The good, the bad, and the Mag: They should put me in charge of the Oscars

By: Magnus Blanchard-Rockhill

Staff-Writer

For my final contribution to The Preface before I graduate, I decided that instead of reviewing another movie, I would create a ranking of the ones I have written about during my year here.

Last semester, I primarily reviewed things that had been received badly by general audiences. This semester it was just whatever horror was coming out in theaters. It is by no means an exhaustive list of every horror movie that has come out so far this academic year. 

This is also, of course, an entirely subjective ranking. We begin with my least favorite, and will end with my favorite movie of the (academic) year.

12) “Mold” (2022)

Starting off weak. I have little to say about this; it was a boring movie that seemed to have some amount of care put into it, but it wasn’t enough.

11) “FeardotCom” (2002)

Just watch “Ring” (1998) or something. The writers for this clearly did.

10) “Thankskilling” (2008)

I love satire, I love goofy horror comedies, and I hated this movie.

9) “Wolf Man” (2025)

This was not a terrible movie by any means, but they could have done a lot more with the premise. It held the audience’s hand too much, too.

8) “The Newlydeads” (1988)

We are now getting into “I actually really liked this” territory. This one certainly had problems, but it was such an interestingly formatted slasher and so hilarious that I can almost overlook the implications.

7) “Insecticidal” (2005)

The first full-send, whole-hearted recommendation on this list. If you like stupid goofy horror and you can handle really awful CGI bugs, I need you to watch this.

6) “Scary Godmother” (2003)

A classic kid’s halloween movie. Not necessarily horror, but I did cover it, and if you somehow have not already watched it, honestly go for it. It’s silly and fun and that skeleton makes way too many gay puns.

5) “The Day the Earth Blew Up” (2024)

Again, not completely a horror movie, but it is sci-fi horror adjacent enough and, once again, I did write about it. Also: absolutely watch this if you can find it streaming somewhere. This one really deserves the love, and a lot of work went into getting this to theaters.

4) “Nosferatu” (2024)

Really enjoyed this one. Felt very strange and surreal at times, and was a very good adaptation of the source material(s). This movie also looked beautiful, and I really want to see more horror movies work with color and lighting the way this one did.

3) “The Monkey” (2025)

What a wonderful movie. Incredibly funny, very heartfelt, great sound and set design, and some upsettingly well-done Rube Goldberg-esque kills.

2) “Terrifier 3” (2024)

While I did not think it was as strong as the second movie, this was still a very fun time. By “fun time”, I do mean “really upsetting time”, but hey. That’s what I showed up for.

1) “Heart Eyes” (2025)

I avoid ranking movies, rating movies, anything like that. Usually. But while I was sitting in the theater watching this, I realized that this was going to be my favorite movie of the year no matter what. Certainly of the academic year, but probably of the calendar year too.

…Though I will admit I have not seen “Sinners” yet. My time reviewing movies here is coming to a close, so I’ll have to pass the torch to you, reader.