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James Jay Edwards’ Top Ten Fringe(ish) Horror Movies of 2019
Hey there, it’s your friendly neighborhood fringe horror guy back with another year-end list that will either intrigue or anger you. The choice is yours. Because my choices for best horror-ish movies have all been made.
Remember, these are fringe horror movies. Although this year’s list includes more “traditional” horror than it usually does, every movie here has been accused of “not being horror” by someone, most likely in the comments section of the internet. Of course, I’ve also seen It Chapter 2 accused of not being a horror movie in these comments sections, and it literally has a shape-shifting murderous clown, so maybe I really do know as little as people say I do.
So, without further ado, here are my top ten fringe(ish) horror movies of 2019.
10. Knives Out
The body count in Knives Out may be low (it’s one), but it’s a brilliant twist-a-minute tribute to Agatha Christie that will make even the most ardent haters of The Last Jedi forgive writer/director Rian Johnson. Basically, the patriarch of a family turns up dead, and an enigmatic private detective (played by Daniel Craig) has to sort through a mansion full of suspects. Whodunnit indeed.
9. Parasite
Parasite is another twisty and turny one that ends as a completely different movie than it started. This Bong Joon-ho joint is about a family of schemers who infiltrates a rich household by posing as skilled and talented workers. But, of course, there’s more to the story than that. Much more.
8. Bliss
This one is more of a pure horror flick, possibly the most so on this list. Bliss is about an artist who is under the gun as she faces the terrible combination of a creative block and a looming deadline. She turns to drugs to spark her inspiration, but the drugs she gets are not the normal, run-of-the-mill hallucinogens.
7. Brightburn
If you’ve ever wondered what would have happened if Superman was evil, Brightburn is for you. It’s basically the origin story of the Man of Steel – a boy comes crashing down from the stars and is raised by a midwestern couple. But this alien child doesn’t stand for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. He’s a naughty little camper.
6. Joker
Ah, yes. Joker. This is ostensibly an origin story for the most notorious villain in pop culture history (at least until Darth Vader came along). It steers away from the comics and makes up a lot of the story in places, but since the Joker has always been a famously unreliable narrator (“wanna know how I got these scars?”), we’re going to allow it. This may be the most important film of the year on a social level, and that’s in a year that includes Parasite.
5. Doctor Sleep
Doctor Sleep is the long overdue cinematic adaptation of Stephen King’s long overdue sequel to The Shining. Director Mike Flanagan does the impossible by bridging the gap between the story telling of King and the visual aesthetic of the 1980 Stanley Kubrick original. Great fun for admirers of either camp, or especially, of both.
4. The Death of Dick Long
Probably the least known movie on this list. Try to go into The Death of Dick Long with as little prior knowledge as possible. If you need a brief synopsis, it’s about a band whose drummer, one Richard Long, winds up dead after a night of partying. His pals spend the next day trying to cover up the cause. This one is more Coen Brothers than traditional horror, but it’s a shocker.
3. Greta
What do you get when you cast a bona-fide Oscar caliber actress to play across from two modern scream queens? You get Greta, that’s what. Elle’s Isabelle Huppert has a devilishly delicious time villainizing Carrie’s Chloë Grace Moretz and It Follows’s Maika Monroe in this stalkery slasher. Along with Ma and The Intruder, this was one of three respected-thespians-tormenting-innocents movies this year, but it’s easily the best of the bunch.
2. Us
Jordan Peele’s Get Out established the filmmaker as one to watch in the horror world, and Us just confirms that notion. The movie is about a family who goes takes a trip to their vacation home, and are the victims of a home invasion. The kicker is that the invaders are carbon copies of themselves. And it just gets weirder and more disturbing from there. Not quite the social message that Get Out is, but it’s close.
