From Expressionist classics to the slashers of the 80s, up to the renaissance of contemporary “New Horror,” this guide is not just a list of scares. It is a journey into darkness divided by atmosphere, because every viewer has a different nightmare waiting for them.
The horror genre is an immense and intricate forest. Under the same label coexist the visceral blood of splatter and the invisible anxieties of ghost stories, the brutality of monsters, and the elegance of the gothic. There is no single way to be afraid.
To navigate it, you must ask yourself: what do I want to feel? Are you looking for physical repulsion, mental anguish, or a supernatural thrill? Do you want to see classic monsters or modern demons? Below we have analyzed the vital currents of the genre to guide you toward the specific type of thrill you are seeking.
🆕 Best Recent Horror
Longlegs (2024)
Lee Harker, a young FBI agent with clairvoyant abilities, is assigned to the cold case of a serial killer who has operated for decades without ever being seen at a crime scene. The killer, known as “Longlegs,” manipulates fathers into slaughtering their own families, leaving behind only cryptic letters. The investigation drags the agent into an abyss of occultism and Satanism, eventually revealing a terrifying personal connection to the murderer.
Directed by Osgood Perkins, this film became a viral phenomenon for its oppressive atmosphere. It is not a simple procedural, but a waking nightmare reminiscent of The Silence of the Lambs filtered through a demonic and hypnotic aesthetic. Nicolas Cage delivers one of the most grotesque and frightening performances of his career, in a film that works on pure dread rather than cheap scares.
When Evil Lurks (2023)
In a remote rural village in Argentina, two brothers discover that a neighbor is a “Rotten” (a man possessed by a demon about to be “born”). In an attempt to dispose of the body by following imprecise rules, they make the fatal mistake of moving it, triggering an epidemic of possession that spreads like an unstoppably virus. There are no priests, crucifixes, or exorcisms here: evil is a force of nature that corrupts everything it touches, including animals and children.
This Argentine film is the most brutal and uncompromising horror of recent years. Director Demián Rugna rewrites the rules of the possession movie by eliminating all religious hope. It is a nihilistic, violent, and shocking work that hits the viewer in the gut, breaking taboos that Hollywood would never dare touch. A masterpiece of tension and gore for those with a strong stomach.
Late Night with the Devil (2023)
Halloween, 1977. Jack Delroy is a late-night talk show host suffering from low ratings. For the Halloween special, he decides to bet big: he invites a parapsychologist and the young survivor of a Satanic cult to attempt a demonic possession live on national television. What starts as a cynical entertainment spectacle slowly transforms into a supernatural massacre that breaks the barrier between the audience and hell.
An indie gem that masterfully plays with the “Found Footage” format. The film is presented as the recovered recording of that cursed broadcast, with a perfect, grainy 70s aesthetic. It is a smart horror that satirizes the hunger for fame and the exploitation of pain, maintaining rising tension until a psychedelic and disturbing finale. David Dastmalchian is extraordinary in the role of the desperate host.
In a Violent Nature (2024)
A group of teenagers desecrates a locket in an abandoned fire tower in the woods, awakening Johnny, a vengeful and unstoppable spirit. The premise seems like a classic Friday the 13th, but the film completely flips the perspective: the camera doesn’t follow the victims running away; it follows the monster. We watch the film almost entirely from behind the killer’s shoulder as he walks placidly through beautiful nature, interrupted only by moments where he brutally slaughters those he meets.
It is an experiment in “Ambient Slasher” or “Slow Cinema Horror.” Director Chris Nash creates a hypnotic, almost contemplative work, where the beauty of the Canadian landscape contrasts with extreme graphic violence (the practical effects are disgusting and creative). It is an art film disguised as a horror movie, dedicated to those who love cinema that deconstructs genres. Unique in its kind.
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Oddity (2024)
After the brutal murder of her sister Dani in the country house she was renovating, blind psychic and occult collector Darcy decides to investigate on her own. She arrives at the door of her brother-in-law (the victim’s husband) and his new girlfriend with an unsettling gift: a life-sized wooden mannequin from her curiosity shop, which seems to have a life of its own and the ability to reveal the truth about that night.
A taut and atmospheric Irish horror that proves you can create fear with minimal means and great direction. The film builds tension through empty spaces, silences, and the menacing presence of the inanimate object. It is a supernatural revenge story that blends the “Home Invasion” genre with a ghost story, delivering some of the scariest moments of the year without overusing digital effects.
1st Bite
Horror, romantic, by Hunt Hoe, Canada, 2006.
Gus is a charming man who works as a cook in an oriental restaurant in Montreal. His boss sends him to a remote island in Thailand to meet a master of Zen cuisine and improve the quality of his dishes. There he meets a mysterious woman named Lake who lives in a cave and informs him that the Zen cooking master is dead. Gus goes to live in the cave and begins a love affair with Lake. But the cook's psychological balance rapidly worsens, including hallucinations, alcohol and malaise. Lake doesn't want Gus to leave, but Gus feels that he needs to escape the island and that his life is in danger.
First Bite is a very original Canadian independent film that crosses different film genres in its narration, suddenly passing from romanticism to suspense to horror. Direction and editing that is never banal, supported by shots with wide-angle lenses that increase the tension and by a cast of actors in excellent shape that offer very intense and realistic interpretations. Between mysticism, black magic, love stories and tropical islands, Primo bite is the odyssey of a man who remains prisoner in a trap from which he can no longer escape, lost between passions and exotic foods. An escape from evil energies in search of spiritual meanings set between wild nature and metropolis.
LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: Spanish. French, German, Portuguese
The Substance (2024)
In a near-future dystopian world obsessed with image and youth, a revolutionary new biochemical product is launched on the black market: “The Substance.” By injecting it, the user can generate a younger, more beautiful, and “better” version of themselves, which literally exits their body like a shedding of skin. However, there is one iron rule for maintaining balance: the two bodies must share life, consciously alternating every seven exact days, without exception.
We include in this list a very recent title that, according to critics and audiences, has already established itself as an instant cult destined to define the decade. The Substance takes “body horror” to new levels of satirical and visual excess, fiercely criticizing the beauty industry, Hollywood ageism, and the social pressure on women to remain eternally young and perfect. The film is a neon, stylized, noisy, and grotesque nightmare, recalling the audacity of the best Cronenberg, Verhoeven, and Kubrick.
