Films You HAVE To See When Getting Into Horror

 

The Horror genre is one of the most creative genres of film. So naturally, navigating such a creative genre is challenging when you’re just getting into it. There are so many options out there, from slashers to monster movies to, possession and religious horror, and much more.

Today I’m here to tell you about some films you should watch if you’re getting into the horror genre. I will cover multiple subgenres, talking about one movie a piece, with some honorable mentions at the end of each subgenre. With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?? These films are in no particular order.

 

Halloween (1978)

 When you talk about Horror, one of the most common subgenres that have always been brought up is the Slasher subgenre. Slasher films are one of the most simple subgenres of Horror, and they typically play out like this: a group of people gets carved up by a maniacal killer until one is the sole survivor.

The start of this genre can be attributed to films like Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but in my opinion, there’s one film that I feel did this the best out of them all. That film is 1978’s Halloween, directed by John Carpenter (a man who’s seen as one of the masters of Horror). Halloween has a simple storyline, but it also has a lot of depth in its characters and its villain, Michael Myers. 

Halloween is the movie that laid out the blueprint for slasher films going forward. Without it, you may never have gotten films like Scream or Friday The 13th, or The Burning. So it’s for that reason that I say you should make Halloween (1978) your first foray into slashers.

 

 Honorable mentions include: A Nightmare On Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Scream (series), Friday The 13th 4: The Final Chapter, Child’s Play Trilogy, and The Burning.

The Lost Boys

The Vampire subgenre is one with a rich history. From Nosferatu in the days of the silent film in the 1920s all the way to today, vampires have been a staple of the genre, and the quality of vampire films has gone through some ups and downs. 

The Lost Boys is a masterpiece from this subgenre, in my opinion. A vampire film set in the 80s with the style of the decade on full display, a soundtrack that’s one of the best in Horror, and a coming-of-age tale as well.

 

 The film centers around two brothers moving to a town named Santa Carla, a city that looks peaceful but hides something sinister. That being a group of the hippest and cool-looking vampires you’ll see in this subgenre. The vampires in this movie are also some of the creepier ones you’ll find in this subgenre, so it’s a nice balance of style and creep factor that director Joel Schumacher accomplished in this film.

There are many films I could have chosen for a vampire movie, but The Lost Boys is THE film that perfectly sums up how great the vampire subgenre is.

 

 Honorable mentions include: Fright Night (original), Dracula (1933), Near Dark, and 30 Days of Night.

Night of the Living Dead

George A. Romero’s zombie flick from 1968 remains a staple of the zombie subgenre. I chose this film specifically because it showcases what you can do on a tight budget, and it’s one of the earliest horror movies to be used as a vehicle for social commentary.

 

 The budget for this film was 114,000 dollars, which is ridiculous considering how good the film looks. The zombies' effects look great, and the storytelling is top-notch. The social commentary is also great in the movie as it uses the zombies to shine a light on social ills such as racism. It also sets up an excellent point of equilibrium from the start for you as the viewer. The film sets the town up to be read as Anywhere, USA, which shows you as the viewer that this is NOT a foreign land, but it’s happening right in your backyard.

 

 It also functions to utilize your expectations of this world regarding things like race, gender, and politics against you in what’s known as the disruption phase. It also sets up a point that a break between the past and the present is imminent right in the opening scene of the film. Not to mention the fact that this film is THE film that birthed the zombie genre in the first place.

 

 These reasons and many more are why I think that Night of the Living Dead should be your first foray into zombie movies.

Honorable mentions include: The Return of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead(original and remake), 28 Days Later, Day of the Dead, and The Crazies.

 

 An American Werewolf In London

The werewolf subgenre of Horror is the red-headed step-child compared to every other subgenre. Everyone usually overlooks it, no matter how great some of the films in this subgenre may be.

The best of this subgenre by far is An American Werewolf In London. Making its way to theaters in 1981 (the same year as The Howling), An American Werewolf In London came in and put werewolves back on the map after the Universal Monster Movie Era.

This film has it all: great characters, equally great storytelling, stellar special effects, and plenty of scares to go around. The special effects, made by effects legend Rick Baker, would win the first Oscar ever for Special Makeup Effects. They are one of the picture-perfect examples of how great practical effects are compared to CGI effects.

