2019 - R - 10/10 - Eggers’ slow-burn Lovecraftian masterpiece.

In The Lighthouse, Eggers perfected a stunning vision of madness. His second film found him fixing the small pacing, editing, and narrative flaws that divided people on The Witch. The movie is hard to categorize as it is a weird intense character study focusing on two men stranded in a lighthouse until they (or something unseen) drive them insane. It is extremely entertaining to ride along as Dafoe and Pattinson turn in tour-de-force performances becoming increasingly unhinged and detached from reality.

2023 - R - 7/10 - Nic Cage in another ‘good but not great’ movie.

Lately Cage can be hit-or-miss. This is very nearly another hidden gem. His character starts appearing in everyone’s dreams which leads to a plot loosely about cancel culture but missing a clear opinion. The result is unfocused as the main premise branches off to several ideas, none explored too deeply. By the end, it feels like watching part of 4 decent movies but fails to fully tie things together in a satisfying way. This is one that others will say I am too harsh on but it is frustratingly close to being a great film.

2024 - R - 8/10 - A solid follow up and another creepy trip.

I was pleasantly surprised by the first Smile. Stop reading here if you don’t want spoilers, I warned you. The first Smile has a great “unreliable narrator” twist to it as the protagonist loses her mind and we go with her. This movie doubles down on that bit and pays off in a lot of the same ways. The one thing that I will knock here is that it feels like a remake of its predecessor with a larger budget, without pushing the lore or larger story much further. That is a nitpick though as this film delivers again on this premise.

2024 - R - 9/10 - Another Robert Eggers Masterpiece.

This is a great film that delivers exactly what you would hope for when you hear Nosferatu is being remade by the director of The Witch. If you are not familiar with Eggars, he loves a slow burn movie oozing with atmosphere. This is only his 4th movie and his constant refinement of his craft really shows. Here he is attempting to make the definitive version of this story and by referencing other versions of Dracula in other movies and staying close to the source material, he may have accomplished just that.

This year saw Inside Out 2 and Wolverine & Deadpool duke it out for the top spot, followed by Wicked, Moana 2, and Despicable Me 4 to round out the top 5. Otherwise, there were several other films that, while they didn’t crack into the top spots, still made a decent amount versus their expectations. The most notable of these was Terrifier 3 which made waves by burying Joker 2 during its second weekend and wildly outperforming its expectations overall.

2024 continued to be the mixed bag for Hollywood that we have seen the last few years but we also saw signs that audiences still turn out for quality movies. Hopefully things like Terrifier 3, The Substance, Oddity, Nosferatu, Longlegs, etc will start to give more momentum to appropriately sized budgets and projects that stay true to artists’ vision instead of blowing up budgets on safe mediocre things we have seen 100 times.

Overall, 2024 was a decent year for movies in the theater and definitely had a better “average” experience than other recent years where we saw huge flops and stretches of nothing interesting enough to invest in seeing at the theater.

Streaming delivered another good year of hidden gems, foreign oddities, and low budget chances taken on quality projects. Over on Letterboxd, we were able to look at the best reviewed movies from 2024 that didn’t make a splash at the box office. In this list, we have some great films like Oddity, I Saw the TV Glow, Anora, The Wild Robot, and VHS: Beyond.

For best theater experiences this year, it has to be Dune 2 in the Dolby Cinema. It is hard to beat the feeling of the seats and your entire existence rumbling as Paul Atreides climbs his way up to set the reigns on that sandworm. As for streaming/home experiences, Oddity was a great surprise that we were talking about for weeks afterwards.

Overall, our favorite movie of 2024 was The Substance. Unhinged from start to finish, it was amazing to see an over-the-top gore-filled arthouse character study while it was new and in the theater. Sure, the movie isn’t for everyone but it is great to see what will be a cult classic when it is new instead of finding it decades later.

So, as we look forward to 2025, we have another year that looks to be stacking up about the same. There are a few big sequels, several smaller things to get excited about, and plenty of questionable things getting a green light. Keeping an eye on Jurassic World, Avatar, and several smaller horror movies. Follow along here as we see how it unfolds. Happy New Year!

I know we have started off nearly every newsletter with a thank you but, truly, thanks to everyone who made Thrills Ville part of your holidays! We decided late to add a couple of extra shopping days for you all and open up on 12/23 and 12/24, when we typically would have been closed, and the response was great. We had a good run starting from Black Metal Friday through the end of the year.

Thanks again for all the support in 2024!

BUT no reason to slow down now! See below for info on the Thrills Ville party for Joe’s birthday later this month. We have several big things lined up, including an in-store performance by our friends Low Water Mark for Ghosts!

Happy New Year, here’s to a big 2025 for Thrills Ville!