I’m excitedly working away, putting together all of my ‘best of’ lists for the year, but something is… missing. Ten isn’t enough!

I wanted to give some extra love to all the amazing Horror and Sci-Fi/Fantasy media I consumed this year. Since today is Friday the 13th it’s obvious that today is made for horror!

Since most of my list is movies, let me first talk about the one show I want to highlight.

Girl From Nowhere

I love surprises, and this Thai series was a true delight. A mysterious young woman, Nanno, transfers from one high school to the next unearthing secrets. At first I was wondering if Nanno was some sort of avenging angel, but that idea was crossed out quickly. She’s an agent of chaos who takes pleasure in the unraveling of mortals.

I keep waiting to hear news of a second season, but for now I’ll just have to re-watch this season. 🙂

Ok, on to the movies!

From this Year

These movies are just outside my Top Ten list and would probably fall in the 11-20 range. 

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Us

There’s much to love about Us, but I think Lupita Nyong’o performance as both Adelanie and Red was the highlight. I sadly wasn’t a fan of the exposition given at the end explaining everything about the tether people (or at least trying to). I don’t think it ruins anything, just mudles some aspects of the story for me. 

Crawl

Crawl, or ‘why my ass left Florida’, was probably one of the strongest creature features I’ve seen in awhile. I had so much fun in the theater with this movie. As a Florida native for 20 years, I appreciate the range of horrifying things on display. Go Gators!

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Happy Death Day 2 U 

Soooo technically the 2nd Happy Death Day movie is more Sci-Fi, but that list is pretty long (coming to you on the 27th!). So today folks, its horror. With that said, I ❤ Jessica Rothe as Tree! 

One of the biggest highlights for me this year is how many complex female leads we’ve gotten in horror, and Tree is definitely among them. In the first movie I fell in love with her, and in the second I cried with her, as she made ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT DECISIONS EVER. 

Little Monsters

I’m kinda over Zombies. I stuck with The Walking Dead as long as I could but finally had to give. The horse has been beaten to (un)death. Or so I thought. 

I came to a realization that the only zombies stories that hold any interest to me, and stick with me, are the ones with an element of joy. Last year the only zomb story that I liked was Anna and the Apocalypse, a musical about the undead rising during Christmas. 

This year two movies fit the bill, but I wanted to give some love to Little Monsters (the other is Zombieland 2, which I highly recommend if you love the first!). Little Monsters is an Australian movie about a sweet but no-nonsense kindergarten teacher and a slacker man-child having to come together to protect a group of young children from a Zombie Outbreak. 

Because children are in peril I was very hesitant to watch this movie, but with Miss Caroline (another stand-out performance of Lupita Nyong’o) I felt secure. Come hell or high water, she’s not going to let anything happen to her class.

Saw the First Time This Year

Movies fall through the cracks sometimes, we only have so many hours, but these are some of my favorites from recent years. 

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Lake Mungo

Oh my Lake Mungo. This movie had twists and turns that did a number on my heart. There’s spooky elements, especially the first half, but the back half tells such a sad and moving story. Everything comes to a head with a grainy phone video that has a single shot that chilled me. 

I would highly recommend watching knowing as little as possible. And then go watch Ryan Hollinger’s video about the movie, as he points out another turn I didn’t see and OH MY GAWD I wish I could talk about it. It would just be too deep into spoiler territory. 

Cam

Over the past year I’ve heard so much praise for Netflix’s movie Cam I decided to put it on my October ‘to be watched’ list (TBW?). I went into this pretty cold and that was such a good call, this movie is pretty amazing and the climax was genius (pun unintended). On the edge of my seat. 

As I’m writing this I realize that I have a lot of thoughts on this movie. So I’m going to put a pin on this one and maybe write a spoiler review soon. For now just know that it’s about a Camgirl, Alice, who wakes up one morning to find something frightening has taken over her channel.

Classics I Saw for the First Time

I know, some jaws are probably dropping, but right when I became a teen (and started to like horror) I became uber religious. So I didn’t get back into horror until the past few years. I’ve been slowly making my way through the backlog of all the classic horror movies.

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The Exorcist 

I wish marketing/people would stop saying that The Exorcist is ‘the scariest movie ever’ and instead just focus on the fact that this is an excellent movie, point blank. At the core what’s terrifying to me isn’t the possession itself but the story through Chris’ eyes (Ellen Burstyn). 

She’s watching something unspeakably horrible happen to her daughter and is powerless. Just seeing your child sick is difficult, but for her to inflict harm on others and herself… ugh, this was rough, and I was crying by the end. 

Nightmare on Elm St.

I thought I knew what to expect from this movie but man was I blind-sided. I thought I knew who the protagonist was and then the first act ended with a death that was legit a shock. 

I don’t know if I’ll drive into the sequels (ok, maybe a couple…) but I the first is great, not just because the villain is good pulpy fun, but it’s a strong movie. I see why this one has been so popular for decades. 

That’s it Folks!

I hope you enjoyed my deep dive into my Horror highlights this year. If you’re wondering where some of your favorites  are, I have like four horror movies on my top ten list. That list, along with my Sci-Fi and Fantasy highlights are around the corner. Stick around!