#I'm going to make a separate post about the oddity of the apartment.

[the-labyrinth-of-me]

Closer to home.

[simplylove101]

2024 Horror Watch Challenge Faves, Honorable Mentions, Non-Faves & Everything In-Between

Well, as per tradition since at least my third time doing a challenge (the year 2019 to be exact) I started doing a little wrap-up ranking post once it's all done just to look back on the movies I watched and which ones really stuck with me (good or bad) Normally I just group them in no specific order because it's hard for me and also, it saves time tbh but I really wanted to try and challenge myself this year so I'm going to attempt some ordering of preference beyond it being a fave or not (also, so every movie I watched gets mentioned for once). Wish me luck. lmao Also, decided to change the format just slightly because I think I watched more movies from the current year vs. older ones than ever before so it only made sense to me to separate those rankings from each other. It's already hard enough to rank them as it is so this is neater for me. lol

2024 RELEASES

FAVES:

The Substance

Last Night with the Devil

Oddity

Lisa Frankenstein

Longlegs

It's What's Inside

Abigail

Milk & Serial

Strange Darling

Exhuma

The First Omen

MadS

Still split on certain placings because this is the one that's really hard since I enjoyed every one of the movies in this section, which made it so I couldn't even settle on a Top 10 so it became a Top 12 List instead. lmao But yeah, I had to keep The Substance as my top spot just because like I already said, it was truly unforgettable to me and it feels like I gotta give credit where it's due. A campy body horror masterpiece. The rest of the top 5 spots felt like they had to belong there (Oddity was originally 2 but then I just really loved Late Night with the Devil overall even more while Oddity is more because it scared the shit out of me in a way I didn't expect lol) It's What's Inside almost took Longlegs' spot but then I was too split about that. The rest I feel pretty good about. MadS is the biggest surprise on the list probably but it just really stuck with me Idk.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Immaculate

Blink Twice

Infested

Stopmotion

Maxxxine

Speak No Evil

I Saw the TV Glow

Lowlifes

Terrifier 3

A Quiet Place: Day One

Some of these could have been a contender for a Faves spot in a different year probably, just short being there. Some of these were fighting for a spot in the next category as well since I decided to add more to highlight other watches I normally wouldn't have categorized. The top 3 were the ones fighting for a Faves spot ofc, everything else feels right. I debated where to put Maxxxine but had to do it. And honestly no one is more surprised than me to see a Terrifier movie in the Honorable Mentions section, especially before a A Quiet Place movie but well, I can't say I wanted to like it more than I did cuz it me gave what I expected and it certainly wasn't mid but it couldn't be on the faves either so. lol

Wanted to Like It More:

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Alien: Romulus

Cuckoo

Night Shift

Trap

Double Blind

Decided to make this a category because honestly, there's some movies where I wanna put them in the Honorable Mentions section but then had decided there was a better movie to take what would be in its spot instead and some of these just really needed something else to beat the other ones I put there. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice isn't really that bad but it just felt so long at times I couldn't put it any higher in my rankings. Night Shift is actually pretty mid material in retrospect but I'm biased for Phoebe, same for Josh with Trap. If I didn't have this section, they'd definitely be in the next category instead. Double Blind makes the cut cuz I personally liked the actual concept and some of it was cool.

Mids:

+ (almost forgot to count this one too since I decided after watching it that this isn't a horror to me at all personally)

Lovely, Dark & Deep

Tarot

In a Violent Nature

Apartment 7A

The Watchers

Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire

Never Let Go

Humane

Hold Your Breath

Arcadian

Don't Move

Frogman

Another new category this year and that's because some of these are technically ones that could be in the worst of the bunch but there were too many duds this year already. lol Lovely, Dark & Deep could have been put up on a higher tier if certain plot points were believable but welp. Also, this is me once again saying I don't think Tarot is as bad as IMDB will have you believe it is (is it great? No. But it's watchable imo) The rest aren't necessarily set in stone with their placements but both Don't Move & Frogman are on this list because they're just shy of being Nopes for me.

NOPES:

Night Swim

Imaginary

Afraid

The Front Room

Founder's Day

The Blue Rose

Sting

The Strangers: Chapter One

Little Bites

House of Spoils

The Exorcism

The Crow

Subservience

Under Paris

Azrael

Now, tbh, there's not necessarily a proper ranking I could do for all these movies because frankly, if they made it on this section, there's really no redeeming them for me tbh. It means I genuinely didn't care for it. But I attempted an order of how much I truly hated them. Night Swim, Imaginary & Afraid are all together because all three were horrible and I need Blumhouse to stop making movies like these immediately. lol The only one originally on the Mids list was Azrael because of my Samara Weaving bias and it showed some promise but I just didn't really enjoy it so couldn't lie.

