Top 25 Best Horror Movies Of 2018
# Horror Movies # 15 Comments19th The Predator
Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane
Director: Shane Black
Released: September 14, 2018 | Budget: $88m | Box Office: $51m
-Seen It- When a Predator spacecraft, being pursued by an Upgraded-Predator, crashes on Earth, the closest witness is an army sniper (Holbrook, ‘Logan’). He manages to mail scattered armour parts to his autistic son before he’s detained by authorities and thrown in with a batch of ex-army PTSD sufferers (including Keegan-Michael Key ‘Key & Peele’, and Thomas Jane ‘The Mist’). Meanwhile a biologist (Munn, ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’) is summoned to examine the Predator that’s been captured, discovering its DNA is cross-species, before it breaks loose and goes on the rampage. The PTSD vets team up to find and protect the sniper’s son, but the Upgrade-Predator is soon on the scene too… Writer-director Shane Black had a small acting role in the first ‘Predator’ but didn’t write or direct it. He went on to become the master of the buddy-cop actioner, from penning ‘Lethal Weapon’ to helming ‘The Nice Guys’. He also lost a step directing a sequel to another established franchise, ‘Iron Man 3’. ‘The Predator’ is a partially-entertaining entry that starts off well enough but falls apart the longer it goes on. As the vastly superior ‘Predators’ showed, it’s better to have 1 great concept than 10 weak ones. This film is closer to ‘Predator 2’ than ‘Predator’, as it favours having the creature walking around in plain sight over mystery and fear. The makeup/fx on the Predator are solid, big money has been spent throughout, the lead isn’t bad, there are some genuinely funny moments (see waking up Munn), and it’s gripping during the breathless lab breakout and school sequences. However the problems are far more numerous, including: reliance on coincidence, muddled objectives, silly exposition leaps, heavily-used magical autistic kid, friendly Predator dog (!), silly glib scientists, awful Predator communication ideas, gunshots only being fatal when convenient, the Predator’s swivel chair, and a final scene idea bad enough to put the franchise into dormancy for a decade. The main antagonist/hunter is not really the creature but rather a nonsensical human who wants to eliminate the looney team for witnessing the alien, even though there are dozens of other witnesses throughout.
18th The Secret Of Marrowbone
Starring: George MacKay, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Mia Goth
Director: Sergio G. Sánchez
Released: April 13, 2018 | Box Office: n/a
-Seen It- A dying mother takes her kids to her abandoned childhood home, to escape their murderous father, instructing then them to stay until the oldest is 21 or risk losing it. When the father shows up with a gun, the story jumps forward six months. Eldest Jack (MacKay, ‘Captain Fantastic’) now leaves only for essential trips to town, or to see his new girlfriend (Taylor-Joy, ‘Split’). But when a local lawyer starts poking about, the secret of the house and what happened to the father threatens to come out… Think ‘The Others’ meets Hitchcock. The Hitchcockian suspense feel is reinforced by the ’60s era, fedora hats, pretending mother is still alive (to keep the house), and the Bernard Herrmann-inspired soundtrack. It’s less straight horror than mystery-thriller interspersed with creepy scenes of the ‘presence’ in the house. The dark, messed-up twist is good enough to warrant the buildup and despite overused tropes makes the rest of the film significantly cleverer in retrospect. Some of the acting is a bit forced, but there you go.
17th Bad Samaritan
Starring: Robert Sheehan, David Tennant, Carlito Olivero, Kerry Condon
Director: Dean Devlin
Released: May 4, 2018 | Budget: n/a | Box Office: $3m
-Seen It- Two amateur thieves work as valets, driving cars back and burglarising homes while the owners are in the restaurant. When a sinister trust fund-type (Tennant, ‘Dr. Who’) leaves his Maserati, it leads to the discovery of a tied up woman and a killing room prepped for use. After failing to free her, a cat and mouse game develops between the remorseful thief (Sheehan, ‘Mortal Engines’) trying to convince the authorities, and the tech-savvy serial killer out to ruin his life bit by bit… Directed by Dean Devlin, long-time co-producing/co-writing partner of master-of-disaster Roland Emmerich (‘Independence Day’, ‘Stargate, ‘Godzilla’ 1998), who last year wrote and directed ‘Geostorm’. This time the disaster was ‘Bad Samaritan’ opening with the 8th worst box office ever (for its size of release), earning just $1.7 million on 2,000 screens first weekend, finishing with $3m. But it didn’t deserve to bomb. ‘Bad Samaritan’ is not straight horror, more of a serial killer thriller, with shades of ‘Don’t Breathe’. The first act, which follows the burglary and initial discovery, is unbearably tense. David Tennant is aloof and menacing, looking like a skeletal Norman Bates. And suspense is strong for the rest of the running time, though the more we get into Tennant’s serial killer quirks and philosophy, his edge starts to wear off. The cat-and-mouse game gets increasingly stretched too in the 3rd act, and there’s no depth or subtext to what’s happening. Still it’s a pretty edge of the seat watch.
