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Even months before Halloween, 2018 had already delivered a number of standout horror movies,
many of them flying under the radar - so we've collected our favorites.
For one reason or another, all of them were overlooked, but they're all worth a second
chance.
Terrifier
Sometimes a horror fan wants something intellectual, and sometimes you just want to watch people
run from an insane clown.
Trashy, exploitative, and mean-spirited, Terrifier is the sort of movie that's meant to be discovered
on a beat-up VHS tape.
Except instead of being pumped out into dollar theaters in the '80s, it was somehow released
in 2018.
Terrifier commits to its trashiness from every angle.
It's simplistic, low-budget, and sometimes dubiously acted - which is not to say that
it's a bad movie.
While it's certainly not for everybody, the movie has notched a solid 80 percent on Rotten
Tomatoes, meaning slasher fans should feel confident giving this punchy thrill ride a
late-night spin.
Pyewacket
What if you made a nasty wish in a fit of rage, only to find later that you couldn't
take it back?
Pyewacket tells the story of a teenage girl who naively puts a curse on her mother in
a half-baked woodsy ritual.
After her moment of frustration has passed, the girl has to watch as her curse becomes
terrifyingly real, and the consequences close in around her.
Pyewacket is a movie from the slow burn school of horror, favoring mood over scary moments
and a sense of dread over jump scares.
Elevated by strong performances from its mother and daughter leads, the movie sports a concept
relatable to anyone who's ever been a teenager - especially a teenager who's made a big mistake
or two.
Wildling
Wildling isn't just an underappreciated horror movie - this unsung character study is one
of the best movies of the year.
The story of a young woman raised in captivity who enters the real world as a teenager, it's
a feral child story that takes its premise very literally.
A supernatural horror movie, Wildling brings out its fantastical elements slowly, drawing
you into its world of believable characters well before it reveals what it really is.
It's a movie that tests your allegiances as a viewer, with your sympathies constantly
shifting as the circumstances change.
It's also a movie of adolescent self-discovery with a particularly wild twist.
Starting like a supernatural version of the movie Room, Wildling basically turns into
Predator by its third act - an appropriate transformation, given the subject matter.
Revenge
Left for dead in an isolated location, a young woman is forced to hang on to her life as
the criminals who nearly did her in come back to finish her off for good.
Over the course of Revenge she turns from a carefree hedonist into a vengeful destroyer.
The circumstances of her near-death experience are so brutal and unfair; you've never wanted
to see the bad guys get what's coming to them as badly as you do here.
A vicious, adrenaline-pumping look at savagery and survival, Revenge is not a comfortable
watch, basically being a cross between 127 Hours and I Spit on Your Grave.
But if you've got the guts to watch it, it's a trip well worth
your time.
The Strangers: Prey at Night
A surprise hit when it invaded theaters in 2008, it took the producers of The Strangers
a decade for a follow-up to be realized.
Enthusiasm for the first movie faded in the time between releases, and the sequel landed
in theaters with a much more muted splash.
But fans of the original Strangers shouldn't ignore this second go-around, which may be
better than the original.
Moving the action from a couple's home to an empty trailer park, Prey at Night effectively
builds on the original's premise of pointless, random violence.
It can't be reasoned with - it can only be fled.
The sequel gains points over the original for the target family's tendency to fight
back, making the game of cat-and-mouse much more of a level playing field than it was
in the original, and ultimately, making this a more rewarding watch.
Mom and Dad
Written and directed by Brian Taylor, one half of the directing duo that brought the
world the Crank movies, Mom and Dad is a look at the most out-of-hand family squabble you've
ever seen.
It's as though they took a mundane argument between parents and their children, added
Nicolas Cage, and… well, made a Crank movie out of it.
Simple and brutal, Mom and Dad is a cathartic and chaotic horror-comedy, with all the best
Nicolas Cage weirdness you could ask for - up to and including an enraged performance of
the Hokey Pokey that involves a sledgehammer.
It's not every filmgoer's favorite flavor, but if you're still with this video, you're
probably the target audience.