HORROR QUARTER 2, 2019

The second quarter of the year has brought together a weird pack of films for me, a gay, French giallo, a couple slashers, a survival film, and the seriously uncatagorizable (what the hell is going on with Starfish?). Some films I was a little late to, such as Glass and Escape Room, while others I was on top of: Knife + Heart I got to see ahead of most and on the big screen because of where I live. Here are the 11 films with their corresponding ratings that I was able to catch this quarter:

The Final Wish 2

Escape Room 3

Body at Brighton Rock 3

The Golem 3

I Trapped the Devil 3

Glass 3

Thriller 1.5

The Perfection 4

Knife + Heart 4

Greta 2.5

Starfish 3.5

Ma 2.5

While not as strong a quarter as first, with films like Us and Climax, second quarter still definitely boasts some interesting additions to the genre. Body at Brighton Rock is a neat, small survival indie, and just like Rust Creek from last quarter, it was also directed by a woman. I think Rust Creek is the stronger of the two survival films, but Body at Brighton Rock deserves a viewing simply for the way in which it tries to bring elements of other horror subgenres into its story. Also, let's support our lady filmmakers in the genre (rentable from Amazon, Google Play, Vudu). The Perfection is probably the film on this list that got the most buzz, and rightfully so. It's a fun, twisty, body horror tackling some interesting themes about the performative nature of being a woman. Check it out on Netflix. Knife + Heart is probably my most recommended to horror fans of the films on this list, especially fans of the reinvented giallo style. It's a playful, layered film about a masked killer offing gay porn actors with some winding narrative and a politically-minded climax. It's definitely a high priority watch for the year and will be available to stream on Shudder June 20th. My final recommendation is Starfish, but it's not a recommendation for every horror fan out there. You will appreciate this film if you are okay with minimal plot, visual experimentation, mood over content, random animation, and science fiction elements. If you give all that a thumbs up, do check out Starfish. It's a striking, creative film about grief with a solid lead performance from Virginia Gardner (Vicky from the 2018's Halloween). It can be streamed on Vudu. That's a wrap on quarter 2. I'll be back in September with a quarter 3 update, and of course, keep an eye out for my ongoing queer horror marathon. Find those films by searching the tag "queer."