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2024 has certainly been a great year for horror movies, with the likes of The Substance, Late Night with the Devil, Longlegs, Oddity, and I Saw the TV Glow taking some wildly creative swings that largely paid off. But not all horrors are created equal, and with the sheer number of horror movies being produced every year, they can't all be home runs. Failures and disappointments are simply inevitable.
And that's unfortunately the case with these 10 horror films from the past year or so, which despite their promising concepts, great casts, and sure filmmaking pedigree behind the camera, fell far short of expectations. Whether hobbled by frustratingly ropey writing or an overall underwhelming execution, these horror flicks squandered their setups, casts, and crew, serving up mediocre efforts that didn't nearly deliver on their potential. Sure, most of them aren't terrible by any means and are certainly still worth watching, but given their huge promise, it's tough not to lament what could've been.
And in extreme cases, you might even hope that another filmmaker tackles the ideas again sometime down the line - that's how badly they were whiffed here...
10. Trap Even accepting that M. Night Shyamalan is far from a consistent filmmaker, he certainly has a knack for coming up with intriguing concepts and roping in talented casts for good measure.
His most recent film Trap is certainly no exception, revolving around serial killer Cooper aka The Butcher (Josh Hartnett), who must attempt to free himself from a sting operation - a trap , even - laid for him at a pop concert he's attending with his daughter (Ariel Donoghue). It's an assuredly delicious setup for a fun single-location horror-thriller, and though Trap's first act sets things in motion ably enough, by the mid-way point it's clear that Shyamalan doesn't have anywhere compelling to take the story. There are a few obvious missteps here.
For starters, ditching the concert setting halfway through the movie undermines the claustrophobic suspense established in that first half, but worse than that, the script is jam-packed with groan-worthy contrivances too. The result is a painfully underwhelming mishandling of a fantastic idea, enough that you might even wish another filmmaker offers up their own riff on the concept sometime down the line..
