HORROR QUARTER 3, 2019

The 16 new releases I was able to watch this quarter were particularly strong compared to the first two quarters of the year. From my current top film of the year Midsommar to some lesser known flicks like Lords of Chaos and Head Count, I've had a blast watching horror films the past few months. See below for my ratings of all the quarter 3 films:

The Cleaning Lady 2

Hagazussa: A Heathen's Curse 3

We Have Always Lived in the Castle 3

High Life 3.5

Head Count 3.5

Child's Play 3.5

Nightmare Cinema 2.5

Midsommar 4.5

The Prodigy 2

Lords of Chaos 4

The Head Hunter 3

St. Agatha 2

The Nightshifter 3

Darlin 3

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 3.5

Culture Shock 4

I've been trying to promote many really wonderful, smaller films this year such as Rust Creek and The Wind. Another one of these worth your watch is Head Count. Don't read anything about the film. This one is generally accessible yet full of surprises, so just let it take you on a ride (streaming on YouTube, Vudu, and Google Play)! Lords of Chaos, which had a lot of positive buzz last year as it made its way through the festivals, is another film that you may have missed, but don't let it pass you by when you're trying to catch up on the best horror films of the year. It's certainly a contender with it's quiet, real-life horror, focusing on the story of a real metal band in the 80's (watch it on Kanopy, Hulu, or Amazon).

I haven't had the chance to watch all the Hulu Into The Dark films, but I was able to catch up with Culture Shock. I really liked this nightmarish film with immigration politics on its mind. It felt very fresh and gritty, and I recommend it thoroughly. While looking through lists ranking the Into The Dark films, Culture Shock always ranks toward the top. It seems like a safe bet if you're only going to choose one to watch of the series. Whether you're a teen or an adult, another really fun film this year is Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. For anyone, such as myself, who loved these stories when they were a kid, it's a must see. The film stays pretty true to the stories, if that's something that's important to you. It's also an interesting take on what could have been just a mediocre anthology film. Instead, we get this connective tissue of a group of teens living during the Vietnam War era, so the horror is both the background and the foreground. This one is still in theaters!

Last but not least, the best film I've seen so far this year is, unsurprisingly, Midsommar. This one is going to be hard to beat, just as Hereditary was last year. Ari Aster gives us another meticulously crafted, thrilling melodrama horror that pushes relationships to the fore. Midsommar is a wild ride, and I recommend seeing it multiple times because the dark humor really comes out once you get past the initial shock of it. This one is also still in theaters, so try to catch it if you can! This is a must watch for all horror fans this year.

On the horizon, there are plenty of new releases to get excited about such as The Lodge, Tigers are not Afraid, It: Chapter Two, Ready or Not, and the list goes on! Plus, there are some films I still need to catch up with from earlier in year such as Crawl, Brightburn, and The Dead Don't Die. AND! Halloween is next month already, so I'll have a nice little week-long marathon planned, as I do every year. Finally, I've watched the last film in my queer horror marathon, and I'll have a closing piece coming out soon to wrap that up (you can see all my writing on queer films by searching the tag "queer"). My next marathon is going to explore eco-horror, and I can't wait! I've already chosen the 15 films, so keep an eye out for that list release.