Horror movies of 2019

Title Picture Pick.

"The Devil's Rejects" is one of my all time favorite, close-to-heart horror movies & I like and respect Rob Zombie, for both his filmmaking work and even more so for his character, knowledge and mentality. "3 From Hell" has been one of my most anticipated movies for years, and even though I knew it's not going to be on the same level as "The Devil's Rejects", it still both pleased and hurt me.

It's pretty clear that the justification behind the sequel is nothing but unsubstantial excuses, it's for the fan satisfaction, at the most. The plot in "3 From Hell" is simple, quite shallow and a tad bit too reminiscent of the story in its predecessor. However, personally I was already prepared to look past these particular flaws, because I knew that there is no Rob Zombie master plan - he himself said that he has never made a movie with any thought about continuing the story in the future. Sure, I can look past those flaws, but, admittedly, I'm a biased, I'm not the general audience in this case, therefore the mark you see up there is a 7, even though I'd want to give it an 8 and, well, it's likely that it objectively deserves a 6 in the end. All that aside, it's a brutal, fun and exciting romp of over-the-top psycho characters whom we already have learned to love. And a lot of grindhouse violence. All of the directors usual style and flair is still very much intact, the aesthetic side of the movie is exactly the kind we wanted. Soundtrack is, obviously, not as magnificent as in "The Devil's Rejects" but still nice & still features Terry Reid. For the horror buffs there's bonuses - a cast full of known faces and heard names, I mean every other mini role is filled in by one or another b horror icon or an otherwise known actor/actress. As to the new third member of the team, I liked him a lot, did already before, thanks to Rob Zombies "31". In another parallel universe I'd like to see Richard Brake portray a nasty version of Joker. It's sad to see Sid Haig go, Captain Spaulding is irreplaceable. Rest in peace, Legend.

All in all, it was a bittersweet expierence, but the sweetness factor managed to be the frontrunner for me. I'm sure that I'll end up in the minority, but matter of the fact is - I'd pay for more movies with these characters and these vibes. Bring it on, Rob. And best of luck. Also, I do agree with those who say that Rob could try his hand at directing scripts written by other people. My rating: 7/10.

Became available world-wide On January 1st, 2019.

"Lifechanger" is quite an ambitious attempt at making a philosophical indie horror & it's also the first horror movie I've watched in 2019. Here's what I think of "Lifechanger" (mild spoilers ahead):

I'm pretty sure the fact that I went into this not knowing a thing contributed to my amazement. There's a lot of small, positive things about this movie that I really liked. For example, the voice of Bill Oberst Jr. is made to narrate things. Yeah, there's a narrator for this movie - the main character whose real form we don't see until the very end. Visually, the main character changes all the time for he's taking another human being and making it himself, over and over again. Yes, the concept of "Lifechanger" indeed is interesting, to say the least, but does it lead anywhere? That's probably the biggest flaw of this horror flick - the story leads nowhere and ends in such ambiguity that it leaves the viewer slightly frustrated. I love ambiguous endings - in my opinion, the best story is the one that leaves the figuring-it-out to You, but the things is - the viewer should be able to figure it out to the extent that it makes sense, even if just metaphorically. So, "Lifechanger" starts out great, scene after scene makes you more intrigued and eager to know the solution to all the happenings. Sadly, halfway through the movie I started to question the destination of "Lifechanger". The idea behind the story is arguably great, but the finished script - underwhelming.

However underwhelming the flow and solution of the story might be, the director has done a good enough job to keep the viewer follow the movie - scene to scene, character to character - it's rather engaging, especially for a horror movie buff like myself who's in a dire need to expierence new & fresh takes on the horror genre. Surprisingly, the acting is convincing enough, given the script & the fact that this is not big budget movie. Cinematography is simple and polished, does not stand out with any on-the-nose flaws. Oh, and the gore! For some reason, I was expecting a lot more of it. However, it has its amount of gore & blood plus it's all practical FX & who doesn't love that? I sure as hell do.

Another thing I'd like to mention - there's quite a bit of drama/romance hybrid mashed in with all the horror. While it doesn't sound that good in theory, it actually kinda worked. Not counting the final dialogue (confrontation), the drama/romance parts are not the ones that'll make you cringe.

"Lifechanger" is one of those movies that I wish I could've liked a bit more, yet I can't fool myself and others, so, well, if you're interested in an itsy-bitsy different indie horror flick - take this up! If you're interested in anything other than that - skip this one. My rating: 5/10.

Decided to buy a ticket and see "Escape Room" on the big screen - got what I wanted plus a little disappointment.

It was about time somebody made a movie on the yet little explored theme of escape rooms - a business that's boomin all around the world. How is it? Well, fun! Mostly. I can honestly say that, for its 9 million dollars budget, "Escape Room" is a very good looking and sounding adventure, I was not able to detect on-the-nose cheapness anywhere. The good looks, accompanied by dynamic pacing, very decent acting and, (half)decent characters makes up for a nice entertainment that keeps your eyes and mind focused on the screen for 90 straight minutes. I think it's safe to say that this is a very blockbuster-ish flick, it gives what it promises, but nothing much more, my point is - I was entertained, but not amazed. So why the 6/10? What really bummed me out was the story, it was intriguing and promising up until the last 10-15 minutes or so, where the plot started getting kinda wobbly and gave me the impression that the writers weren't exactly sure on how to end this. The ending simply felt dragged-out. Also, it seems that Hollywood nowadays just can't make a standalone movie, apparently almost everything has to be set up for a sequel. One more thing - some gore and a tasty R-rating would've definitely made the good stuff even better. But that's also Hollywood for you - they just love putting the "pg-13" stamp everywhere.

