Featured image source: Universal Pictures

Wow! I’ve been really impressed with the horror landscape lately. I was once one person who hated modern horror, retreating to the classic horror and slasher flicks if I needed some gore or spooky stuff. Now, I can’t wait to see what new films are coming out.

2019 brought some of the best films I’ve seen in a long time. Here are my favorite horror films from 2019.

10. Haunt

I typically don’t care for the “haunted house with malicious intentions” movies but Haunt was pretty well done. It’s a Shudder-exclusive movie. Since I adore Shudder, I decided to tune into this film and see what it was about.

They did put an interesting twist on this film. I won’t give too much away. It’s not the most amazing film I’ve ever seen but it was worth a spot on this list.

9. I Spit on Your Grave Déjà Vu

I Spit on Your Grave is one of my favorite films of all time. It’s one of the few films in existence that captures the true brutality of rape (too many movies romanticize sexual assault) and then Jennifer Hills gets her brutal revenge. This film shocked the world for many reasons. Not only for its extreme gore and violence but also showcasing a woman as the successor and murdering the men who assaulted her.

Even to this day, women murdering men is still seen as taboo; I should know, I wrote a book about a psychopathic female serial killer who murders men.

That’s why I was stoked when I saw there was a sequel to I Spit on Your Grave. Déjà vu shows Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton returns to play the character) and her daughter, Christy. The spouses and family members came back for Jennifer and her daughter, putting them through the same hell Jennifer went through before. While I liked the sequel, it didn’t meet my expectations.

First off, this film got terrible reviews. And I can understand why. Déjà vu didn’t have the same intensity and gut-wrenching violence as the original. In most parts, it was almost cheesy.

However, there are two main reasons why this film is still on my list: 1. There are great kills and 2. I more so liked the continuation of the story.

8. 3 From Hell

This is another sequel I was excited about. Rob Zombie’s Firefly family means a lot to me. House of 1,000 Corpses was the first horror film I watched and what I honestly think turned me onto the genre.

3 From Hell got better reviews. I genuinely liked the movie. There’s some good kill scenes, great gore, intense violence, everything you can expect from a Rob Zombie film.

The only issue with this film is it dragged on.

The beginning was exciting. I won’t go into detail. Pretty much, cool shit happened until we got to the middle of the movie. And then it was boooooring for way too long. The action finally picked back up at the very end.

All of this is very unlike a typical Rob Zombie film which kept me on the edge of my seat (even his Halloween remakes were pretty intense). Regardless, I enjoyed it.

7. Ready or Not

I have a funny story about this movie. It looked pretty interesting from the trailers and I wanted to see it. But a horror filmmaker friend of mine offered me a free premiere ticket and I couldn’t resist.

Honestly, the movie was way better than I even expected. The concept is weird: a hide-and-seek game where they’re trying to kill the bride? But when the eureka moment hits it’s like — OH OKAY yeah I get it.

I won’t spoil anything. But I will say this: if rich people are anything like the family in this movie, then I always knew there was a reason why rich people scared the shit out of me.

6. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

This is a movie I knew I needed to watch but I put it off for months. Why? Because Zac Efron. Why the hell did they choose him to play Ted Bundy, a naïve Stephanie thought to herself many moons ago. Until I watched the movie and realized, oh wait that’s why they chose him to play Ted Bundy.

See, Zac Efron reminded me something about most serial killers, including Bundy. Most serial killers aren’t the crazy, gross, scary looking people you would expect. They’re normal people. Some, such as Bundy himself, were very handsome.

Efron gets the charming aspect down. But he captured another serial killer quality perfectly — manipulation. Sure, Efron isn’t scary in the movie. That’s because the film doesn’t capture the scary murderous Bundy. It captures the Bundy that his longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer knew. One who was in and out of prison and lived a secret life, but was also a loving person (or maybe not).

Recently, I’ve been interested in learning about the families of serial killers. Their spouses, children, neighbors, etc. Did they know any of the crimes that were being committed? What causes a killer to target certain people and not others? People immortalize serial killers. But don’t you find more interest in those around them? I mean, you can know a serial killer and not even know it. And that’s terrifying.

If you’re more interested in Elizabeth’s story, she wrote a book detailing her relationship with Bundy. I plan on buying the book one day.

5. Ma

This was a movie that got mixed reviews. But I snuck a peek at a certain yes — yes, THAT scene — and I knew I needed to ignore the reviews and watch this movie for myself.

I usually don’t like stories and movies that revolve around high school. But this film portrays the students as having good sense. Yes, the kids were dumb to trust a random lady to buy them alcohol. But what else did you want to do at that age? You wanted to party with friends because you had nothing better to do. But when Ma started acting sketchy, they all knew better and caught the red flags (even though they were persuaded by alcohol to party at her house anyway).

