Best Actor – James McAvoy (Split)
Well how could we give it to anyone else? Playing a character with 24 different personalities, McAvoy switched between them all with ease and grace. Whether he’s embodying the sweet and playful child nature of Hedwig, or the menacing and strict, uptight mannerisms of Patricia, McAvoy is fully immersed in his characters. From subtle face ticks to altering his stance, so much thought went into each character and the results are mesmerizing.
Best Film – Raw
From French director and screenwriter, Julia Ducournau, Raw is a brutal yet tender film about identity crises, fragile family bonds, and cannibalism. Justine (Garance Marillier) is a young, vegetarian, straight-A student joining an acclaimed yet hellish veterinary school, where her sister, the brash and often cruel Alexia (Ella Rumpf), also attends. During her first week of hazings, she is forced to eat raw rabbit liver, which awakens something within her. Before long her shy and uptight demeanor devolves as she craves sex, drink and most importantly raw flesh. The animalistic nature of her fellow students prowling around their dank, stone cages, screwing each other with carnivorous glee soon mirrors Justine’s primal instincts for flesh. Every component of this film from the gore to the not-so-sisterly relationship was marvellous and proved to be a film horror lovers could really sink their teeth into.
Best Special/ Practical Effects – 10 Cloverfield Lane
CONTAINS SPOILERS
Although most of this film was set in an underground bunker, following three seemingly ordinary people stuck in a visually regular environment which didn’t call for special effects, the third act is where the spectacular visuals finally come into play. With our lead, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), escaping the bunker, she is faced with the extra-terrestrial and Lovecraftian sized creatures that audiences were expecting from the Cloverfield franchise. Fantastical and stylish, the creatures were vastly scary and the action sequences involving them well composed.
Best Gore – Terrifier
Watching this film leaves viewers with the sort of icky feeling most accustomed with classic exploitative horrors. Terrifier has exaggerated campy gore but also one of the most infamously brutal deaths put to screen. Even more impressively, all practical effects were accomplished by the film’s director himself, Damien Leone. This feature will equal measures delight and repulse horror fans. At the very least, it’s certainly the sort of film where viewers can’t stomach their popcorn.
Best Score – Cliff Martinez; The Neon Demon
From the same composer who crafted the soundtracks for Drive and Only God Forgives, the cool synth-beats matched the neon stylised directing of Nicolas Winding Refn to a tee. The club bass and pulsing tempo drove the film forwards, while the often ambient slights gave a mystical element. For a film that was all style and surface level beauty, this soundtrack added volume and character that stays with the audience.
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