its october and the only horror movies i’ve watched are scream 1-3. they are ok for what they are (deconstruction of horror tropes via murder mystery), but i need something spicier. something existentially horrifying, not just a wrinkly monster chase or a crazy guy hacking up white girls. something that follows you out of the movie and changes how you think about the world for a few days before you’re normal again. stuff that pulls at the threads of your understanding of reality. a lot of so called psychological thrillers do this but thats not specifically what i’m looking for as much as existential terror.
since i created this post i’ll start with suggestions of my own
1 - SKINAMARINK
watch this without any research or info going in. all i will say is that there is limited dialogue and the amount of times you see a face or character asymptotically approaches zero. watch while stoned for maximum effect.
2 - They Look Like People
psychological thriller, avoiding spoilers but i’ll say that it mayyybe leans into some problematic ableist tropes relating to mental health common to the horror genre. i have a friend that loves this movie and relates to it strongly for mental health reasons though so i might be over- or under- analyzing.
3 - The Lighthouse
monochrome period piece. 2 boys 1 lighthouse. you can probably predict how this goes but the execution is so worth it, the actors are amazing and the cinematography is excellent.
thats pretty much all i got, i haven’t seen that many movies.
Of the bat I should say say my tastes are for the more surreal, psychological and Lovecraftian/Cosmic horror stuff.
Possession - Zulawski. Massive content warning: extreme and disturbing violence. There is psychological and sexual violence in this film. That being said it’s one of my top movie experiences of all time. I definitely don’t recommend this if you struggle at all with those things in horror (or horror in general). If you are fine with this in art then best going in as blind as possible. Also very arthouse.
On the Silver Globe - also by Zulawski. You wouldn’t know this has horror elements until you watch it. Alot of people wouldn’t call it horror but I think the horrific aspects struck me very strongly when I saw it recently. Again massive content warning as it is quite disturbing. Very surreal and difficult to follow (partly because the full version is not available as it was destroyed by the Polish government at the time).
Other Zulawski films with horror elements: Third Part of the Night, Devil. His films tend to be very surreal, with the emphasis on psychological and Lovecraftian or cosmic horror, expressed through more immediate, concrete, domestic or historical events.
For some weird British horror by Ken Russell (I can still scarcely believe that a straight man made these films), which also have some comedic elements:
Related to that is another Polish classic: Mother Joan of the Angels. This is actually about the same series of events as the Russell’s The Devils, but set in the aftermath of the event depicted in that film. That being said the films are also very different in tone. The Poles in general are excellent at horror for some reason.
Also there are honestly also a bunch of American horror classics:
An interesting recent guy is obviously Robert Eggers, whose been revitalizing Folk Horror:
The Brits are also low-key very good at Folk Horror:
Another British classic:
Peeping Tom
Mystic’s in Bali for interesting non-Western stuff.
Viy for Russian folk horror.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Let the Right one In
Jonathan - a German Vampire film that makes clear the class-warfare angle on Vampires.
Also recomment Dario Argento. Suspiria is legit a classic. Just don’t think too hard about the plots. Also Lucio Fulci. See City of the Living Dead and The Beyond. Very gory.
Another very weird and gory one in the same ballpark at Fulci is the cult classic Messiah of Evil.
Also worth saying that some old classics like Nosferatu (1922) and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari are still worth a watch, especially if you’re interested in the evolution of cinema as an artform and aesthetic language. Still trippy.
The Herzog Nosferatu is also a classic imo. The Hammer Dracula films with Christopher Lee are very silly but I like them. Coppolo’s Dracula is an underrated classic and I’m tired of pretending otherwise.
There’s also several Japanese horror classics (obvs):
Lair of the White Worm also has a young Peter Capaldi in it, which rules. I love him.
Also you reminded me I’ve seen Horrors of Malformed Men before and blocked out the memories. What a fucking weird movie.
Holy shit ofc how did I forget Capaldi. Legendary.
Yh when i watched Horrors of Malformed Men I was three joints in and that was too much honestly. Really next level. Like it just gets more and more insane.
If you liked that you might also like Dogura Magura by Toshio Matsumoto. Also disturbing. Same guy who did Funeral Parade of Roses (masterpiece imo).
Ive been going through Yoshihige Yoshida’s stuff over the last year as well as he’s quick become one of my fav directors.