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James Jay Edwards’ Top Ten Fringe(ish) Horror Movies of 2019

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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.

 

James Jay Edwards Top Ten 2019

Knives Out (2019), courtesy Lionsgate.

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.

 

James Jay Edwards Top Ten 2019

Parasite (2019), courtesy Neon.

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.

 

James Jay Edwards Top Ten 2019

Bliss (2019), courtesy Dark Sky Films.

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.

 

James Jay Edwards Top Ten 2019

Brightburn (2019), courtesy Sony Pictures Releasing.

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.

 

Joker (2019), courtesy Warner Bros.

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.

 

Doctor Sleep (2019), courtesy Warner Bros.

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.

 

The Death of Dick Long (2019), courtesy A24.

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.

 

Greta (2019), courtesy Focus Features.

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.

 

Us (2019), courtesy Universal Pictures.

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.

 

Midsommar (2019), courtesy A24.

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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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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