Now Scream This: Kick Off 2019 With These Streaming Horror Movies

(Welcome to Now Scream This, a column where horror experts Chris Evangelista and Matt Donato tell you what scary, spooky, and spine-tingling movies are streaming and where you can watch them.)Matt: We did it, readers. We survived 2018. In the tradition of revitalizing ourselves with a new yearly beginning, Chris and myself would like to offer some "Fresh Start" watches for you this week. Streamable titles with an emphasis on exposing the real you, or pursuing a new path, or finding alternate existential meaning. You know, before December rolls around once again and we're ready to restate all those resolutions and personal promises of growth with the hope that motivation sticks this time around.Chris: Happy New Year! Let's start the new year off on a positive note, shall we? We can all better ourselves! Just kidding, we're doomed. Much like the folks in the films below! The characters in these films are all hoping for a fresh start, but what they get instead is terror. Sounds like someone I know. That someone is you, dear reader. 

Matt: If you want to start 2019 off with a fresh start, why not watch 2018's #1 horror film? Ari Aster's Hereditary is the perfect place for any genre fan to begin their 2019 journey into cinematic nightmares. Maybe the Academy can score their own fresh start in 2019 by honoring Toni Collette with a much-deserved Best Actress award? What a splendid surprise that would be – the Oscars rightfully honoring horror. Watch Hereditary and you'll find out what makes Collette's performance as a grieving mother with a cursed bloodline so inescapably traumatic scene after scream after breakdown. Not to undersell Alex Wolff's or Milly Shapiro's work, each with memorable footnotes dotted throughout Aster's immensely impressive – like, to the point where it's unbelievable – feature debut.Chris: There was a curious backlash against Hereditary after all the positive buzz, but I am firmly Team Hereditary. Hail Paimon.

Matt: In Brett Simmons' You Might Be The Killer, Fran Kranz plays a summer camp counselor who discovers his true self – only he might be a slasher villain? In this comedic meta-satire, Kranz's "Sam" phones his horror-loving bestie "Chuck" (Alyson Hannigan) because he can't tell if he's responsible for killing the other counselors or not. Sam comes to covered in blood, in possession of a creepy mask, and has a whole lot of questions that Chuck answers with not always the best news. Bloody, goofily inclined, and what some would describe as Cabin In the Woods Lite. Who knew a movie based on viral tweets could be so enjoyable?Chris: I have yet to see this, but I love me some Alyson Hannigan, so I'll be checking it out soon.

Matt: Danish "werewolf" thriller When Animals Dream is about finding one's self, being comfortable in said skin or fur, and living life sans shackles. As we say – new year, new me! Sonia Suhl plays Marie, a small-town girl who lives with her sick mother and caretaker father. It turns out her family bloodline isn't exactly "normal," as strange bodily alterations reveal the beast who resides inside. It's a metaphor for female maturity, being caged away versus allowed to roam free, and a sincere coming-of-age creature feature with a claws-out third act.Chris: I loved this movie – it's reflective, and sad, and also about werewolves. What else do you need?

Matt: Sometimes we need to purge our systems of past toxins to move onward in our lives effectively. Enter Gore Verbinski's A Cure For Wellness which – mark my words – is 2016's most ambitious studio release. I have no idea how this movie exists, but it does in its slithery, psychologically berating glory. Hollywood, weird and unhinged Dane DeHaan is the *best* Dane DeHaan. His work here versus Jason Isaacs' asylum madman Volmer is bang-up batty with an emphasis on dumfounded overreactions. A little on the longer side at almost 150 minutes, but it flies by like a good deprivation chamber soak that allows your mind to wander into unimaginably twisted reaches.Chris: Take the cure, accept the diagnosis. I am in awe of this movie – how did it get made? I have no idea, but I love it. Eels for everyone!

Matt: It's 2019 and time to ditch that job you've hated for years! Why? Just watch Joe Lynch's Mayhem. Life's too short to waste on working late with no overtime compensation or serving CEO's who reap the most significant rewards of your gruntwork achievements. It's time for that fresh start, except maybe forgo the whole rage virus outbreak scenario that Steven Yeun's white-collar employee is forced to fight his way through? Mayhem is a blast from start to finish – Yeun a major reason why, Samara Weaving even more so – packed with enough "Worksploitation" angst and fury to take down the most bloated Wall Street bigwigs. It's the movie so many of you wanted The Belko Experiment to be (FYI, y'all are too hard on The Belko Experiment).Chris: So fun and so goofy. Joe Lynch makes highly entertaining trashterpieces, and Steven Yeun deserves to be in all the movies.

