for hounds agree it's a great time to be
a horror fan and though 2020 promises
its fair share of dark delights it'd be
a shame if you missed any of the macabre
horror highlights of 2019 prepare to
scream ooh scary movie the wide-open
spaces of the American frontier are
often romanticized by classic westerns
but the wind recognizes the terror and
existential dread at the heart of those
vast desolate lands the debut film from
director Emmett Ammy follows a tough
frontiers woman named Lizzie played by
Catlin Gerard
she's clearly haunted by all the
emptiness that surrounds her not to
mention the ever-present chilling wind
howling across the plains
despite reassurances from her husband
Lizzie becomes increasingly convinced
that some sort of demonic presence is
tormenting her but is something
supernatural really to blame or is the
root of all her Horrors simply
loneliness it's a question that's bound
to haunt anyone who Braves this
atmospheric slow burn of a horror film
the hole in the ground is a thoroughly
unnerving movie in his feature film
debut Irish writer and director Elite
Cronin tells the story of a mother and
son hoping to escape their troubled past
by moving to a remote countryside
village
needless to say trouble eventually finds
them there too
there's something quite disturbing about
their new home especially that enormous
sinkhole in the nearby woods
the boys inevitable encounter with the
titular hole in the ground leaves his
mother feeling rather uneasy and
rightfully so sure there's no shortage
of horror films with creepy kids running
amok but Cronin handles the material in
a way that feels both modern and fresh
as the Guardian writes in its glowing
review the hole in the ground always
finds new invariably cinematic ways to
nut just toward its final leap into the
abyss Cronan feels like a real find for
our especially insecure moment a horror
movie doesn't need to take itself
seriously in order to be great
take crawl for example this throwback
creature feature stars a bunch of killer
alligators chasing a father and his
daughter after their Florida home is
flooded in a category 5 hurricane
now it's not a particularly
sophisticated premise and that's part of
what makes the film so great
critics wholeheartedly agree with Slate
writing that it's fast efficient crisply
directed and delivers on the promised
alligator thrills those b-movie values
feel especially refreshing it seems like
a straightforward revenge thriller at
first but the perfection has all sorts
of tricks up its sleeve and it takes
some extremely dark turns as it hops
wildly from genre to genre is it a body
horror film a psychological thriller its
bolt and a jet black comedy to boot the
perfection also happens to be
preposterous ly gross and yes that's a
ringing endorsement the film involves
Charlotte a former musical prodigy
played by Allison Williams you already
suspect she's up to no good when she
seduces the school's current lead
cellist Elizabeth played to perfection
by logan Browning or am I the luckiest
man in the world I don't even drink and
I feel giddy drunk like two most perfect
students together before you know it the
film morphs into a sadistic Gore smeared
spectacle that's full of nasty surprises
adventurous critics were quick to praise
the film with Rolling Stone commenting
that in its own blood splattered limb
lopping way it may be a particularly
perfect thriller for this moment
ready or not got a bit lost in the
shuffle when it hit theaters in summer
2019 and that's really too bad this
well-crafted horror film is a black
comedy and slasher flick rolled into one
and it really deserves to be seen at
every turn ready or not manages to be
funny intelligent and incredibly well
acted the premise centers around a young
woman named Grace played by Samara
weaving she's forced to play a deadly
game of hide and seek upon marrying into
a wealthy and highly eccentric family as
it turns out that family evidently
signed a deal with the devil several
years back and the pact requires that
they sacrificed a newly joined member of
the clan the newly joined member is of
course Grace but let it suffice to say
she's not going without a fight
the majority of critics loved this sly
and subversive film with vulture
proclaiming the movie is a vicious
richly funny and artfully brutal tale
that places weavings performance as its
gravitational center set in the dark
underbelly of the Los Angeles art scene
Bliss follows the exploits of a
struggling young painter who is clearly
at the very end of her rope this
indulgent self-destructive soul eagerly
engulfs every drug Under the Sun in
search of artistic inspiration
well she eventually finds her muse but
at a considerable cost aided by a
seriously vampiric gal-pal she quickly
spirals into a gruesome and gory
nightmare of her own making the results
are thoroughly disgusting but is it art
no something came over me and then it
all just started pouring out of me I
don't even remember doing it bliss is a
no-holds-barred assault on the senses
and in the best possible way this film
is so visually out there that it's just
begging to become a future cult classic
the a/v Club
aptly right set bliss approaches its
aesthetic with a straight faced
intensity pummeling the viewer with
violent bursts of montage until you feel
like maybe you might have been dosed
somehow on your way into the theater in
sweetheart Kiersey Clemons plays a
traumatized young woman who manages to
survive a devastating shipwreck only to
wind up in another deadly situation
after washing ashore on a deserted
island she's left to her own devices
with limited resources and must do
whatever she can to survive to make
matters worse a mysterious and
malevolent creature seems to be on the
loose with a runtime under 90 minutes
sweetheart is a brisk and brutal chiller
that dazzled lots of critics vulture
clearly loved the unconventional film
writing that sweetheart is an ingenious
affair a no-nonsense monster movie that
uses its limitations effectively and
tells its story cinematically over the
years we've seen more than a few horror
films riffing on Frankenstein but
depraved is really its own undead beast
if you've ever wanted to see a zombie
shamble his way through New York
nightlife this film is for you but you
better have a strong stomach the mad
doctor in this case is an ex Army medic
with a severe case of PTSD his creation
Adam is thoughtful and intelligent it
says a lot that this ungodly creature is
probably the most empathic character in
the film rest assured there's enough
