Year in Review: Horror Actoring of 2019
Monday, December 30, 2019 at 3:00PM by Jason Adams
Since it's the second to last day of 2019 and we already named our "10 Favorite Horror Actresses of 2019" last week I figured I'd give us a last second bonus and shed some affection on the best fellas of the year. I know, I know, we're all all more inclined towards favoring the actresses... well, so's the genre to be frank. Horror really does favor female stories and experiences, and it was I will admit much easier to come up with last week's list. Besides the magnificent duo that anchors my favorite movie of the year I had to dig a little deeper for this one. But once I began rifling around I managed to uncover some gems...
Willem Dafoe & Robert Pattinson in The Lighthouse
When forced to choose between the two (and no thanks to Awards Season I have had to here and there) I tend to choose Dafoe, but only because his magnificent to-the-moon work is more straightforward... as straightforward as anything is in this topsy-turvy madhouse of a movie, at least. Pattinson's work is trickier -- his accent and behavior is all supposed to be wobbly, as his character's unformed; a liar trying to pour himself into a new shape. But make no mistake these are the two best male performances of 2019 slapping against each other in slippery tandem.
Christopher Abbott in Piercing -- Abbott's quietly become one of our best actors, and this is my favorite performance from him yet. Unrelentingly masochistic and disturbed this movie's, you know, not for everybody. And Abbott and co-star Mia Wasikowska (equally fine) never try to soften these pervert's razor sharp edges. I say we're all the better for it.
Bill Skarsgard in Villains -- Every second Bill Skarsgard's on-screen in this flick is an absolute joy. The movie itself often feels too strained ricocheting between its comic and horror impulses but Bill more than anybody gets the proportions just right and crafts a wholly lovable monster I'd follow into a dark stranger's basement any day.
Winston Duke in Us -- He's overshadowed by everybody else's showier roles, sure, but there's something quietly revolutionary about this big ol' bear of a man being this tender, this scared, this goofy and purposefully second fiddle. He has a lot more to work with in the first half of the film but his Gabe makes it effortless for us to feel why Adelaide's fighting so hard to stay top-side; he's a prize even when he's dragging everybody under.
Jake Gyllenhaal in Velvet Buzzsaw -- I know Jake's over-the-top bug-eyed character work in things like this and Okja tends to be divisive but I'm admittedly an incurable Gyllenhaalic and I love his higher registers. You're certainly never bored watching his Morf Vandewalt sass his way through the New York Art Scene as a trail of carcasses heap artfully around his expensive little booties; it's the performance this movie needed. Maybe two or three of the performances, even!
Scott Poythress in I Trapped the Devil -- An under-seen and under-appreciated mind-fuck from the start of the year -- not to mention an exciting new entry in the sub-genre of Christmas Horror! -- Poythress plays the widowed brother stuck in the family home who's lost his mind while buried in his solitude... or has he? Poythress makes it easy to believe either the good or the bad version of this tale, erasing such distinctions and chipping away at our own assured instincts in the process.
Adam Driver in The Dead Don't Die -- "Ghouls."
Jonas Dassler in The Golden Glove -- By far the most fucked up movie experience I've had watching anything this year -- twas no surprise to see this flick pop up on John Waters' favorite films of the year -- it's nevertheless an astonishingly effective peeling off of the pretty face of entertainment value from the Serial Killer genre. And what more clever way to signal that intent than by hiring a very pretty man, male model ready, to play your lead grotesque? It's a transformation on par with Charlize's Monster work -- my jaw fell off when I saw what Dassler really looks like -- and like that it's not just make-up; it's total commitment, disgust be damned.
Jack Reynor in Midsommar -- Every time I re-watch this movie (and I've seen it at least five times now) I become more and more enamored with Reynor's insidiously dickish work. It's a fearless embodiment of every terrible male instinct -- the sneering entitlement and guilt-tripping and gaslighting all half-assedly painted up under the pink-cheeked guise of trap-door decency and concern. Christian is such absolute garbage and so entirely clueless about that fact that the absurdity of his awfulness being laid bare becomes the year's greatest comic feat -- his manhood is flapping in the breeze and shrinking by the minute.