Strange Darling (2024)
In a remote area of the United States, characterized by isolated roads and suspended silences, a ruthless confrontation takes shape between two people who seem to have crossed paths by chance. Strange Darling opens with a frantic escape, a tight chase that immediately becomes an enigma: who is really running and who is hunting? The story is unveiled through a series of temporal segments that interlock like distorted fragments, progressively revealing intentions, deceptions, and hidden impulses. The truth constantly shifts, collapsing all certainties and reversing the meaning of what was seen just minutes before.
The film builds an almost unsustainable tension, where fear does not arise from the supernatural but from human behavior, which is unpredictable and visceral. The two protagonists face each other as if trapped in a dark and unresolved bond, a relationship made of manipulation, ambiguous emotional calls, and a past that surfaces in sudden waves. Every detail—a gesture, a silence, a change of direction—becomes a threat, a clue, a further psychological twist.
Indie Horror and Cult Movies
Far from the commercial logic of Hollywood, independent horror is where the genre renews itself and truly bites. Without the censorship of major studios, these films can afford to be radical, grotesque, and politically incorrect. Here you will find the “Cult” works and the new voices rewriting the rules of fear.
👉 BROWSE THE CATALOG: Stream Indie Horror Now
Psychological Horror and Mind Games
Here the monster has no fangs but lives inside the protagonist’s head. Psychological horror does not seek the cheap scare, but deep discomfort. Often set in enclosed spaces or asylums, these films explore madness, paranoia, and the collapse of reality. It is the perfect subgenre for those who want an experience that leaves a lingering sense of unease for days.
👉 GO TO THE LIST: Psychological Horror Movies
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The Supernatural: Ghosts, Witches, and Exorcisms
It is the realm of the invisible and the unexplained. Whether it’s haunted houses, demonic possessions, or ancient curses, this subgenre touches our ancestral fear of death and the afterlife. From classic ghost stories to films about witches and esotericism, here tension arises from the anticipation of seeing what should not exist.
👉 GO TO THE LIST: Ghost Movies
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👉 GO TO THE SELECTION: Films on Esotericism
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👉 GO TO THE LIST: Supernatural and Paranormal Movies
The Monsters: Zombies, Vampires, and Creatures
Fear takes physical form. This is the cinema of the “creature,” where humanity is threatened by lethal predators. From Zombies (a metaphor for contagion and the masses) to the decadent elegance of Vampires, up to the brutality of Werewolves and Aliens. It is the genre that combines action with fear, often with special effects that made cinema history.
👉 GO TO THE LIST: Zombie Movies
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👉 GO TO THE LIST: Monster Movies
Splatter, Body Horror, and Cannibals
For strong stomachs only. Here fear becomes physical, visceral, tactile. “Body Horror” explores the mutation and destruction of the human body, while Splatter and the Cannibal subgenre push graphic violence to the extreme. It is not cinema for everyone, but for those seeking a shocking experience that breaks every taboo regarding flesh and death.
👉 GO TO THE LIST: Splatter Movies
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👉 GO TO THE LIST: Cannibal Movies
Folk Horror, Gothic, and Atmospheres
Fear here comes from the landscape, the past, and traditions. The Gothic (especially Italian) works on atmospheres, castles, and shadows. Folk Horror takes us into isolated countrysides, among pagan rituals and closed communities. It is an elegant, slow horror that envelops you like fog.
👉 GO TO THE LIST: Gothic Movies
👉 GO TO THE LIST: Italian Gothic Movies
👉 GO TO THE LIST: Folk Horror
Horror from the World
Fear speaks different languages. Asian horror (J-Horror and Korean) is famous for its vengeful spirits and icy atmospheres. Spanish horror often mixes historical drama with the supernatural. Exploring these cinematographies means discovering new ways to be scared, far from American clichés.
👉 GO TO THE LIST: Japanese Horror
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👉 GO TO THE LIST: Italian Horror
Horror for Special Occasions (Halloween and Comedy)
Sometimes fear is a party. Halloween night requires specific films, made of pumpkins, masks, and autumnal atmospheres. And let’s not forget that fear is the cousin of laughter: Horror Comedy mixes blood and gags for entertainment that is lighter but always biting.
👉 GO TO THE LIST: Halloween Movies
👉 GO TO THE LIST: Funny Horror Movies
The Golden Decades: 80s and 90s
Horror Movies at the Origins of Cinema
A Bucket of Blood
Comedy, Crime, by Roger Corman, United States, 1959.
Produced on a budget of $ 50,000, it was shot in five days by low-budget B movie king Roger Corman. One night, after hearing the words of Maxwell H. Brock, a poet who performs at The Yellow Door cafe, the obtuse waiter Walter Paisley returns home to try to create a sculpture of the face of the hostess Carla, but accidentally kills the cat. Instead of giving the animal a proper burial, Walter covers the cat with clay, leaving the knife stuck inside. The next morning Walter shows the cat to Carla and her boss Leonard. Carla is enthusiastic about the work and convinces Leonard to exhibit it in his bar. Walter receives praise from Will and the other beatniks in the cafe.
Food for thought
Art kills and hands real life over to immortality. What are the characters of a film, a painting or a sculpture if not non-human crystallizations, theorems and representations of people we have seen, heard, dreamed, met in real life?
LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: Spanish, French, German, Portuguese
The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920)
The Golem: How He Came into the World is a 1920 silent film directed by Carl Boese and Paul Wegener, who also stars. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Gustav Meyrink, published in 1915.
The film tells the story of a 16th-century rabbi in Prague who creates a golem, a being of clay animated by magic, to protect his people from pogroms. The golem is initially a faithful servant but soon becomes dangerous and uncontrollable. The rabbi is forced to destroy the golem to save the city.
The Golem: How He Came into the World is a film that explores the theme of the conflict between good and evil. The golem represents the dark side of human nature. It is a powerful and destructive being that can be used for both good and evil. The film also explores the theme of creation and its consequences. The golem is a work of creation, both by Rabbi Löw and by God. The film was shot in an Expressionist style, which emphasizes angular forms and lines. The film is characterized by a dark and unsettling atmosphere, which helps to create a sense of suspense and fear. The film is considered a classic of German expressionist cinema. It is one of the most important films of the genre, and has influenced many other horror and fantasy films.
