AMAZON PRIME
1) Hereditary
I took my ex, who was a mother, to see Hereditary, and, after walking out, I’m kind of surprised she didn’t break up with me then and there (that was a month later, tee hee). A movie hadn’t gut punched me so hard in a mainstream cinema that I saw spots until I saw Ari Aster’s debut. While the horror degree of this film can be argued, with some folks saying it’s more of an emotional thriller than a horror, either way: a movie that makes you feel as weird and shitty and bad as Hereditary is worthy of the praise it’s received, regardless of genre. Also, Toni Collette was robbed by not getting any nominations for her performance in this.
Aster knows his dread, and dumps buckets of it into this film. Every camera shot seems like it’s holding some menace somewhere in frame, and the tricky movement or transitions add to the feeling of unease. Things lurk in the shadows. Events happen that nobody can explain. Is Toni Collete just crazy? Maybe!
Watch this spookiest of movies, please, but maybe not with your mom.
2) Annihilation
Wow, 2018 was a good year for thoughtful horror-thrillers that dealt with more allegorical, existential threats, huh? That’s my movie language, easily. After the emotionally-draining Ex Machina, I was excited to see what Alex Garland was gonna cook up for us next, and Annihilation satisfied my cravings for an early-winter spookfest. While certainly more “Hmm, ahh, that’s creepy” kinda scary instead of “AHH BOO” kinda scary, it should still satisfy horror nerds, sci-fi geeks, and drama fans alike.
Natalie Portman leads a strong female cast, featuring all familiar faces like Tessa Thompson and Jennifer Jason Leigh, of scientists who venture into a strange, alien zone that’s slowly expanding and changing the earth within. Annihilation, while offering genre thrills and unsettling imagery, is also a film engrossed in grief and despair that shows off the human propensity for self-destruction, both through the characters of the actions and the more allegorical take-away from the pic as a whole. Yeah, it’s an art film! Got you, normies! Get ready to get spooked both by monsters and the acknowledgement of your own faults as a human being!
3) Black Christmas
I’m gonna end on one that not only didn’t come out in 2018, but one that some people may not have even heard of: Black Christmas! This was, basically Halloween before Halloween existed.
Black Christmas is one of the earliest slasher films and the most “controversial” movie on this list. It caused quite a stir upon its initial release, but has since gained a sizable cult following, in large part due to the fact that it blazed the trail for the deluge of horror we would start to get less than a decade later.
This is one of the movies that really popularized a lot of myths about serial killers, downplayed its simplistic story with deft handling and direction, and showcased early slasher genre staples. We also have John Saxon, horror legend/Nancy’s dad from A Nightmare on Elm Street here, too!
Halloween was originally posited as “What if Black Christmas had a sequel?” And, since we’re getting the second remake of Black Christmas in December of this year, now’s a perfect time to check out this seminal horror flick, even if it’s technically the wrong season.