My Favorite Horror of 2018

I like horror – like, a whole lot. Oddly, something about being frightened, or watching something that I find actually scary, helps my anxiety. I don’t know why and have yet to find anyone else with an anxiety disorder who feels this way. Yet, here I am – loving horror and a feeling of “safe fear”, meaning that I’m in no actual danger. I also have a thing for haunted houses, but that’s for another post.

I’m just one of those people who like the macabre. There’s lots of us out there and contrary to popular belief, people in the horror community are some of the kindest people I’ve encountered. I think, deep down, we are all rooting for a person in an impossible situation. We’re empathetic, for the most part. 🙂

Anyway, I found a lot of good horror the past year and I wanted to share some of my favorites. Here are my favorite horror movies of 2018:

The Nun

I know there are a ton of people who look down on “jump scares” now, claiming they’re a “cheap” tactic to shock the watcher. Well, no shit. Why watch a horror movie if you don’t like scary crap? It just so happens that one of the scariest things is something popping out that you don’t expect. Yes, I too like the “slow burn” type of horror that’s all the rage these days but I do not look down on jump scares. Hell, I enjoy them.

Speaking of jump scares, this movie is packed with them! I’m a fan of “The Conjuring” movies, (even though, I feel that sometimes the boss level demons are a bit too easy to defeat), so I knew I was probably going to like this one. As far as paranormal horror goes – “The Conjuring” movies are in my top 10.

I enjoyed the characters in “The Nun”, especially the tie-in at the end, that I won’t spoil. I definitely jumped more than once during this movie and overall thoroughly enjoyed it. It gave us a good backstory for Valak, (the demon-nun that appears in “The Conjuring 2”). We get to see why this particular demon, (who is completely unrelated to the Valac from mythology), is such a badass and also why it comes into contact with Lorraine Warren.

We get to see another exorcist who doesn’t really have his shit together, (typical character trope, I suppose). And, there’s a young nun-to-be who is struggling with whether or not to take her vows. As far as characters in horror movies go, these ones are actually well-developed.

I give it an A- in terms of what I consider to be good horror. It was my favorite horror film of the year and YES, I know lots of people will disagree.

Unfriended: The Dark Web

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This movie is very underrated from what I’ve read. You wouldn’t think a bunch of friends Skyping could be scary, right? Well, if you know anything about the dark web – it’s pretty scary, (check out some stories on Reddit! There’s some seriously creepy shit on the dark net if you know where to look).

I had pretty low expectations before watching this and was happy to be wrong. Who says you can’t make a descent horror flick with a low budget? (Saw did it and now it’s franchise).

Basically, a group of friends, (some of whom live far away from each other and others who are just too lazy to leave their house) get together on Skype to play a game of “Cards Against Humanity.” (A favorite party game of mine and my friends).

But – we focus on one dude’s screen. He’s having girlfriend issues and well, he pretty much stole a laptop with lots of risky shit stored in it. That risky shit is valuable to a lot of people and they aren’t willing to let it go easily.

Surprisingly, this movie is damn good considering the majority of the movie is spent on the screen of a laptop. I give it a solid B.

Bad Samaritan

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I wouldn’t really call this straight up horror, but it was a really good movie that barely got any advertising. I hadn’t even heard of it but came across it when we were completely out of stuff to watch one lazy Sunday.

It has a great plot! I’ll just say that one character is a master of truly f*cking up someone’s life. The protagonist, of course, tries his best to fight back; to do the right thing. It’s a roller coaster ride for sure.

I would recommend this as a great thriller to watch, not necessarily horror but I figured I’d mention it anyway. I really enjoyed it.

Oh – and the dude who plays the “big bad” is played David Tennant. He also played Killgrave in “Jessica Jones.” 🙂

Hell House LLC

I don’t even think this was released this year, but it was new to me! I found it from a recommendation on a Reddit thread. It’s available on Prime Video. I hadn’t heard of it and thought it was just going to be another low-budget horror I would have a good laugh at, (and maybe one or two scares).

It follows a crew of friends who buy properties and convert them into “haunted house” attractions during the fall months. They even stay in the locations they transform.

Things start off pretty slow but things get strange and creepy fast. It’s a solid B- and worth a watch, especially if you like “found footage” type horror.

Nope, I didn’t mention “Hereditary” because it nearly put me to sleep.

I get why people liked it. I really do. Shit’s unsettling, I guess. It just wasn’t for me. None of it scared me or even creeped me out. (Okay maybe the girl was a bit creepy).

A Quiet Place

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I was pretty bored throughout this movie but again, I totally understand the appeal. There’s zero chance I would make it in this scenario.

There were some solid parts but my main question is: Why the hell didn’t they just live by the damn waterfall? 

I have high hopes for horror in 2019.

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I’m looking forward to so many horror movies this year! What was your favorite horror movie of 2018?