The Phantom Carriage (1921)
The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen; literally “The Cart Driver”) is a 1921 silent film directed by Victor Sjöström, based on the novel of the same name by Selma Lagerlöf published in 1912.
The story begins with David Holm, a young worker living in Stockholm. David is a violent and reckless man who neglects his wife Edit and their young son. One night, while drunk, David kills a man. The next day, David wakes up in the cemetery, where he meets a mysterious cart driver. The cart driver tells him that David is destined to drive his phantom carriage, which collects the souls of the dead who have lived a life of sin. David tries to flee from the cart driver, but it is in vain. The cart driver leads him into a world of shadows and terror, where David must face the consequences of his actions.
The Phantom Carriage is a film that explores the theme of sin and redemption. David is a man who has committed a grave sin but still has the possibility of being redeemed. The film is set in a dark and unsettling world, which represents David’s interior world. The cart driver represents David’s conscience, which forces him to confront his actions. The film has an open ending, which leaves the audience with a sense of hope. David has the possibility of being redeemed, but he must face a long and difficult path.
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler) is a 1922 silent film directed by Fritz Lang, based on the novel of the same name by Norbert Jacques.
The film tells the story of Mabuse, a criminal mastermind who controls the city of Berlin through a network of criminals and corruption. Mabuse is a complex and multifaceted character who represents the dark side of human nature. The film begins with Mabuse’s escape from an asylum. Mabuse is a criminal mastermind who controlled the city of Berlin through a network of criminals and corruption. Mabuse was interned in an asylum, but managed to escape.
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler is a film that explores the theme of evil and good. Mabuse represents evil, while Commissioner von Wenk represents good. The film is set in a gloomy and unsettling Berlin, which represents Mabuse’s interior world. Mabuse is a criminal genius, and his plans are always well-conceived.
Nosferatu the Vampire (1922)
Thomas Hutter, a real estate agent from the fictional city of Wisborg, is sent to Transylvania to finalize the sale of a house with the mysterious Count Orlok. Hutter soon discovers that the Count is an ancient vampire who travels carrying crates full of unhallowed earth and an unstoppable pestilence, with the goal of reaching Hutter’s wife, Ellen, the only pure force capable of stopping him.
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s work is not only the founding father of vampire cinema but one of the unsurpassed peaks of German Expressionism, a movement that sought to visualize the inner distortion of reality. What makes Nosferatu terrifying even today, more than a century after its release, is its ability to visualize disease and decay in a tangible way. Unlike the aristocratic and seductive Dracula who would be codified by Hollywood with Bela Lugosi, the Orlok played by Max Schreck is a biological abomination, a skeletal creature resembling an anthropomorphic rat that embodies the atavistic fear of contagion and plague, a resonant theme in a Europe that had just emerged from the Spanish Flu.
A Page Of Madness
Drama, horror, by Teinosuke Kinugasa, Japan, 1926.
A page of madness is an independent film shot on a nearly non-existent budget and then lost for forty-five years. Fortunately the director rediscovered it in his archive in 1971. It is a film made by a group of Japanese avant-garde artists, the School of new perceptions. A movement that had as its objective to overcome the naturalistic representation. In a country asylum, in torrential rain, the caretaker meets patients with mental illness. The next day a young woman arrives who is surprised to find her father there who works as a caretaker. The woman's mother first went mad because of her husband when she was a sailor. The husband has decided to change jobs to stay close to his wife in the asylum and take care of her. Her daughter tells her father that she will marry soon, but the father is worried because he fears, according to popular rumors of the time, that the mother's mental illness will be inherited by her daughter. If the young husband and his family found out about his mother's madness, the marriage would fall apart. The caretaker tries to take care of his wife during her work as she gets beaten up by other inmates, but this interferes with her role and is scolded by the head of the asylum. Slowly the keeper loses contact with reality and its boundaries from the dream. He begins to daydream about winning the lottery when his daughter meets him again to tell him that his marriage is in trouble. The man thinks of taking his wife out of the asylum to hide her existence and solve every problem. Teinosuke Kinugasa is the director of some of the best Japanese films of the 1920s. A page of madness has been compared to the great German expressionist films. It is an experimental film, of extreme avant-garde, which seems to anticipate the atmospheres and themes that would have made David Lynch famous many years later. Nightmares, distortions, blurs, double exposures and photographic deformations: a film that explores the furthest boundaries of moving images. Then there are those masks set in an eternal succession of bars, locks and corridors that fuel the sense of fear and loss of the various protagonists to excess.Yasunari Kawabata, the writer of the story, won the Nobel Prize for literature in the 1968.
Without dialogue
The Hands of Orlac (1924)
The Hands of Orlac” is a 1924 film directed by the Austrian director Robert Wiene. It is a silent film from the era of expressionist cinema German, known for its unsettling storyline and its use of distorted visual techniques.
The film follows the story of Paul Orlac, a celebrated pianist who loses both of his hands in a train accident. Pressured by his ambitious wife, Yvonne, Orlac undergoes a hand transplant that allows him to play the piano again. However, Orlac begins to fear that the new hands are those of an assassin, as he begins to experience disturbing visions and nightmares.
The film explores themes such as identity, psychology and inner conflict, using a highly stylized visual approach. Wiene’s direction uses lighting and camera angles to create a sense of tension and disorientation, while the interior and costume design is highly stylized and surreal. The film has been the subject of numerous reshoots and adaptations, including a 1935 adaptation starring Peter Lorre and a 1960 remake titled “The Hands of Orlac.” The film is considered a classic of German Expressionist cinema and influenced a number of later directors, including Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch.
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
TThe Phantom of the Opera (1925) is a silent film directed by Rupert Julian. It is based on the novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux, which tells the story of Erik, a brilliant but disfigured musician who lives hidden in the basements of the Paris Opéra; he is willing to do anything to bring the young singer Christine, with whom he is secretly in love, to success.