It also proves that people change, for the better and for the worse. For example, Ben didn’t turn out to be the douchebag he was as a high schooler but Ma, who was once a sweet bookworm, turned out to be a manipulative psychopath after high school.

Overall, bad things happen to good people. But this movie also proves that everyone has their demons and not all actions are justifiable.

Also, bravo on the performance, Octavia Spencer. You really brought Sue Ann’s character alive.

4. The Perfection

This is another movie I wanted to see but stumbled into by accident. I saw one of my horror friends posting about the movie on Facebook. I just see the movie poster, where a woman is playing a bloody cello. This image immediately intrigued me; I love horror and I love music, so I had to watch the movie.

But I walked in on my roommate watching the movie. I just walked in on the scene where the girl cut off — y’know — and I made my roommate rewind the film to the beginning.

What resulted was a series of twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. The film was brilliant. And I’ll just say this without giving anything away, I had weird vibes about that cello instructor from the gitgo. Surprise surprise, right?

3. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Truth: millennial horror fans found a copy of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark in their school library and became obsessed with those stories. I’m millennial horror fans.

So when I heard they made a Scary Stories movie, I became excited and turned that bad boy on.

I will say this, the movie is different than I expected. But it was still good. Definitely more of a family-friendly horror movie, which is fine. I expected it — I mean, the stories were written for kids. But they weaved the stories well and the backstory they created is very interesting.

My only complaint is they didn’t use the best stories. I can’t complain about “Harold” and “The Big Toe.” But I was hoping to see the recreation of “May I Carry Your Basket,” “The White Satin Evening Gown,” “High Beams,” and “The Ghost With the Bloody Fingers.” But the film hinted at a sequel so let’s hope this next one will be as good!

2. Don’t Fuck With Cats

Sure, this is a serial killer documentary. But whatever. It’s going on my list.

I genuinely thought this movie was gonna be about cats. And it kind of was. A documentary about some psychopathic guy who killed cats and posted the videos online.

What can I say? I was impressed by so much. First off, the people on the Facebook group are my heroes. They found the killer and gathered the evidence two years before the police did. I was impressed how the documentary makers focused on the victims and Luka Magnotta’s horrendous actions, rather than worshipping and celebrating him. A lot of people complained about them showing the clips of the videos uploaded, but they at least didn’t show the full clips. I still clicked out of the cat ones, though. Seeing the fear in the cats’ eyes was enough to cause an emotional breakdown.

Magnotta is also unlike many killers and yet he’s like so many. Bloodlust isn’t what he was after — he was after attention and fame. He was obviously a very sick individual who learned that the pain and suffering of others can provide the attention he wanted. He was also very unassuming. He was described as a small and frail young guy who was well-mannered. He seemed harmless. However, he was methodical and manipulative. He even fooled his mom that the cat killings weren’t his fault.

This is why the documentary brought up an important fact — the worship of serial killers. Is it problematic?

In a way, educating the public about murderers and dangerous people is important. Back in the day, you would go home with anyone you met at the bar. Not so much now. With all of the crime and such in the world, no one trusts anyone. Because going over to a stranger’s house can mean life or death.

It’s also important to know the warning signs of a killer. Killing animals, reclusive behavior, manipulation, and methodical planning were all the symptoms that Magnotta showed. If his behavior was caught earlier, then innocent animals and a young man would still be alive today.

However, I see many of my friends worshipping serial killers, going so far as to hold memorabilia for killers. Seriously. These people murdered innocent people. Some even assaulted and tortured them. That’s nothing worth celebrating. I love horror and shit, but the fictional kind.

1. Midsommar

What I look for in a horror movie is something not-cliché and anything that puts a unique spin to the genre. Midsommar was that and more.

If you’re harmless Swedish friend invited you to attend a Pagan ceremony in his home country, would you accept it? Hell yeah I would! Would you think this cult relies on human sacrifice during these rituals? Well, you would hope not.

But Midsommar goes even farther into this. First, they’re not bloodthirsty people. They’re people who hold onto their traditions. Two elderly individuals committed a sacrificial suicide — to the horror of the outsiders. I won’t reveal the ending, but the scene where that one guy’s dead body had flowers in the eyeballs was pretty weird.

This film also had another underlying concept. While human sacrifice and pubic hair love potion and other normalities of the cult are bizarre, there are also bizarre aspects of our modern culture. Not only that, but there is a beauty to the commune. One that we don’t find in our modern society. This is subtly what the ending conveys.

In addition, the film emphasizes mental illness and pretty much proves you shouldn’t date a douchebag. And if you do end up with a douchebag, you can put him/her in a bear suit and — y’know…

Now, are you suddenly scared your unassuming Swedish friend will invite you to a midsummer festival and you’ll be the next sacrifice? Don’t be. Swedish midsummer festivals don’t have any malicious intent. No sacrifices, no murder, no pubic hair love potions. Just games and dancing and other non-violent shenanigans.

I can’t wait to see what horror movies come out next year!