Let's Review Horror in 2018! Can you remember everything that happened?
I’m not quite ready to let 2018 go yet because it was a very exciting year for horror. Let’s dive into what happened month by month!
January - We started hearing about this little movie called Hereditary that played at the Sundance Film Festival. No one was telling us exactly what the movie was about but was sharing enough that we got SUPER excited. Jack Ketchum sadly passed away from cancer at the age of 71. He was a prolific horror writer and a shining star in our genre. Insidious the Last Key hit theaters and not everyone was super thrilled but it made enough at the box office to keep people happy. Mom and Dad was released, but it wouldn’t get traction until later in the year.
February - The Ritual hit Netflix and we were all blown away by this insane creature feature. It’s based on the book by the same name written by Adam Nevill. Annihilation hit theaters and it was absolutely incredible. For the rest of the month everyone kept whispering about “the bear scene”. Winchester was also released but to not much fanfare.
March - Time for the Oscars! Horror actually got some joy out of it because Get Out won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. It was a HUGE deal! It was nominated for four in total. We saw our beloved Guillermo Del Toro sweep the Oscars as well for his flick Shape of Water. It was nominated for 14 awards and went home with four, including BEST PICTURE and Best Director. Guillermo gave a wonderful speech and I cried buckets. The Strangers: Prey At Night hit the big screen and we all fell in love with the pool scene. Rob Zombie got super active on social media showing us his shooting for 3 From Hell which caught all of us by surprise.
April - A Quiet Place blew up at the theater, sending all the normies into a tizzy. People began throwing around the phrase “Elevated Horror” and horror fans got pissed off. Rampage also made a lot of money in April and big monster fans were super stoked. Ghost Stories was released quietly and started to gain traction as the year progressed. Truth or Dare, from Blumhouse, hit the screens to mixed reviews within the community.
May - The Outsider, Stephen King’s latest, hit shelves. A lot of people said he’d finally returned to “old King.” Andrew Lincoln and AMC announced that he was leaving The Walking Dead after nine seasons and never losing a hand. We lost Margot Kidder, a wonderful actress who horror fans know best from Black Christmas and The Amityville Horror. She was only 69 years old. Revenge hit select theaters and began gaining traction among critics.
June - Hereditary FINALLY hit theaters and we all lost our ever-loving minds. The term “elevated horror” came back and everyone began fighting about the flick. But overall, the buzz was incredibly positive and we were all scared shitless. We got the first Halloween trailer and every horror fan everywhere stopped what they were doing to watch it (I was peeing in the bathroom and then sat there for another ten minutes watching it over and over). Instantly the internet blew up with screen caps and theories and spotting easter eggs. Don Mancini announced he wanted to take Chucky to TV. Upgrade also hit theaters and people fought over whether it was horror or sci-fi, but regardless everyone loved it. We got the full casting details for IT: Chapter Two and everyone was perfect.
July - We got some sequels: The First Purge and Unfriended: Dark Web. Remember how Don Mancini was going to take Chucky to TV? MGM got all panicky and dropped the bomb that they were making a reboot. And Mancini wasn’t involved. Castle Rock premiered and everyone had their own conspiracy theory. Joe Bob Briggs broke the internet on Friday the 13th when Shudder played The Last Drive-In Marathon. It ran for about 26 hours.
August - This was a slower month. We were all excited for The Meg but it didn’t make a big splash. Slender Man got dumped into theaters with little fanfare and slipped out just as quickly.
September - Don Mancini tweeted the most shady tweet that had ever been tweeted. MGM released that their new Chucky doll was going to be AI. No one liked it. And Mancini put the cherry on top. The Nun hit theaters and had a great marketing campaign where creepy nuns stalked around certain cities. Apostle hit Netflix. The Predator had some drama surrounding it but hit theaters to mixed reviews. Mandy was finally given to the world and Cheddar Goblin became our new leader. Jordan Peele announced that he was rebooting The Twilight Zone. Hell Fest was also released, just in time for Halloween Maze season.
October - The brand new issue of the newly rebooted Fangoria magazine hit shelves and it was everything horror fans hoped it would be. Halloween hit the screens and everyone cried tears of joy. We got an amazing Halloween special of The Goldbergs that saw Robert Englund putting on Freddy’s glove again! AMC released Eli Roth’s new mini series; Eli Roth’s History of Horror. Scott Wilson passed away at 76 years old which was devastating to everyone. The Suspiria remake was released and Netflix added Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
November - Overlord hit theaters giving zombie fans a new movie to love. Netflix added the movie Cam which Stephen King and many horror fans enjoyed immensely. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina found themselves in the middle of a lawsuit with the Satanic Temple over a statue used in the show. And Rick Grimes didn’t die on The Walking Dead like we all thought he would. He flew off in a helicopter. And AMC let us know he’d be returning in The Walking Dead movie universe. WHICH NO ONE ASKED FOR. Joe Bob Briggs came back to Shudder to celebrate American Thanksgiving with The Dinners of Death. Vogue posted an article questioning where all the good horror movies had gone and every horror ever fan roasted them to death.
December - Joe Bob Briggs came back a third time on December 21st to bring in the Christmas season with us for A Very Joe Bob Xmas. Jordan Peele made everyone lose their shit on Christmas morning by releasing the first trailer for his much anticipated next flick, Us. And it looks fucking amazing. Every website and fan released their top ten list of the year and we all closed the year together united as a community.
And that was our year! What was your favorite thing that happened in horror this year? Let us know in the comments!