The Phantom of the Opera is a complex and multifaceted film that can be interpreted in many ways. One interpretation is that the film is a warning about the dangers of obsession. The Phantom is a talented musician, but his obsession with Christine leads him to madness. He is willing to do anything to possess her, even if it means harming her or others.
Another interpretation is that the film is a metaphor for the creative process. The Phantom is a tormented artist who finds solace in his music. He is able to express himself through his music in a way he cannot in the real world. Christine is a muse for the Phantom, and her voice inspires him to create. The Phantom of the Opera is a classic film that has been adapted into many other forms, including stage musicals, television series, and video games. It is a story of love, obsession, and the dark side of the human psyche.
The Best Horror Movies of the 30s and 40s
Frankenstein (1931)
Frankenstein (1931) is a classic horror film directed by James Whale and starring Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein and Boris Karloff as the creature. The film is based on the 1818 novel of the same name by Mary Shelley.
Dr. Henry Frankenstein is a brilliant scientist obsessed with the creation of life. He manages to assemble a creature from body parts, but the creature is deformed and monstrous. Frankenstein is horrified by his creation and abandons it. The creature is left to fend for itself and quickly learns that it is not accepted by society. It is feared and despised by everyone it meets. The creature becomes angry and vengeful and begins to kill the people who have wronged it.
Frankenstein is one of the most influential horror films ever made. It has been remade and adapted countless times, and it has inspired countless other films, books, and television series. The film’s iconic images and characters have become part of popular culture.
Carnival of souls
Horror, by Herk Harvey, United States, 1962.
Mary Henry emerges unscathed from a car accident that killed her two companions, and sets off on a strange adventure in Salt Lake City, where she finds herself drawn to a dilapidated lakeside pavilion and haunted by a ghostly figure (played by same director). A low-budget ($ 30,000) horror masterpiece that went unnoticed at the time of its release, it has become a cult film in the United States since the late 1980s. Sounds and images that have inspired directors such as George Romero and David Lynch (the masked man from "Lost Roads").
LANGUAGE: english
SUBTITLES: italian
Dracula (1931)
Dracula (1931) is a classic American horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula. The film is based on the 1897 novel of the same name by Bram Stoker.
The film begins with a young English solicitor, Renfield (Dwight Frye), traveling to Transylvania to sell a castle to Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi). Renfield is warned by locals about Dracula, who is known to be a vampire, but he ignores their warnings. When Renfield arrives at Dracula’s castle, he is greeted by the Count himself. Dracula is a charming and sophisticated man, but he also has a dark side. He hypnotizes Renfield and turns him into his slave.
Dracula is one of the most influential horror films ever made. It has been remade and adapted countless times, and it has inspired countless other films, books, and television series. The film’s iconic images and characters have become part of popular culture. Dracula is considered a classic of horror cinema. It is a well-made and thought-provoking film that explores important themes such as the nature of good and evil, the dangers of lust and temptation, and the importance of faith. The film has had a lasting impact on popular culture and continues to be appreciated by audiences today.
Fun fact: Bela Lugosi wore fake teeth in the film, but they were so uncomfortable that he could barely speak with them.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
It is a 1931 American horror film, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fredric March, who plays a skilled doctor who discovers a new formula that can unleash the satanic forces in people.
The film is an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, about a man who takes a cure that transforms him from a mild-mannered man of science into a bloodthirsty madman. The film was a success upon its release. Nominated for 3 Academy Awards, March won the award for Best Actor.
Dr. Henry Jekyll (Fredric March), a quiet English doctor in Victorian London, argues that both bad and good impulses are hidden in every man. He is crazy about his future wife Muriel Carew (Rose Hobart) and wants to marry her.
Her father, Brigadier General Sir Danvers Carew (Halliwell Hobbes), orders them to wait. One evening, while walking home with his colleague, Dr. John Lanyon (Holmes Herbert), Jekyll meets a bar singer, Ivy Pierson (Miriam Hopkins), who is struck by a man outside her house. Jekyll drives the man away and takes Ivy to his house to take care of her.
The Mummy (1932)
It is a 1932 American horror film directed by Karl Freund. John L. Balderston’s film screenplay was adapted from a screenplay written by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer. Launched by Universal Studios as part of the Universal Classic Monsters franchise, the film stars Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan and Arthur Byron.
In the film, Karloff plays Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian mummy who was disposed of for trying to revive his deceased lover, Ankh-esen-amun. After being discovered by a group of excavators, he disguises himself as a modern Egyptian called Ardeth Bey and searches for Ankh-esen-amun, who he thinks has reincarnated into the contemporary world. While far less culturally impactful than its forerunners Dracula and Frankenstein, the film was still a good hit, spawning numerous sequels, remakes, and spin-offs.
Freaks (1932)
Freaks (1932) is a horror film directed by Tod Browning and produced by MGM. The film stars Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, and a large cast of performers with disabilities.
The film tells the story of Hans (Ford), a little person who falls in love with Cleopatra (Hyams), a trapeze artist. Cleopatra is only interested in Hans’s money and plots to kill him with the help of her lover, Hercules (Harry Earles). The other circus performers, all “freaks,” learn of Cleopatra’s plan and decide to take revenge. They lure Hans and Cleopatra into the circus funhouse, where they attack them.
Freaks was a critical and commercial failure upon release. The film was banned in many countries due to its disturbing content. However, the film was later re-evaluated and is now considered a classic of horror cinema. Freaks had a profound impact on the horror genre. The film is one of the first horror films to feature performers with disabilities. The film has also been praised for its dark and subversive themes.
Dementia
Horror, noir, by John Parker, United States, 1955.
It's night. A woman suddenly wakes up from a nightmare in a seedy hotel in the Los Angeles suburbs. She leaves the room and wanders the neighborhood. She meets a dwarf who sells newspapers with the title "Mysterious Stabbing". In a dark alley, a drunkard harasses her and a policeman rescues her. She then she meets a smartly dressed man with a thin mustache. The man gives her a flower and convinces her to get into the limo with a rich fat guy. As they drive through the city, the man thinks back to his childhood trauma and the violent father who stabbed him with a knife after he shot his unfaithful mother. The rich man takes her to have fun in several nightclubs and then to her apartment. He first ignores the woman while she gorges herself with a big meal. She seduces him, and he approaches her excitedly.
