Best Films of 2021
For me, 2021 was a very exciting year for film. Quite a few of the titles I looked forward to that were delayed due to the Covid-19 lockdown finally released. My running gag last year was putting out an APB on the release of Promising Young Woman. This year, it was a countdown to In the Heights and Candyman (2021).
Some of these films are still trickling out, as evidenced by Scream (2022) clearly commenting on Halloween (2019), Suspiria (2018), Candyman (2021), Hellraiser (2022), Child’s Play (2019), and even Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) with some of those films not even released yet. Scream beat the meta-horror trend it was commenting on to its box office release and still was notably delayed, calling out the 25 year gap between the original and the fifth film that actually stretched to 26 years with the delayed release.
I digress.
This list, like the My Favorite Horror Films of 2021 list, will be presented in chronological order by release date. I’m not the biggest fan of ranking lists in writing. The creation of a list is subjective enough and text alone doesn’t allow for the most nuance. I will name what I believe to be the best film of 2021 at the end of the list. This was not any easy decision, and I could’ve easily doubled this list and still felt like I came up short.
Without further ado, here are the Best Films of 2021.
A Nightmare Wakes
Released 4 February 2021
Content warning: death by suicide, pregnancy loss, abusive relationships, gore, alcohol/drug abuse, misogyny
I’m not sure what else I can do to recommend you watch A Nightmare Wakes at this point. If you like Frankenstein, if you like Mary Shelley, if you like the the history of the novel’s creation, if you like Gothic literature and films, if you like psychological horror, if you enjoy analyzing literature, or you just want a truly unique horror film experience, watch A Nightmare Wakes. It is a meta-horror film commenting on the text, the history, and the critical analyses of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from a modern perspective. I genuinely think this is the best adaptation of Frankenstein we have because the layers of storytelling really captures the epistolary style of the novel without relying on voiceover or literal adaptation.
And that ending still sends me for a loop every time I watch it.
A Nightmare Wakes is streaming on Shudder.
Lucky
Released 4 March 2021
Content warning: foul language, gore, blood, mental wellness, violence against women, misogyny
Lucky is another film I’ve discussed a lot on here and social media. This is not an easy film to watch, but it is an important film to watch. If I had to define a theme for the best films of 2021, it would be the necessity of the critical eye. Lucky is a terrifying film in its own right that comments on violence against women in cinema and society. You can’t separate the narrative from this content by design and it’s equally devastating, eye-opening, and horrifying.
Lucky is a horror film that actually scared me.
Lucky is streaming on Shudder.
Jakob’s Wife
Released 16 April 2021
Content warning: blood, gore, violence against women, foul language
Jakob’s Wife teeters the line between horror, dark comedy, and domestic drama. This is a vampire story that finds a new angle on the creature and I’m here for it. Barbara Crampton’s performance as a listless housewife rediscovering herself through the vampire’s kiss is some of the finest acting onscreen this year. This bloody, gory film has a whole lot to say about society, religion, domesticity, and the use of horror tropes for narrative creation.
I would gladly center a best vampire films list around Jakob’s Wife.
Jakob’s Wife is streaming on Shudder.
Bo Burnham Inside
Released 30 May 2021
Content warning: death by suicide, mental wellness, foul language
The secondary theme of 2021 is the reclamation of the movie musical. I cannot remember the last time we had over a dozen filmed musicals (counting proshots like Diana and Come From Away) release in one year. Each one is an entirely different experience. Bo Burnham Inside is an experimental musical with a one-person cast. Bo Burnham reflects on life under quarantine on the cusp of his 30th birthday. He becomes obsessed with producing flashier and more extravagant song performances in his one-room apartment, filling every inch of the space with lights, cameras, and cables.
Bo Burnham Inside is one of the most original movie musicals ever.
Bo Burnham Inside is streaming on Netflix.
The Night House
Released 20 August 2021
Content warning: death by suicide, violence against women, mental wellness, grieving, blood, alcohol abuse, nudity
The Night House is a brilliant, beautiful, and challenging horror film. I’ve mentioned this before, but psychological horror films with a haunted house as a metaphor for mental state is very on trend in indie horror. The Night House goes beyond suggestion. This is a portrait of grief and depression after unimaginable loss. It’s also a terrifying story of secrets carried to the grave that should’ve stayed there.
