An Open Ballot: The 2020 Thingy Awards

Forget Super Tuesday! Vote for something that really matters… like the best horror movies, actors, actresses, and directors from the genre in 2020! The Scariest Things 2020 Thingy Awards are being made open to our fans to be the jury for our second annual awards!

It was another good year for the horror genre, to close a decade that was very good for the horror genre. To celebrate the best that was for 2019’s crop of horror films, it is now time for the Scariest Things 2020 Thingy awards! This year we are opening it up to all of our readers and fans who would like to participate. You don’t have to have seen all the movies, but if you are a horror movie junkie, and have seen a number of these, we’d love to include your input!

Here is a Link to our 2020 Ballot.

On the ballot, there is a tab marked “Other” for you to add write-in candidates. We’ve added a few more categories this year to help recognize other aspects of the genre. Best Breakout Rising Star, Best TV series. Best Poster. and Best Screenplay.

UPDATE: April 10: WINNERS in BOLD CAPS

Best Actress in a leading horror movie role:

Florence Pugh, Midsommar
LUPITA NYONG’O, Us
Riley Keogh, The Lodge
Samara Weaving, Ready or Not
Jessica Chastain, It: Chapter 2
Maeve Higgins, Extra Ordinary
Kate Scoladario, Crawl

Best Actor in a leading horror movie role:

Robert Pattinson, The Lighthouse
Jeremy Gardner, Sadistic Intentions
Miles Robbins, Daniel Isn’t Real
Elijah Wood, Come to Daddy
WILLEM DAFOE, The Lighthouse
Alex Breaux, Depraved
Ewan MacGregor, Doctor Sleep

Best Acrtress in a supporting horror movie role:

Emily Tyra, Harpoon
Rebecca Romjin, Satanic Panic
Nicky Guadagni, Ready or Not
Elizabeth Banks, Brightburn
Ruby Modine, Satanic Panic
Karin Michaelson, Finale
REBECCA FERGUSON, Doctor Sleep

Best Actor in a supporting horror movie role

Patrick Schwarzenegger, Daniel Isn’t Real
Barry Pepper: Crawl
Will Forte, Extra Ordinary
Jack Raynor, Midsommar
BILL HADER, It: Chapter 2
Stephen McHattie, Come to Daddy
Winston Duke: Us

The Gateway Award: Best Horror Film for a young or new horror fans

Godzilla, King of the Monsters
SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK
Escape Room
Head Count
Happy Death Day 2U
Little Monsters
Extra Ordinary
Itsy Bitsy

The Abbott and Costello Award: Best Use of Humor in a Horror Film

Nekrotronic
Ready or Not
Harpoon
Satanic Panic
Us
Little Monsters
EXTRA ORDINARY

The Best Movie Poster of the Year

Killer Sofa
THE COLOR OUT OF SPACE
The Wind
Daniel Isn’t Real
Ready or Not
Pet Semetary
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Best Looking Horror Movie (Cinematography and VFX)

MIDSOMMAR
The Lighthouse
The Vast of Night
Godzilla, King of the Monsters
The Wind
The Lodge
The Color Out of Space

Best Sounding Movie (Including SFX, Mixing, Score and Soundtrack)

THE SONATA
The Lighthouse
The Vast of Night
Godzilla, King of the Monster
The Wind
Us
Brightburn

Best International Horror Film

Finale (Denmark)
Nekrotronic (Australia)
EXTRA ORDINARY (Ireland)
Black Circle (Sweden/Mexico)
The Lake Vampire (Venezuela)
Dachra (Tunisia)
Queen of Spades: The Dark Rite (Russia)

The Bloodbath Award: The Best use of exploitation or gore in a horror movie in 2019.

Bliss
Come to Daddy
Porno
READY OR NOT
Finale
Brightburn
Satanic Panic

The Best Screenplay in 2019 Horror

The Vast of Night, James Montague and Craig Sanger
THE LIGHTHOUSE, Robbert Eggers and Max Eggers
Us, Jordan Peele
Midsommar, Ari Aster
Depraved, Larry Fessenden
Come to Daddy, Toby Harvard
Satanic Panic, Grady Hendrix

Best Monster of 2019

The alligators in Crawl
The giant spider of Itsy Bitsy
PENNYWISE in It: Chapter 2
The Sea Monster in Sweetheart
King Ghidorah in Godzilla, King of the Monsters
Mothra in Godzilla, King of the Monsters
The Pale Lady in Scary Stories to tell in the Dark

The Best Horror TV Series 2019

American Horror Story: 1984, FX
Los Espookys, HBO
The Terror: Infamy, AMC
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, FX
Typewriter, Netflix
The Swamp Thing, DC Universe
Stranger Things: Season 3: Netflix
NOS4A2, AMC

Best Horror Short

The Darlings, dir. Liz Tabish
Finley, Dir Zachary Thurman
Five Course Meal, dir James Cadden
ALIEN 40TH ANNIVERSARY: ORE, dir The Spear Sisters
Nose Nose Nose Eyes! (South Korea), dir. Jiwon Moon
Vinyl Destination, dir. Daniel Cummings
We Found a Monkey’s Paw, dir. Aaron Pagniano
The Hide Behind, dir. Parker Finn
My First Time (Israel), dir. Asaf Livni

The Best Horror Moment of the Year

The discovery of whether Le Bail’s curse is for real, in Ready or Not.
Danica does an intestinal divination, in Satanic Panic.
The alligators get the jump on the looters in Crawl.
The Chinese restaurant scene in It: Chapter 2.
The Tyler Family gets ambushed by their doppelgangers in Us.
The pledges get branded in Pledge.
Christian in the bear suit at the end of Midsommar.
The rise of King Ghidorah in Godzilla, King of the Monsters.

The Best Horror Director of 2019

ARI ASTER, Midsommar
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, Ready or Not
Jordan Peele, Us
Robert Eggers, The Lighthouse
Chelsea Stardust, Satanic Panic
Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, The Lodge
Alexandre Aja, Crawl

The Best Horror Feature – Independent/Limited Release

Extra Ordinary
Come to Daddy
Daniel Isn’t Real
The Lodge
Pledge
THE SONATA
Sweetheart
Satanic Panic

The Best Horror Feature – Wide Studio Release

It: Chapter 2
Midsommar
THE LIGHTHOUSE
Crawl
Ready or Not
Doctor Sleep
Us
The Color Out of Space

So, if you have an opinion on these films, go to our ballot and share your thoughts with us! And if you feel like you haven’t seen enough of the movies to make an educated selection, think of this as your guide to 2019 horror movies. Almost all of the feature films are now out and available. (Extra Ordinary and The Lodge are in theater runs right now.)

The Scariest Things will be announcing the winners on March 8, and we will post our recording soon afterwards. For those who wish to join us, have fun, and thanks for being part of the TST community!