Top 10 Genre Flicks Of The Year So Far!

Last Updated on August 3, 2021

Here’s a horrifying word to hear during the summer: midterms! Ah, but yes friends, that’s exactly what’s in store below, as we’re about to take a midway poll regarding some of the best movies of 2017 so far. You might be surprised to see what makes the cut, what’s omitted, and which specific order of ranking we’ve placed each film. Or hell, maybe you won’t!

Regardless, cop a look at our Top 10 Genre Flicks of the Year so far (written by myself, Jake Dee, and Eric Walkuski), and as always, let us know what we got right or wrong in the talk-backs underneath!

#1. GET OUT

F*ck a genre joint, GET OUT just might be the biggest cinematic success of 2017 altogether! Not only a bona fide critical and commercial smash hit, Jordan Peele’s original debut holds the highest grossing distinction of such since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT in 1999. Most impressive yet? It’s actually about something. It has something to say. This mordantly satirical social commentary regarding thinly veiled liberalism is as genuinely funny as it is unnerving, a movie that lives up to its own hype. See it now if you’re one of 12 people who haven’t! – Jake Dee

#2. RAW

Appetizers for al dente? Anyone up for a crudo? A tasty Tartare? If so, RAW is the only dish on the menu. Straight up, this delectable Euro delight is one the nastiest, gnarliest, best reviewed delicacies to debut in 2017. You may have missed it in theaters when it dropped in limited fashion this March, but don’t fret folks, the DVD hit in less than two months (Sept. 5th). The plot? A demure vegetarian gets hazed to the point of turning into a cannibalistic carnivore. Or, if you want, an evil epicure of the uncooked! Hell of a theatrical debut for writer/director Julia Ducournau! – Jake Dee

#3. LOGAN

I know a good portion of us are tired of the “dark and brooding” subgenre of superhero films, but when you get a flick as powerful and impressive as LOGAN delivered straight to your gut, you can’t help but be grateful. The perfect finale for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, LOGAN is a killer combo of western, road movie and horror film, with some of the most shocking displays of violence seen in a studio production aimed – one might assume – at younger viewers. Jackman, Patrick Stewart and young Dafne Keen (as Laura) are all superb, and if there’s any justice the whole lot of them and director James Mangold will get some awards love at the end of the year. – Eric Walkuski

#4. A CURE FOR WELLNESS

What the hell is this? How did a bizarre, 2 1/2 hour-long tribute to Vincent Price, Hammer Horror and Universal Pictures of old get the green-light from a major studio? No clue, but I don’t care; I’ll be eternally thrilled that such a bizarre thing exists. The vision of Gore Verbinski, who was clearly fed up with toiling away at Disney products, A CURE FOR WELLNESS is a descent into hallucinatory madness, with top-notch art direction and cinematography making it a rather vivid and troubling experience. No one saw it upon its initial release, but here’s hoping it gains a second life on home video from horror fans who think “studio horror” is just for wimps. – Eric Walkuski

#5. IT COMES AT NIGHT

Damn, I love me some Carmen Ejogo, an adoration that multiplied by a factor of two this year by her appearance in both IT COMES AT NIGHT and ALIEN: COVENANT. As for the former, the paranoid post-apocalyptic test of humanity proved quite the follow-up flick for Trey Edward Shults after his impressive debut KRISHA. While difficult to discuss without betraying too much, the tense mood and creepy compulsions of the ubiquitous Joel Edgerton is worthy of more than a mention! – Jake Dee

#6. HOUNDS OF LOVE

This one knocked me out. A gripping portrait of two lovers who psychopathically get their kicks by kidnapping, sexually abusing, and murdering teenage girls, HOUNDS OF LOVE works not only as an intense thriller but as heartbreaking drama, where even the vile antagonists have a measure of humanity and vulnerability. Not exploitive in the least, HOUNDS OF LOVE features three amazing performances and signals the arrival of a major talent in director Ben Young, who made his feature debut here. Seek this out, pronto. – Eric Walkuski

#7. A DARK SONG

A riveting and lurid suspense drama, A DARK SONG’s success hinges not only on its central mystery, but on the performances of its two leads. who are both are excellent. This is a chilling tale of a woman who wants to locate her dead son and the bizarre individual she hires to help her, and watching it unfold is almost like being front row at a creepy play. I’m not sure how many people actually got around to seeing A DARK SONG, but you should not make a Top 10 list mid-year – or at the end of the year – without checking it out. – Eric Walkuski

#8. THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS

Colm McCarthy’s sprawling allegorical spin on the infected-zombie subgenre – THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS – is a cut above the rest of this year’s genre flicks in just about every imaginable facet. Not only is our protagonist a young girl, she’s a budding zombie to boot, and her strengths as such are what prove to aide humanity’s survival in the end. Everything about the movie, from the story to the plot, to the direction, to the VFX and the acting…has an undeniably high quality that is bound to stay with you after the entrancing finale. See this movie already! – Jake Dee

#9. THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER

Oz Perkins’ THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER just might be the most low-key-best-movie to be released so far in 2017. Hell, it was shot in 2015 and only released this year, so that surely has something to do with it. Story wise, the plot concerns two female boarding school students who must contend with an escalating evil on campus. Color it a guilty pleasure, but I’ve come to enjoy Emma Roberts onscreen quite a bit, probably for her role as Chanel on Scream Queens, no joke, quite possibly the most despicable character on TV since Archie Bunker! – Jake Dee

#10. PREVENGE

Ah yeah, we kick this sucker off with a little love to the international indie crowd, as Alice Lowe’s British feature debut PREVENGE is deserving as both a hilariously premised and brutally savage horror comedy. Seriously, a very pregnant mother-to-be receiving homicidal directives from her unborn baby? How has that brilliantly murderous metaphor for raging hormones never been done before? Too good! – Jake Dee