This film is also a perfect blueprint for combining comedy and horror. The Horror is this film is built beautifully, not relying on jump scares to scare you but instead it builds tension in its atmosphere and uses that tension and atmosphere to scare you.

If you watch a werewolf movie, make sure that An American Werewolf In London is at the top of your watch list.

Honorable mentions include: The Howling, Dog Soldiers, Ginger Snaps, Bad Moon, and The Cursed (2022).

The Thing (1982)

John Carpenter’s The Thing from 1982 is a film that is a picture-perfect example of how to build tension in a Horror movie. This story of a group of scientists on a base in Antarctica dealing with an alien being that can assimilate anyone it wants is one of the scariest horror movies I have ever seen.

This is because The Thing has some of THE scariest and most effective practical effects I have ever seen. Made by effects legend Rob Bottin, an understudy of fellow legend Rick Baker, the effects of The Thing have aged like a fine wine. They still look as realistic and frightening today as they did 40 years ago in 1982.

The film also does a stellar job of building tension with its sense of atmosphere and how the characters interact with each other throughout the film. The way this film portrays isolation and the feeling of loneliness in a stressful situation is displayed with pure brilliance by Mr. Carpenter.  

It still blows my mind that this film didn’t do as well as it should have back in the day and that it nearly ended John Carpenter’s career because it should’ve been hailed as a horror classic long before.

Those reasons are why I say you should watch The Thing. It’s a great Sci-Fi/Horror film, and you should give it a watch if you want to see a showcase in tension building and isolation.

Psycho (1960)

The final film I want to suggest is Psycho. This film from 1960 is a master class in how to build suspense throughout a film from the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock.

The film is often shown in film schools across the country, and rightfully so because this story of a woman committing a crime and then laying low at what seems to be a peaceful motel only to find something sinister instead is a perfect showcase for character-building in a script and suspense.

You have Marion Crane, a typical hardworking American girl who decides to steal some money her boss gave her to put in a safe and flee out of her city. Throughout the film, you see Marion experience a wide variety of emotions, and you share them too because you’re wondering, “is she going to get caught?” or “Is she going to get away with this?”.

You also get introduced to one of Horror’s icons, Norman Bates. A character who starts out as a shy, meek character but throughout the film develops into one of the creepiest characters in all of Horror, with more layers to his personality than a fresh onion.

Those reasons and more are why I say you should give Psycho a watch. It’s a great classic film that stands the test of time 62 years later.

Those are the films I believe you should see if you’re getting into the horror genre. Do you agree with me?? Do you disagree?? Did I perhaps miss any that you feel should have been mentioned?? Be sure to let me know in the comments below.

Thank you so much for reading this issue, and I’ll see you in the next one. 

Read More

Beware The Moon: A Retrospective on An American Werewolf In London

2022 has been a wild, wacky and crazy year and for multiple reasons. You've probably seen some pretty crazy things happen this year, the film industry. 

However, this year is a special year. a year (finds an alternative way to say year!)  that marks the 41st anniversary of not one, not two, but THREE werewolf movies. ALL of which released in the year 1981, a year which I've dubbed "The Year of the Werewolf". What are these movies? Why are they so special? What’s the history behind these movies? (Try using film as you’re over relying on movie.) Why did they all release in the same year? All questions that are probably racing through your mind right now, and for damn good reason.

That's where I come in you see. I’m going to explain to you why they’re so special, and even give you a peek at some of the history of these movies and how they came to be. starting with the most popular of the three (and my personal favorite Horror movie ever made), An American Werewolf In London! Let’s get started shall we?

The question that's probably on your mind if you haven't seen the movie is: What is An American Werewolf In London? It's A Horror/Comedy film about two American college students who are touring through Europe and while they're strolling through the English Moors, they're attacked by a werewolf. This film was one of the earliest examples of mixing Comedy and Horror together and it is also one of the best examples of that.

