For Your Consideration: Best Limited Release (2023/24 Horror)

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July 18, 2024
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Tags: 2023 horror 2024 horror Cobweb Enys Men found footage I Saw the TV Glow indie horror Joe Lynch limited release Lovecraftian Neon Suitable Flesh The Outwaters

Prepare for a journey into the shadows of hidden gems as we explore the Chainsaw Awards “Best Limited Release” horror film nominees.

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The 2024 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards have unveiled their nominees for Best Limited Release, showcasing five under-the-radar films that have sent chills down the spines of those lucky enough to catch them. These nominees represent the beating heart of independent horror, proving that sometimes the most terrifying experiences come from unexpected places.

The contenders for this year’s Best Limited Release are:

COBWEB – A claustrophobic nightmare that weaves a tangled web of family secrets and childhood fears.
ENYS MEN – A haunting folk horror tale set on an isolated Cornish island, where reality and nightmare blur into one.
I SAW THE TV GLOW – A surreal and nostalgic journey into the world of late-night television that morphs into a mind-bending horror experience.
THE OUTWATERS – A found-footage descent into madness that pushes the boundaries of the subgenre with its disorienting and visceral approach.
SUITABLE FLESH – A Lovecraftian body horror that delves into the depths of cosmic terror and human desire.

Each of these films brings something unique to the table, from atmospheric dread to reality-bending narratives. They showcase the diversity and creativity thriving in the independent horror scene, proving that limited releases can deliver unlimited scares.

As we dive deeper into each nominee, prepare to discover some of the most innovative and unsettling horror films you might have missed. These are the movies that remind us why we love this genre – for its ability to shock, surprise, and leave us sleepless long after the credits roll.

1. Cobweb

Cobweb

Recommended by Kelly Mintzer

“There’s no original horror.”

If you’re a genre fan, you’ve probably heard this complaint more than you’d like to acknowledge. If you had a quarter for every time that someone’s claimed horror is nothing but remakes, reboots, and sequels, you could buy, well, not a house or a car, but a pretty damn reasonable bag of m&ms. And we’re talking the peanut butter kind, not just classic milk chocolate—premium shit.

However…

It’s a really tired and frankly inaccurate gripe, demonstrated beautifully by one of my favorite movies of any genre of 2023, the deeply weird, incredibly atmospheric, and wholly original Cobweb.

The movie is dark and wild, a completely fearless, bonkers autumn romp that feels like Halloween, both because it does, in fact, take place at Halloween and because of the setting. Everything about it speaks Fall onto the celluloid.

There is virtually no way to reasonably discuss Cobweb’s plot without detracting a little from the joy of discovery. I broke my own rule of thumb with the film; I usually search high and low for spoilers, but I went into this one green. And what a goddamn delight. I guessed a few zigs, but hold on, what’s this? Cobweb has some zags up its sleeves.

Without delving too deeply into the plot, Cobweb explores the ways we learn to distrust and fear as we grow older, even the people we love the most. It plays with the idea of childish faith and warranted paranoia. The magic of Cobweb is the absolute absence of safe spaces. It turns the family home into a promise of uncertainty; what lurks behind the walls is frightening, but is it anywhere as awful as what might lurk behind your parents’ eyes?

Cobweb suggests that either way, you might just be fucked.

The movie also presents us with actions that are absolutely understandable in the moment but that would haunt one for the rest of their lives.

Throw in an absolutely impeccable performance by the great Lizzy Caplan, somehow channeling both Carrie’s mom and a little bit of Annie Wilkes at the same time, and an insidious turn from Antony Starr—who is apparently incapable of playing a character who isn’t morally compromised—and you have a recipe for a new classic.

Cobweb feels a great deal like the spiritual successor of Born of Man and Woman, a deeply haunting short story by the legendary Richard Matheson. Any movie with that sort of pedigree—a connection to one of the most influential horror writers of all time—warrants a watch.

I have bullied several people into watching Cobweb, describing it as having 7 dollars, a wig, and a dream, and I intend to continue my campaign of terror. It’s a great fucking movie. It’s a fun fucking movie. And goddamn it, it’s a scary fucking movie.

It is 88 ferocious minutes. It gets in, it fucks you up, and it gets out. What more could you want?

