Besides Halloween, the biggest night for horror is undoubtedly the annual Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. When it comes to all things scary and creepy and ghoulish and macabre of the past year, nobody celebrates them more than Fangoria, a beloved publication that’s kept the love and passion for the genre and its culture alive and well for decades.
Horror still seems to be in a bit of a popular resurgence at the moment. The slasher side of the genre is continuing to enjoy its modern day revival, with new chapters and reimaginings of classic titles like Halloween and Scream taking over theaters while freshly inspired originals hit the smaller screens. Plenty of psychological thrills also gripped audiences this past year, from the insomniatic nightmares of Come True to the stylish 1960s flair of Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho. Disturbing arthouse horror like Saint Maud, Titane and Violation also made waves, while other films like Werewolves Within and PG: Psycho Goreman succeeded at unapologetically fun and gruesome camp.
Check out last year's winners - HERE
David Dastmalchian and his alter ego Dr. Fearless returned once again to host the 2022 award ceremony. Shudder, which has become the premiere destination for anything and everything horror when it comes to streaming entertainment, held the live event on their platform and had plenty of nominees that premiered exclusively with the service. The theme of this year was one of nostalgia: The video store in all of its glory. Plenty of horror fans hold their earliest memories of being exposed to scary content here, walking down the aisles they were probably much too young to lay eyes on.
Dastmalchian was a wonderful host who clearly has a personal love for the genre. His finest moment came early on in the show as he perfectly encapsulated the feeling of that time in your life when you know a scary movie has profoundly affected you. It’s that feeling that “you just watched something that changed everything”. Couldn’t have said it any better.
Various icons of horror acted as guests and presenters throughout the evening, including Radio Silence (the team behind the latest Scream as well as Ready or Not), Joe Dante, the Boulet Brothers, and others including filmmaker and actress Brea Grant, who introduced the In Memoriam segment with a touching tribute to those we lost in the industry.
Check out our interview with Brea Grant - HERE
Check out the full list of nominees and winners of the 2022 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards below and let us know what your favorite horror content was of the past year. Stay scared.
BEST SCORE
Electric Youth, Pilotpriest - Come True
WINNER - John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, Daniel Davies - Halloween Kills
Ben Lovett - The Night House
Clint Mansell - In the Earth
Tom Schraeder, CJ Johnson - Hurt
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Luke David Blumm - Son
Jennifer Ehle - Saint Maud
Larry Fessenden - Jakob’s Wife - Read full Knotfest Review
Vincent Lindon - Titane
Diana Rigg - Last Night in Soho - Read full Knotfest Review
Bill Sage - Wrong Turn
WINNER - Millicent Simmonds - A Quiet Place Part II - Read full Knotfest Review
Jeremy T. Thomas - Antlers
Suzanne Voss - Dementia Part II
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Censor - Included on our list of Best Horror of 2021
My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To
WINNER - Saint Maud
The Stylist
The Vigil
BEST CREATURE FX
Barrie Gower - The Green Knight - Read Full Knotfest Review
Robert Kurtzman - Black Friday
Legacy Effects, Shane Mahan - Antlers
Magee FX, Gaslight Studio - V/H/S/94 - Read full Knotfest Review
WINNER - MastersFX / Steve Kostanki - PG: Psycho Goreman - Read Full Knotfest Review
BEST STREAMING PREMIERE MOVIE
The Boy Behind the Door
WINNER - Fear Street: Part Three - 1666 - Included on our list of Best Horror of 2021
Lucky - Read Full Knotfest Review
The Power
Violation
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Dark Shadows and Beyond: The Jonathan Frid Story
Mail Order Murder
WINNER - Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
ACHIEVEMENT IN NON-FICTION
WINNER - The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs
Elvira’s 40th Anniversary, Very Scary, Very Special, Special
The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula - Read about the upcoming fifth season
BEST MAKEUP FX
Tara Brawley - Hurt
Mark Coulier - Blood Red Sky
Francois Dagenais - Spiral: From the Book of Saw - Read full Knotfest Review
Oriane de Neve, CLSFX Atelier 69 - Kandisha
WINNER - Christopher Nelson - Halloween Kills
BEST SCREENPLAY
Prano Bailey-Bond - Censor
John Hsu, Fu Kai-ling, Chien Shih-keng - Detention
WINNER - Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski - The Night House
Rose Glass - Saint Maud
Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli - Violation
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Lizzie Cook - Candyman - Read full Knotfest Review
WINNER - Odile Dicks-Mireaux - Last Night in Soho
Eulyn Colette Hufkie - Bingo Hell
Chieko Matsumoto - Prisoners of the Ghostland
Neil McClean - Slumber Party Massacre
BEST INTERNATIONAL MOVIE
Detention
The Feast
Lamb
The Queen of Black Magic
WINNER - TItane
BEST SERIES
Brand New Cherry Flavor
Chucky
I Know What You Did Last Summer
WINNER - Midnight Mass - Read full Knotfest Review
BEST LIMITED RELEASE MOVIE
Come True
Hurt
In the Earth
WINNER - PG: Psycho Goreman
Werewolves Within - Read full Knotfest Review
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
WINNER - Yahyah Addul-Mateen II - Candyman
Niamh Algar - Censor
Morfydd Clark - Saint Maud
Barbara Crampton - Jakob’s Wife
Rebecca Hall - The Night House
Thomasin McKenzie - Last Night in Soho
Agathe Rousselle - Titane
Madeleine Sims-Fewer - Violation
Julia Sarah Stone - Come True
Anya Taylor-Joy - Last Night in Soho
BEST DIRECTOR
Prano Bailey-Bond - Censor
David Bruckner - The Night House
Anthony Scott Burns - Come True
Julia Ducournau - Titane
Rose Glass - Saint Maud
WINNER - Edgar Wright - Last Night in Soho
BEST KILL
The Bread Slicer - Fear Street: Part One - 1994 Vincent Van Dyke Effects
BEST WIDE RELEASE MOVIE
WINNER - Malignant (The best possible choice) - Read full Knotfest Review
Candyman
Last Night in Soho
The Night House
A Quiet Place Part II
