Expert comment Last updated 22 October 2019
"Do you like scary movies?” Yes, yes I do. Those five words taken from Wes Craven’s 1996 modern classic Scream, carry a certain significance at this time of year.
Halloween has long been seen as the perfect time to tune in to tune in to scary movies, but with horror on the big screen dating back as far as Le Manoir du Diable, the short French silent film released in 1896 - which I’m sure you’ve all seen - there is well over a century of material to tune in to this Shocktober.
But navigating the class from the trash can be a tricky manoeuvre to pull off, and it can be difficult to tell the super from the blooper. For every Exorcist there’s a Jason X, and for every Psycho there’s a…… Psycho IV. So if you’re planning on inviting round the friends and family for a good old fashioned screamathon this All Hallows’ Eve, which films are truly worthy of adorning your small screen (unless you’re one of those people with an oversized TV in the lounge – I hate those people)?
Whether you’re a jump scare fan, an inquisitive mind who wants to check out abandoned homes in the woods, or the owner of a handheld camera and a nervous disposition, horror films provide us all with a unique experience. Phone battery low? Check. Killer on the loose? Check. A return from the grave? Check. Final Girl ready to face the villain in one last showdown? Double check. We know the tropes, but the journey still excites, entertains and downright scares.
Horror can be neatly sliced (pun intended) into a few categories, the classics and the hidden gems among them. But which films are the ones to set pulses racing, blood curdling and goose bumps rising? The UK’s only Professor of Cult Cinema Studies, Xavier Mendik, has named his top five classic horror films and the best scary movies you haven’t seen yet. So bolt the doors to hide from Trick Or Treaters, carve a pumpkin – because for some reason that’s what we do at this time of year– and pray your house isn’t sat on an Indian burial ground. Here’s the top five classic movies:
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) - Although my first viewing of this film was on an old black and white TV back in the early 1980s, this did not diminish its horrific impact. Tobe Hooper’s classic details the fatal encounter between a group of college students and a dispossessed rural family. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has subsequently been viewed as reflecting the fractured American mindset of the 1970s, while it also generated a wave of recent remakes and spinoffs. Drawing inspiration from the true story of Ed Gein, the film’s leatherface character is now one of scary cinema’s most recognisable faces, and will be the foundation of many a fancy dress outfit this month.
- Suspiria (1977) – Arthouse horror at its finest! Dario Argento’s surreal supernatural horror entry is now considered to be a cult classic for its manipulation of cinematic techniques such as sound, colour and camera movement. These features are put to use in a narrative that concerns the sinister rein of the Three Mothers, who hold brutal power over an elite European dance academy.
- Dawn of the Dead (1978) – In 1968 George A. Romero revolutionised the horror genre with his monochrome shocker Night of the Living Dead, which introduced modern conceptions of the zombie into popular culture history. Dawn of the Dead extends the concerns of the Romero original while its delivering its stand out special effects scenes in full colour. Its focus on beleaguered survivors fighting off the undead in a shopping mall also provides an incisive commentary on American consumerism.
- The Hills Have Eyes (2006) – Director Alexandre Aja provides a fast paced reboot of Wes Craven’s original backwoods splatter release, detailing the conflict between a mutant family of desert-dwellers and the unsuspecting prey they encounter. While the Wes Craven classic remains innovative for its exploration of family dynamics across the opposing groups, the Aja remake still retains interest as a key example of post-9/11 American horror. Featuring an extended play of the Mamas & Papas California Dreamin’ the film brings a new meaning to a scary trailer.
- Angel of Vengeance (Aka Ms. 45, 1981) - Cult director Abel Ferrera provides a compelling entry that proved influential on more recent and polished examples of the female vendetta cycle. Featuring a mesmerising performance from the late actress Zoё Lund, Angel of Vengeance details a mute seamstress who enacts her revenge on the male figures she views as symbols of gender oppression. Here, social commentary and cult film tactics culminate in a violent finale at a fancy dress party.
For those horror aficionados with shelves packed with scary DVDs (or Netflix subscriptions) there are plenty of hidden gems, which even aspiring Mark Kermodes, will have yet to see. Whether it’s recently released films that should be next on your list, overseas creations or simply underrated pictures these movies should be on your list. So once you’ve worked your way for the list above, settle yourself down and prepare to ‘see dead people,’ in these five best horrors you’ve yet to see.
- Rabid (2019) – Jen and Sylvia Soska’s newly released remake of the Cronenberg body horror classic belongs in the domain of the soon-to be-reclaimed, more than the never-heard-of category. Rather than take a straight remake approach to the theme of a lone female who infects a Canadian city scape, the Soska Sisters have chosen an innovative approach that owes more to the #MeToo movement’s critiques of male heterosexual power that it does to 1970s separatist conflicts that occupied Cronenberg’s original.
- Blue Sunshine (1977) – Although not the most productive of horror auteurs, Blue Sunshine remains Jeff Leiberman’s most satisfying and satirical movie to date. The film details an unexplained outburst of urban violence by former hippies who consumed a bad batch of acid that later afflicts them with bouts of hair loss and homicidal tendencies. The fact that their former drug dealer is now running for Congress on a family and morality ticket provides an interesting political subtext to Lieberman’s film.
- Deranged (1974) – The grisly crimes of American serial killer Ed Gein made an indelible and traumatic imprint on popular culture, influencing everything from Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and the slasher cycle, to lurid biopics and true crime TV. Nestled within this catalogue is Jeff Gillan and Alan Ormsby’s minor entry, which transposes Gein’s transgressions on to the fictional hick Ezra Cobb. Although often decried for its visceral realisation of Cobb’s murder spree, Deranged is more memorable for its offbeat characters as well as an unnerving performance from lead actor Roberts Blossom.
- The House with Laughing Windows (1976) – During the 1970s, the Italian giallo cycle proved particularly popular across European territories, often depicting an amateur detective or foreigner who is forced to adopt the role of investigator in order to solve a series of violent crimes occurring in the narrative. Although not a director solely associated with the horror genre, Pupi Avati turned in one of the most significant entries to the 1970s Italian giallo craze by effectively using a rural location to expose wider Italian fears around regional and gender divisions within the country.
- The Sacrament (2013) – Although contemporary horror auteur Ti West scored early acclaim with titles such as The House of the Devil (2009) and The Innkeepers (2011), his subsequent release of The Sacrament garnered a less favourable reception. Often viewed as derivative of the found footage cycle, the film is actually an intelligent and chillingly accurate update of the 1978 Jonestown massacre, and depicts a crew of VICE journalists who travel to a remote South American location to record the final days of a religious community there.
So grab the pumpkin-spiced popcorn, close the curtains, turn off the lights and hope there isn’t a knock at the door before your head hits the pillow. You should be safe in your dreams. Freddy told me so.