Entertainment

Top 5 Horror Movies of 2018

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In celebration of the spookiest night of the year, nothing beats lounging on the couch and binge watching some of 2018’s best horror films.

5. Halloween (2018)

Michael Meyers is back again! Released October 19, “Halloween” returns to the silver screen, but he’s not alone. Jamie Lee Curtis reprises her role as Laurie Strode, who has been preparing for 40 years for her brother to escape so she can kill him once and for all. Even though Michael is trapped inside Laurie’s house when it is set ablaze, the Shape’s breathing can be heard during the end credits. The film is a direct sequel to the original 1978 movie and therefore retcons all previous sequels. The movie was directed by David Gordon Green and also stars Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton and Virginia Gardner. Rotten Tomatoes rates Halloween with a 79 percent and says that it “largely wipes the slate clean after decades of disappointing sequels, ignoring increasingly elaborate mythology in favor of basic – yet still effective – ingredients.”

4. Unsane

Have you ever felt trapped in a situation where you aren’t sure what’s real and what isn’t? Steven Soderbergh”s psychological thriller, “Unsane,” follows Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy), a troubled woman who involuntarily commits herself to a psych ward. During her stay, she finds herself pursued by a man who had been stalking her prior. Even after she is successful in killing her stalker and is released, it is clear Sawyer is still haunted by her experiences. The film made its world debut at the Berlin International Film Festival called Bernlinale on February 2nd and was released on March 23rd in the United States. Unsane is unique in that it was not filmed with traditional cameras, but rather an iPhone 7 Plus, which Rotten Tomatoes says gives it a “high-tech filmmaking spin,” earning it an 80 percent on the critique site.

3. Upgrade

What lengths would you go to get revenge? As a science fiction action body horror film, “Upgrade” introduces Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green), a stay-at-home mechanic who, along with his wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo), is brutally attacked on their way home one night. The mugging leaves Asha dead and Grey paralyzed. But when a billionaire inventor offers an experimental cure, an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will give him incredible physical capabilities, Grey seizes the chance to not only walk again, but to seek vengeance against the men who ruined his life. Directed by Leigh Whannell, Upgrade scored an 86 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The critic consensus said its “old-fashioned innards get a high-tech boost — one made even more powerful thanks to sharp humor and a solidly well-told story.”

2. Hereditary

Every family has secrets, but this is one family whose secrets should have stayed buried. In his feature directorial debut, Ari Aster’s “Hereditary” focuses on the Graham family who, after the death of their secretive grandmother Ellen, begin to experience strange occurrences as the mental illness that plagues them starts to take over their minds. It eventually becomes clear that the threat looming over them may not be confined to their heads. “Hereditary” stars Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro and Gabriel Byrne and premiered on January 21st at the Sundance Film Festival and then theatrically in the United States on June 8. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 89 percent with the critic consensus that it uses a “classic setup as the framework for a harrowing, uncommonly unsettling horror film whose cold touch lingers long beyond the closing credits.”

1. A Quiet Place

Silence is golden. . .especially if it keeps you alive. Directed by John Krasinski, “A Quiet Place” is a science fiction horror film set in three months in the year 2020. The focus is on the Abbott family who must remain as quiet as possible and communicate with sign language in order to survive against sightless creatures who landed on Earth and kill anything that makes a sound. After the tragic death of youngest son Beau, the Abbotts prepare for the arrival of the next child while trying to figure out how the creatures’ weakness. Thanks to the amplified noise from daughter Regan’s hearing aid, the family is able to discover a way to kill the hunters. The film stars Emily Blunt and John Krasinski. Millicent Simmonds, an actual deaf actress, was cast to make the character of Regan more relatable. Taking the #1 spot on Rotten Tomatoes’ “Best (And Worst) Horror Movies of 2018, “A Quiet Place” scored an impressive 95 percent on the site.

 

Jessica Baker is a Journalism and Emerging Media major at KSU and an intern at Hers Magazine as well as AllWrite Publishing.

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