The third draw of the Nightmare Deck comes only eight days after the last one. This isn’t a pace I would become accustomed to, obviously. Every draw is the culmination of fifty-two written reviews (of horror or an adjacent genre) added to The ‘Bib database. I haven’t kept count in recent years, but I would estimate that I write about half that every year. Sometimes I will get a wild hair up my ass and write more than that, and other times, I will go through a dry spell and won’t even reach that.
Fortunately, since I have been writing reviews since 2013 (actually, a lot earlier than that – but you wouldn’t want to read those reviews), I have a large backlog to draw from (by my count, I have about one-hundred left that will fit into the Nightmare Deck). I try not to add them all in at once, both because I want it to feel like more of an in-progress adventure, and because I have to format every review, add tags, categorization, and other tedious touch ups that add up to a real chore when dealing in such bulk. This was a special exception.
I Saw the Devil and The Invisible Man top this draw of the Nightmare Deck. I tell you, I have loved the South Korean film I Saw the Devil for years and I am very confident with my stance on it. It is harsh. It is mean-spirited. It is also well-acted and beautifully macabre. Thus far, it is my absolute favorite South Korean film and one of my all time favorite crime thrillers.
For the database, its inclusion is more about the actor Choi Min-sik than the director Kim Jee-woon. As much as I personally loved the film, there aren’t many other films from the director’s filmography that fit for the Nightmare Deck or that I feel a desire to seek out. That happens a lot with South Korean directors, where their filmography can take them all over the map and without a distinct flavor. The main exception is Park Chan-wook, of course. Choi Min-sik as an actor will pop up a bunch of times in the draws. Guy had the main role in Oldboy, and was also in Lady Vengeance and some others I will talk about.
Leigh Whannell adds his first top-ranking film to the Nightmare Deck. The Invisible Man was fantastic, and was a real breakthrough for him as a director, but I am not discounting his writing credits either. From Saw to Insidious, he and James Wan helped define the horror genre in the new millennium. When I have enough compiled, I will definitely make a series and see what it all adds up to.
Scott Derrickson sees his second entry in the Top Rankings. I actually like Sinister even more than I like The Black Phone, and it would have shared the Top Three with the aforementioned movies had the end / the Blumhouse-y aspects not hurt it some for me. I have a review of Deliver Us From Evil in my archives and I fully intend to revisit Hellraiser: Inferno (a film I personally remember as my favorite of the Hellraiser franchise) for a review as well. Not only that, but I recently bought The Exorcism of Emily Rose on DVD, so I will be logging my review of that in the coming weeks.
The Impostor is a different kind of film for the Nightmare Deck. It is a documentary, but it fully meets the criteria of adding up to a real horror show – and it’s a fantastic documentary to boot. Go watch it!
I am not super comfortable with the additions of Random Acts of Violence and Unlucky just yet. If only because I wrote the reviews after a single viewing. Either way though, they were good films that made me excited for what would be next for each director.
Radio Silence logs another credit in the Nightmare Deck. Although they have yet to make it to the Top Rankings, Abigail and Scream both delivered the goods. I haven’t logged my review of Scream 6 yet, but I will eventually. I will likely have to re-watch it now that it has been so long. I recently bought the film Devil’s Due, which was their freshman debut. I have heard a lot of negative things about it, and these films aren’t usually my cup of tea anyways, but like Scott Derrickson’s Exorcism of Emily Rose, I wanted to log it for the Nightmare Deck anyways.
Rob Zombie makes his third entry into the Nightmare Deck, and although it isn’t a Top Ranking film, it is, head and shoulders, an improvement over Three From Hell or House of 1,000 Corpses. A lot of people didn’t like the Halloween remake, and I can empathize with you, but I still think is an alright film and a worthwhile addition to the Halloween franchise and the slasher sub-genre. At one point, I thought Rob Zombie had a lot of potential as a filmmaker. I don’t necessarily not think that now, but I haven’t been as impressed in his more recent movies. I still need to write a review of The Devil’s Rejects (which is, very much so, my favorite of his films), but, after that, I am not sure when I will return to him.
I added two new movies from French directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, which include their horror films Among the Living and Leatherface. For anyone who has seen their work, they seemed perfect for a Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. Unfortunately, Leatherface wasn’t everything I hoped it would be. It was better than Texas Chainsaw or the more recent Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, but that isn’t exactly the highest praise. Among the Living is the better of the two films and does show a little more of why I thought they’d be good for such an undertaking. I will likely write more about the duo, as they still have a couple movies I want to touch on. Good luck to them!
Charles Band adds another film on the green side of the deck. As I have talked about, I have a soft spot for Full Moon Features, and, honestly and truly, I would love it if a handful of them are able to land on the more positive side of a draw. Head of the Family and The Creeps are two of the better films with Band attached as director (there are a whole bunch with him attached as producer, however). I am curious where it will all land for him. I expect him to be a permanent fixture in the draws for years to come.
Christopher Landon appears three times in the list, both for his Happy Death Day movies and for his film Freaky. The director specializes in genre-bending horror fare, and although he hasn’t come out with a film I have been head over heels for, they’ve all at least been fun. I am disappointed he didn’t end up directing Scream 7, because I think that would have been a good test for him. That said, I have no complaints about seeing Kevin Williamson attached to it instead! If I ever actually bite the bullet and watch the Paranormal Activity films, I will run into him again. For what it’s worth, although I know the Marked Ones film was despised by more than a few, it is the film I am most interested in seeing from the franchise.
