Erin Chance
CONTRIBUTOR
Since I was a kid, I’ve loved being scared, probably because I had four older sisters that were always trying to scare me. They also loved watching horror movies like “Jeepers Creepers” and “Saw.” They would even take me to haunted houses with them. So, I’ve been exposed to scares and horrors my whole life. Even now, I have a fiancé whose favorite genre of film is horror.
With the new year comes new movies, and my fiancé and I have been keeping up with all the latest horror films. I will be ranking nine films, starting with my least favorite to my favorite. There are no spoilers ahead, only previews of the films!
9 “The Turning”
“The Turning” follows a young woman who gets hired for a live-in job taking care of two children who have lost their parents. The children, the housekeeper and the house are all very strange and creepy. There seems to be a presence within the house that the woman can’t put her finger on.
This is my least favorite film because the plot is way too similar to the Netflix original series “The Haunting of Bly Manor”– eerily similar. The ending is also very annoying, and kind of lazy.
8 “Come True”
“Come True” is about a high school student who has trouble sleeping because of her night terrors, and she also doesn’t have a bed of her own. She hears about a university sleep study that provides a bed for two months, but being hooked up to wires and monitors doesn’t end up in the restful sleep she had hoped for.
I placed “Come True” eighth because the director tried to make the ending a twist, when really it just makes the whole film pointless.
7 “The Invisible Man”
“The Invisible Man” follows a woman who is in an abusive and controlling relationship. She does escape his grasp one night, until she gets news of his death. She then becomes obsessed with the thought that he has found a way to hide in plain sight.
I really do wish I could’ve ranked this movie higher on my horror list because I love Elisabeth Moss, who plays the main character, but it’s just not scary. It’s also a predictable film that doesn’t leave much to the imagination.
6 “Behind You”
“Behind You” tells the story of a family who is haunted by a demonic presence that was released unwittingly by the little girl.
This movie doesn’t have very good acting in it, and maybe it was the writing but I didn’t enjoy it. It is pretty spooky though, so I had to put it at sixth place.
5 “The Dark and the Wicked”
“The Dark and the Wicked” is about an elderly couple who need assistance taking care of their farm and themselves. Their two adult kids end up coming to live with them but something evil lurks on the farm that keeps the family apart.
I placed this film fifth because there were some jump scares that got me, and it’s not an easily guessable horror. Sometimes you can tell where a movie is going, especially horror ones. But this one does keep you on your toes.
4 “Death of Me”
“Death of Me” follows a couple who are on a tropical vacation, and they wake up with no remembrance of the night before. However, one of them finds a video on their phone of them killing the other.
When I watched the trailer for this movie, I knew I had to watch it! It really does live up to the expectations the trailer gives. The whole film is honestly a whirlwind. There are so many unexpected twists – you will never guess how it ends. It’s a very thought-out film and everything makes sense in the end.
3 “His House”
“His House” is about a refugee couple that escape war-torn South Sudan, but their struggle doesn’t end when they must adjust to a new life in an English town that has an evil lurking beneath the surface.
I ranked this one third because it really shows a perspective that not many people get to see. It’s very mysterious and haunting. This film is more of an introspective horror, as their past follows them to England and comes out in a demonic way.
2 “Wrong Turn”
“Wrong Turn” follows a young group of hikers who fail to listen to the many warnings to stay on the paths in the Appalachian Mountains. They cross into land inhabited by a hidden community who use deadly force to protect their way of life. It seems they reach a point of no return, unless one man can save them.
This film is not for the faint of heart because it’s pretty gory. However, if you can handle some gore, I highly recommend this one. As a viewer, you go through all the stress that the characters do, and it makes your heart pound. This is not a jump scare horror movie, more of a suspenseful one.
1 “Freaky”
“Freaky” is about an unpopular teenager that becomes the target of a small-town serial killer, and even though the killer stabs her, she lives. Little does she know she would be switching bodies with him the next day because he stabbed her with a ritualistic knife used by the Aztecs.
This movie was the perfect mix of horror and comedy in one. I laughed harder at this movie than I have at any comedy ever. They definitely took some marks from “The Hot Chick” and “Freaky Friday,” but I enjoyed every moment of the film. This movie also involves some gore, so look out. Definitely a must watch, though!
