, because she really made that sequel effort stand head and shoulders above its predecessor. She was so powerful as Skye Riley, she sold the entire movie in the role.” – Rob Stewart
“I really only need to say that she was nominated for an Oscar and that should explain it, right? It’s very rare for a horror performance to do that, and automatically places Moore in the same echelon as some heavy hitters. Sure, she didn’t win like Jodie Foster or Kathy Bates did. But she can rest comfortably among fellow horror nominees that didn’t win like Sigourney Weaver, Sissy Spacek or Ellen Burstyn. Not bad company, I think. She doesn’t approach it like a B-movie, or with her tongue in cheek, which she could have. The movie would have been lesser for it if she had. She focuses on the drama of what is probably a situation she can at least somewhat relate to and acts the hell of it. The fact that she becomes a gross monstrosity and still treats it seriously speaks for itself.” – Joseph Lee
Naomi Scott (Smile 2)
BEST MOVIE
This is it. Our top picks for the best horror movies of 2023. A great horror movie is able to combine every aspect into something truly memorable and unique.
And the nominees are…
Heretic
“I’ve written a lot about Heretic and for good reason. It’s a very smartly-written horror film with a terrific performance from Hugh Grant. It does a lot right and doesn’t have to do a lot to succeed. Most of the tension happens during long conversations. Most of the scares come from the viewer’s own growing dread as they realize the danger our heroines are in. It’s not big and bombastic like a lot of the other nominees are, but it doesn’t need to be. It works just as well without that.” – Joseph Lee
“This was my #1 movie overall in 2024 for most of the first half of the year. The story and the way it is shot is just great, and it genuinely felt like I was watching an old timey late night show with little breaks during the commercials where I could peak behind the scenes. I was very impressed with the performance of Dastmalchian and just the overall atmosphere of this one. ” – Rob Stewart
“Longlegs was my favorite horror movie of 2024. It’s the only one that got under my skin to the point that I had a panic attack leaving the theater. I realize that’s not a big deal to you, but it is to me. It still makes my skin crawl and I’ve seen it a total of three times. I always find new things when I watch it and love it a little more each time. There are years when it’s hard to choose the best horror film, but for me, not even the one nominated for an Academy Award could have dethroned Osgood Perkins’ weird little serial killer creepshow.” – Joseph Lee
“As much as I’ve talked about this film, both in these Horror Awards and basically every other chance I got, you knew I was gonna have this at the top of my list. It sits in the truly rarefied air of a film that is essentially perfect for what it’s trying to do. I’ve already talked up all the individual elements of the movie, so here I will just keep it simple. Pascal Plante manages to shock and disturb without defaulting to on-screen gore; he manages to hit at some very wide and topical themes without ever preaching. It’s a film that says a lot with very little and raises many questions, leaving us to answer then. It forces us to look into the mirror and examine why we as a society are obsessed with both the killer and the spectators of unspeakable violence. Put simply: in yet another phenomenal year for horror, Red Rooms sat not only as the best genre film of the year, but the best 2024 movie regardless of genre.” – Jeremy Thomas
“Sequels rarely surpass the original. As Randy Meeks once said, ‘by definition alone, they’re inferior films.’ And yet, Smile 2 does everything the first film does, but better. I once described Parker Finn’s original as the closest cinema has come to showing what it’s like to live with paranoia. Smile 2 takes that a step further. It’s scarier. The kills are grosser and it arguably has a better lead performance in Naomi Scott. I say that knowing full well that Sosie Bacon killed it in that movie. But Smile 2 beats its predecessor in every way. On top of that, it’s just a great horror film in its own right. I look forward to seeing the places we’ll go in the third one.” – Joseph Lee
“A very strong movie on its own merit, it is lifted up by an incredible third act where everything just goes cuckoo bananapants, and I loved it. Definitely one of my favorite theater experiences of the year, and I was so glad to see Demi Moore make a little mini-comback to big feature films.” – Rob Stewart
“One of those films you look back on after an hour of its runtime and think ‘how the heck did we get here?!’ Hollywood beauty standards getting the body horror treatment is such a natural fit, and this went to some particularly extreme places. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley both excelled in their roles, and while it’s the insane gore in the later sections of the film that have drawn most of the attention, I can’t shake that haunting scene of Moore’s Sparkle missing her date, paralyzed in the mirror by her signs of aging she can’t overlook. The best body horror film since Raw in 2016, change my mind!” – Theo Sambus
The Substance
