Some Good Horror Movies
November 2024
I SUPPOSE SOME READERS will contend there’s no such thing as a “good” horror movie. Okay, how about some well done horror movies.
I could recommend a long list of unsettling, thought-provoking, mesmerizing, mind-bending, or otherwise superior-in-one-aspect-or-another horror movies, but I will limit it to 10 selections. These are not necessarily my 10 all-time favorites and they’re in no particular order, but they do represent a wide range of sub-genres. It's fair to say that the horror genre in general has undergone a renaissance in terms of both quality and quantity since around the turn of the 21st century, and the list reflects that.
Let the Right One In
2008
The Swedish original, although the American remake is not bad, either. A lonely boy develops an interest in his new a neighbor. The film explores friendship and loyalty, and also more difficult topics like bullying, hematophagy and dismemberment. Good human interest stuff.
2008
The Swedish original, although the American remake is not bad, either. A lonely boy develops an interest in his new a neighbor. The film explores friendship and loyalty, and also more difficult topics like bullying, hematophagy and dismemberment. Good human interest stuff.
Mandy
2017
The most psychedelic selection on the list, it’s pretty hallucinatory from start to finish. Parts of it are quite brutal. The opening credits with the character played by Nicholas Cage felling a tree against the backdrop of a cloud-covered Pacific Northwestern forest while King Crimson's Starless and Bible Black plays over the scene is amazing.
2017
The most psychedelic selection on the list, it’s pretty hallucinatory from start to finish. Parts of it are quite brutal. The opening credits with the character played by Nicholas Cage felling a tree against the backdrop of a cloud-covered Pacific Northwestern forest while King Crimson's Starless and Bible Black plays over the scene is amazing.
Hunter Hunter
2020
Another story set in a forest. There is a family. There is a wolf. There are hunters. There is prey. An aside: I think I picked up on an important plot point in this movie that I've never seen mentioned in a review. Ask me about it.
2020
Another story set in a forest. There is a family. There is a wolf. There are hunters. There is prey. An aside: I think I picked up on an important plot point in this movie that I've never seen mentioned in a review. Ask me about it.
Kill LIst
2011
Two friends, former special forces soldiers who now kill for hire — one of whom is in a bad place, emotionally — are paid to exterminate some nasty people. Then things start to get weird.
2011
Two friends, former special forces soldiers who now kill for hire — one of whom is in a bad place, emotionally — are paid to exterminate some nasty people. Then things start to get weird.
Audition
1999
A man desires to date a special lady. Their relationship gets off on the wrong foot.
1999
A man desires to date a special lady. Their relationship gets off on the wrong foot.
Midsommer
2019
Graduate students are introduced to a community of Scandanavian neo pagans and decide to study their ways. There might be a good thesis in this ... The pagans have other ideas. Cue the festivities!
2019
Graduate students are introduced to a community of Scandanavian neo pagans and decide to study their ways. There might be a good thesis in this ... The pagans have other ideas. Cue the festivities!
The Innocents
1961
A quiet but affecting ghost story about the persistence and manifestation of evil. Even as a young adult, it made me a little afraid of the dark. There are a few other movies with this title including a fine but unrelated Swedish horror from 2021, but what I'm referring to here is the 1961 production directed by Jack Clayton
1961
A quiet but affecting ghost story about the persistence and manifestation of evil. Even as a young adult, it made me a little afraid of the dark. There are a few other movies with this title including a fine but unrelated Swedish horror from 2021, but what I'm referring to here is the 1961 production directed by Jack Clayton
It Follows
2014
Small clues here and there hint that this film’s story may play out in some alternate reality just a bit askew from our own. Wherever it is, the characters in this world are pursued by a malevolent and determined force that’s fixated on a particular act.
2014
Small clues here and there hint that this film’s story may play out in some alternate reality just a bit askew from our own. Wherever it is, the characters in this world are pursued by a malevolent and determined force that’s fixated on a particular act.
Berberian Sound Studio
2015
A soft-spoken audio engineer travels to Italy to produce the soundtrack for a Giallo horror. This is not a typical motion picture for him. As work progresses, the man’s emotional state, shall we say, deteriorates. I’m interested in audio production, so that part of the movie facinated me.
2015
A soft-spoken audio engineer travels to Italy to produce the soundtrack for a Giallo horror. This is not a typical motion picture for him. As work progresses, the man’s emotional state, shall we say, deteriorates. I’m interested in audio production, so that part of the movie facinated me.
Quarantine
2008
I had to include at least one “found footage” horror. I am a sucker for them. I watch even the bad ones. This is a remake of the Spanish found footage film [REC]. Typically reviewed less kindly than the Spanish original, in my opinion Quarantine is superior.
2008
I had to include at least one “found footage” horror. I am a sucker for them. I watch even the bad ones. This is a remake of the Spanish found footage film [REC]. Typically reviewed less kindly than the Spanish original, in my opinion Quarantine is superior.
