The Best Movies of 2016... So Far.

Now that the year is half over (how in the hell did that happen?), we thought it appropriate to take a look at the best movies that 2016 has given us so far, and it's given us some pretty good ones.



As of this writing, we have yet to see The Purge: Election Year; Satanic; Carnage Park; or The Neon Demon. We've seen just about everything else that was released in the first half of 2016 theatrically, on disc, or on VOD, so we made this list with plenty of perspective as to what the year has and has not been thus far, movie-wise.

• This list is alphabetical, not in any sort of ranking order.


• You can click the pics to read our reviews of each movie, if you want  our full thoughts, instead of just a blurb. *The Blackcoat's Daughter is one that haven't reviewed yet, so that link goes to IMDB.

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE

A lot of mystery surrounded 10 Cloverfield Lane before its release, and although we weren't sure whether it was supposed to be a direct sequel to Cloverfield or not, we went into it with open minds and a healthy sense of curiosity... and we were rewarded with a movie that was a few different things at once, all of them pretty damned good.



We really hope they'll do a sequel, because we want to know where the story goes next. We really loved the hell out of this one.

THE BLACKCOAT'S DAUGHTER

The Blackcoat's Daughter is a slow burn Supernatural Thriller that took us to places that we didn't expect. I know that sounds generic as hell, and the term slow-burn is used far too often these days to describe slow and boring movies, but this one really had it's own quiet, eerie thing going on, and it left one hell of an impression on us. If this is the type of thing that we can expect from Osgood Perkins as his career moves forward, which it most certainly will, then we're in for some good times. 



I'd need way more words than this small space would hold to explain why this movie was so good, so until we post our review, I'll just say that The Blackcoat's Daughter may well be our favorite Horror movie of 2016 so far. Maybe.

DEADPOOL

This vulgar Superhero flick made us laugh our asses off from start to finish, which probably tells you a lot about us. Then again, we never really claimed to be all that classy or highbrow to begin with, now did we?



Deadpool was probably the most fun we've had in a theater this year.

GREEN ROOM

Green Room is an intense Thriller that engaged us from the get-go, and kept us on edge throughout. Its ultra-violent content is a big part of the movie, but its humanity is what really propels it forward, making the gory moments that much more impactful. Solid writing, directing, and acting make this one well-above average in that way. 



Anton Yelchin, in what may be the last "big" genre movie of his short career, was a standout.

HUSH

Hush is exactly what a Home Invasion Thriller should be; tight, intense, bloody, and devoid of too many cliches and tropes that would kill the vibe. Not that it's perfect, or isn't familiar in some ways, but it's executed so well that we didn't care about it's lesser points.



This is a great movie to watch alone in the dark... especially if you live way out in the country.

THE INVITATION

Whether or not you like The Invitation is really going to depend on how you feel about movies that take their time to get where they're going. We're all for a good old fashioned slow-burn if it's handled well, and especially if we get some strong characters who keep us engaged through it all, and that's exactly what we got with this movie. We dug the hell out of it. 



The Invitation is definitely the classiest Horror movie of 2016 so far.

THE ONES BELOW

The Ones Below is a slow-burn Thriller that has a classic feel to it, and it did a great job of keeping us hooked throughout. Some critics claim that the movie loses its edge in the final act, but we disagree, as we found it to be a solid culmination of the creepy groundwork that had been laid over the previous 60 minutes.



Clemence Poesy makes us swoon a bit, even if she was more on the creepy side in this one. That twist...

THE SHALLOWS

The Shallows is one of the best killer shark movies we've ever seen. That may not sound like high praise, because most killer shark movies aren't very good to begin with, but this movie can be safely mentioned in the same breath as Jaws and Open Water when the best of them is discussed, and that's saying something.



Blake Lively in a bikini is not THE reason we enjoyed this one so much, but it was A reason.

SOUTHBOUND

Southbound is one hell of a Horror Anthology that got just about everything right, and the things that it got wrong weren't really all that wrong, but more like off a bit. I really don't want to sound like I'm overselling this one (this movie is made my many of the folks who gave us the V/H/S movies, and I had no issue ripping them apart as needed), but it's better than any of them were, and one of the better Horror Anthologies in recent years. It may even be the best one since Trick 'r Treat.



The world needs more Horror Anthologies like this one.

THE WAVE

The Wave is easily one of the best disaster movies that we've ever seen. It's exciting, intense, earnest, and its characters felt real. It's an extremely well-constructed movie that Hollywood could really learn a lesson (or ten) from when it comes to how to do a "big" movie in a very small, effective way.



Who doesn't love a good Norwegian Disaster movie?

THE WITCH

This witchy, Satanic masterpiece really deserves the praise though. This is not a perfect film; everyone is going to find different things to love and hate about it. For us though, The Witch is a gorgeous, moody, horrifying film that took plenty of familiar tropes and made them its own, and in doing so, gave us an experience that felt very different and fresh from the norm. This is exactly the kind of Horror movie that we love.



Along with The Blackcoat's Daughter, The Witch is at the very top of our list of Best Horror Movies of 2016, and will likely still be there when the second half of the year is over.