Seeing the overall rating (6.4 as for 14th of January) and the metascore, I consider it quite accurate. An highly entertaining thriller that seemed to have more unused potential. My rating: 6/10.

Comes out world-wide in January 11th, 2019.

I didn't know what to expect from "Pledge" & I'm happy to say that it turned out to be a tight little indie horror/thriller.

We've seen the idea hundreds of times before, yet the director and writer managed to serve an old formula with some additional garnish. Things I liked about "Pledge" includes cinematography and editing - considering the obviously low budget, it's simply yet beautifuly shot and executed, visually it's quite appealing, starting with wide variety of shots and ending with feels-right color grading. I also enjoyed the gore & choreography - both things do not take up a lot of screentime, but when they're there, you can appreciate the effort & the result. I was also surprised about the acting, which was more decent than my sceptical mind was expecting, given the little known, young team of actors. However, the characters were not all that great - David was just begging to get killed, being quite an annoying character. The three main villains did not impress, scare or have any real impact on me as well, they were slightly underwhelming. The story is simple, entertaining, with small twists here and there - definitely holds your attention just enough.

All in all, "Pledge" will not make you go "wow", but it will entertain You for 75 straight minutes & satisfy the appetite for a good indie horror flick. A solid 6/10.

Became available world-wide in January 14th, 2019.

Gonna skip this one.

Became available world-wide in January 19th, 2019.

Gonna skip this one.

Became available world-wide in January 17th, 2019.

Ratings seem rather fake, gonna wait and see if this earns the right to be viewed on Halloween 2019.

Got available world-wide in February 11th, 2019.

Gonna skip this one.

Became available world-wide in February 1st, 2019.

Yet to see.

Got available world-wide in February 9th, 2019.

Gonna skip this one.

Became available world-wide in Ferbuary 1st, 2019.

Yet to see.

Got available world-wide in February 19th, 2019.

Yet to see.

Got available world-wide in February 8th, 2019.

Darren Lynn Bousman has had some rough years as a director, yet his previous works, in my opinion, stand higher than this one.

"St. Agatha", as a horror, offers nothing new, original, amazing, extraordinary or even good. The writers responsible for the story and characters definitely do not deserve nor applause nor a subtle nod, maybe a little shaming. The story's fairly straight-forward, never builds up to anything unexpected, the suggested supernatural angle of the plot is not explored or explained much at all. The protagonist characters are traditionally dumb, the antagonist characters are sort of over-written, even annoying at some points. However, the acting did not bother me, given the variety of weakly written characters, the level of acting in "St. Agatha" is rather impressive.

Cinematography is decent, noticeably low-budget, but good enough to not annoy the eye of the viewer. There are a few decent, scattered scenes of violence & abuse - the short, more action-ey parts of the movie are at least average. All is accompanied by a soundtrack that's mostly noticeable only when the ominous, creepy choir voices join in. The pacing is pretty draggy, there's more lows than highs. If you don't have a strong principle of finishing whatever You've started watching, as I do, prepare for the risk of poor Agatha putting You to sleep.

"St. Agatha" is a painfully average, if not below, indie horror flick. Disappointing. My rating: 4/10.

Got available world-wide in February 12th, 2019.

Beware, the ratings seem pretty damn fake.

Gonna skip this one.

6/10

Got available world-wide in February 8th, 2019.

Gonna skip this one.

Gota available world-wide in February 8th, 2019.

As much as I like Lin Shaye, gonna skip this one for it's potentionally quite bad.

Yet to see.

Got available world-wide on February 11th, 2019.

Gonna skip this one.

Gonna stay away from this one.

Got available world-wide on March 13th, 2019.

Gonna skip this one.

Got available world-wide in February 7th, 2019.

Shamefully I haven't written a review for this one, but it's quite possibly my most favorite Gaspar Noe film, I suggest reading all the available trivia after watching it - you'll get your mind blown the second time. This movie will likely appeal even more to those who have been in contact with LSD one way or another, I've seen bad trips with my own eyes & "Climax" got me shaking. Awesome flick. 10/10

Got available world-wide on February 22nd, 2019.

It’s not a completely true, but an interesting story, made enjoyable by metal, violence & great visuals (as much as I’d dare to ask from an indie flick like this). Some of the performances are questionable & the pacing is a bit uneven, but I do recommend “Lords of Chaos” to anyone who’s fascinated by either metal, satanism or violent horror movies. At the very least, you’ll have a reason to rant about something. My rating: 7/10.

Not sure about this one... Indie horror titles with loads of fake ratings seems to be a thing nowadays, talk about trust problems.

Gonna skip this one.