WATCH THE TRAILER

2. Enys Men

Enys Men

Recommended by Conor McShane

Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men might not be for everyone, but for those with a taste for the eerie, artful, and otherworldly, it’s a ghost story unlike any other.

Through its slow, hypnotic tone, off-kilter performances, and jarring cuts to seemingly unrelated faces and places, Jenkin creates a feeling of unease and disorientation, leaving us as unmoored as its protagonist falling under the sway of the mysterious island.

Plenty of credit is also due to the finely calibrated central performance from Mary Woodvine, who nails the film’s carefully calculated feeling of non-reality. She’s a point-of-view character who still keeps us at a distance, remaining as inscrutable as the strange stone obelisk that seems to beckon to her.

Everything about Enys Men feels carefully crafted, from its beautiful yet stark cinematography to its grainy 16mm film stock, conjuring the aesthetic of 60s and 70s British horror.

This attention to detail extends beyond the camera as well; shot during COVID lockdowns, the film required a smaller than usual crew, and the shoot kept a low carbon footprint, offsetting the emissions it produced. This is probably not so hard to do when most of the film takes place outdoors using natural light, but it points to a more intentionally environmentally conscious kind of filmmaking, one that works with its locale rather than against it.

It’s a film rooted in a specific time and place, drawing from the culture and history of its Cornish setting. It was a big hit in Cornwall, and its marketing materials featured both English and Cornish language, reinforcing its cultural connections.

It’s the kind of indie film that feels like it could only have been made in one place, making for a singular viewing experience.

WATCH THE TRAILER

3. I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

I Saw the TV Glow Limited Release 2024 Horror

Recommended by Stephanie Malone

I Saw the TV Glow is a mesmerizing and deeply unsettling indie horror gem that demands to be experienced. Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s sophomore feature is a surreal coming-of-age tale that will haunt you long after the credits roll.

This recently released indie horror film made the Chainsaw Awards ballot this year due to Fango’s new eligibility rules that encompass all horror films 2023 and the first half of 2024. I wrote about the film in depth here, but I’ll reiterate the highlights here for those looking for a brief sales pitch.

In short, it’s a hauntingly beautiful exploration of identity and reality – sure to be at the top of the most talked-about indie horror films of 2o24.

The film follows Owen (Justice Smith), a lonely teenager who forms an intense bond with his slightly older classmate Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) over their shared obsession with a mysterious late-night TV show called “The Pink Opaque”. As the lines between reality and fiction begin to blur, Owen and Maddy find themselves questioning their identities and the very nature of their existence.

Schoenbrun’s direction is nothing short of masterful, crafting a dreamlike atmosphere that perfectly captures the disorienting experience of adolescence. The film’s visual style is a feast for the eyes, with cinematographer Eric K. Yue creating a hypnotic world bathed in the eerie glow of television screens and neon lights.

Smith and Lundy-Paine deliver captivating performances, their chemistry palpable as they navigate the film’s increasingly surreal landscape. The supporting cast, including Helena Howard, Fred Durst, and Danielle Deadwyler, adds depth to the strange and unsettling world Schoenbrun has created.

The film’s soundtrack, featuring original music by Alex G and songs from artists like Caroline Polachek and Phoebe Bridgers, perfectly complements the otherworldly atmosphere.

While not a conventional horror film, I Saw the TV Glow taps into something genuinely nightmarish and sinister. It explores themes of identity, belonging, and the power of media in ways that will resonate deeply with horror fans who appreciate psychological terror and existential dread.

I Saw the TV Glow is a bold, unique vision that pushes the boundaries of what horror can be.

It’s a must-see for fans of cerebral, atmospheric horror and anyone who appreciates daring, innovative filmmaking.

4. The Outwaters

The Outwaters Limited Release 2023 Horror

Recommended by Guest Contributor Azzurra Nox

Some people walk into the Mojave Desert every year to never step out of it again.

The desert began as a lawless place – a place where miners killed one another over land disputes – and later, in the 60s, became Charles Manson’s haven as he took his followers there to drop acid. This is to say that the desert proves to be a very real threat. That’s why it’s the perfect setting for a horror movie.

This is where Robbie Banifitch’s stellar found footage movie, The Outwaters, takes place. A group of friends venture into the desert to film a music video, but what they find there is utterly terrifying.

Banifitch unlocks new terrors just as easily as he resurfaces common fears of isolation, darkness, and fear of the unknown.