gore on display to satisfy even the most
hard-core horror fans but the best thing
about depraved is that it cuts way
deeper than your average chiller in my
dreams of someone else
I owe you something like a normal life
no wonder the critical consensus on
Rotten Tomatoes raves that depraved
jolts a familiar monster back to life
with a potent blend of timely themes and
old-school chills hag Azusa ah heathens
curses anything but a mainstream horror
film but this full throttle creep show
really manages to get under your skin
in the 15th century Alps a young woman
has been deemed a witch by the townsfolk
and honestly you might be able to see
their point she spends her days
hopelessly alone with only her infant
child and her beloved goats there to
keep her company
but when the townspeople turn against
her in a violent manner she descends
into a state of hopeless madness the
results are both fascinating and
repulsive hag Asuza is beautifully shot
without a doubt more to the point it
features one of the most horrific
finales in recent memory so if you check
it out and you should consider yourself
warned Neil Jordan's Greta is an
outrageous and darkly can't be thriller
but it certainly begins innocently
enough Chloe grace Moretz plays Francis
a recent transplant to New York City
who's struggling with the recent death
of her mother when she discovers a
handbag left on the subway she goes the
extra mile to return it to its owner the
titular Greta played with insidious
relish by Isabella who pair Francis
becomes fast friends with Greta and to
say that this French piano teacher is
eccentric is the understatement of the
century
needless to say the friendship quickly
takes a turn for the severely sinister
people can't keep doing this to me
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rest assured this is certainly not the
buddy film of the decade but it is
delightfully twisted stopped in its
positive review slate commented that
Neil Jordan step control of pace and
tone elevates Greta past Amir gimmickry
resulting in a comic thriller whose
goofy humor only compounds its mastery
of suspense set in Mexico and focused
squarely on the country's violent drug
wars the dark fantasy Tigers are not
afraid is certainly not for the faint of
heart at the center of the story is a
little girl named Estrella whose mother
has suddenly disappeared with no
explanation whatsoever in the hopes of
communist ray I after gunshots are heard
outside her school a teacher gives her
three pieces of chalk and tells her that
they can grant her three wishes as
Estrella adjust to her bizarre new life
and falls in love with a roving League
of fellow orphans she starts to believe
those three wishes might be entirely
real but make no mistake this isn't some
lofty exercise in magical realism it's a
bleak unsparing and totally terrifying
film that critics absolutely adore in
its effusive review consequence of sound
proclaimed the film is replete with
unforgettable images stellar
performances all up and down the cast
and genuinely original and thoughtful
revisions of expected tropes little
monsters dares to answer the burning
question that's never far from our minds
what would happen if a bunch of
kindergarteners found themselves smack
dab in the middle of a zombie outbreak
during a field trip in order to keep her
kids from getting scared a wholesome
school teacher played wonderfully by
Lupita and yong-go tries to make the
kids believe it's all just a fun game
meanwhile Josh GAD plays inseparable
kids show personality Teddy McGee GLE
who soon falls victim to the outbreak
and starts looking at children in a
whole new way Little Monsters proves
that a horror film doesn't have to be
deadly serious in order to be incredible
it's also been a huge hit with critics
currently boasting a 93 percent fresh
rating on Rotten Tomatoes any child of
the 80s or 90s know scary stories to
tell in the dark in this iconic and
creepy series author Alvin Schwartz
gathered up the most eerie and
unsettling short tales from the annals
of urban legends and folklore the film
adaptation brings several of those
stories to the silver screen in a way
that will be frightening for children
and a
adults alike some people believe if we
repeat stories often enough
they become real the consensus on Rotten
Tomatoes speaks for itself claiming that
scary stories to tell in the dark opens
a creepy gateway into horror for younger
genre enthusiasts this is a frightening
and cleverly constructed horror film
that delivers plenty of jump-scares
without going overboard you've heard of
a waking nightmare right well Ari asters
mid-summer plays out more like a waking
daydream and the results are
fantastically frightening what time is
it 9:00 p.m. that can't be right the
skies blue the fact that many of the
film's four sequences unfold in broad
daylight certainly doesn't shield the
characters from the dangers at hand far
from it
this is asters follow-up to his 2018
debut the instant classic hereditary and
it involves a young shell-shocked woman
named Danny she's just endured a
horrific family tragedy and her aloof
boyfriend Christian certainly isn't
helping matters and bhakti clearly wants
out of the relationship things go from
bad to worse when Danny tags along with
Christian and his pompous
pseudo-intellectual group of friends who
are heading off to a remote Swedish
village the occasion is an ultra rare
ultra mysterious Midsummer Festival as
we learn more about the eerie pagan
rituals on display the film lurches
toward a druggie deranged conclusion
that puts even The Wicker Man shame
this is folk horror at its finest Jordan
peels get out was an immediate sensation
when it premiered in 2017 and rightfully
so its blend of unconventional scares
and arched social commentary was a
brilliant balancing act and the film is
impossible to get out of your head once
you've seen it well get out certainly
wasn't a fluke as anyone who's seen us
can attest the seemingly simple story
involves a family that's being
inexplicably tormented by their own evil
doppelgangers during a summer vacation
in Santa Cruz California of course you
should brace yourself for plenty of
twists and turns along the way the film
was widely praised with the New Yorkers
nathan lane riding us as political
filmmaking of the most spirited sort and
it sets up quite a fight the Hyde's come
to visit the Jekyll's and the Jekyll's
hit back whom you cheer for in the long
run is up to you check out one of our
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you
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