Kurt Russell, “Bone Tomahawk”
In 2015 Kurt Russell starred in two westerns sporting a very bushy beard; one was the much-ballyhooed 70mm Quentin Tarantino potboiler “The Hateful Eight” and the other was “Bone Tomahawk,” a much-less-seen but even gorier western that marked the feature debut of genre bad boy, S. Craig Zahler. More people might have watched “The Hateful Eight,” but we assure you, “Bone Tomahawk” is more remembered. Russell plays a smalltown Sheriff who leads a band of merry misfits to find some townspeople abducted by what a local Native American describes as a group of bloodthirsty, cannibalistic “troglodytes” living in an area ominously dubbed the “Valley of the Starving Man.” For much of the movie, “Bone Tomahawk” resembles a classic western, with a bunch of archetypal tough guys swapping stories and getting into scrapes. And then, the movie careens into hyper-violent exploitation material, including one of the more shocking sequences in recent memory. And through it all, Russell, ever stalwart, lends the movie emotional realism and psychological complexity, as well as some very excellent facial hair. If you’ve never seen “Bone Tomahawk,” it’s very much worth your time.
Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
One of the few actors on this list to actually get nominated for an Oscar for their performance, Daniel Kaluuya, a virtual unknown when the film was released, helped turn “Get Out” into a zeitgeist-capturing phenomenon. As Chris Washington, a young photographer accompanying his girlfriend (Allison Williams) to her parents’ house in upstate New York, he serves as an audience surrogate: he always knows just as much about the sinister underbelly of the idyllic community as we do. And sometimes that can lend the character a two-dimensionality, Kaluuya’s performance has a raw vulnerability, expertly deployed in the hypnotism sequence where we first get a glimpse of the “Sunken Place” (a kind of psychological netherworld). Director Jordan Peele even manages to have his photography skills pay off in a nifty way. In the second half of the film, as his character starts to catch on to what is actually going on and he has to find his way out of the racially charged Stepford, his character is defined more by action. And even then, his decisions and abilities tell us much about who the character is and why he desperately needs to get out. No matter who you are, you’re rooting for him.
Chloe Grace Moretz, ‘”Let Me In”
Director Matt Reeves had a big job on his hands tacking an English-language remake of the beloved Swedish vampire tale “Let the Right One In,” but “Let Me In” is very much its own beast. It’s austere and haunting, and complements the original, adding layers, highlighting subtext, and giving it showstopping new sequences (the single-take assault in the car is jaw-dropping). And one of the very best decisions Reeves made was hiring Chloe Grace Moretz as Abby, the tiny vampire girl that comes to a snowy New Mexico town in the 1980s. (In the original her name is Eli, which speaks to a level of gender neutrality that, for whatever reason, Reeves ignores in the remake.) Moretz’s performance is sophisticated and deeply sad, as she maneuvers the potential romantic interests of a next-door neighbor (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and her adult companion (Richard Jenkins), an inferred pedophile who Abby has turned into her companion and man-servant. The fact that she was so young when she filmed the movie makes it even more astounding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym8RkNnV5P8
John Boyega, “Attack the Block”
It says something that John Boyega was cast as a lead in the new “Star Wars” saga based almost exclusively on his performance on the micro-budgeted British horror-comedy “Attack the Block.” He’s that good. Boyega plays Moses, a “hoodie” in a rundown British estate house who comes up against a pack of marauding intergalactic creatures (the film’s tagline was “Inner-city vs. outer space”). And while “Attack the Block” is some rip-roaring fun, complete with a dance-y Basement Jaxx score, it also plays into a tradition of social horror in England and Boyega’s character, a vulnerable thug whose life of crime has been established to mask the hurt he feels, is emblematic of the movie’s larger themes. Moses’ turn from selfishness to selflessness feels genuine and earned and you can easily see why any producer would look at Boyega’s performance and say, “Yep, get him in ‘Star Wars’ stat.”
Dan Stevens, “The Guest”
How Dan Stevens wasn’t a huge movie star after his performance in Adam Wingard‘s deeply brilliant “The Guest” is anybody’s guess. The hook of the movie is absolutely irresistible: Stevens plays a military man, recently released, who returns to the home of his fallen brother-in-arms. At first, it just seems like he’s there to help, but there’s something decidedly off about him. And as he starts to “fix” the problems of his new family, things get more and more sinister. A throwback to action and horror movies of the 1980s (aided by the Day-Glo Halloween setting and conspicuous references to “Halloween III: Season of the Witch“), Stevens totally forgoes his “Downton Abbey” persona for that of a sleek, muscle-y Terminator — emotionally detached and so, so cool (his interactions with the family’s kids is a highlight). Yes, he’s a truly horrible human being, but you can’t help but smile a little when the movie reveals (twist!) that he has survived the climactic bloodbath. Such is the power of Stevens’ performance.
Maika Monroe, “It Follows”
“It Follows” has a deceptively simple concept with a deep well of allegorical implications: there’s some kind of undefined demon that silently follows you until it kills you unless you pass it on via sex. So, of course, all of the main characters are teenagers, with the standout being Maika Monroe. Monroe, who also stars in “The Guest,” didn’t start out as a professional actor; she’s an athlete who transitioned into acting. And that kind of naturalism works incredibly well in “It Follows,” since you need to believe what is actually happening, despite its outlandishness. (The broken down, working-class Detroit setting is also a big plus.) Quentin Tarantino famously had problems with the “rules” of “It Follows,” but it speaks to the emotionality of Monroe’s performance that the rules rarely register in the grand scheme of things. A more polished actress might have made things feel too stagey or constructed, but Monroe, operating on instinct and heart, makes the whole thing come alive.
Anya Taylor-Joy, “The Witch”
Everything about Roger Eggers‘ “The Witch” felt so real that when you saw Anya Taylor-Joy in another movie you wondered how, exactly, she had time-traveled to the present day from the 1630s New England. Taylor-Joy plays the older daughter of a family kicked out of a small puritan community because of a religious dispute. Forced to live on the outskirts of a deep, dark forest, things quickly turn south when the family’s baby disappears. Taylor-Joy’s Thomasin blames a witch living in the woods but her family’s suspicions quickly turn towards her. “The Witch” might be one of the best horror films of the modern era, but it’s also a sneaky coming-of-age tale, with Thomasin learning to love herself and distance herself from her overly dependent family. And it’s Taylor-Joy’s total commitment that makes all of this work. When Black Philip, the devil that has been posing as one of the family’s goats, finally asks her if she would like to live deliciously, it’s not just a deal with dark forces she’s making, it’s a call to arms. Get out there girl, and start living (even if it is in service of Satan).