The first half of the film is on the slow side, as we get to know the group of friends before their deadly demise.

Writer-director Robbie Banifitch (who also starred in the movie) delivers a credible performance. What makes this movie scary is the fact that the setting emotes creepiness in a way that only remote areas do.

For the majority of the film, the viewer is as disorientated and terrified as Banifitch is as he wanders through the desert in both total darkness and glaring sunlight. Uncanny sounds and mysterious earthquakes haunt the four friends as each moment spent in the desert, slowly becomes deadlier. What we get to witness is a gory bloodfest as strange, tremors-like worms crawl around (are they aliens or desert creatures that we’re unaware of?).

We’re never quite sure what exactly is going on, but what we do know is that our protagonist is in danger, and there’s no escaping the violent onslaught.

This is a strange, bloody cosmic horror in which there’s no moment of levity or respite for any of the people involved. In fact, the horror only continues to progress to a bloody finale that finally shows us what happened to Banifitch’s friends and, ultimately, what happened to him.

Who or what caused all the horror? The viewer is left oblivious, and this proves to be far more unsettling than if we were handed all the answers.

If you’re a fan of found footage and a true crime enthusiast wondering what happens to those who go missing in the desert every year, then The Outwaters might satisfy that itch. But it might also simply make you want to avoid ever setting foot in Joshua Tree or Coachella.

Full disclosure, found footage is probably my least favorite horror sub-genre, but The Outwaters manages to be the scariest film of the year on a shoestring budget of $15,000.

WATCH THE TRAILER

5. Suitable Flesh

Recommended by Guest Contributor Marc Riordan

If you love what I love — danger-imbued sex scenes with blaring saxophone on the soundtrack; 1940s-style Hollywood narration combined with comic book scene-wipes straight out of 1982’s Creepshow; and Barbara Crampton — you will love Joe Lynch’s Suitable Flesh.

Based on H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Thing on the Doorstep” and expertly penned by Stewart Gordon collaborator Dennis Paoli, the screenplay revels in the carnal mischief of a wisecracking ancient spirit that moves from body to body, inhabiting the shadow personas of its hosts, and effortlessly expressing the sexually liberated masculine and feminine alike.

As it says to our soul-embattled protagonist, psychologist Elizabeth Derby (Heather Graham): “I always assumed I was born a man. I had a man’s desire to satisfy myself. To dominate. Now, I’m not so sure that means I wasn’t born a woman.” Hey, no one can say it isn’t evolving.

If the spirit’s motivation is to fight off the boredom of eternal life by experiencing an ever-renewing feast of the senses, it sure seems to be succeeding.

It seeks a variety of sexual romps not just with but in new and different bodies — a very sex-positive entity, were it not for its penchant for harassment, non-consensual body swapping, and murder.

Shot creatively with a lighting design that conjures the atmosphere of a 90’s Cinemax After Dark movie and scored to melodramatic perfection by the brilliant Steve Moore (The Guest), Suitable Flesh delivers a feast for the senses.

There are more score and sound design stings than orgasms in this film, and that’s saying a lot.

On the acting and story front, it’s a world in which expertly played soap opera characters sort out a sequence of events decidedly not from a soap opera – a classic clash of tone and substance resulting in a surreal camp of dissonance. In a comic chain of body-swapping events (each accompanied by pummeling Raimi-esque sound design and even a jolt of De Palma-inspired split-screen), the cast members are given the opportunity to stretch out and play multiple characters, including each other.

These morally flawed possession victims aren’t much for articulating their own complexities, yet what makes the story so compelling is that they do contain opposites within themselves; when we see them helplessly seesawing between the extremes of good and evil, it only serves to exaggerate their true natures.

OK, maybe that’s taking Suitable Flesh a little too seriously.

Shifting gears then…

I would be remiss not to at least hint at one of the film’s greatest assets, a modern technological kill that will have many directors wishing they could reverse time and think of it themselves. Lynch, at the Q&A after the Beyond Fest screening where I first saw the film, said he came up with the idea several years ago and has since been hoping no one else would beat him to it.

His fear was reasonable, as the idea has such clear utility as to feel totally inevitable.

Lucky for us, it plays onscreen in the perfect vehicle — Suitable Flesh, one of the best horror films of 2023!

WATCH THE TRAILER

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For Your Consideration: Best Limited Release (2023/24 Horror)