Eli Roth pops up again with The Green Inferno and Knock Knock, neither of which would I say I cared for. I recently bought a copy of Hostel 2, which I am pretty sure is my favorite film that Eli Roth has directed, so you can expect a review of that. I will also definitely write a review for Borderlands when it comes out (I am a big fan of the games, but I don’t have much hope for the film).
Don Mancini pops up on the list (as a director). Every Child’s Play film owes a debt to him, obviously, as a writer and creator, but Cult and Curse are two films he outright directed. Admittedly, there is a rather distinct drop in quality when you compare the films Don Mancini directed against every film in the series he didn’t direct, but Cult of Chucky was, at least, a fun film, as is the TV show!
1.) I Saw the Devil – review originally written in 2022 – (4.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Kim Jee-woon (1)
2.) The Invisible Man – review originally written in 2020 – (4.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Leigh Whannell (1)
3.) Sinister – review originally written in 2021 – (4.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Scott Derrickson (2)
4.)The Impostor – review originally written in 2020 – (4.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Bart Layton (1)
5.) Random Acts of Violence – review originally written in 2021 – (4.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Jay Baruchel (1)
6.) Unlucky – review originally written in 2022 – (4.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Natasha Kermani (1)
7.) Trick R Treat – review originally written in 2021 – (3.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Michael Dougherty (1)
8.) The Golden Glove – review originally written in 2022 – (3.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Fatih Akin (1)
9.) The Dirties – review originally written in 2021 – (3.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Matt Johnson (1)
10.) Abigail – review originally written in 2024 – (3.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Radio Silence (2)
11.) Halloween (remake) – review originally written in 2022 – (3.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Rob Zombie (2)
12.) Head of the Family – review originally written in 2020 – (3.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Charles Band (3)
13.) The Purge: Anarchy – review originally written in 2014 – (3.0 out of 5.0)
directed by James DeMonaco (2)
14.) Cult of Chucky – review originally written in 2020 – (3.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Don Mancini (2)
15.) The Skin I Live In – review originally written in 2022 – (3.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Pedro Almodovar (1)
16.) Willy’s Wonderland – review originally written in 2021 – (3.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Kevin Lewis (1)
17.) Mortal Kombat – review originally written in 2021 – (3.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Simon McQuoid (1)
18.) Among the Living – review originally written in 2021 – (3.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (3)
19.) Shook – review originally written in 2022 – (3.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Jennifer Harrington (1)
20.) Leatherface – review originally written in 2020 – (2.5 out of 5.0)
directed by directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (3)
21.) Tokyo Ghoul – review originally written in 2020 – (2.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Kentaro Hagiwara
22.) Freaky – review originally written in 2020 – (2.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Christopher Landon (3)
23.) Come Play – review originally written in 2020 – (2.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Jacob Chase (1)
24.) Spree – review originally written in 2021 – (2.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko
25.) WNUF Halloween Special – review originally written in 2021 – (2.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Chris LaMartina (1)
26.) House of Wax (remake) – review originally written in 2023 – (2.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (1)
27.) The First Purge – review originally written in 2018 – (2.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Gerard McMurray (1)
28.) Happy Death Day – review originally written in 2020 – (2.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Christopher Landon (3)
29.) Happy Death Day 2U – review originally written in 2020 – (2.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Christopher Landon (3)
30.) Machete Kills – review originally written in 2014 – (2.5 out of 5.0)
directed by Robert Rodriguez (1)
31.) Sinister 2 – review originally written in 2015 (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Ciarán Foy (1)
32.) A Serbian Film – review originally written in 2022 – (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Dragan Bjelogrlić (1)
33.) The Green Inferno – review originally written in 2015 (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Eli Roth (3)
34.) Knock Knock – review originally written in 2015 (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Eli Roth (3)
35.) Godzilla vs. Kong – review originally written in 2021 – (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Adam Wingard (1)
36.) The Lie – review originally written in 2020 – (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Veena Sud (1)
37.) Tourist Trap – review originally written in 2021 – (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by David Schmoeller (2)
38.) The New Mutants – review originally written in 2020 – (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Josh Boone (1)
39.) The Owners – review originally written in 2021 – (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Julius Berg (1)
40.) The Good Exorcist – review originally written in 2021 – (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Josh Stifter (1)
41.) The Woman in the Window – review originally written in 2021 – (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Joe Wright (1)
42.) The Nun – review originally written in 2020 – (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Corin Hardy (1)
43.) The Purge – review originally written in 2014 – (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by James DeMonaco (2)
44.) Curse of Chucky – review originally written in 2020 (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Don Mancini (2)
45.) The Curse of the Werewolf – review originally written in 2020 (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Terrence Fisher (2)
46.) Castle Freak – review originally written in 2023 – (2.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Stuart Gordon (2)
47.) Killjoy 3 – review originally written in 2020 – (1.5 out of 5.0)
directed by John Lechago (2)
48.) Puppet Master – review originally written in 2020 – (1.5 out of 5.0)
directed by David Schmoeller (2)
49.) Blade: The Iron Cross – review originally written in 2020 – (1.5 out of 5.0)
directed by John Lechago (2)
50.) The Slumber Party Massacre – review originally written in 2022 – (1.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Amy Holden Jones (1)
51.) All I Need – review originally written in 2020 – (1.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Dylan K. Narang
52.) Blood Widow – review originally written in 2014 – (1.0 out of 5.0)
directed by Jeremiah Buckhalt (1)
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