2018 has already delivered a number of standout horror movies, many of them flying under the
radar of most moviegoers - so we've collected our favorites in this list, making it easier
than ever to find some gold in this ever-growing content heap.
Subtlety and style don't often rule the box office, particularly when it comes to genre
fare; the horror landscape has been frequently dominated by in-your-face slashers, squeamish
torture marathons, and gritty found-footage outings.
It can come as a pleasant surprise, then, when a movie gets enough of a budget for some
striking visuals while remaining quiet enough to leave you with lingering questions and
a genuine sense of unease.
Alex Garland, an author and screenwriter who made his directorial debut with the 2015 sci-fi
sleeper hit Ex Machina, returned in 2018 with Annihilation.
Hailed by critics with phrases like "heady nightmare fuel," Garland's sophomore effort
deftly blends a metaphor-laced space invasion story with creeping dread and uncanny imagery.
Though it was a financial disappointment in theaters, word of mouth has only continued
to build around Annihilation since its home video release.
Its big ideas and its cast of fan favorite actors ensure that it will continue to be
discovered by audiences for years to come.
Humor and horror frequently rely on a similar set of tools for surprising the audience,
and lately, comedy superstars are making that leap with gusto.
Jordan Peele's expertise in satirical sketches brought Get Out to terrifying life, and Eastbound
and Down creators Danny McBride and David Gordon Green blended their penchant for slapstick
with real scare power for Halloween.
Between those two crossovers, The Office star John Krasinski made an impressive turn as
director, co-writer, and star of A Quiet Place.
Perhaps it was his nine seasons enduring painfully awkward pauses at Dunder Mifflin that prepared
Krasinski to pull off the harrowing tension of A Quiet Place.
"Our prices have never been lower.”
“Son, you have to talk louder.”
“Never been lower!”
“Louder, son!”
“BUTTLICKER!
OUR PRICES HAVE NEVER BEEN LOWER!”
“Okay, stop it.”
The movie captured the attention of audiences and critics when it crept into theaters in
April, with its clever premise and minimalist presentation that leaves much to the imagination.
Its tiny cast is rounded out with a stellar performance by Emily Blunt, newcomer Noah
Jupe, and young deaf actress Millicent Simmonds, who made sure that the film's portrayal of
life for a family with a deaf child remained authentic.
Many of the best horror films reflect the cultural tenor of their time, extrapolating
new technologies or societal shifts into speculative tales of terror.
Even stories that seem conceptually downright silly can tap into frighteningly real anxieties
that are on the audience's mind, or will be in the near future.
Such is the case with Upgrade, a schlocky bit of body horror that plays on the moral
questions surrounding artificial intelligence and billionaire tech entrepreneurs.
In a not-too-distant future where computer-assisted body modification is the norm, a mechanic
named Grey remains staunchly defensive of his own humanity, refusing to become augmented.
That is, until a malfunction by his self-driving car leaves his wife dead and himself wheelchair-bound.
Enter tech innovator Eron Keen, who offers to restore Grey's motor functions with his
newest AI chip.
As any horror aficionado could guess, this melding of man and machine has some gruesome
results.
Directed by Leigh Whannell of Saw fame and produced by genre juggernaut Blumhouse, Upgrade
blends topical concerns with an old-fashioned sense of gritty grindhouse fun.
"I need your permission to operate independently.”
“Permission granted!”
“Thank you."
Surprisingly receptive critics have also praised its sharp humor and tight plotting.
Horror anthologies have a long and storied history across a variety of media.
Movies have had mixed success with the format, though, as getting audiences to sit still
for two hours of short stories can be a challenge.
After the 1980s saw the release of the cult favorite Creepshow and the infamously disastrous
Twilight Zone: The Movie, horror anthology films went mostly dormant until recent years,
when Trick 'r Treat and the V/H/S series became Halloween staples.
In 2018, American audiences were treated to an import of a new British horror anthology,
Ghost Stories.
The project began its life as a stage play by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson, who adapted
it into a film starring Nyman, Paul Whitehouse, and Martin Freeman.
The story follows a professor known for debunking hoaxes as he investigates three cases of alleged
paranormal activity.
The lines between reality and fiction blur as the anthology builds to a startlingly surreal
climax, all of which earned largely positive reviews.
Zombies and vampires may have had recent moments in the sun, but werewolves are a monster vein
that remains largely untapped in current pop culture.
That only adds to the joy in watching as Wildling slowly reveals its supernatural elements while
weaving a smart and sympathetic character study.
Like most classic tales of lupine transformation, it's a coming-of-age story, designed to do
for young women of today what Ginger Snaps did in 2000.
"Ginger?”
The feature debut from director Fritz Böhm, Wildling is buoyed by performances from genre
favorites Liv Tyler and Brad Dourif, best known to horror hounds as the voice of Chucky.
Bel Powley takes the lead as Anna, a teenage girl who is rescued by the local sheriff after
growing up under the abusive thumb of a father figure who claimed to be protecting her from
man-eating creatures outside.
Wildling has been hailed by critics for its powerhouse performances and striking visuals.
The Hollywood Reporter listed it as one of the ten best films debuting at SXSW, and it's
definitely one of the best horror films of 2018.
Netflix has spent the last few years ramping up their output of original content, and the
results have been mixed, to say the least.
