Top 10 Blumhouse Movies

Greetings, reader!

This topic was suggested to me earlier this year, and I saw this as a solid time for the release of this post - the original The Purge (2013), one of the more influential and well-known films produced by Blumhouse, turned 10 years old this month. So, out of the ones I've seen, these are the the top 10 films by the production company Blumhouse!

10. The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

The second Purge flick may not be a cinematic masterpiece, but it is a significant step up from the first instalment - the film of the hour, turning 10 years old this month, barely missed out on the top 10. While The Purge (2013) introduced us to the franchise's silly but intriguing premise, it failed to really do anything particularly interesting with the concept, as a vast majority of the film follows the house of a rich family who aren't taking part in Purge Night. 

In this improved sequel, the action is taken to the streets, as we truly see what society looks like on the annual night when all crime is free game and people go wild. We follow multiple converging storylines, featuring plenty of intense action and exciting twists. An all-in-all solid sequel that does a much better job proving the premise's potential than the first film.

9. Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022)

With a decent lead performance by young gun Jaeden Martell and an excellent supporting role by the iconic Donald Sutherland, this co-production of Netflix and Blumhouse is memorable for being what I'd call "a horror film without the horror". The whole film has the stylistic flare and overall atmosphere of a horror flick, but without things really escalating or leading to anything particularly frightening or intense. The film divided opinions as many saw this genre-bend as a recipe for a film that feels like the first act of a good horror movie, or as an anti-climactic film where nothing really happens. But for me, this out-of-the-box style worked: the mystery atmosphere was enjoyable, and the way things progressed was delightfully different.

The story and premise are cool, as can be expected from a film based on a novella by Stephen King. As people who have had a social interaction with me during the past 6 months will surely know, I'm going through a major Stephen King phase right now and plowing through all his books, and I can thoroughly recommend his works to fans of imaginative, powerful and unique writing. He's quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite authors and overall storytellers, and there are definitely some King-themed blog posts coming up in the near future.

8. The Purge: Election Year (2016)

Most people seem to consider the third Purge instalment to be better than the first but not as good as the second - I, however, see Election Year as the franchise's high point. The concept hadn't yet grown stale, so this feels like an even more intriguing dive into the premise and its implications than the previous one. I also greatly enjoyed the political storyline, with a movement to get rid of Purge Night gaining traction and a group planning to assassinate their leader during the night, making this film into a high-stakes thriller. Election Year is also paced very well, with things escalating in an entertaining fashion.

7. Halloween Ends (2022)

Not for a second do I believe that this is the last-ever Halloween film, as these franchises have a stubborn way of always finding a way to come back no matter how beaten to death they appear, much like the antagonists found in such slasher films. However, I do hope that this is the last one, because it makes for one hell of an ending.

Halloween Ends doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel, but it does enough things differently in order to stick out as one of the more memorable and less generic Halloween flicks, while working particularly well as an ending for the franchise. The film divided opinions among fans of the franchise, but I for one am all for it.

6. Split (2016)

This very fine M. Night Shyamalan flick offers just the sort of some-cool-twists-and-some-misfires storytelling one can expect from the creative and polarizing filmmaker. The true carrying force of Split is the lead performance by James McAvoy, who plays a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder in a truly memorable fashion. He realistically depicts the man switching between the 23 distinct personalities he's been diagnosed with, and it is a true marvel of acting to witness just how much his voice, facial expressions, body language and just everything changes throughout it all. All in all, a very solid psychological thriller.

5. Us (2019)

Jordan Peele's second film is a powerful one, as he draws lines between American history and supernatural fiction, real social issues and unreal horror, in a way that only Jordan Peele can master. Out of the three feature films the mastermind has done so far, Us is my least favorite, but that is a high bar - the reason for it being slightly below Get Out (2017) and Nope (2022) is my minor critique that Peele's signature humor doesn't mix with the darker elements as smoothly as it does in his other movies, and the moments of comedy often feel a bit clunky and out of place.

