Editorials
Brad Picks the Best Horror Films of 2019!
*Keep up with our ongoing end of the year coverage here*
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I had to pinch myself to prove I was awake. I feel slightly repetitive in saying this but, god damn, what another amazing year for horror!
It wasn’t always like this, and the constant suffering of us horror fans used to be very real. It used to be a struggle to put together a top ten list, and a trip to the theater would typically yield less than pleasing results. In fact, most of the gems would find their way onto video store shelves thanks to companies like Lionsgate or Dimension Films. However, the last few years have been good to us – really, really good to us. It’s been so fruitful that there’s been heavy discourse as to the different kind of horror that exists. Which subgenre are you supporting? It’s become slightly contentious between the fan that enjoys arthouse horror and ones that want to see ultraviolence and blood splattered across the screen. Truth is, no other genre casts a net as wide as horror and even films like Joker – like it or not – are “horror adjacent”. This shouldn’t be causing a divide, and instead should bring us closer together.
There is so much fucking content out there that we should be celebrating the fact that there’s a little something for everyone. Shit, I counted 30+ movies that I wanted to write about on this list. While they weren’t all “top ten worthy”, I found something in each that I enjoyed. That’s a lot of films in a single year.
And with that, it was incredibly difficult to narrow this list down. While I could shuffle the following in various ways, and could have even made vastly different selections, these are the ten that spoke to me the most.
Honorable Mentions:
Ant Timpson’s Come to Daddy
Independent filmmakers delivered in spades this year and it killed me to leave these off my top ten. Adam Egypt Mortimer announced himself with the hallucinogenic Jacob’s Ladder-esque Daniel Isn’t Real; producer Ant Timpson’s directorial debut Come to Daddy was a surefire crowd-pleaser that’s as shocking as it is funny; Josh Lobo made his mark on the horror scene with his micro I Trapped the Devil, a moody, dark and colorful modern spin on the “Twilight Zone” episode “The Howling Man”; Babadook director Jennifer Kent returned with The Nightingale, a brutal, shocking and heartbreaking revenge tale that I wasn’t and will never be prepared for; and then there was Jordan Downey’s impressive micro-indie The Head Hunter, a gorgeous do-it-yourself period horror covered in grit and grime that features impressive practical monster effects and nonstop tension perpetuated by minimal dialogue and an outstanding performance by Christopher Rygh.
And then there was Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, finally a movie about a man living in an attic done right. A family wanting a taste of the good life get themselves twisted in a web of lies that boil into a shocking and violent finale. While this is easily one of the best films of the year, it felt too horror *adjacent* for inclusion on the following list.
10. Escape Room (d. Adam Robitel; Columbia Pictures)
Adam Robitel directed the first surprise of the year, a thoroughly entertaining thriller that can only be described as Saw meets Final Destination. Cashing in on the popularity of escape rooms, the film boasts stunning set design that offers up both eye candy and scares.
The only major issue I had is the paradoxical conundrum of exposition, though it’s a necessary evil in a film like this.
Escape Room set the stage for the beginning of a franchise and I welcome that with open arms. There are more stories to tell thanks to this new horror film that’s rich in ideas and mythology. I can’t wait to see what comes next.
9. The Perfection (d. Richard Shepard; Miramax/Netflix)
The aptly-titled The Perfection quietly screened under the radar at last year’s Fantastic Fest to a handful of rave reviews. Netflix quickly snatched it up and dropped it on unsuspecting horror fans this past May. Those unaware of its existence were slapped awake by a string of shocking and unexpected sequences that will be talked about for years to come.
The Perfection actually nears horror perfection as it does everything in its power to surprise even the most seasoned viewer – just when you think you’ve got a grasp on the narrative, director Richard Shepard throws another curveball.
Shepard is unrelenting and delivers more than a handful of unapologetic haymakers that all lead up to one final shot that will be burned into your brain for the rest of your life.
8. Bliss (d. Joe Begos; Dark Sky Films)
I saw Bliss a long time ago but it has truly resonated with me. Easily my favorite work of Joe Begos and his motley crew, the film is a fucking gnarly, gross, and extremely ultraviolent trip – it’s maybe even one of the bloodiest vampire movies ever made?
The film is equally gorgeous, carrying a colorful homage to Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer and Bill Lustig’s Maniac. And all eyes on Dora Madison‘s captivating performance as a struggling artist, which carries heavy subtext about the pressures of working in today’s Hollywood.
Bliss is straight-up punk rock, the kind of do-it-yourself indie horror goodness that horror fans are continually begging for. I suspect it’s going to become a cult classic. Don’t sleep on this hallucinogenic trip and take some Bliss with all your friends.
7. Lords of Chaos (d. Jonas Åkerlund; Gunpowder & Sky)
Lords of Chaos is the most insane metal story you’ve probably never heard. Jonas Åkerlund’s film tells the true story of a teenager’s quest to launch Norwegian Black Metal in Oslo in the early 1990s that results in a very violent outcome.
Ignoring the lack of authentic accents, Rory Culkin and Emory Cohen put on stellar performances as two remarkably unlikable teenagers who push each other to nasty extremes from church burnings to murder.
There isn’t an ounce of fun in Lords of Chaos, which is nothing short of a bleak and mortifying movie that’s impossibly hard to watch. Ironically, it’s a must-see and one of the most chaotic and disturbing stories I’ve ever watched unfold. While it’s easily one of the best genre movies of the year, it’s also one I hope to never see again.
6. Climax (d. Gaspar Noé; A24)
Gaspar Noe’s Climax plays out like an experimental film that’s essentially a transgressive hallucinatory nightmare.
In the film, a dance troupe is drugged with LSD and have the worst night of their lives. Infused with nonstop energy, Climax digresses from high octane fun to insanity and unadulterated madness. It’s the equivalent to getting the “spins” and trying to keep one foot on the floor, while also talking yourself down from uncontrollable madness.
Climax is anything but a slog with Noe’s single-shot camerawork injecting enormous energy into an already chaotic turn of events, highlighted by stunning cinematography and an energized score by Daft Punk and Aphex Twin. This is one helluva “good” trip.
Up Next: My Top 5 Horror Films of the Year
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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