COULDN'T FINISH:

Frankie Freako: I get this was meant to be a horror comedy and a love letter to 80's horror I'm sure but I just couldn't even get into this. It felt like it was trying way too hard to be cheesy for the sake of being cheesy and I just checked out as soon as I got that feeling

Mind Body Spirit: Interesting concept and I was willing to give it a chance since the lead seemed like she was really game in her role and the premise was a little different. What threw me it wasn't a true found footage movie. It changed the tone at weird times and I wasn't really here for that so I turned it off.

The Platform 2: Made me so annoyed because I actually remember really liking the original movie and this one was just a lot. Also, I was really confused. lol

Time Cut: My original horror comedy Halloween watch. It doesn't help I kept hearing bad things about it all day before I was gonna watch and then when I finally turned it on, I knew almost immediately it was not gonna be good. Why we are already doing time travel movies to the 00's and we can't even be accurate?? Also, the acting was giving awful. :/

STILL TO WATCH:

Heretic

Your Monster

Nosteratu

Smile 2

Y2K

A Different Man

The Devil's Bath

V/H/S Beyond

Pretty much in the order of my excitement to watch them I think. Heretic looks like it's gonna be cool. My work friends are very hyped for it. lol I haven't seen enough to really get what Your Monster is gonna be like but it just sounds like it's gonna be my vibe hopefully. I desperately need Nosferatu to be good. lol Smile 2 apparently is superior to the original for some people so that makes me curious. Y2K being a horror comedy already means I'm definitely in. lol A Different Man = body horror? Could be interesting. And I actually meant to watch The Devil's Bath cuz Spookyastronauts raved about it but I just never did. Oops. XD

OLDER MOVIE RELEASES (2023 OR BEFORE)

FAVES:

The Sixth Sense

The Host

Godzilla Minus One

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

The Skin I Live In

Dream Scenario

Influencer

Compliance

To be honest, I'm not surprised The Sixth Sense turned out to be my fave of the semi-older movies I watched this year. Kinda crazy it took me all these years to finally watch it but hey, better late than never. And it lived up to the hype! As did The Host. The pleasant surprise was giving The Killing of a Sacred Deer a second chance and actually liking it once I got over how odd it was gonna be. lol Influencer is a bit of a Shudder original gem as far as I'm concerned because what a great performance by its villain. And it feels weird putting Compliance on a Faves list a bit just cuz it's so heavy and uncomfortable but it feels like it deserves the spot for me.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

The Stranger

Speak No Evil (2022)

Planet Terror

The Strangers: Prey At Night

Suitable Flesh

Blood Tea & Red String

How to Be Alone

Even tho, The Stranger was released as a movie in 2024, I decided to count it on here since when it was released as a miniseries, that was 2020. Either way it earned it's spot on here cuz of my Maika bias and it was a rollercoaster. The original Speak No Evil was solid like the remake but no enough to be a Fave. The Strangers: Prey At Night is my fave Strangers movie just because it's campy slasher fun imo. idk lol I've decided Suitable Flesh was pretty fun after all. And yeah, I added another Maika thing with How to Be Alone just because XD

MIDS:

As Above So Below

Sister Death

No Exit

Studio 666

Th13rteen Ghosts

The Lords of Salem

Willy's Wonderland

House on Haunted Hill

Gotta say, even though I listed all of these movies as mid, a good amount of them are still better than the Mids of 2024 imo. Or at least entertaining, despite (or even because of) its cheesiness. In particular that means As Above So Below & Th13rteen Ghosts I think.

NOPES:

The Remaining

Sleepwalkers

Dead Silence

Cat Person

We're All Going to the World's Fair

God Is a Bullet

So, in the case of these Nopes, The Remaining is for sure the worst movie on it. It was nice seeing Italia Ricci & Alexa Vega both in a movie together but it was not worth it tbh. lol Sleepwalkers is 90's bad, which means yes it's definitely bad but at least it was amusing?? Same for Dead Silence, it was 00's bad, which means it's laughable but I liked that in a weird way. Now Cat Person... That movie just made me uncomfortable and annoyed. lol We're All Going to the World's Fair... I genuinely wanted to like that movie more. I continue to think that style just isn't for me but then I did enjoy the director's other movie so who knows. And well, God Is A Bullet was just a weird movie. But I love Maika so it could have almost made the Mids list instead in a different year.

And the one COULDN'T FINISH that was older that I could remember trying to give a chance only because its poster grabbed my eye on Tubi before I quickly realized that this was gonna probably suck LOL:

Well, that concludes the rankings for my 2024 Horror Challenge. Kinda crazy I watched 88 movies this year. What the hell. And most of them were from this year or last year. lol Anyway, hopefully I'll try watching more older stuff again for next year's challenge but it was still fun regardless. Another successful year I guess! heh