Everything else in Us is prime stuff - Lupita Nyong'o's sledgehammer performance, the gradually built high-stakes tension, Peele's expert use of colors and shadows in the film's overall tone and imagery, you name it. And that haunting ending really stays with you.

4. Halloween (2018)

For the life of me, I couldn't have expected the reboot of such a done-to-death franchise to be this good. However, from the very first scene, David Gordon Green proved me wrong - this was not the cheap and lazy cash grab further milking out a money-making franchise, this was a product that some serious thought was put into, a love letter to the franchise and the beginning to a trilogy that (hopefully) put Michael Myers to bed for good.

The horror feels authentic, and the overall style is a delightful mix of what John Carpenter was going for in the original and how horror films are done these days. Oh, and for the cynics who were doubting if Jamie Lee Curtis could still kick as much ass in the role of Laurie Strode at this age, I'm happy to report that she kicks more ass than ever.

3. Whiplash (2014)

I used to always joke that J.K. Simmons' band instructor character in this film is my biggest inspiration as a music education student, as he's the sort of music teacher I want to become. After one interaction where the person I was talking to didn't realize it was a joke and shot a worried and frightened look at me, I've retired the joke in order to avoid scaring people.

But, yeah, Whiplash is a great film. Justin Hurwitz's score really snares you in, Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons' performances fill you with emotion, and the overall beating pulse, well-paced rhythm and driving intensity throughout the film really sticks with you. The end result is a real banger, destined to stand out of the crowd as a future classic. (And if you caught all 7 drum-related puns in this paragraph, you're a legend).

2. Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele's debut film remains his best. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the combination of elements that Get Out is built upon SHOULD. NOT. WORK. - seriously, on paper, it just absolutely shouldn't work. A supernatural horror film, that takes a stand on multiple social issues and subtly yet boldly discusses many hot-topic political questions, while also having a heavy dose of humor in the mix, should not work. I can't stress it enough, if the producers had said no to Peele's political-horror-comedy pitch, no one could've blamed them. One element seems bound to fall flat in such a recipe - either the horror won't feel real and spooky at the expense of the social commentary and comedic stuff, or then the politics feel preachy and on-the-nose at the expense of the horror&comedy elements, or at the very least the humor would feel out-of-place amidst the creepy horror and subtle politics.

But none of this happens.

It all flows perfectly, with the horror being truly authentic and unsettling, while the social commentary is expertly subtle and powerfully effective, and the humor is a welcome blast that fits in to the rest of the combo with aplomb. I still don't know how Peele pulled it off, but he sure did.

1. BlacKKKlansman (2018)

Mmmm, the Spike Lee joint that had me crying my eyes out in the cinema. BlacKKKlansman is best described as a scathing indictment of the hold white supremacist values continue to have in American society, disguised as a funny and entertaining police flick, disguised as an inspiring true story of an African-American detective who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970's. Mind you, it is an inspiring true story and an entertaining police comedy, and it works well as such, but the deepest layer is what hits the hardest - by drawing lines from past to present, the Spike makes it painfully clear how the problems still haven't gone away and the structures of our society, embedded in systemic racism, still need fixing.

For anyone who doesn't see a connection between the United States' history with slavery, segregation & the KKK and the 2016 election of Donald Trump as President (not to mention the very solid chance of either Trump or DeSantis being chosen as the next Commander-in-chief) - first of all, they should really read some history books before Big Ron has them all burned, but if that feels like too much of a chore, just watching this informative film will do a lot to get one started. Across Spike Lee's magnificent filmography, BlacKKKlansman is second only to the unbridled masterpiece Do the Right Thing (1989) but no others in my view, as this film gives you a good time with its humor and payoffs, while also gripping your heart with its eye-opening, hard-hitting look at a truth as important as it is devastating.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I celebrate The Room's (2003) 20-year anniversary by sharing my top 10 insights into 'The Citizen Kane of bad movies".