I ❤️ Horror Movies

A list of my favourites for this Halloween

It’s Halloween, the spookiest time of year and I want to take the time to talk about one of my favourite aspects of popular culture: Horror Movies. I thought about how I would do this, how to tie it into the theme of my SubStack. Maybe a deep analysis of the philosophical themes found in one particular movie would tie into my ‘dime-store’ philosophy, hot take essays? Maybe an essay about how music and scoring is used in horror movies would tie into my musicology essays? Maybe an essay about how identity politics has crept into horror movies in recent years would tie into my culture war, social commentary articles? Or maybe an article about character, narrative themes and archetypes would tie in with my love of storytelling and fiction? 

I pondered all of these questions for a femtosecond before I realised there is no bloody theme to my Substack, other than me releasing whatever random shit I come up with at the time. No rhyme, no reason: just whatever I happen to feel like creating on any given day. That’s kind of the whole reason I do it. Substack is an outlet for all of the results of my unfettered and unbridled creative urges. 

So a random essay where I recommend horror movies that I like to you the reader does fit into my sporadic, frenetic, chaotic ‘whatever the hell I want’ upload schedule. 

So I’ve just written a list of horror films I love with a few comments about each. Please let me know in the comments what your favourite horror movies are as I am always on the lookout for more great films to watch. 

I’ve roughly sorted these into categories that make sense to me but I am aware many of these could fit in multiple categories…

Stephen King adaptations. 

I have been a huge fan of King’s literary works for decades now. There are a few great film adaptations of his books, a lot of mediocre ones and a shitload of god awful ones like Dreamcatcher. The most upsetting example in my view is the boring and wasteful Dark Tower movie. I adore that book series and would love to see Roland, Walter, Jake, Eddie, Susannah and Oh’s story adapted to film well. But I’ve given up any hope of that happening by now.

 The Shining: King famously disliked this Stanley Kubrick adaptation which is an opinion that I fundamentally disagree with. This movie is perfect and Jack Nicholson’s terrifying performance as Jack Torrance is genuinely one of the best ever committed to film. 

IT (2017): The first movie is legitimately scary, showing both the malevolent evil and cunning agency of the villain Pennywise. I think he works better as a mysterious force of evil, when you don’t quite understand what he is, rather than revealing some of the weirder parts of his character like they did in the second movie. That sequel was a massive let down, but this first movie still holds up on its own.

 Carrie: Wow. What a film. Part of my enduring interest in this movie is how much I empathise with the title character due to her oppressive religious mother (this is definitely a tough watch for me). It definitely looks and feels its age though and, if that bothers you, there is a serviceable remake starring Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore, the latter of whom delivers a chilling performance. But the Sissy Spacek and John Travolta movie is untouchable. It is a slow burn but delivers in spades.

 The Mist: The Dark Tower references in this film always turn me into the Leonardo Dicapro meme, pointing at the screen as I spot weird and niche references to King’s shared universe. There are also plenty of precursors to the Walking Dead tv series as it was directed by Frank Darabont and stars a lot of his actor friends, including his original choice to play Rick Grimes, Thomas Jane in the lead role. You’ll also spot the actors who would go on to play Carol, Andrea and Dale. But this film is best remembered for the gut wrenching and heartbreaking ending that I won’t spoil. King, famous for being terrible at writing endings to his stories, didn’t write the ending, which is probably why it is so good. 

Zombie/Vampire

As my mentioning of the Walking Dead might have let on, I love Zombie fiction and consume (brains) a lot of it. Honorary mention to World War Z which I think has a lot of great stuff in it; it’s just a bit muddled and nowhere near as good as the book on which it is loosely based.

 28 Days Later: Perfect movie. The sequel is pretty good too and there is another on the way. This film (pardon the pun) resurrected the Zombie movie for the modern era and kickstarted the ‘fast zombie’ trope that makes the undead a viable villain in 21st century horror. It was inspirational to all zombie fiction that followed it, The Walking Dead even directly stole the main character plot arc; waking up from a coma to discover the world has been overrun by zombies.