A visionary and hallucinatory nightmare, without dialogue, during a night of a lonely woman in Los Angeles. Between horror, film noir and expressionist film, initially conceived as a short film by Parker based on a dream told him by his secretary, Barrett, who also became the film's interpreter. The film was blocked by the New York State Film Board before being released in theaters in 1955. Later Jack H. Harris bought it and created a new version, with a different cut of editing, also adding a voiceover. and changing the title. This is the original version.
Without dialogue
The Invisible Man (1933)
It is a 1933 American science fiction horror film directed by James Whale based on H. G. Wells’s 1897 novel The Invisible Man, produced by Universal Pictures, and starring Gloria Stuart, Claude Rains, and William Harrigan.
The film stars Dr. Jack Griffin (Rains), covered in bandages with his eyes obscured by dark glasses, the result of a secret experiment that makes him invisible, who takes lodging in the town of Iping until his landlady discovers the secret. Lion returns to Dr. Cranley’s (Henry Travers) research laboratory and reveals his invisibility to Dr. Kemp (William Harrigan) and Cranley’s wife Flora (Gloria Stuart), who discover that Griffin has become dangerous, even committing murders.
The film had been in promotion for Universal as early as 1931, when Richard L. Schayer and Robert Florey recommended that Wells’s novel would be an excellent follow-up to the horror film Dracula. Universal chose to make Frankenstein in 1931 instead. This led to a series of adjustments to the film’s screenplay, as well as a variety of potential directors. Upon the film’s launch in 1933, it was a great commercial success for Universal and received solid reviews from numerous magazines. The film spawned numerous follow-ups that were not associated with the initial film in the 1940s. It is one of the favorite films of directors John Carpenter, Joe Dante, and Ray Harryhausen.
Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
It’s a mystery horror movie 1933 American directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell and Frank McHugh. It was released by Warner Bros. and recorded in two-color Technicolor.
Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwill) is a sculptor who runs a wax museum in London. He is a cruel and sadistic man who enjoys torturing his victims. Igor’s partner, Joe Worth (Edwin Maxwell), wants to burn down the museum and collect the insurance money. Igor refuses, so Worth sets fire to the museum himself. Igor is trapped inside the burning museum, and his face is severely disfigured. Years later, Igor has rebuilt his life in New York City. He has opened a new wax museum and is now married to a beautiful woman named Florence (Dorothy Burgess). However, Igor’s old vices never die. He begins to ensnare people and create wax statues of them.
Mystery of the Wax Museum was a critical and commercial success. It was one of the first horror films to be released in color. The film has influenced countless other horror films, including House of Wax (1953) and Chamber of Horrors (1966). Mystery of the Wax Museum is considered a classic of horror cinema. It is a well-made and suspenseful film with memorable characters and iconic images. The film has had a lasting impact on popular culture and continues to be appreciated by audiences today.
Cat People (1942)
Cat People is a 1942 horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur. The film tells the story of Irena Dubrovna, a young woman who is cursed to transform into a panther every time she feels excited or threatened. Irena falls in love with Oliver Reed, a zoologist, but is afraid to reveal her secret to him. When Oliver’s ex-girlfriend, Alice Moore, arrives in town, Irena becomes jealous, and her dark side begins to emerge.
Irena Dubrovna is a young woman who is haunted by a dark secret: she is cursed to transform into a panther every time she feels excited or threatened. Irena’s curse is rooted in her family history; her mother was also a cat woman, and her grandmother was killed by a panther.
Irena becomes jealous of Alice and her relationship with Oliver. One night, Irena follows Alice home and becomes so angry that she transforms into a panther. Alice is attacked and killed by the panther, but Irena escapes. Cat People had a profound impact on the horror genre. The film helped to popularize the genre of psychological horror and is considered one of the most influential horror films of all time. Cat People has also been cited and parodied in numerous other films, television shows, and video games.
The Best Horror Movies in the 50s and 60s
Faust
Horror, by F. W. Murnau, German, 1926.
Faust is an elderly scholar who has lost faith in life. He is defeated by his inability to help others and by his awareness of his own mortality. One day, he meets Mephistopheles, who offers him a pact: in exchange for his soul, Mephistopheles will give him eternal youth and power. Faust accepts the pact and Mephistopheles takes him to a world of luxury and pleasure. Faust falls in love with Gretchen, a young innocent woman, but their love is thwarted by Mephistopheles.
Faust is considered one of the greatest silent films ever made. It is a visually stunning film, with Murnau's use of expressionist imagery and symbolism to create a dark and atmospheric world. The film also features some of the most iconic scenes in cinema history, such as the sequence in which Faust and Mephistopheles fly on a magic carpet. In addition to its artistic merits, Faust was one of the last major German films produced before the rise of the Nazis. The film's dark and expressionist style later influenced directors such as Orson Welles and Fritz Lang. It is a visually stunning and thought-provoking film that explores the themes of temptation, redemption, and the human condition.
LANGUAGE: German
SUBTITLES: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Them! (1954)
It is an American Horror science fiction film from 1954 by Warner Bros. Written by David Weisbart, directed by Gordon Douglas, and played by James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon and James Arness.
The film is based on an adaptation of George World Yates’ story, which later became the screenplay for a Ted Sherdeman film and also adapted by Russell Hughes. This film is only one of the first films on the nuclear monsters of the 1950s, and also the first feature film on the “big insect” to use parasites as monsters.
A nest of huge irradiated ants is discovered in the New Mexico desert; They become a national threat when it turns out that two young queen ants have escaped to build new nests. National research eventually leads to a battle in the Los Angeles exhaust pipes system.
The Undead (1957)
A woman is put into a psychic trance and sent back in time directly into the body of one of her medieval ancestors, who is doomed to die as a witch. She escapes and a real witch named Livia (Allison Hayes), who works with the devil. There is also another witch, a rogue who helps Livia, and one of the psychics who travels back in time with her.
Produced and directed by Roger Corman, this is an offbeat and entertaining B-movie: violence, reincarnation, time travel, comedy and fun. There are funny scenes with the witch and the leprechaun turning into animals.
