Let’s look forward to the biggest and best horror movies 2019 has in store. The scary list features the usual mix of sequels (‘It: Chapter Two’, ‘Happy Death Day 2U’, ‘Zombieland: Double Tap’), remakes (‘Pet Sematary’, ‘Child’s Play’, ‘Grudge’), and original fare (‘Midsommar’, ‘Us’, ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’). While superhero-horror is surging (‘New Mutants’, ‘Brightburn’, ‘Hellboy’).

Based on anticipation, and the facts as they stand, these are the top 25 best horror movies 2019 has on the horizon. Get excited. Let me know your picks, or anything I’ve missed, in the comments. Come back to this page for updates as the year goes by.

25^th  In The Tall Grass
Starring: Laysla De Oliveira, Harrison Gilbertson, Patrick Wilson
Director: Vincenzo Natali
Released: TBC 2019 (U.S. Dates)

An inseparable brother and sister are driving through Kansas during a road trip when they hear a boy calling for help, from a huge field of very tall grass. Stepping inside to investigate, they end up lost in the labyrinthine, before encountering a stranger who may be able to show them the way… Based on the 2012 horror novella by Stephen King and son Joe Hill. Veteran director Vincenzo Natali (‘Splice’, and similar maze-nightmare ‘Cube’) tried and failed to get a studio production going in 2015, but Netflix took it up last year. Smaller King stories, when paired with an experienced horror director, can work great as Netflix productions, as ‘Gerald’s Game’ showed. But this is thinner material than ‘Gerald’s Game’, so will require more radical adaptation. In these days of Stephen King reboots, it’s nice to see some of his new stories come to the screen.

24^th  The Prodigy
Starring: Taylor Schilling, Colm Feore, Jackson R. Scott, Brittany Allen, Peter Mooney
Director: Nicholas McCarthy
Released: February 8, 2019

A mother (Schilling, ‘Orange Is the New Black’) grows concerned about her young son’s (Scott, Georgie from ‘It’) disturbing behaviour, believing that something supernatural may be affecting him. She begins to investigates what – or who – is causing his dark turn, looking to the past for answers… The director’s previous film, ‘At The Devil’s Door’, took risks with its structure, had eerie scenes and effective jump scares, but was undermined by a half-hearted lead performance, clichéd villain intent, and deeply unsatisfying ending. ‘The Prodigy’ has a well-made, creepily effective metronome sequence trailer (one of the Blumhouse-era previews that plays like a short film with a jump scare). And scripting duties have been handed to the most in-demand horror screenwriter of the year, responsible for ‘Grudge’, ‘Pet Sematary’, ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, and this, in just 10 months. The overall plot seems disappointingly cliché, concerned with yet another possessed kid and a search for why. Hopefully there’s more to it.

23^rd  Piercing
Starring: Christopher Abbott, Mia Wasikowska, Laia Costa
Director: Nicolas Pesce
Released: February 1, 2019

Reed (Abbott, ‘It Comes At Night’) is going on a business trip. He kisses his wife and infant son goodbye, but in lieu of a suitcase filled with clothes, he’s packed a toothbrush and a murder kit. Everything is meticulously planned: check into a hotel and kill an unsuspecting victim. Only then will he rid himself of his devious impulses and continue to be a good husband and father. But Reed gets more than he bargained for with Jackie (Wasikowska, ‘Alice In Wonderland’), an alluring call girl who arrives at his room. First, they relax and get in the mood, but when there’s an unexpected disruption, the balance of control begins to sway back and forth between the two. Is he seeing things? Who’s playing whom? Before the night is over, a feverish nightmare will unfold, and Reed and Jackie will seal their bond in blood… From the director of ‘The Eyes Of My Mother’, this is based on the 1994 novel by the author of ‘Audition’. The movie version of ‘Audition’ (1999) is one of the most stomach-churning, cold-hearted horrors ever made. There’s something about the mixing of fetish and disfiguring mutilation that’s just too much. Even the red-band trailer for ‘Piercing’ is uncomfortable. But then being discomforted is a badge of pride in the genre. Festival critics have been singing its praises as complex, darkly funny, surreal, macabre and stylish.

22^nd  The Curse Of La Llorona
Starring: Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Patricia Velásquez
Director: Michael Chaves
Released: April 19, 2019

In 1973, a social worker and widow (Cardellini, ‘A Simple Favour’) raising her two kids in L.A. is called to check on a case of child endangerment by a troubled mother, which turns fatal. As she digs deeper into the tragic situation, she notices striking similarities between the early signs and supernatural occurrences affecting her kids now. With the help of a disillusioned priest, she enlists a mystic faith healer, and discovers that evil entity La Llorona has latched onto her children and will stop at nothing to take them… The Weeping Woman, aka La Llorona, is a popular urban legend told by Mexican parents about a ghost who snatches lost children while searching for her own. She’s meant to haunt water (where she threw her kids) and its surrounding forests in Mexico, so many have wondered why the movie is set in America, have giggled at the trailer’s mispronunciation of her name, and rolled their eyes that the ghost appears to have been whitewashed. Michael Chaves has no feature directing track record (he was discovered from his horror short ‘The Maiden’), but producer James Wan was pleased enough with his work on ‘La Llorona’ to hand him next year’s ‘The Conjuring 3’. The spooky trailer was effective, taking the common Wan-produced tactic of devoting half the time to one real-time suspense scene. The movie will do well, but seems just like more of the same-old ‘Insidious’/’Conjuring’ school of horror.

21^st  The Hole In The Ground
Starring: Seána Kerslake, James Quinn Markey, Simone Kirby
Director: Lee Cronin
Released: February 26, 2019

A mother (Kerslake) trying to escape her broken past, moves with her young son to a country home on the edge of a forest, which hides an enormous sinkhole. When the boy vanishes she is thrown into a panic, only for him to mysteriously reappear unharmed. As his behaviour grows increasingly disturbing, she is left to fear the worst – that the boy in her home isn’t her son at all. But could it just be her fragile insecurities creating the paranoia?… This Irish supernatural folklore horror is likely to be about the Changeling myth (covered nicely in ‘Christmas Horror Story’ a few years back). The director is making his feature debut, after an award-winning horror short. A24 has bought the distribution rights, and with their very strong track record (‘Hereditary’ and ‘The Witch’ were the best horrors of their respective years), this makes it one to take notice of. A24 call the movie “a richly evocative story about the primal fears of motherhood”.

20^th  Annabelle Comes Home
Starring: Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga
Director: Gary Dauberman
Released: June 26, 2019

Set after the first ‘Annabelle’ movie and the Warrens’ acquisition of the doll during ‘The Conjuring’, this focuses on the demon soon after it’s placed in the sacred glass box of the Warrens’ locked artefacts room. Annabelle awakens the room’s evil, which sets its sights on a new target: the Warrens’ 10-year-old daughter. As her parents are away for the night, the only protection will be her friends, cousin and teen babysitter… The screenwriter of ‘Annabelle’ and ‘Annabelle: Creation’ makes his directorial debut. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as the Warrens’, playing their first significant role in a Conjuring spinoff. They’re solid actors, and the concept is a decent one: broadening the threat with the entire museum (they have a demonic ‘Night At The Museum’ in mind), and putting the Warren’s own kid in danger. But the outcome will depend on the quality of the script (the previous two have been decent but forgettable), the untested director and how much screentime the Warrens’ actually get. If they’re just bookending it, the film won’t benefit much.

Horror Movies 2019

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