Best Actor – Toni Collette (Hereditary)
Shockingly snubbed at the Oscars, Collette’s performance as Annie – an unravelling mother still haunted by the decisions of her domineering mother – is raw, powerful and spectacular. Watching Collette tear through grief, despair and desperation is mesmerizing and the guttural reaction to watching her performance unfold is something truly special. It’s no wonder this was the only category that united our team of writers and scored a 100% result in the vote.
Best Film – Hereditary
A truly impressive feature debut from Ari Aster, this film is brimming with subtle clues and background details that even after multiple viewings can still be missed. Following the Graham family after the death of their mysterious and dominant grandmother, this horror examines family relationships, the lasting effects of trauma and the deep scars formed by grief. For people who aren’t fans of slow-burn psychological horror, there’s enough shocking and terrifying twists weaved into the plot, along with an infamous scene that so viscerally stunned audiences it still leaves a pit of despair in our stomachs.
Best Special/ Practical Effects – Annihilation
Thanks to the advancements of special effects, sci-fi horror has leapt out as the most visually stunning sub-genre. Crafting an entirely new world with unique displays of phenology and beautiful, pulsing botany, the pocket of alien life in Annihilation is spectacular to behold. Creativity and monstrosity mutated together to form an aesthetic biological-horror environment that appears to be both the most wonderful and terrifying place in the universe.
Best Gore – Suspiria
Who knew ballet could be so disgustingly gory? Though this film is mainly a slow and even-tempered psychological horror, when it divulges in gore the results can be horrific. The convulsing and bone-cracking body horror displayed in one particular scene exaggerates the very real physical pressures ballet dancers submit their bodies to and pushes the pain to extremes that haunt viewers long after. Blood soaked dancers and chest vaginas (yes, you read that right) bring the Suspiria remake to new gory heights.
Best Score – Thom Yorke; Suspiria
Radiohead’s own Thom Yorke composed a measured yet creepy score that emulates the 70-80’s horror era where the original Suspira was first conceived. A melancholy and chilling sound that resonates the feel of Berlin during the German Autumn, it can soon drift into an electronic haze of sound and then devolve into wailing keyboards and erratic percussion. Where Yorke includes his vocals in pieces, his hauntingly sad melody is unsettlingly calming with an edge of undercurrent threat. This musical interpretation matches the new slow, sorrowful tone of the 2018 Suspiria and shows just how distinct Yorke’s talent as a songwriter is.
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