Even the undertaker is entertaining with his witty rhymes and discussions. Satan is awesome, with his constant laughter and a huge pitchfork. On Saturdays, he summons a trio of dead girls to climb from the grave and dance.
The film is particularly notable for actress Hayes’ appearance, her very skintight dress. Hayes was arguably a 1950s B-movie starlet, mostly due to her appearance in Attack of the 50-Foot Woman. The film was shot in six days on a budget plan of $70,000, in an old supermarket. It has a cult following among fans of scary movies, drive-ins, small budget independent films. If you like any of those, you need to check them out next.
I Vampiri (1957)
I Vampiri is a 1957 Italian horror film directed by Riccardo Freda and finished off by the film’s cinematographer, Mario Bava. In the cast Gianna Maria Canale, Carlo D’Angelo and Dario Michaelis.
The film deals with a series of murders of girls who are discovered with blood drainage tubes. The newspapers talk about a serial killer called the Vampire, which motivates the young journalist Pierre Lantin to investigate the crimes.
At the time of its release the film was perceived as an original and strange object for followers of the horror genre. The really scary scenes boil down to a few sequences.
The film established the requirement for an aesthetic design that would be the framework for many similar Italian horror films: cobwebs, creaking doors, degeneration and fantastic lighting. Anyone curious about Italian horror cinema should see it: an ignored and underrated film, with suggestions from neorealist cinema.
Black Sunday (1960)
In 17th-century Moldavia, Princess Asa Vajda, suspected of witchcraft, is condemned by the Inquisition and dies cursing her own family, held responsible for her fate. In the 19th century, the doctors Kruvajan and Gorobec, en route to a medical conference, come across Asa’s coffin and accidentally awaken her. She systematically sets out to seek revenge…
The film was panned by the Italian critics while immediately appreciated in France as a “pictorial” masterpiece. It is undoubtedly one of Mario Bava‘s best films with sequences of great charm and horror. The English version was marred by a mediocre dubbing.
English critics initially appreciated it for its low-budget production. In subsequent years, the film was reevaluated and considered among the best horror films ever made: a festival of the forbidden that unleashes an adolescent interest in the supernatural world, hailed as the masterpiece of Italian gothic horror.
The beautifully composed chiaroscuro cinematography, the expressionistic style, and the direction all lend the film a unique atmosphere. It is cinema in its most abundant and grandiose form, brimming with resonant imagery.
Halloween
Horror, by John Carpenter, United States, 1978.
An independent film shot on a very small budget, it grossed over $ 80 million worldwide at the time. It is the most successful slasher movie and one of the 5 most profitable films in the history of cinema, which has become a cult with countless sequels and reboots. Carpenter describes the remote American province in an extraordinary way and raises the tension for over an hour, without anything happening, with a linear and effective direction, and with hypnotic music created by himself. A brilliant director who manages, with a few simple elements and a small production, to create a horror destined to remain in the worldwide cinematic imagination.
LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: Spanish, French, German, Portuguese
Psycho (1960)
Psycho (1960) is an American psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, John Gavin, and Vera Miles. The film is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch.
Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a secretary from Phoenix, Arizona, steals $40,000 from her employer and drives to California to start a new life with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin). Along the way, she stops at a remote motel managed by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a young man who lives with his overbearing mother.
Psycho is considered one of the most influential horror films ever made. It was one of the first films to focus on the psychological motivations of a killer. The film’s shower scene is one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history. It is a well-made and suspenseful film with complex characters and iconic images. The film has had a lasting impact on popular culture and continues to be appreciated by audiences today.
Fun fact: The shower scene was filmed in just 45 seconds, but it took seven days to edit. This horror film is based on a true story of Ed Gein and the murders in Wisconsin.
Eyes Without a Face (1960)
The brilliant and obsessive surgeon Dr. Génessier, consumed by guilt for having horribly disfigured his daughter Christiane in a car accident he caused, kidnaps young women with the help of his assistant Louise. His goal is to remove their intact faces and attempt to surgically transplant them onto the girl. Christiane, forced to live reclusive in her father’s villa wearing an inexpressive white mask that adheres like a second skin, wanders like a specter through the rooms, a silent witness and reluctant accomplice to the atrocious crimes committed in the name of her “recovery.”
Georges Franju creates an work of lyrical and disturbing beauty with Eyes Without a Face (Les yeux sans visage), a poetic horror that mixes dark fairy tale with the most explicit surgical gore. The film is visually dominated by the jarring contrast between the formal elegance of the staging, the ethereal black and white photography, and the graphic and clinical brutality of the face removal operation. This sequence, which caused numerous audience members to faint at the time, still retains its disturbing force today due to its cold, methodical realism.
Peeping Tom (1960)
Peeping Tom is a 1960 British psychological horror film directed by Michael Powell. It stars Karlheinz Böhm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, and Esmond Knight.
The film tells the story of Mark Lewis, a camera operator who kills women and records their reactions with a hidden camera. Mark is a man tormented by childhood trauma, and his obsession with cinema is a way to control and dominate his victims. The film is known for its unsettling atmosphere and its innovative use of the camera. Powell uses the camera to create a sense of suspense and voyeurism and to explore the protagonist’s psychology.
Peeping Tom is a film that explores the dark side of the human mind. Mark Lewis is a man tormented by childhood trauma, and his obsession with cinema is a way to control and dominate his victims. The film can be interpreted as an allegory of the violence of modern society. Mark is a product of his culture, and his violence is a reflection of the violence that surrounds him.
Black Sabbath (1963)
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Black Sabbath (I tre volti della paura) (1963) is an episodic horror film directed by Mario Bava under the pseudonym John Old. The film is composed of three separate stories, each with its own setting and cast:
The Telephone: A young woman is persecuted by a mysterious man who throws a knife in her face. The Wurdulak: A man gets involved in a story of vampirism. The Drop of Water: A group of friends goes to a haunted castle.
The Telephone A young woman named Mary (Barbara Steele) is on vacation with her fiancé, John (John Saxon). One night, Mary is awakened by a nightmare in which a man throws a knife in her face.
The Wurdulak A man named Paul (John Richardson) is traveling to meet his fiancée, Elizabeth (Luana Anders). Along the way, Paul meets a woman named Irina (Barbara Steele).