 Shaun Of The Dead & Zombieland: Parodies, satires and both a lot of fun. 

From Dusk ‘Till Dawn: Vampires, Salma Hayek wearing very little and Quentin Tarintino purposefully writing scenes where he gets to simultaneously drink liquor and satiate his foot fetish. What’s not to like?

 Dawn of the Dead: Rarely will you see me say nice things about a Zak Snyder film, but this remake is exceptional. Maybe that is down to James Gunn’s writing though? 

30 Days of Night: Vampire movies can be quite camp, silly and over the top. This isn’t. It's grounded, believable and scary as hell.

Evil Dead: I got bored of the remake and switched it off. It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t silly and it had none of the character that Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell injected into the excellent originals. Even Army of Darkness is an entertaining watch. 

Non English Language films

Ringu (The Ring - Japanese): The American remake is fine but the original is brilliant. Much scarier and a good sequel just adds to the lore. 

Ju-On (The Grudge - Japanese): Same as The Ring. Better version and scarier. No Sarah Michelle Gellar though so that’s a win for the remake.

 Battle Royale: Controversial in its own time as many were deterred by a story where a bunch of kids on a tropical island are forced to kill each other on a state mandated reality TV show. Years later, Suzanne Collins would use the same premise in the Hunger Games, but this isn’t YA. It’s violent, brutal and awesome. 

REC: Could have been in zombie movies. This found footage movie set in Barcelona is claustrophobic, creepy and excellently directed. The American remake, ‘Quarantine’ is essentially the same movie except it somehow manages to be bad. Don’t watch that, watch REC.

Let The Right One In: Another film that was remade into a serviceable English language version starring Chloe Grace Moretz. The original is just better though. 

Train to Busan: This could also be in Zombie movies and is my FAVOURITE FILM by far of any genre. I will write a whole essay on it one day so I’ll leave talking about it for that. Needless to say it is scary, well made and I highly recommend watching this film. The sequel sucks though.  

Monster Movies

Alien/Aliens: Aliens is close to ‘Train to Busan' for me. I probably know every word by heart, particularly Hudson’s wonderful dialogue. Both these films are absolutely perfect and I’m glad they stopped at two and there never was any more sequels in this series, or prequels (thank god). 

A Quiet Place: There are only a few films in my list from the last few decades but this one makes it. I wasn’t expecting much but John Krasinski knocked it out of the park making this film.

 John Carpenter’s The Thing: A remake better than the original from one of the all time greats. Body horror, claustrophobia, distrust, mystery, great practical special effects and the most 1970s beard a man has ever worn on Kurt Russell. Great movie that I have rewatched countless times.

The Descent: In my opinion, possibly the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. To be fair, I am terrified of the idea of being stuck in a cave and I think spelunking is the last thing I would ever consider doing. This makes that fear a million times worse. Fuck caves and fuck the weird monsters in this film. Such an awesome movie though. 

The Faculty: Great cast, body snatchers storyline and fun teen drama. This is a cult classic and I love it. 

Cloverfield: I hate Kaiju movies normally and not much of a found footage fan but this movie really does excel at nailing both of these.

 10 Cloverfield Lane: Doesn’t feel like a sequel to Cloverfield until the end and is in no way a monster movie. It’s more like a Hitchcock film and the scares come from isolation, claustrophobia and the mystery of Goodman’s character. Excellent performances all around but especially from John Goodman. Unsettling film.

Event Horizon: Didn’t know where to put this. It’s Sci-Fi horror and super weird. I have always enjoyed it though. They don’t make films like this anymore. Overtly demented, sadistic and perverse at times. 

Jaws: The original and the GOAT in terms of blockbuster monster movies. Iconic, in every way. Needs a bigger boat though. 

Sleepy Hollow: Tim Burton can be a lot, even for me. But this is subtle by his standards. Great cast, looks amazing and I love the early 19th century look of rural America. It has an Arthur Miller ‘The Crucible’ vibe and I am so here for that. I’ll also watch anything with Christina Ricci in it to be fair. 