Chris: Ted Geoghegan's fun, creepy, surprisingly violent We Are Still Here finds wife and husband  Anne (horror legend Barbara Crampton) and Paul (Andrew Sensenig) moving to a new home in New England following the death of their son. The death has been particularly distressing for Anne, whose grief is all-consuming. When mysterious, possibly supernatural events begin occurring in the new house, Anne is hopeful it's the ghost of their son trying to communicate. But it's not. Something far more sinister is at work here. Drawing influence from Lucio Fulci and H.P. Lovecraft, We Are Still Here is low-budget horror done right.Matt: I frequently recall the third act of We Are Still Here with fondness, especially that pedal-to-the-floor finale. Damn fine stuff, Mr. Geoghegan. Hard to forget.

Chris: Set almost entirely in one house, The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh is close to being a one-man-show for star Aaron Poole. While other characters show up, Poole gets the brunt of the screentime, playing Leon, a young man staying at the home of his mother following her death. The house is filled with various knick-knacks, mostly related to religious iconography. Oh, and there's a VHS tape of an angel statue in a church suddenly coming to life. Strange, haunting, and wonderfully simple, Rosalind Leigh is about coming to terms with the past while trying to move forward into the future, and bumping into spooky obstacles in the process. The entire film features a wonderful, emotional narration from Vanessa Redgrave, playing the voice of Leon's dead mother, leaving a message to her son from beyond.Matt: Not one I've watched yet, so you've gotta trust Chris on this one.

Chris: Two Barbara Crampton movies on one list? You bet your ass. Castle Freak comes from Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon, and reunites Re-Animator stars Crampton and Jeffrey Combs. They play a married couple who move with their blind daughter (Jessica Dollarhide) to a castle that Combs' character has just inherited (we've all experienced that, right?). The family is hoping for a fresh start, primarily because Crampton's character harbors resentment for Combs, blaming him for blinding their daughter and killing their son in a car accident. But enough about that family drama – let's get to the freak part! There's a hideous monster locked away in the castle's basement – a monster hungry for blood. What's not to love here?Matt: Gordon, Crampton, Combs, and a castle freak. I'm with Chris on this one – what's not to love here?

Chris: David Lynch's sexy, scary Mulholland Drive is a dream wrapped in a nightmare wrapped in a fantasy. Young actress Betty Elms (Naomi Watts, in a star-making performance) comes to Hollywood hoping to make it as a star. Before she can break into the biz, though, she gets mixed up with a beautiful woman (Laura Elena Harring) suffering from amnesia. The two begin trying to find out who the mystery woman is, and where she came from. But don't get too wrapped-up in that mystery, folks, because Lynch has more tricks up his sleeve, including alternate timelines, blackly comedic moments, and highly horrifying scenarios (you'll never want to venture into the parking lot behind a Denny's again). Of all of Lynch's fantastic filmography, Mulholland Drive is his masterpiece.Matt: Lynch's take on Hollywood in Mulholland Drive is must-see material. Hulu's not overflowing with horror selections, but when it does offer one, it's a heavy hitter.

Chris: The House by the Cemetery was a major influence on We Are Still Here, so it seems only fitting to include it on the same list. Directed by Lucio Fulci, The House by the Cemetery follows a family who move from New York to New England. But what should be the beginning of a wonderful new chapter in their lives quickly turns into a blood-soaked kill-fest. Because the previous owner of the house was the crazy Dr. Freudstein, who performed ghastly human experiments. And now something lurks in the basement... House by the Cemetery isn't as glorious as some other Fulci films, like The Beyond, but it has its charms. Best of all, the young son of the family is named Bob, and there's something hilarious to me about a child named Bob. Not Bobby, not Robert, but Bob. Bob the child.Matt: Chalk up my lack of old-school horror watches to not seeing this Fulci title. Yes, this will be a running theme on "Now Scream This."