The Drop of Water A group of friends, consisting of a director, a producer, an actor, and an actress, goes to a haunted castle to shoot a horror film.
The film’s most disturbing feature is its set design, particularly the pictorially fantastic interiors. The screenplay and dubbing are above-average methods. The episode “The Drop of Water” is the best of the 3 stories and has been called “Bava’s most frightening work.”
Haxan
Documentary, by Benjamin Christensen, Sweden, 1922.
Desecration of tombs, torture, demon-possessed nuns and witches' sabbath: Haxan, Witchcraft Through the Ages is an incredibly original and unconventional film that has become legendary over time. Between documentary and dramatic fiction, the film guides us through the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered from the same ills as the mentally ill of the modern era. A frightening and at the same time humorous gothic horror, with the creation of documentary and non-fiction sequences that anticipate the innovations of the Nouvelle Vague. Something absolutely unique in the history of cinema.
Food for thought
In Sanskrit Devil and Divine come from the same root, dev. Madness is the dark side of man and it is as natural as the bright side. When you are able to tell a madman that not only is he mad but that you are too, a bridge is immediately created, and it is possible to help him. The nature of life is neither logical nor rational. Life is illogical, wild and contradictory.
LANGUAGE: English, Swedish
SUBTITLES: Spanish, French, German, Portuguese
Onibaba (1964)
Onibaba (1964) is a Japanese horror film directed by Kaneto Shindō. The film tells the story of a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law who survive the 12th-century Genpei War by killing and robbing samurai soldiers. When the daughter-in-law begins a relationship with a deserter, the relationship between the two women is put to the test.
During the Genpei War, a mother-in-law (Nobuko Otowa) and a daughter-in-law (Kei Satō) live in a hut in the middle of a swamp. Their husbands have left to fight in the war, and the two women are forced to survive on their own. To make ends meet, the women kill and rob samurai soldiers who pass through the swamp. They wear masks to hide their identity and leave the bodies in the swamp to be devoured by crabs.
Onibaba is a unique and unforgettable horror film. The film is visually stunning, with atmospheric photography and strong imagery. The performances are all excellent, particularly those of Nobuko Otowa and Kei Satō. The film’s exploration of dark themes is both thought-provoking and disturbing. Onibaba is a film that will stay with you long after you have seen it.
Blood and Black Lace (1964)
Blood and Black Lace (Sei donne per l’assassino) (1964) is an Italian giallo film directed by Mario Bava. The film is set in a fashion house in Rome, where a mysterious killer begins to murder the models. Inspector Silvestri investigates the case but finds himself involved in a game of lies and secrets.
Massimo Morlacchi and Countess Cristiana Cuomo are the owners of a high fashion house in Rome. One of their models, Isabella, is found murdered in her apartment. Inspector Silvestri is called to the scene to investigate the case. Silvestri discovers that Isabella had a relationship with the antique dealer Franco Scalo, who also owns a theater mask that was found near the model’s body. Scalo is interrogated by the police but denies having anything to do with the murder.
Why it is an absolutely must-see horror film: Blood and Black Lace is a classic giallo film, with a compelling plot and a series of ambiguous characters. The film is also known for its murder scenes, which are often violent and splatter. Bava is a master of suspense and thrills, and the film is full of moments that will keep the viewer on the edge of their seat. The film is also visually impressive, with curated photography and detailed production design.
Kwaidan (1968)
Kwaidan (1968) is a Japanese anthology horror film directed by Masaki Kobayashi. It is based on stories from Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folk tales, mainly Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904), from which it takes its name.
Kwaidan is a visually stunning film, with rich cinematography and elaborate set design. It is also a deeply atmospheric film, with a sense of anguish and suspense that pervades every frame. The four stories in the film are all well-told and genuinely frightening, and they stay with you long after the credits have rolled.
Kwaidan was released in Japan in 1964 and in the United States in 1968. It was a critical and commercial success and is now considered one of the greatest Japanese horror films ever made. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1969 and won the Special Jury Prize at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival.
Kuroneko (1968)
Directed by the master Kaneto Shindō, this J-Horror masterpiece reinterprets a classic ghost story from the Heian period through a hypnotic visual aesthetic. The plot follows the tragic fate of a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law who, after being brutally raped and killed by a group of rogue samurai, return from the realm of the dead as vengeful spirits. Bound by a demonic pact, the two entities seduce and massacre passing samurai until their path of blood painfully crosses with the son and husband who has returned from the war, creating a heartbreaking conflict between duty, love, and supernatural horror.
The work stands out for its masterful use of chiaroscuro and atmospheric black and white photography, which gives the spectral appearances an ethereal and theatrical quality, recalling the traditions of Kabuki and Noh theatre. More than a simple horror film, it is a desperate elegance that explores the nature of violence and the pain of loss, profoundly influencing subsequent genre cinema. The tension does not stem from sudden scares but from the construction of an atmosphere of ineluctable sadness and terror, making it an essential cult for fans of auteur cinema.
Little Shop of Horrors
Horror, by Roger Corman, United States, 1960.
The brilliant Roger Corman, director and producer who has often worked with ridiculous budgets, allowing the debut of Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante, makes the film where his style is more recognizable. A budget of 30 thousand dollars, the exploitation of an existing scenography, two days of shooting, an unprecedented contamination between noir, comedy, horror, surreal and grotesque. Seymour is a shy and clumsy boy, oppressed by a hypochondriac mother, who works as a boy in Mr. Mushnick's flower shop, located in the slums of New York, frequented by rather odd people; his life seems to change for the better when he begins to devote himself lovingly to a strange plant, which he calls the same name as the girl he is in love with. But the plant is not interested in her manure, it just likes human blood. Inspired by the 1932 short story Green Thoughts.
LANGUAGE: english
SUBTITLES: italian, spanish
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen) (1968) is a Swedish psychological horror film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. The film tells the story of an artist and his wife who retreat to a remote island to work on a new painting, but the artist begins to suffer from strange hallucinations and nightmares.
Johan Borg (Max von Sydow) and his wife, Alma (Liv Ullmann), are artists who retreat to a remote island to work on a new painting. Johan is struggling to find inspiration and begins to have strange hallucinations and nightmares. In his visions, Johan sees a group of mysterious people who are trying to harm him. He also sees Alma, but she is transformed into a terrifying creature.
