2019 ultimately proved itself to be a great year for horror. With notable studio movies like Midsommar and IT: Chapter 2 tackling the genre, it’s easy to forget about some of the smaller projects that had a lot to offer as well.
Nearly every major film festival featured strong outings from lower budget horror films and thrillers, and with these movies either being out or making their way to digital release in the coming months, there’s no better time to look back at some of the best indie horror films that you may have missed last year.
Girl On The Third Floor
Travis Stevens’ haunted house movie promises to be unlike any you’ve ever seen before, and it absolutely delivers on its promise. The movie follows a man played by former WWE champion Phil “CM Punk” Brooks as he tries to fix up an old Victorian home for his pregnant wife to move into. Unfortunately, the house has secrets, and might not want to be fixed.
What starts as an eerie atmospheric ghost movie ends up becoming a frantic gore film with a risky tonal shift that pays off handsomely. Add in some explicitly gross scenes and you have a surprise hit from last year that more people should be talking about.
Daniel Isn’t Real
Adam Egypt Mortimer’s exploration of the human psyche is one of last year’s best-written horrors. When a young man suffers an intense trauma, his childhood imaginary friend reemerges, however, the imaginary being may cause more harm than good.
Beautiful from start to finish, and sporting a great creepy performance from Patrick Schwarzenegger, this movie is a cerebral trip that you will be glad you took.
The Dead Center
Billy Senese’s slow-burn horror is about a man who dies in an accident, only to wake up again in the morgue. It spends most of its run-time inside a hospital where a doctor, played by cult director Shane Carruth, grows obsessed with figuring out what’s going on with this patient.
The movie does a fantastic job of picking the pace up and slowing it back down to create a back and forth ride of terror. Even better, the finale manages to take things up to 100 without ever over-explaining or breaking the darkly established tone.
Mutant Blast
Fans of Troma know that the company was at one point the top producer of over-the-top splatter comedies. Having spent the last decade releasing mostly amateur work, the studio’s films come with very different expectations now than they did in its heyday.
This makes Mutant Blast go past surprising, to utterly baffling. The debut feature from Puertogese filmmaker Fernando Alle is an absolute, well, blast. Loaded with gore, monsters, and some of the funniest scenes in a movie last year, the film is easily Troma’s best release in years and could stack up against any of the classics the company has put out.
Sadistic Intentions
A musician invites people to a mansion for a night of fun, but things get out of hand when his true self starts to come out. A weird little movie, Eric Pennycoff’s take on metalhead culture isn’t nearly as annoying as others have been in the past. The movie takes its time, basically playing as a hangout movie for the first half.
It feels genuine at times and shows off relationships that might have been more interesting to explore than the horror turn it finally hits. The whole thing is carried by great performances from Taylor Zaudtke and genre favorite Jeremy Gardner, who has another film later on the list.
I Trapped The Devil
Josh Lobo’s debut feature instantly makes him a writer/director to keep an eye on. An atmospheric chiller that takes place in only a few rooms, I trapped the Devil follows a man’s descent into madness as his family surprises him with a visit for Christmas.
While that is more than enough to fuel horror, the real paranoia stems from the fact that the man believes he has trapped the devil in his basement. Claustrophobic at times, and abstract at others, the movie isn’t the most thrilling of last year, but it is easily worth your time.
Bliss
Bliss is an absolute statement movie from microbudget horror director Joe Begos (The Mind’s Eye). Having gotten some attention with his previous efforts, this is the film that certifies Begos as the man to beat in the indie horror world.
Shot on 16mm, the film follows an artist stricken with writer’s block who looks to break it with a series of drug-induced escapades. Sleazy, stylish, and ultimately bloody, this modernistic vampire tale will have you hooked for the whole runtime, and then leave you needing to take a deep breath.
Haunt
Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the team that wrote A Quiet Place, Haunt is a tense and violent slasher that deserved more attention when it dropped onto Shudder back in October. When teens go to an extreme haunted house, they get more than they bargained for, and might not make it out.
The whole movie moves at a quick pace, and the ending is one of the more satisfying ones of last year, making this a movie worth revisiting, or at least putting on your watchlist for next Halloween season.
After Midnight
Made by an independent horror dream team of directors Jeremy Gardner and Christian Stella (The Battery) and producers Aaron Moorehead, Justin Benson, and Dave Lawson (The Endless, Spring).
A man’s life begins to crumble when his girlfriend of many years suddenly leaves him. To make matters worse, every night since she’s left, a massive creature comes out of the woods and tries to break into his house. A raw look at relationships under the guise of a creature feature, this festival hit is finally releasing on digital on February 14th, and it is one to write down.
One Cut Of The Dead
While technically finished before 2019, this Japanese horror-comedy wasn’t officially released until it was purchased by Shudder in September of last year. The movie uses one long handheld camera shot to show a film crew’s struggle for survival when the zombie movie they are shooting is overrun by real-life zombies.
The magic of the film comes from the viewer’s expectations. There are turns that twist and derail the movie you think you’re watching, creating one of the funniest, most unique, and heartfelt movies to come out in recent memory. Saying any more than that would only go to lessen the unforgettable experience of watching the film for the first time.
