The Fly (the 80's vers. with Jeff Goldblum) is one of my all-time favorite horror movies. It doesn't drag on it's silly "normal life" bits like lots of horror films do, and unlike many older horror films, it's aged well. The special effects are extremely well utilized, imo. I don't think modern sfx could make many improvements. Plus, body horror is among the most terrifying form of horror. (I think so, anyway!)
Stretching the definition of horror somewhat (it's technically a "drama mystery thriller), Titus (1999 with Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, and Alan Cumming) is a quasi-modern/quasi-Ancient Roman/quasi-Cold War era (beautiful visuals) re-imagining of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. It uses Shakespearean language throughout, but don't let that scare you off. I can never understand plays or movies that aren't in plain, modern English, but I watched this for the first time back in high school and had little to no difficulty with it. The actors and directors attached to this are honestly just that good. Titus is a movie about revenge, plain and simple. One character does something horrible to another character, setting off a chain reaction of increasingly horrible escalations until your TV is dripping blood. Did I mention the massive levels of gore? NOT a show for those who are easily squicked.
I will forever be in love with Black Swan's majestic decent into insanity. Dario Argento's Suspira was supposed to be both similar and better, but frankly I found it to be kind of gaudy and ham-handed.
If you liked the Saw franchise but haven't seen Cube (1997), you are seriously missing out. Cube's basic premise is that a group of people wake up inside of a cube maze (a cube made of rooms of cubes). Some rooms have horrible, deadly booby traps. The group struggles to find a safe path out while combating exhaustion, dehydration, and increasing panic.
Event Horizon is perhaps my favorite "horrible things happen on a spaceship" movie.
Let the Right One In (the Swedish version, not the American remake) is perhaps my favorite vampire movie of all time. There's no sparkling or vaguely homoerotic undertones. The focal characters are young. I'm talking like ten. And this is no "The Little Vampire". The opening scene shows Oskar, the main character, stabbing a tree with a knife and telling it to "Squeal like a pig." There's no Hollywood airbrush to smooth this flim's rough edges. It's about bullying and murder, with hints of pedophilia and childhood sexuality. (The dad also gave me some pretty bad vibes.) Ultimately, it is a brutal sort of love story, however.
From France, we've got High Tension (Haute Tension, 2003), which is a gory version of the well-worn "serial killer sneaks into the house and kills everyone slowly" with it's own unique twist. YMMV on the quality of this one. This whole movie hinges on whether or not you see the twist coming. If you don't, it's an enjoyable thrill ride with buckets of blood. If you do, it's mostly just buckets of blood with little else to offer.
Also from France is Martyrs (2008). I do not even know where to being with Martyrs. I give it the highest possible praises on cutting the obligatory "blah, blah normal life" set-up scenes down to practically nothing. (Three and a half minutes, in fact!) Martyrs is one of those films that you simply can't summarize. It's certainly unique. And I love the way the plot keeps changing directions (in a good way). It shatters your expectations in the best possible way. Just when you think you have Martyrs figured out, something else comes along to change not only the action on screen, but how you view it. One minute it's a revenge flick, the next it's a supernatural horror, then a slasher, then torture porn, then something completely different. This is possibly the single goriest film I have ever seen. (Or maybe that title rightfully goes to Tetsuo the Iron Man.) But unlike other gory films (I'm looking at you, Saw, Hostel, and The Human Centipede), the point isn't simply to show buckets of blood. The plot isn't centered around gore, gore's centered around the plot, and it really shows in the execution. This film isn't fun to watch. Frankly, it's excruciating. But it's got a unique and arguably strong story. I hate movies where you get to the end and wonder what the f**k you just watched. (It's up to interpretation! I'm looking at you now, Asian horror genre. ALL OF YOU.) Martyrs isn't like that. However, while the turn it takes in the last half of the film is intellectually interesting, but ultimately both the film-makers and the audience realize that while Martyrs can artfully present the idea, it can’t take it anywhere or explore it because of the nature of the subject matter. There is no moral or purpose to Martyrs. The movie ran itself into a dead-end, and while it was an interesting and engaging trip, Martyrs ultimately will leave you with nothing more than a few unexpected twists and a slight shortness of breath. Overall, I'd still say it's a solid experience. Plus, there's no sexual sadism whatsoever!
Hard Candy (2005, starring Ellen Page) is another good one. Technically a thriller, but in the "psychological, gut-wrenching mystery" sense, not the "car chases and ticking time bombs" sense. The movie focuses on a young girl who basically gets picked up in a cafe by her middle-aged online photographer buddy. But we quickly learn that Page's character isn't the helpless victim she seems to be.
Creepshow (1982) is a fun watch for pretty much the whole family. It's a collection of short horror flicks (all of which were written by Stephen King, I think) that revolve around this comic book format/theme/bookend thing. The stories range from corny to fairly terrifying, but over all it's a fun, solid classic.
As for Asian horror, Audition (1999) has some nice moments, if you can stand the draaaaaaaag. And Three Extremes is another good collection of shorts you can find on Netflix. (You can find a lot of these on Netflix, actually!) I haven't seen much good Asian horror recently. The Whispering Corridors series from South Korea is pretty good, if you like your horror school-bound. A Tale of Two Sisters got an American remake which I think did justice to the original (and was somewhat less confusingly ambiguous). Acacia (2003) is another good one, though it may leave you scratching your head.
And last but not least, Trick 'r Treat is perhaps the ultimate Halloween movie, being in fact a Halloween movie and not just a horror movie. This is another anthology. It centers around a town with some very special Halloween traditions. Each short moves from one part of town to another (and across various horror sub-genres as well), but the ending winds all the little overlaps together into a nice, solid finale.
09 Oct 2012, 12:26 pm
