About half way through the year, I was beginning to wonder how far down I’d end up going for this top ten. However, the last few months proved strong, and in the end this wasn’t a problem at all. True, there was nothing quite at the level of Godzilla Minus One, but the second tier was particularly strong. That made the ranking process especially tough. On another day, the order could have been radically different.
Going by my Letterboxd diary, the final tally for 2024 was 443 movies, all told, up sixteen from 427 last year. The decline of cinema going continues: only one title in this year’s top ten was seen theatrically. A couple of others might have been nice to see there, but it didn’t feel crucial. Weirdly, the top four films are all significantly gynocentric. Not a conscious choice, just the way it worked out. Does this qualify me as a third-wave feminist? I’d have to know what that is to tell you. We also have the first female director to top the list since 2018… well, it’s actually the same person. I think it’s safe to say we’ll be eagerly anticipating her next feature.
Honorable mentions, in no particular order: The Beekeeper, Girl Upstairs, The Debt Collector, One More Shot, Anaconda, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Kill, Oddity, Saint Catherine and First Voice. And just for a laugh, the worst films which qualify as this year? [I’m discounting a couple of FearCon submissions which were worse still, but since they were not “released”, I’m choosing to deny their existence entirely] Dinosaur Prison and A Dangerous Prey, with a special mention to Lisa Frankenstein as the worst film released in over 3,000 theatres. Maybe chicks do suck, after all…
10. Boy Kills World
It was a good year for action, and in a less competitive one, this might well have ranked higher. Bill Skarsgård (right) goes the Bob Odenkirk route of, “Wait – he’s an action hero?”, and does rather well. He’s a good fit for the insanity of the plot and overall approach here. What we said: “If you can imagine the offspring resulting from a drunken threesome between Archer, Equilibrium and Hobo With a Shotgun, you may be getting in the right direction. Kinda.”
9. The Last Stop in Yuma County
Winner of the award for Best Film Pretending to be Arizona, and one of a number of films in 2024 from promising young film-makers, who’ve got me excited to see where they go. The influences here aren’t obvious, yet if the ingredients are not original, the end product remains flavoursome. What we said: “Despite Galluppi’s lack of experience, this is an engrossing thriller, whose twists and turns work considerably more often than they misfire.”
8. All You Need Is Blood
The zombie genre continues to surprise. Just when you think it’s deader than its inhabitants, it comes back with a surprise. Previous top 10’s have included One Cut of the Dead and The Sadness; this skews far closer to the former, being charmingly meta. Early prediction: 28 Years Later makes my 2025 list. What we said: “It’s all refreshingly inventive, and considerably gorier than I expected from the trailer… I’d rather have a film with too many ideas than not enough”
7. Hundreds of Beavers
Undeniably the most unusual film I’ve seen this year, and likely ranked highly all-time. This is the kind of film which is almost impossible to describe, and is Pythonesque in terms of its humour. By which I mean, you will either “get” this or you won’t, and there’s likely no budging anyone from either camp. What we said: “There’s an awful lot to admire here, showing that limited resources are no barrier to imagination of the fully committed kind.”
6. 1978
As always in FearCon years, we saw a lot of submissions: good, bad and indifferent. But this one was clearly the most relentless and memorable. I can’t think of many horror films set in a South American interrogation facility, which then shoehorn Satanic ritual into the mix. A fresh idea, very well executed. What we said: “The kind of film which might return to you in the middle of the night, accompanied by a cold sweat.”
5. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In
Speaking of fresh locations, the Walled City has always been a fascinating location, and this kung-fu film delivers on all the potential. There’s some incredible action, which takes full advantage of the urban environment, a place on which the traditional forces of law and order have simply given up. What we said: “Revel in what feels like a throwback to the “heroic bloodshed” films of the nineties – albeit largely without guns, to the point I was genuinely shocked when somebody opened fire.”
4. Strange Darling
Probably the most difficult film to write about, because it does rely on a sharp ninety-degree turn in the middle. Although I’m not generally a fan of films with fractured timelines, JT Mollner uses the conceit to excellent effect here, setting things up in one direction, before yanking out the carpet from beneath you. What we said: “Knowing where it’s going would perhaps rob this of significant impact. As a one-shot though, it’s an impressively savage ride, with no quarter given.”
3. The Shadow Strays
Since The Raid: Redemption showed up in 2011, Indonesia has perhaps been responsible for the best martial-arts films on the planet. Timo Tjahjanto has played his part, in particular with The Night Comes for Us – this is a little short, though perhaps only to the degree the action in The Raid 2 is short of its predecessor. What we said: “At its best this is enough to make me consider introducing a six-star rating, because it goes places I’ve never seen. When it does, the results are glorious.”
2. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Even on its release, this seemed like a commercial folly. Nine years after Fury Road (which barely broke even), containing no Mad Max, and recasting its iconic heroine. Box-office failure seemed inevitable, and so it proved. But it was, far and away, the best cinematic experience of the year. What we said: “A full-on, bombastic, in your face event that made full use of everything IMAX has in its locker, and surpassed anything I could get at home.”
1. The Substance
This is my twenty-sixth top ten, and Coralie Fargeat is the only director to have a film ranked #1 more than once, following up on 2018’s Revenge. Her follow-up is… different, but that proves her talent as director that she’s not restricted by genre. It’s just as confrontational, in your face and if Demi Moore isn’t Oscar-nominated, I’m burning down Hollywood. What we said: “What is crafted here is more than the sum of these parts, a genuinely disturbing piece of horror, which will inform the ickier side of your nightmares.”
Top 10 Films: 1999-2024 lists
