Top Ten Favorite Spooky Season Movies
I am not choosing movies based on how frightening they are, because I am easily put off by realistic gore and it's too simple a task to just disgust me. The movies that mess with one's mind are by far the scariest. Some of these films are to be expected, others will leave you questioning my taste. Prepare yourself for my thesis on "beautiful blood". Do expect spoilers.
Lesser Known
Nasty Baby - Sebastian Silva
This is not a typical horror movie, and the quick descent into madness toward its conclusion parallels an almost Audition-like denouement. Against the backdrop of a changing Brooklyn, Nasty Baby's cast consistently carries a collective uncomfortable ambiance throughout their interactions. Starring Kristin Wiig, Tunde Adebimpe, and the filmmaker Sebastian Silva, a seemingly benign or even comedic cast, you walk into this completely unawares of what will come. And of course, like any good horror flick, the leitmotif and underlying allegory of gentrification on a massive scale play a psychological game with the viewer.
Side note: When I saw this in the theatre, I was alone, and I had no idea what I was in for. When the movie hit the climax, I actually went out of the theatre and started angrily questioning the staff if they knew the movie was going to do that and why didn't they tell me? You're not prepared.
Personal Shopper - Olivier Assayas
This movie is slow, but occasionally has punctuations of truly haunting moments, and plays in the nebulousness and ambiguity of life after death and being alone. Here is a film that shows you what you have to fear is nothing; and in nothingness, you can choose to find fear or hope. Personal Shopper also incorporates the use of text messaging and the lingering feeling it leaves as a vehicle for anxiety, and how virtually anyone can speak to us simply if they have our number. This movie follows a young woman and medium who works as the personal shopper / assistant for a film star in France. Her brother has recently died, and believing the two of them shared the same gift to speak to and see the dead, they made a promise she would try to contact him. Amidst a strange series of events, she begins to receive messages from an unknown source that gives her directions, leading to a conclusion she does not expect.
The Artsy End
Santa Sangre - Alessandro Jodorwosky
The concept of Santa Sangre as a saint alone creates a lore that draws me in, and the original story has such corporeal discomfort, all in the name of blood. Santa Sangre is both so heartbreaking and so strong, a visionary oeuvre. Jodorwosky isn't always the most watchable, but Santa Sangre has both narrative and vision. This film depicts the human body as a disguistingly capable being, but in the end sheds a light on the beauty of peace and the innocence and good that it can choose. I know there are a lot of movies where the main character reveals themselves to be a killer without realizing it, but I feel like this set that trope in motion for the long term. Similar to the film below, I find an ASMR quality in films that use overdubbing, it amplifies the actors' breath and idiosyncrasies.
Giulietta Degli Spiriti - Frederico Fellini
For trivia's sake, this movie stars Frederico Fellini's long time partner and wife, Giulietta Masina. I don't know why but I always felt like this film was intended as a love letter to her natural beauty.
This movie combines horrors of the ambiguity of the spiritual, fear of death, fear of loneliness, distrust, and being a woman "of a certain age". Indeed, horror based around womanhood always performs well in my book. Guilietta is haunted by her own age, and taunted by family and spirits who question how secure she is in her identity and in her marriage. I love the soundscape of this movie, which includes whispers, the distant twinkling of bells, breezes carrying hushed words, and a distinctly Italian (almost ASMR) recording style, most likely because of the overdubbing of the dialogue which captures the breathiness of the actors.
Cheestastic Camp
Return of the Living Dead - Don O'Bannon
I've never, ever, ever seen a horror movie like this with this sense of humor and these raunchy but inspiring special effects. If anything, the vibe of this movie is best felt through the delivery of the line, "Send more paramedics." This is the first movie to feature zombies craving brains, thanks to Tarman, who probably scared the living daylights out of kids in the 80's. Bonus points are delivered due to the crew of off-beats representing each a different trop of subculture.
The Parents - Bob Balaban
I love this movie for its visuals and aesthetics, the mid-century music, cigarettes, and credenzas. This movie has incredible editing, photography, and ambiance, while also playing with themes of sex, cannibalism, vegetarianism, individualism, and abuse.
The Parents creates an atmosphere where the main character, a young boy, fears his father due to his unloving and oft-cruel nature. Conversely, his relationship with his mother is soft and understanding, and it provides a space of safety for the young boy. Lurking around corners, Randy Quaid embodies an unescapable sense of control, a sociopathic man of the house, as the father who works in a chemical testing company through which he finds his future victims. I see allegories of parental abuse here, but an equal representation of the idyllic unfeeling Alpha of the 1950's.
The Classics
Get Out - Jordan Peele
As a white person with basic empathy and a strong distaste for racism, paired with an excellent education in post-colonial history and literature, Get Out created an environmental horror that parallels the horror of being black in a white world. I'm no scholar, but if I'm correct, this movie changed everything. If anything stands out to me most, it's the way the black actors had to produce tears through lies and smiles, and the pure pain you can feel emanating from their gritted teeth.
The Thing - John Carpenter
The Thing makes man the ultimate monster, and distrust is both his weapon and weakness. Obviously, many people regard this as one of the greatest horror films of all time, and it stands out as unique. Not only are you placed in a strange land with new and different laws of physics and nature, but you can't assume at any turn that you are safe. The unique landscape of Antarctica and the death that lay in wait for all the research station's inhabitants is both inside and outside the compound.
Mulholland Drive - David Lynch
David Lynch makes great movies, but Mulholland Drive will haunt me forever for countless reasons. This movie is a brain teaser, and it plays with consciousness and reality. The colors of Mulholland Drive are at times blazingly brilliant and overly optimistic but have distinct moments of dirtiness, dinginess, and darkness. The creature from behind the dumpster provokes the most harrowing fright from my deepest soul. Mulholland Drive's choppy and nightmarish narrative questions your understanding and frightens you at the least expected moments. As always, I love Lynch's use of Roy Orbison, and the Spanish cover of "Crying" ("Llorando") gets me every time.
The Shining - Stanley Kubrick
Kubrick has a way with fear, and I almost chose 2001 instead. Of all the Kubrick films, this one stands out the most to me personally. This is a movie that never actually deeply scared me but instead instills an environmental awareness of the palpable panic that the characters face and inundates me in visual metaphor. I haven't read a lot of Stephen King, and I weirdly appreciate that Kubrick was so obstinate to execute his interpretation, though if I'm correct, King's version would be more fair to Wendy. He created a masterpiece but at the cost of I should discredit this film due to Kubrick's treatment of Shelley Duvall, which was unfair to her.
I'm also a big fan of the Room 237 documentary that explores possible analyses of The Shining. Room 237 does an incredible job highlighting the mise en scene of The Shining and possible interpretations. Although I don't always agree, it's inspiring to see the imaginative hallways this movie can lead people down.