Slasher

Halloween: The Goat of this genre and never bettered. John Carpenter's score, Micheal Myers mask, the original ‘final girl’ running up the stairs instead of leaving the house. Trailblazer of a film.

Ready Or Not: I thought this would suck and avoided watching it for a while. But it’s genuinely a lot of fun, doesn’t take itself too seriously and has a twist ending I never thought they would be brave enough to do. I laughed a lot too. Good film.

Cabin In The Woods: Meta, self referential, subversive and damn clever. Love this movie. Another twist ending.

Wrong Turn: This film has a lot of very bad sequels but this first film is…well it’s also bad. But it has Eliza Dushku in it, so it's on my list. Villains are scary too.

The Strangers: Terrifying. The home invasion movie is a tired cliche and done to death but this one is very good. I love how the villains and their motivations aren't properly explained or rationalised in any way. It makes them feel like a force of nature and incomprehensible. 

The Orphan: The film is fine. The twist ending is awesome. I think they missed a trick not calling it Esther after the main character. That always felt like it fit the creepiness of the film better to me.

American Psycho: Iconic film and an iconic character, Patrick Bateman. So many memes.

The Wicker Man: The original with Edward Woodward, not the Nicholas Cage remake (‘THE BEES!!!”). Eerie and unsettling.

The Visit: More found footage and another fantastic twist ending, this time from the self appointed king of twist endings, M Night Shyamalan. This film, followed by Split, won him a lot of people back on side before he lost them all again with over indulgent writing and dumb character moments. When will he learn?

The Sixth Sense: I couldn’t mention Shyamalan and not include this. I see dead people. 

Final Destination: Even the bad films in this series are enjoyable to watch. Proper popcorn horror films. Love them. The first one is still exceptional. 

Theological/Occult

The Exorcist: I genuinely love this movie. The make-up and special effects may look silly by today’s standards, but the writing, directing and performances stand the test of time brilliantly, particularly Linda Blairs’. A masterpiece.

The Omen: Another classic with bad sequels and an awful remake. Gregory Peck is so good in this movie and the whole thing has an air of the golden age of cinema to it. One of the best child actor performances I’ve ever seen too. That kid really does present as the embodiment of evil.

The Witch: Another period piece about witchcraft set in early colonial rural America. Slow burn but damn good, eerie and well made.

The Others: Standout performance from Nicole Kidman in a super creepy movie. Twist ending can be seen coming from a mile off but it is executed well enough that it doesn’t matter. 

Rosemary’s Baby: I found myself wondering what all the fuss was about when I watched it but, like Carrie, the ending makes this movie, validating the whole film and its run time.

Drag Me To Hell: Sam Raimi again. I had low expectations for this movie but was surprised at how hard it goes. I haven’t watched it in a while but I remember enjoying it a lot. 

Crime

SAW: I saw the trailer which heavily implied that the movie hinged on a will they/won’t they cut off their own legs to escape plotline. That didn’t intrigue me much and felt thin as a story concept. But there was nothing else on and it was raining that weekend so me and my friends went to see it because we had nothing better to do. I was blown away. The depth of the interweaving narratives, the writing, the performances, the world building and THAT twist at the end. I was hooked. The sequels let it down massively and flogged a dead horse for way too long. This movie is seen as a bit of a joke now, but imagine if they hadn’t made any sequels at all; how iconic would this film be as a standalone?

Se7en: ‘What’s in the box?’ David Fincher is one of my favourite filmmakers & I love this film. Great cast and performances, iconic scenes and dialogue and a great Kaiser Sose moment with the villain reveal which was meta and clearly on purpose.

Silence of the Lambs: I think this film would be perfect if they found a way to have a final showdown between Clarice and Buffalo Bill that benefited the intellectual brilliance of the rest of the film. By comparison it feels kind of basic and tired, Like a final girl trope ending was tacked on. Always bugged me. Other than that, this film is a masterpiece. Sequels suck though. They should have kept Hannibal Lector as a mostly mysterious force of nature and not tried to flesh out his character with endless subsequent projects. 

That’s a few of my favourite horror movies. Please tell me yours in the comments. Happy Halloween. 

Thanks for reading

The Common Centrist