Happy Halloween everybody!
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| He's standing right behind you... |
The decisions behind these choices stem from these titles being (in my opinion) unseen or underrated by the usual cinema audiences and so I do warn you: there are some foreign films in my list, but I do recommend good-old English language films if you just want to sit back and relax.
Instead of my usual numerical ordering, today I've decided to define what type of horror film they are (Slasher/Ghost/Zombie etc.) to help you decide if one of them is for you. First up...
GHOST - THE ORPHANAGE
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| No... I don't want to play... |
You just can't beat a good ghost story, especially the spooky-children kind! And The Orphanage (or El Orfanato in it's original Spanish) is one of the best I've experienced in a while. I say 'experienced' rather than 'watched' due to the film being so incredibly atmospheric and terrifying that I almost let out a very girlish scream in the cinema auditorium. Never does it fall to the temptations of 'cattle-prod' cinema that has become so prevalent in today's cinema experience. No longer are there long spells of silence, followed by a cheap loud noise intended just to shock. Rather they are replaced with long foreboding senses of dread that leave most of the scaring to your own imagination, rather than overblown CGI and gruesome body torture.
Although, if overblown CGI is your thing and you want it served up alongside an interesting idea of Norway's government secretly housing real-life trolls in their vast countryside, The Troll Hunter is the film for you. The film-makers take an appropriate Blair Witch style realistic approach and happen to discover one lone man in charge of keeping these once-mythical beasts in check. What follows is a documentary-style film of this troll-hunter's methods and tactics in his experiences battling these ferocious gigantic monsters.
On paper, this film shouldn't work. It could possibly be a tongue-in-cheek pastiche featuring some shocking computer graphics, but instead, it flies off the film as a breath of fresh air! It approaches the ridiculousness of it's subject matter and makes it impressively realistic and approachable, mainly through it's use of the 'found-footage' angle. It encompasses most of the troll-canon that we have learnt from childish fairy-tales, such as they can smell blood of a Christian, they turn to stone in sunlight etc. and presents an understandable and modern-day fairy tale for the new generation.
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| Ray Winstone gets angry when you don't Bet-In Play... |
ZOMBIES - PONTYPOOL
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| A poster that gets right to the point... I like that... |
Pontypool really surprised me when I stumbled upon it late one night. I had heard the premise before watching it, but I was still amazed by the originality and slanted take on the zombie-genre. The entire film is shot in the radio station and the main feeling you get throughout is increasing claustrophobia as the infection slowly makes itself known and more reports are called in. The calls describing the bloodshed allow the viewer to make up their own scenes of violence, which often results in terror much worse than any film could inspire. Not your conventional zombie film, but one that will stick with you once the credits start rolling.
Now say it with me; "Kill is Kiss!"
Marie and Alex are two young French teenage girls, visiting Alex's parents in the French countryside. Everything is idyllic and lovely, but as usual, a serial killer rings the doorbell and begins to slaughter Alex's innocent family. Marie manages to hide and escape the house but gets caught in a game of cat and mouse with the killer in tow.
I studied Haute Tension in college as part of a season of Final Girl films, alongside classics such as Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Similar to these seminal films that came before it, most of the film has our heroine terrified and running from faceless horror, but it manages to twist the conventions of the typical slasher film on it's head in such a way that it shocks, confuses and horrifies. The violence is gory, the methods of murder are vicious and the storyline keeps you guessing all the way through. Truly a worthwhile watch.
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| Did someone say 'kick-ass French lesbian heroine!'? |
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| Just... so much mind-fuck... |
Now whilst Haute Tension flipped the slasher film upside down, one film successfully managed to turn the entire horror genre on it's head, the much-delayed and highly acclaimed The Cabin In The Woods. Put a horror film in the safe hands of producer Joss Whedon and you know it's gonna be a helluva rollercoaster ride.
The film starts like any other horror film like it; five teenagers go and stay in a lakeside cabin in the woods, only to discover monsters and zombies coming to get them. The only thing is that the audience finally see why these teens are targeted, and in this specific cabin, on this specific day, by these specific monsters. The results are in no way disappointing.
This film seriously has something for everyone and should really appeal to horror 'aficionados' since the film references nearly every famous cinema monster in it's own special way. I'd even go so far as to say that the finale of this film is personally one of my favourites of all time.
So there you have it, a film for all types of horror. If there are any films that I have missed, feel free to tell me in the comments below. But otherwise, thank you for reading and letting me share some of my favourite films that I feel deserve a wider audience.
Happy Halloween and sleep tight!
“1 – 2 – Freddy’s coming for you,
3 – 4 – Better lock your door,
5 – 6 – Grab your crucifix,
7 – 8 – Better stay up late,
9 – 10 – Never sleep again…”
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