The Night House is upsetting and cathartic in the ways only a great horror film can be.
The Night House is available to rent or buy on all digital platforms.
Candyman (2021)
Released 27 August 2021
Content warning: racial violence, violence against women, child endangerment, blood, gore, body horror, gunfire
Candyman (2021) had me at the puppets. Okay, Nia DaCosta’s brilliant reimagining of the Candyman franchise had me at a lot of things: the writing; the acting; the design; the critical lens on horror, society, art, and gentrification—the list goes on. No detail is too small to matter in this film, as evidenced by the original score from Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe making the short list for the Original Score category at the Academy Awards. Nia DaCosta directs my new favorite slasher film of all time. I cannot wait to see what she does next.
Candyman (2021) is the promise of a great slasher film concept finally realized.
Candyman is available to rent or buy on all digital platforms.
Martyr’s Lane
Released 9 September 2021
Content warning: blood, animal death, child loss, grieving, death by suicide
I’m a sucker for a good dark fantasy film. I also really enjoy digging into religious horror films. Martyr’s Lane is both. This is also part of a particular subgenre of child-led horror/dark fantasy/adventure films that comes around every few years. Let’s be clear. If they somehow managed to make this a musical, too, it would easily be one of my favorite films of all time. It has everything I look for in weird fiction, done with great style and precision.
Martyr’s Lane is the grand descendant of films like Curse of the Cat People and Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural reimagined for a modern audience.
Martyr’s Lane is streaming on Shudder.
tick, tick…BOOM!
Released 12 November 2021
Content warning: foul language, hospital footage
I’ve been a fan of tick, tick…BOOM! since the off-Broadway adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s rock monologue in 2001. The songs were in my audition book and I’ve taught or performed “Louder than Words” as part of countless cabarets, revues, and fundraisers. The film adaptation is brilliant. It captures what makes Jonathan Larson’s composing and storytelling so special without feeling obligated to stick to the script. Larson wrote for theatre, and tick, tick…BOOM! understands that film is a very different medium.
tick, tick…BOOM! is the best rock musical adaptation onscreen since Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
tick, tick…BOOM! is streaming on Netflix.
Encanto
Released 24 November 2021
Content warning: grieving
If 2021 had an unexpected motif, it’s magical realism. My favorite character in Encanto is Casita, the house of the family Madrigal. Its role as setting, character, protector, and guide is something that could only happen in an animated film. I also genuinely believe that Encanto is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s best original musical score to date. Every song serves the story, keeping the plot moving and teaching you more about the large ensemble cast.
The brilliance of Encanto is its attention to detail, with everything from costumes to choreography working together to tell a story about family and magic onscreen.
Encanto is streaming on Disney+.
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Released 25 December 2021
Content warning: blood, gore, violence against women, violence against children
I have a brave but controversial opinion about Macbeth: I don’t love it as a play. I think it’s an incredibly difficult show to produce well because it’s Shakespeare playing with Greek tragedy. The action happens offstage until the final act. The aggressive scheming of Lady Macbeth is far more compelling than the brooding contemplation of Macbeth. The brilliance of The Tragedy of Macbeth is telling this classic story in an active way. Denzel Washington actually makes me interested in Macbeth as a character, easily making him my favorite performer in the role since Alan Cumming’s solo adaptation of the play. Frances McDormand is a great match as Lady Macbeth, able to play off a Macbeth who feels like an actual player in his own story.
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a active reimagining of a Shakespearean tragedy, modernizing its presentation without changing its poetic language.
The Tragedy of Macbeth is playing in theatres and streaming on Apple TV+.
The Best Film of 2021?
The Night House
I don’t think I ask for a lot in films. I just want a beautiful, well-acted, brilliantly scripted psychological horror film exploring tropes I enjoy from entirely new angles. Okay, I ask for a lot. The Night House delivers all of that and more. And by more, I mean I would wallpaper my entire house in that movie poster if it was feasible to do so.
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