With Halloween just round the corner I wanted share some of my favourite scary movies with you! Most people can remember the first scary film they ever watched - I was petrified by Night on Bald Mountain in Fantasia when I was little but think my first ever 'horror' film was probably The Lost Boys! I'm very particular and admittedly a bit of a snob when it comes to horror - a film has to have a genuinely good plot for me to really enjoy it so a few cheap scares doesn't do it for me. I prefer supernatural and psychological thrillers. I'm not really a fan of gore unless it's in a black comedy (I told you I was particular!) I also tend to prefer foreign horror as I think the actors talking in a language you don't understand helps mask any bad acting, which has a tendancy to go hand in hand with the genre. The following are just a few my favourites. I've tried to steer clear of the obvious choices - The Shining and The Exorcist are brilliant films but we've all heard of those haven't we?! All the trailers are linked in the title.
Mama (2012) This film scared the living crap out of me and I still get shivers down my spine when I think about Mama in the middle of the night. Mama was directed and co-written by Andy Muschietti in his directional debut, and was based on his 2008 Argentine short film Mamá (also worth a watch). Two young girls are found abandoned in a forest cabin fostered by an unknown entity that they call "Mama". Guillermo del Toro served as executive producer on the film and his influence is very apparent. I'm a big fan of del Toro, so if you haven't seen The Orphanage, Pans Labyrinth or Crimson Peak, they are all well worth a watch too.
A Swedish film about a lonely boy who befriends a vampire when she moves next door to him. Really recommend watching this original over the Hollywood remake of it as in my opinion it's near perfect and oddly endearing for a horror movie!
This is the original film based on the book 'The Haunting of Hill House' by Shirley Jackson which has also been re imagined in a Netflix series recently. It's about a small group of people invited by a paranormal investigator to a supposedly haunted house. The sets and costumes are fantastic and it is genuinely scary for quite an old film. It's also far superior to the remake 'The Haunting' (1999) with Owen Wilson and Catherine Zeta Jones which was a firm favourite for all the 14 year old's at my school for sleepovers!
A psychological thriller directed by and starring Roman Polanski - obviously off putting but I honestly was blown away by this film. A man moves into an apartment where the previous occupant attempted suicide by jumping from the window. The film follows his decent into paranoia and madness brought about by his suspicious and hostile neighbours.
Wouldst thou like to live deliciously? A period supernatural horror set in the 1600's which follows a family banished from their Puritan plantation over a religious dispute. They set up their new home, a farm on the edge of a large secluded forest, where they soon start experiencing strange supernatural happenings. This takes a little while to get going but bloody hell, when it does is it terrifying. You'll never look at a goat the same way again...
If you've followed me for a while you'll know I'm a huge fan of David Lynch. Rather than a trailer, I've linked a scene from the film that I must of watched a dozen times, it gives me the absolute creeps and is one of my favourite scenes from any film ever.
A South Korean film set in 1972. A group of South Korean soldiers in Vietnam are sent to investigate a radio transmission from a missing platoon that had previously been presumed dead.
Directed by Takashi Miike, Lesson of the Evil is a Japanese Slasher film about a popular high school teacher who comes up with an extreme way of dealing with the bullying and bad behavior from his pupils.
I couldn't not include this cult classic. Bruce Campbell returns as Ash who once again battles horrifying demons at a secluded cabin in the woods. The best way to describe this film is a hilarious nightmare, as it's as funny as it is horrifying.
A Japanese supernatural horror which focuses on a paranormal expert who produced a series of books and documentaries on supernatural activity around Japan. He disappeared in the process of making his most disturbing documentary, The Curse. The film is mostly made up of 'found footage' filmed by his camera man. I chose this particular film as it doesn't rely on the typical 'dead woman with long black hair hanging over her face' for scares, as is the formula with a lot of Japanese Horror films.
I wanted to finish this blog post with this brilliant short film 'Spider' by Nash Edgerton. Be sure to watch it through to the end! I hope you have a very spooky Halloween! Do let me know your favourite horror films. I am always looking for ones I haven't seen!