10 Most Underrated Horror Movies Of 2019

7. Piercing

Piercing film
Universal Pictures

Ryu Murakami is one of the most sickeningly disturbing horror writers of the past few decades, but the extreme nature of his books means they aren't exactly great fodder for movie adaptations.

Put simply, it's probably impossible to film a scene about a psychosexual serial killer who can pretty much stop time and also has a soft spot for genital mutilation.

Piercing is one of the tamer (in comparison) novels to adapt. The story is actually genius in a way, chronicling the story of Reed, a mild-mannered man who fakes a business trip away from his family so he can finally unleash his serial killer dreams.

The twist is, the sex worker he calls to murder is strangely okay with letting him do whatever he wants.

It's something Black Mirror wishes it could come up with, yet director Nicolas Pesce twists it through his own surreal Giallo lens, and a colourful visual design that at times is darkly comic, but never shies away from the macabre themes of the source material.

Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.