16th Unsane
Starring: Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Released: March 23, 2018 | Budget: n/a | Box Office: $7m
A bright but troubled business woman (Foy) is being stalked by her sinister ex. But she’s the one who is involuntarily committed to a mental institution. Alone, she must battle her demons within the twisted asylum as the visions of her stalker begin to take over. But are they real or a product of her delusion?… Risk-taking director Steven Soderburgh (‘Contagion’, ‘Magic Mike’) shot the movie entirely on an iPhone camera (iPhone 7 Plus in 4K), the first major film to do so, and a stunning sign of the times. To anyone who’s watched ‘The Crown’ it’s hard to shake Queen Elizabeth when looking at Clare Foy, but maybe that just adds a layer to the plot here. Critics say ‘Unsane’ does a good job of cranking up the paranoia and is the first psychological horror of the #metoo era.
15th Incident In A Ghost Land
Starring: Emilia Jones, Crystal Reed, Taylor Hickson, Mylène Farmer
Director: Pascal Laugier
Released: June 22, 2018 | Box Office: n/a
-Seen It- Teenager Kate (Jones, ‘Brimstone’) and her sister are moving into an inherited house with their mother when they are attacked by a pair of serial killers. Years later grownup Kate is the successful horror author she always wanted to be but her perfect life is disturbed by a phone call from her traumatised sister begging her to come back to the house. There she finds her sister reliving the horrible attack and her mother hopelessly standing by. Soon Kate will be back in the abusive clutches of killers… From the writer-director of French classic ‘Martyrs’. ‘Ghostland’ doesn’t start well: They’re not convincing as a family unit, and ‘Kate’ isn’t plausible as a typewriter-using H.P. Lovecraft tribute author. The film doesn’t reveal what it’s up until half way through, so the first half can mistakenly come across as a bad movie thanks to seemingly baffling motives, illogical details and disjointed flow. But the narrative is actually working on an interesting and original structure (too spoilerish to discuss here). This premise leads to the most powerful character-choice scene of the year, and a moving, involving ending. ‘Ghostland’ is full of hysterical screaming and grim, depressing content. But it’s also intense, with a subtext inviting deeper reading. The costuming, set design and lighting combine to good effect, while the younger-older actress transitions are remarkably seamless. (…p.s. Everything is tarnished knowing the actress playing the young sister suffered serious facial injury during filming.)
There are some good ones on here.
I don’t know about the Suspiria remake. On the one hand the teaser trailer is quite good. On the other, it isn’t really a story. So much of it is the visuals and sound, that it seems odd to look at it as any kind narrative fiction. The remake sort of comes across like the Herzog version of Nosferatu. It’s very classy but it simply isn’t Nosferatu, which taken as a story is just Dracula anyway. The actual narrative part of Suspiria is pretty much like any number of kids books where a girl finds out her teachers are witches or maybe the Demon Headmaster or something like that. Some films are just exist in their final form as what they are rather than as stories to be retold.
I’ve seen Some of them and liked.
Looking foreword to Ghost Stories, Heredity, Slice, House that Jack Built, Extremely Wicked and Suspiria, which I think will be good, but it just isn’t Suspiria. The point to me is that you can remake anything, but if you remade say Eraserhead it would not be Eraserhead because it’s not primarily a story in the first place. Suspiria to me is the same kind of thing. It’s too much about authorship and too tied to an aesthetic that only really exists as the 1977 film. From what I gather the director of the new one doesn’t think of it as a remake, but more as separate film with the same title. Really it’s about name recognition being used to green-light an intriguing project. Less interested in things like The Nun.
