It’s Halloween time so in obvious fashion I have decided to post a list of my favourite horror films. From European art-house to American mainstream, literary adaptations to franchise beginnings.
10. Blood and Black Lace (1964, Mario Bava, Italy).
No-one quite does stylish horror quite like the the Italian’s and Bava’s 1964 giallo Blood and Black Lace is possibly the most stylish. Set in a Milan fashion house, this film ended up serving the template for what we now consider to be the slasher movie. Blood and Black Lace is full of gore and exploitation as the body count of the house Models (or human Mannequins as they are called in the film) stacks up. The film received mixed reviews on release, it is now however considered to be one of the most influential horror films ever made. As much as Blood and Black Lace oozes with blood, it also oozes with style and suspense and is thoroughly entertaining.
9. Deep Red (1975, Dario Argento, Italy).
After watching fellow Italian directors’s Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up (1966), Dario Argento was inspired to make a film that played with the conventions of the giallo and turning it into a mediation of film-making itself. Deep Red is one of Argento’s earliest works but it also happens to be one of his most mature films. However, with its over-stylised set design, garish colours and score from band Goblin (who he would later work with again on Suspiria (1977), Deep Red is the film which fully establishes the Argento style and his place as a horror auteur.
8. The Shining (1980, Stanley Kubrick, UK and US)
One of the most critically acclaimed horror films, there’s a reason why The Shining frequently tops Best of Horror lists, and that’s because it is one of the best. Kubrick’s adaptation (though reworking would be a fairer term) of the Stephen King novel isn’t a horror that relies of gore and jump scares for gimmicks, its a slow burner creeper that ultimately leaves you chilled to the bone (excuse the pun). I also believe that The Shining is the film that most demonstrates Kubrick as a master; the intricacies of the plot and the attention to details makes this his masterpiece.
7. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003, Jeen-Woon Kim, South Korea)
I remember the first time I watched A Tale of Two Sisters. One day when I was 11, me and a friend hired this from the video store not knowing it was subtitled. Despite not following the plot or the story, there was one scene that terrified me and the film stuck with me. When I re-watched the film nearly 10 years later, I realised the reason that this stayed with me so vividly was because A Tale of Two Sisters is a horror masterpiece. The plot is solid and the payoff at the end is as satisfying as it is heartbreaking, it is also an utterly stunning film. This film about family, grief and tradition more than deserves your time.
6. Daughters of Darkness (1971, Harry Kumel, Belgium, France and Germany)
A newly married couple check in to an empty but grand hotel in Ostend, Belgium. They later are joined by a Hungarian, middle aged women and her young secretary. As the foursome get to know each other more, more strangeness occurs. Erotic, vampire film Daughter’s of Darkness could not be anymore European art-house; it’s sexy yet cold, glamorous yet austere, achingly slow but also fully compelling. If you’re expecting a gore, thrill filled horror here then you’ll be disappointed. The film is more an exercise in style and subtext and is also hailed as a feminist piece of horror, however this little seen film should not be missed.
5. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, Wes Craven, US)
Craven’s A Nightmare On Elm Street was the first proper horror film that I can remember watching, at a very young age. Rather then scaring me silly, it set an early and high bench mark for horror films for me, from then on. And I have yet still to find a mainstream horror film that I enjoy as much as I enjoy this. Yes it’s campy is places and cheesey in others, but the jump scares pay off and the gore is gruesomely entertaining. There’s a reason why this film is so iconic and it deserves it.
4. Carrie (1976, Brian De Palma, US)
This is the second film in my list that has been adapted from a piece of work by Stephen King, and unlike The Shining, this adaptation is much more faithful. Carrie is the coming of age tale about a girls whose struggling with school, her mother and with puberty. She also happens to be telekinetic. Carrie is the perfect genre bending horror that works because it’s also relate-able. Brian De Palma’s touch adds a slickness to the entire film and ensures that it is still influences cinema today.
3. Eyes Without A Face (1960, Georges Franju, France and Italy)
Eyes Without a Face see’s a scientist driven to madness after accidentally disfiguring his beloved daughters face and desperately trying to fix it. Rather than becoming fixated on the mad scientist tropes the film rather focuses on the despair of the daughter. More poetic than thrilling, Franju uses frequent references of mirrors and reflections to explores the unique relationship between identity and sanity. Despite all of this and it also being shot in shot black and white, Eyes Without a Face pivotal 6 minute long surgery, still remains to be the most uncomfortably gory scene in cinema. Eye Without a Face is still influencing cinema today. (See also Pedro Almodvar’s The Skin I Live In (2011) which has been heavily influenced by the film and is also brilliant).
2. Repulsion (1965, Roman Polanski, UK)
As you have probably gathered from this list stylish, art-house, slow burning horror films is a niche genre that is weak spot, and Repulsion is one of the greatest. One of best psychological thrillers ever made, the tricks and techniques that Polanski uses to echo Carole’s madness is extremely effective and as the film is almost dialogue free, Repulsion features some of the finest examples of sound design I believe has ever featured in cinema. It is also stars queen Catherine Deneuve who is my favourite actress (see also The Hunger (1983, Tony Scott), another great horror film in which she stars). Repulsion does not care about scaring you on surface, it instead gets under your skin, into your blood stream and straight to the brain where it will stay for a long time.
1. Suspiria (1977, Dario Argento, Italy)
I am a huge fan of Italian horror film, particularly the giallo and the work of Argento and Suspiria is the prima-ballerina of them all. The story of a young dancer who comes to a new dance school only to discover that there lies a supernatural underbelly to the school. Suspiria is unparalleled when it comes to its set design and use of colour. The look and style of Suspiria is iconic and nothing for me even comes close. Though considered as a giallo film, the master of the genre yet again diverts the it, replacing the gloved murder with the spookier other worldly. The throbbing score, which is provided again by Goblin, drives the drama and helps make the film an entirely visceral experience. I implore everyone to watch Suspiria if you have not, just to view its expression in style if nothing else. But if you do I implore you to watch it on the biggest screen possible with the volume as loud as it can, so you can experience this film the way it should be.
Rhi Writes Film 