            A Classic in the Making

An American Werewolf In London was conceived in 1969 when director John Landis was working as a Production Assistant on a movie called Kelly's Heroes. Landis got the idea for the film one day on set when him and a fellow crew member saw a bunch of gypsies burying a corpse in the crux of a crossroad and performing a ritual so that his body wouldn't rise from the grave.

Seeing this burial and having the crew member that tagged along with Landis explain what they had just witnessed to him made the creative sparks fly in John's mind and he started thinking "well what if that body did rise from the grave? Would it be a creature? If so, what creature would it be?" and John went through every single creature imaginable before eventually landing on werewolves. 

It would take 12 years for Landis to make the money needed to start production on An American Werewolf In London through profits on films like The Kentucky Fried Movie, Animal House and The Blues Brothers.

Production started sometime between February and March in (of might sound better) 1981 because John Landis wanted the film to take place during cold weather and it lasted for around a month. 

6 months earlier however, special effects lead Rick Baker went to work on designing and creating the very effects that would turn him into a household name, thanks in large part to the film's legendary transformation scene that is held in very high esteem and seen as not only one of the best if not THE best transformation scene ever (in cinema might sound better), it was seen as an example of how realistic practical effects can look if they're done right. (If done correctly might sound better)

       Release, Reception & Legacy

The film released August 21st, 1981 in the US making $62 million dollars globally compared to it's $5.8 million dollar budget, $30 million of which came from the US. The film received generally positive reception with an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and a more mixed 55 out of 100 on Metacritic. 

The film would find its audience on home video, being regarded as a cult classic that is continually growing in popularity year after year. (With continually growing popularity or some variant might sound better.) The film was also the very first film to win an Academy Award for Best Makeup and at the Saturn Awards in 1982, and the film was also very influential and inspired many filmmakers after its release in 1981. (This sentence could be restructured a bit)

One of the biggest examples of this influence can be found in Director Edgar Wright who directed Shaun of the Dead, a smash hit Horror/Comedy film from 2004, cited the film as a huge influence for him and the way he makes films. (This sentence could be re-worked) Another example of the films influence on the horror genre is the slew of Horror/Comedies that came after the films release in 1981 (Beetlejuice, Gremlins, Evil Dead 2, as examples), which all took inspiration from An American Werewolf In London's unique blend of Horror and Comedy elements, which to this day haven’t been bested.

 My Introduction to the film and the impact it had on me 

I was introduced to this film when I was 6 years old and just getting into horror movies, which was thanks to my grandmother. I went to a local rental store(when those were a thing) called Movies To Go and I saw the box art for the VHS release of it and I thought to myself "Ooh what's this?" And I saw the title, look at the pictures on the back of the box and I was intrigued by it so I rented it immediately. 

When I got home that day I immediately ran to my room, put the tape in my VCR, plopped down into my chair and I was immediately hypnotized by this film. The soundtrack, the locations, the characters that are unique and interesting in their own ways, the atmosphere and the tension that is beautifully executed in every single scene, the effects blew my six year old mind, the design of the Werewolf itself terrified me and made me have nightmares for a couple of weeks after I had seen the film (no joke that actually happened) and most importantly, its impact on me. Its impact on me  is like no horror movie or since. This film solidified my love for Horror as a genre, it solidified my obsession with Werewolves and the mythology of these fascinating creatures, and it also made me want to get into filmmaking at some point (which I still want to do before I die).

I'll be honest with you, if I wasn't introduced to An American Werewolf In London I probably wouldn't be as big of a fan of the Horror genre as I am today, and I'm eternally grateful to John Landis for sticking with this crazy idea he had for all those years and finally getting it onto the big screen.

             Rolling the credits 

In closing I just want to say that if you haven't seen this film, I highly suggest you go watch it. Because you can truly see the passion that John Landis had for this wild, crazy idea that he hatched in his late teens just jump out at you in every single scene. It's been 40 years since this film came out (which is FUCKING WILD to me) and it's still making just as big of an impact today as it did back then. If you've made it to this point, I just want to say thank you!! If you enjoyed this issue, please share it around and I hope you look forward to the next issue of The Chronicles of The Mad Cinephile! 

And remember...Beware the Moon lads. Keep clear of the Moors.

If you want to see the movie, here's a link to purchase it on Amazon:

Read More