The Worst Films of 2019

Another year, another list. Fortunately, there weren't too many terrible films in 2019, or I just missed them all. Here are my least favorite films of the year:

5) Serenity - “Serenity” is ostensibly a lurid, steamy “Double Indemnity” neo-noir wannabe with Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, until it’s not. As it goes, nothing really is what it seems, and a plot reveal that later redefines the purposeful noir premise is simultaneously clever, batshit bonkers, and wildly, almost enthrallingly stupid. This is the kind of off-the-rails, big-swing odd duck that will be more entertaining and challenging to talk about than to sit through again. [Full Review]

4) Berserk - Low-stakes, ineffective black comedy-thriller “Berserk” isn’t the most high-profile title on this list, but it stars Nick Cannon and Rhys Wakefield, who makes his directorial debut. While the entire film takes place in and around a Hollywood Hills bachelor pad and should have made for some berserk chamber drama between its drug-induced characters and unannounced visitors, there’s no reason to care about any of these grating, narcissistic people and their problems. [Full Review]

3) Thriller - There haven’t been many slasher films with an entire cast comprised with people of color that it’s a shame the South Central-set “Thriller” is just not a very good one. Uninspired and amateurish, this Netflix/Blumhouse dud denies fans of the slasher sub-genre any kind of pleasurable thrill when there’s so little style or finesse to raise one’s pulse. [Full Review]

2) The Fanatic - Fred Durst, he of Limp Bizkit, made one of the dullest and most irresponsible thrillers of the year (or any year) with “The Fanatic.” John Travolta dials it up to eleven, playing a movie star’s murderous fan named Moose in a Hawaiian shirt and a bowl-cut mullet, and he may have autism, but who’s to know? “The Fanatic” is a bust, even as trash cinema. [Full Review]

1) The Haunting of Sharon Tate - Based on the real events of the brutal murders of Sharon Tate and her friends at the hands of the Manson Family, “The Haunting of Sharon Tate” is exactly the fraudulent, sensationalized true-crime docudrama that it should have never been, making a mockery of a tragic real-life crime. This isn’t Hilary Duff’s fault at all, but the film she’s given her all to is tacky and ghoulishly exploitative, leaving a gross aftertaste. [Full Review]