You’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it’s hard not to. A movie poster sets the tone for the film you’re about to see, and there have been many times when I’ve skipped over a good film because it had a lackluster poster. With the amount of good movies that came out this year, one would expect great artwork to accompany them. This was a colorful and bold year, and so many of the horror and sci-fi film posters that I have chosen for the best horror posters of 2019 reflect that. Check them out below in no particular order!

Best Horror Posters of 2019

Us

This might be my favorite poster of 2019. This simple poster encapsulates all the imagery that makes Us so unique: the two Lupita Nyong’os, the gloves and the red suits. The photorealistic mask highlights the stark difference between the two characters really well and shows off the powerful acting that Nyong’o brought to the film. I also love how her character is emerging from the darkness and with harsh white light shining on her, hinting at the setting that she comes from in the film.

Under the Silver Lake

What I love the most about the first poster for David Robert Mitchell’s (It Follows) Los Angeles-based conspiracy movie is the intense color pattern. The blues matched with the light yellow/green font really make this poster stand out. The realization that it’s Los Angeles underwater with the palm trees is intriguing and definitely makes me want to know more about it. The second poster I don’t love visually, but after seeing the movie and how it ties in conspiracies, I think the second poster is pretty clever and represents the film well. Is there a pattern? Or are you overthinking it?

Ready or Not

Making posters with the entire cast on it can look really good or really bad. In the case of Ready or Not, it turned out pretty cool. Samara Weaving’s character has an amazing look to her, which is highlighted through this poster with her wedding dress and bandolier of bullets front and center. The symmetrical poster has a cool, contrasted warm theme to it, mimicking an older, western-style poster. I would also say that this bustling character-based poster was pretty accurate to this fun flick.

Pet Sematary

The Pet Sematary reboot was okay, but the posters that came along with it were really artfully done. I love how all the elements blend together in this poster within the shape of this unkempt cat. The overall look of this poster is gray, dead, reminiscent of rot. I think that really represents the feel of this new film by directing duo Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer (Starry Eyes). I like that the poster went for a sweet spot between minimal and busy. I think the poster could have been improved by going a little more minimal, without including the actor’s floating heads within the cat, but otherwise this is a really solid poster.

Daniel Isn’t Real

I love artsy, abstract posters, and this one is a great example of that. The poster looks like a watercolor painting with splotches of intense colors making up the background on which the main character’s face is drawn on top of. This is another film that deals with duality of the main character, which you can see reflected in this poster with a really nice dripping effect, which also mirrors a specific scene in the film that I won’t spoil. The effective choice of images for this poster and the minimal design make this one of the best horror movie posters of 2019.

Satanic Panic

I have not seen this movie, but the poster really makes me want to. I love the use of the pentagram to section off a character in a unique spin on the floating heads poster trope. The intense red of the pentagram contrasts with the rusty, drawn look of the characters. Despite having six actors on the poster, it doesn’t seem busy and it definitely has a nice symmetrical look. I would also imagine that this poster does a good job of representing the film, from what I’ve heard about it.

Ad Astra

I wouldn’t really call Ad Astra a horror film, but it does flirt with some dark themes and its posters definitely have a sinister theme to them. The film is incredibly visually stunning, and that is shown in almost all posters for this film. Both of these posters have a spooky vibe going for them, and seem to be emphasizing the emptiness and coldness of space. What I think these posters really focused on is that Ad Astra is not just a space film, but it’s playing around more with the genre. These posters really gave me a dark Interstellar vibe that worked well for this film.

Little Monsters

This is another one that I haven’t seen yet, but is on my list! This poster is incredibly bold with its singular yellow color broken by the darker shades of the guitar and the bodies, and the bright red blood splatters. I also like how Nyong’o’s body curves around the bold font of the title, and the minimal placement of the zombie hands for a patchwork kind of effect. I’m not familiar with the plot of this film at all so I’m not sure if it makes sense for Nyong’o to be looking so happy, but I definitely can tell this is a fun, comedic movie, and gives me Cooties vibes.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

I personally was a huge fan of the newest addition to the Godzilla world. I didn’t like the 2014 version of Godzilla and I feel that this Michael Doughtery (Trick r’ Treat) sequel really improved upon that by making the human conflict minimal, and showcasing what we really want to see: the monsters fight. This movie had such spectacular action scenes, it truly didn’t matter how thin the plot was. These posters illustrate the colorful, intense fight scenes in the movie by showcasing the huge monsters. The main poster was the blue Godzilla one, but other posters were released for the other monsters (Mothra, Ghidora, Rodan) in the movie as well, in monochromatic color schemes. I think this Godzilla movie will be looked fondly upon in the future, and these posters are a testament to that distinct vision of Godzilla. Long live the King!

Those are my picks for best horror movie posters of 2019. What do you think? Comment what you think are the coolest horror movie posters of 2019!