Freed from the need to sell tickets and relying largely on word-of-mouth for publicity, the
streaming platform's release strategies have created a new arena of risks and surprises.
For every pop culture smash like Stranger Things, there's a misguided fizzle like Disjointed.
For every big-budget disappointment like Bright, there's a hidden gem like Cargo.
With the glut of zombie fare over the past decade, it's understandable that a drama about
the walking dead might get lost in the shuffle and shamble.
Cargo, however, brings some fresh brains to the sub-genre with a quiet story about one
family's post-outbreak life in rural Australia.
Directed by the filmmaking team of Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke and anchored by an understated
but intense performance by Martin Freeman, Cargo was favorably compared by critics to
the works of George A. Romero and John Hillcoat.
A24 has established itself as a distributor of movies by up-and-coming filmmakers who
are ready to balance nuanced stories with stylish visuals, all on a small budget.
Their greatest success to date is probably Barry Jenkins' Best Picture winner Moonlight,
but they also secured a place in the hearts of horror fans with The Witch and It Comes
at Night - and they continued that hot streak in 2018 with another low-key creepfest, Hereditary.
The feature debut from writer/director Ari Aster, Hereditary sets out to unnerve you
with a cornucopia of disturbing omens, bizarre visuals, and surreal nightmare logic.
Critics immediately got behind it in a big way, heaping particular praise on the lead
performance by Toni Collette.
Interestingly, Hereditary seems to have caused a polarizing split between critics and audiences,
as evidenced by the wide gap between its critic and audience scores at Rotten Tomatoes.
Regardless, it's been a smashing success at the box office, having already made back its
budget several times over.
Everyone who buys a ticket to a Nicolas Cage vehicle knows to expect something bonkers.
Even that won't prepare you for Mandy, a surreal experience in sound, color, and vengeance.
The entire cast turn in mesmerizing performances in this second film from director Panos Cosmatos.
Set in the early 1980s, Mandy is the story of a man taking violent revenge against a
religious cult and the supernatural forces allied with them.
But recounting the plot of Mandy doesn't really tell you anything about why it works.
On paper, it's a fairly cliched revenge story, but Cosmatos' style elevates the movie to
a mythic, hypnotic level.
The movie builds to a fevered climax, immersing us in its heroes' heavy metal and fantasy
novel-inspired worldview.
Really, nothing we could say here would explain why critics loved Mandy.
You're just going to have to experience it for yourself.
The word "risky" doesn't often apply to long-running franchises, but 2018's Halloween had no right
to be as successful as it was.
Though masked murderer Michael Myers remains a towering horror icon, John Carpenter's 1978
original is the only movie in the series to hold unquestioned classic status.
Its four-decade run has been rife with multiple retcons, reboots, and a general sense of diminishing
returns.
From Eastbound and Down's Danny McBride and David Gordon Green, the newest iteration of
Halloween had a troubled road of its own, but fans' interest was piqued when Carpenter
came on board as producer and composer.
The hype intensified when Jamie Lee Curtis signed on to reprise her star-making role
as Laurie Strode.
Things were shaping up, but with a writer and director team more versed in comedy than
horror, it was still hard to guess what we were in for.
What we got was a lean, thrilling sequel that eschewed complicated slasher lore in favor
of a story about time and trauma.
Rather than put Michael front and center, the movie makes his killing spree the backdrop
to Laurie's fractured relationships with her daughter and granddaughter.
When the Shape does strike, though, he's as clever and brutal as ever.
Audiences and critics got behind the revival in a big way, proving that this Halloween
was at last a worthy successor to its legendary namesake.
With J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot production company behind it, audiences could be forgiven for
suspecting that Overlord might turn out to be a stealth Cloverfield movie.
Even when Abrams denied the connection during the film's production, it still seemed like
yet another bit of deception.
It wasn't, though - Overlord isn't a Cloverfield movie.
No, really.
It does, however, have a traditional Abrams-style mashup of human drama with supernatural horror.
The movie follows a platoon of Allied soldiers in World War II who encounter a Nazi laboratory
full of horrifying creatures.
Critics appreciated its skilled blend of war movie and horror movie tropes, with one reviewer
comparing Overlord favorably to Night of the Living Dead and declaring it a future cult
classic.
Horror remakes don't often achieve prestige status, but that certainly happened in 2018
with Suspiria.
Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino completely reimagined Dario Argento's 1977
cult favorite, twisting its bones into a deep meditation on themes like identity, manipulation,
loss, and rebellion.
It even threads the very idea of being a "remake" into its own story, as dance student Susie
is slowly and irreversibly changed by her efforts to follow in the footsteps of her
enigmatic instructor, Madame Blanc.
The response to Guadagnino's film has been nothing short of polarized.
A glance at Rotten Tomatoes reveals a critical opinion resting comfortably in the middle
percentages.
Unlike many films with such a lukewarm average, though, Suspiria landed there because of a
hard split between individual reviewers - people either really loved it or very much did not.
A discerning crowd at the Cannes Film Festival gave its premiere a rousing ovation, but there's
no shortage of critics quite literally calling it garbage.
Suspiria may well either be a horror fan's favorite or least favorite film of 2018, but
the passionate reaction it's inspired certainly suggests it won't be forgotten any time soon.