Most of them I will watch. I’m a horror nut. The one I’m most doubtful of is Halloween. I love slasher films, but I tend to like the knock-offs more than the sequels. So I’d rather watch a film a bit like Halloween with a masked killer and a different title than another Halloween sequel. But I will absolutely watch the sequels anyway.They’re a bit like nature-run-amok or monster movies, generally, in that respect. Just having a new beast or new killer refreshes the formula.
For me this Halloween is the last hoorah for John Carpenter (it seems he is fairly closely involved), my favourite horror director. It’s just an essential event, one that’s making all the right noises (pre-trailer). Though it will be a major challenge to instill fear again after 40 years of the Myers mask in pop culture.
Susperia sounds like a genuine passion project from a filmmaker of a superior intellect. If it ends up feeling like its own thing, I’m totally fine with that.
Having seen the trailer for Halloween, it looks better than I expected.
Seems it’s practically a remake, but it has captured the vibe of the first film very well. Is Myers still scary? Jury’s out on that. Hereditary will almost certainly be the better/more terrifying film, but can’t wait to see it.
I watched Suspiria in LA this past weekend and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! It’s top of my list of 2018 horror films (and in all time along with the original). I’m so glad they didn’t copy and paste like Other remakes. This version is definitely more grim and evil. Both are great. Don’t compare. Just love both! You could tell Luca Guadagnino put his heart and soul into this film and it shows. He’s been wanting to make Suspiria since he was a kid. Bravo on a great retelling Luca! Go see it everyone! Don’t believe the bad reviews calling it the next “Mother!”.
Summer of 84 is great. It’s funny all these people calling this a Disturbia ripoff when that film was a ripoff of Rear Window. Fright Night? The Burbs? Who cares. I loved every scary creepy minute of it. Total 80s vibe. Absolutely creepy. The quality is great, the story line is interesting. U are connected to all the kids.. The villain is a nightmare. Watch it. Total recommend as best horror movie of 2018.
the Ritual i wasnt very encouraged to watch cause of the mixed reviews it received, but in the end its bloody brilliant, the monster that appears is something else.
Mandy – best horror movie of 2018 so far.
I can imagine Jason Statham having a drink with the shark at the end of a day’s filming. Whole thing just piss take of Jaws with no crimson goo.
The 2018 horror movies I would recommend are A Quiet Place & Pyewacket. nothing is as frightning as what you can’t see just sense..
Annihilation is my 1. An acid trip of a movie. That motherf**king wall in the pool… I’ve never seen body-horror so disturbing yet so beautiful. I felt an insane amount of dread and uneasy
some good choices but scariest movies of 2018 are hereditary + veronica watch if you don’t believe me………
Well, all tastes are out there, of course. But boy, if you’re not into ghost/evil/possession stories, then there’s nothing worth watching in this list… which is my case. I started really drifting away from your selection when I (quickly) came upon “The Predator”, which ranks 21st in your list. Come on… this movie is about… well… NOTHING! It’s no more horror than anything else, it is NOTHING… a total disaster of epic proportions, and the end of the franchise for good. Can’t classify that evidence of vacuum under the Horror category, this is bordering on insulting. Any list that contains this piece of garbage becomes quickly dubious. Anyway, all tastes are out there…
I encourage you to read my synopsis of ‘The Predator’. Every year there’s a commenter like this. The question is: what are your top 10? That’s when it normally falls apart, if they reply.
I wouldn’t class ‘Incident In A Ghost Land’, ‘Cargo’, ‘Summer Of 84’, ‘Annihilation’, ‘Mandy’, ‘Overlord’ or numerous others here as ghost/evil/possession stories. But, sigh, some folk just like mouthing off.
Leave A Comment
Posted By
New Posts
TODAY’S POPULAR POSTS
25 Most Essential Horror Movies
Of The Year
10 Pics Showing There Was A Lot
Of Messing Around On Star Wars
10 Most Amusing We Are Venom
Memes
30 Funniest Animated Gifs About
Movies
SEQUEL UPDATES
Star Wars: Episode IX, Zombieland Too ...more
REMAKE UPDATES
Lion King, Charlie's Angels, Child's Play ...more
FEATURED POSTS
2019 Top Movies
2018 Comedy Movies
GET BREAKING NEWS & GUIDES
Theme by M.Hutagalung|Due to the amount of speculation and hearsay, site should be read for entertainment purposes only
Pin It on Pinterest