Reader Comments (15)
Winston Duke essentially ruined US for me, but he was hot!
Jason, I'm not sure what to make of your write-up of Jack Reynor. Dani AND Christian are awful for each other and themselves. Dani, long before her horrific grief, is proven to be emotionally incapable of being in a relationship and she's the toxic one of that coupling. To willfully ignore that is disingenuous.
And I truly have to question your empathy as you've seen this movie at least 5 times yet you cannot that Christian is getting raped in that sex scene-only to sum it up as this years 'greatest comic feat'. I never comment on this site, but this review deeply unsettled me.
Gyllenhaal was as usual terrific in "Velvet Buzzsaw"
Excellent choices! Skarsgard has come a long way from Hemlock Grove. I hope he thrives outside of Pennywise.
@Paul - I agree. I don't get the takes on MIDSOMMAR that Jack Reynor's character is 'garbage' and the inevitable follow-up that he deserves what happens to him. I think the film is interesting enough to warrant multiple viewings because it's more nuanced than that.
Another interpretation is that Christian is ready to leave the relationship at the start of the film but then there's the incident relating to Florence Pugh's character's family and he knows he can't walk out on her at her lowest. So he tries to do the decent thing by staying but his heart's not in it (to him, the relationship is already over). You could argue it would have been fairer in the long run to still walk out on her at this point, but I think she was a real suicide risk if he'd have left. So try and spare some empathy for him!
Midsommar is a VERY funny movie, reveling in its own dark absurdity, and it seems disingenuous to me to pretend otherwise in order to act all affronted; and to accuse me of making light of rape is a pretzel I suggest y'all un-knot yourselves out of. It's a fable, a fairy tale, and as such has a lot of leeway with how its characters get judged. I don't believe Christian exhibits a single non-selfish behavior in the entire movie, ESPECIALLY when it comes to why he stays with Dani. I think it's pretty clear by the end that he only does it because he can't allow himself to look like the bad guy -- he's always the victim, which becomes his self-fulfilling prophecy.
As for Jake in Velvet Buzzsaw it seems as if we give actresses way more wiggle room when it comes to High Camp -- see Cate Blanchett in Cinderella or Hanna for a comparable turn -- than we do actors. YES whaddya know the character called MORF VANDERWALT is ridiculous. Show me a better way to play that role.
I love Winston Duke in 'Us' - when an attractive man plays a goobery nerd, it's really hot.
@Jason
'and to accuse me of making light of rape is a pretzel I suggest y'all un-knot yourselves out of.'
He ran from a rape with his penis out and you had the gal to write that ' his manhood is flapping in the breeze and shrinking by the minute'
As far as I'm concerned, that's misguided at best and downright evil at worst.
I agree with Roger - Winston Duke was the weak spot for me in US, but I thought his scary incarnation was pretty effective.
I didn’t get Jake’s performance. He played it SO gay and yet spent the whole movie chasing after a woman. Huh?
I missed Christopher Abbott but will find the film wherever it is.
Dafoe - excellent as always, but Pattinson was a revelation to me.
Wish Dafoe was the front runner but Brad is also superb.
Jake G in Velvet Buzzsaw is fabulous. He went big, which is exactly what the movie wanted/needed from him.
I would love to see Dafoe win this year, but he probably won't even be nominated. So few actors could pull off that performance.
I didn't realize Winston Duke's performance was divisive. He provided some great comic relief in Us and his secondary role was terrifying. I think he might even make my line-up this year.
Wiston Duke was excellent in "Us" - Jake's character must have been bi-sexual
It’s the LA art scene, Jason, but otherwise I’m with you.