1. Midsommar
And speaking of establishing a reputation as a master of horror…Ari Aster’s Hereditary was one of last year’s best movies, and Midsommar shows the writer/director picking up right where he left off. Midsommar is about a group of Americans that travels to Sweden for a cultural festival, and things go very wrong. Believe it or not, the three-hour director’s cut is better than the two-and-a-half hour theatrical – and that’s coming from a guy who lives for 80 minute slashers. Midsommar is a brutal treatise on grief and mourning, all wrapped up in a neat little condemnation of toxic relationships. And it’s the best movie of the year.
For more year-end best-of lists, check here.
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News
Exclusive Sneak Peek: Eli Roth and Crypt TV’s VR Series ‘The Faceless Lady’ Episode Five
Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) and Crypt TV are knocking it out of the park with their new VR show, The Faceless Lady. For those unaware, this is the first fully scripted VR horror show on the market.
Even for masters of horror like Eli Roth and Crypt TV, this is a monumental undertaking. However, if I trust anyone to change the way that we experience horror, it would be these two legends.
Ripped from the pages of Irish folklore, The Faceless Lady tells the story of a tragic spirit cursed to wander the halls of her castle for all of eternity. However, when three young couples are invited to the castle for a series of games, their fates may soon change.
So far, the story has provided horror fans with a gripping game of life or death that doesn’t look as if it will slow down in episode five. Luckily, we have an exclusive clip that may be able to satiate your appetites until the new premiere.
Airing on 4/25 at 5pmPT/8pmET, episode five follows our final three contestants in this wicked game. As the stakes are raised ever higher, will Ella be able to fully awaken her connection with Lady Margaret?
The newest episode can be found on Meta Quest TV. If you haven’t already, follow this link to subscribe to the series. Make sure to check out the new clip below.
Eli Roth Present’s THE FACELESS LADY S1E5 Clip: THE DUEL – YouTube
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News
‘Blink Twice’ Trailer Presents a Thrilling Mystery in Paradise
A new trailer for the movie formerly known as Pussy Island just dropped and it has us intrigued. Now with the more restrained title, Blink Twice, this Zoë Kravitz-directed black comedy is set to land in theaters on August 23.
The film is packed with stars including Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie, Alia Shawkat, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, and Geena Davis.
The trailer feels like a Benoit Blanc mystery; people are invited to a secluded location and disappear one by one, leaving one guest to figure out what is going on.
In the film, a billionaire named Slater King (Channing Tatum) invites a waitress named Frida (Naomi Ackie) to his private island, “It’s paradise. Wild nights blend into sun-soaked days and everyone’s having a great time. No one wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question her reality. There is something wrong with this place. She’ll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive.”
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Movies
Melissa Barrera Says ‘Scary Movie VI’ Would Be “Fun To Do”
Melissa Barrera might literally get the last laugh on Spyglass thanks to a possible Scary Movie sequel. Paramount and Miramax are seeing the right opportunity to bring the satirical franchise back into the fold and announced last week one might be in production as early as this fall.
The last chapter of the Scary Movie franchise was almost a decade ago and since the series lampoons thematic horror movies and pop culture trends, it would seem they have a lot of content to draw ideas from, including the recent reboot of slasher series Scream.
Barerra, who starred as final girl Samantha in those movies was abruptly fired from the latest chapter, Scream VII, for expressing what Spyglass interpreted as “antisemitism,” after the actress came out in support of Palestine on social media.
Even though the drama wasn’t a laughing matter, Barrera might get her chance to parody Sam in Scary Movie VI. That is if the opportunity arises. In an interview with Inverse, the 33-year-old actress was asked about Scary Movie VI, and her reply was intriguing.
“I always loved those movies,” the actress told Inverse. “When I saw it announced, I was like, ‘Oh, that would be fun. That would be so fun to do.’”
That “fun to do” part could be construed as a passive pitch to Paramount, but that’s open to interpretation.
Just like in her franchise, Scary Movie also has a legacy cast including Anna Faris and Regina Hall. There is no word yet on if either of those actors will appear in the reboot. With or without them, Barrera is still a fan of the comedies. “They have the iconic cast that did it, so we’ll see what goes on with that. I’m just excited to see a new one,” she told the publication.
Barrera is currently celebrating the box office success of her latest horror movie Abigail.
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