Hour of the Wolf is a cult classic of horror cinema. It has been praised for its atmospheric photography, its disturbing imagery, and its complex exploration of psychological themes. The film has influenced a number of other horror films, including The Shining (1980) and Dark Water (2005).
Hour of the Wolf is a unique and unforgettable horror film. The film is visually stunning, with atmospheric photography and disturbing imagery. The performances are all excellent, particularly those of Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. The film’s exploration of psychological themes is both stimulating and disturbing.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968) is an American horror film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, and Sidney Blackmer. The film tells the story of a young couple who move into a new apartment building in New York City and soon find themselves surrounded by strange neighbors and unsettling events. When Rosemary becomes pregnant, she begins to suspect that her neighbors are part of a satanic coven and that they are planning to kidnap her baby.
Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her husband, Guy (John Cassavetes), are a young couple who move into a new apartment building in New York City. The building is owned by an elderly couple, Minnie and Roman Castevet (Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer), and their neighbors are all strange and eccentric. One evening, Rosemary and Guy are invited to dinner at the Castevet’s house. After dinner, Rosemary feels drugged and is raped by a group of people, including Guy.
Rosemary’s Baby is a cult classic of horror cinema. It has been praised for its suspenseful atmosphere, its disturbing imagery, and its exploration of dark themes. The film has influenced a number of other horror films, including The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976).
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
Based on the novel by Dennis Wheatley and scripted by the legendary Richard Matheson, this film represents one of the highest peaks of Hammer production, moving away from the usual Gothic monsters to embrace a high-tension esoteric thriller. The story sees the Duke of Richleau, played by a magnificent Christopher Lee in a rare positive protagonist role, fighting to save the soul of his young friend Simon, who has fallen into the clutches of a satanic cult led by the sinister Mocata. The battle between the two factions soon turns into a duel of wills and ritual magic, culminating in a night of supernatural siege that severely tests the faith and rationality of the protagonists.
The film is considered a classic of British horror cinema precisely for the seriousness with which it treats the theme of occultism, avoiding camp excesses to build a tangible and unsettling threat. Terence Fisher’s direction masterfully manages the narrative pace, balancing action with dense dialogues about the conflict between good and evil. Thanks to a refined staging and artisanal but effective special effects for the time, the work remains a point of reference for the genre, offering a vision of cinematic Satanism that appears simultaneously elegant and terrifying.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
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Barbra and her brother Johnny go to a Pennsylvania cemetery to visit their father’s grave when they are suddenly attacked by a strange, pale man who kills Johnny. Barbra manages to escape to an isolated farmhouse where she finds refuge along with Ben, a resourceful African-American man, and other people hidden in the cellar (the Cooper family and a young couple). While the dead outside return to life hungry for human flesh, inside the house, racial, social, and generational tensions threaten to destroy the group even before the zombies can get in.
With a tiny budget and grainy black and white film, George A. Romero not only created the modern zombie film but also made perhaps the most important political horror film ever. Before this work, zombies were linked to Haitian Voodoo folklore; Romero transformed them into “ghouls,” an anonymous mass of flesh-eaters, an unstoppable force of nature that serves as a catalyst for the collapse of social superstructures. The real threat in the film is not the living dead, who move slowly and awkwardly, but the inability of human beings to cooperate and overcome their prejudices.
Night of the living dead
Horror, di George Romero, Stati Uniti, 1968.
One of the most profitable independent films of all time, it grossed around 250 times its budget. Inspired like other cult horror films by Richard Matheson's 1954 novel "I Am Legend". Shot as a "guerrilla film" with a cast and crew of friends and family and a budget of just $ 114,000, the film is the forerunner of the inexhaustible "zombie movie" genre.
LANGUAGE: english
Horror Movies in the 70s
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
It is a 1970 Italian giallo horror film directed by Dario Argento, in his directorial debut. The film is the progenitor of the Italian Giallo cinematic classification.
Dario Argento’s directorial debut marks the birth of the modern Italian thriller, codifying a genre that would dominate the following decade. The protagonist, Sam Dalmas, is an American writer in Rome who accidentally witnesses an assault in an art gallery, remaining trapped between two glass panes while the victim bleeds. Obsessed with the memory of the event and convinced that a crucial detail is escaping him, Sam begins a personal investigation that puts him in the crosshairs of a psychopathic serial killer, while the police fumble in the dark.
The work is a clockwork mechanism that unites Hitchcockian tension with a stylized and visually powerful violence. Argento plays with the viewer’s perception, using visual memory as the key to solving the enigma and building masterful suspense sequences accompanied by Ennio Morricone’s dissonant soundtrack. More than just a giallo, the film is an investigation into the fallibility of the human gaze and urban alienation, characteristics that, combined with innovative and audacious direction, have made it a cornerstone of world cinema.
The Last House on the Left (1972)
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It is a 1972 horror film directed by Wes Craven. The film was written by Craven and the plot follows the story of two teenagers, Mari and Phyllis, who are kidnapped by a group of fugitive criminals. During their kidnapping, the girls are subjected to serious physical and psychological violence, including torture and sexual violence.
The criminals, in the end, hide in the house of a couple of parents of the girls, unaware of their presence. When they discover the truth about their guests, parents decide to take revenge on the death of their daughters. The plot is full of twists and turns and intense and disturbing moments, and the film has been considered a social criticism of violence and impunity. However, the representation of violence has aroused many criticisms and has led to numerous disputes. The film was acclaimed as one of the first slasher movie and inspired many other films in the same category.
Images (1972)
Robert Altman ventures into the territory of psychological horror with a complex and visually extraordinary film that explores the fragmentation of the human mind. The protagonist, Cathryn, is a children’s book author who retreats to an isolated country house to work but is soon besieged by increasingly vivid hallucinations of her deceased husband and other unsettling presences. The line between reality and madness progressively dissolves, leaving the viewer and the protagonist unable to distinguish what is true from what is a projection of her fractured psyche.
Thanks to the extraordinary performance of Susannah York (awarded at Cannes) and the innovative photography of Vilmos Zsigmond, the film builds a sense of tangible paranoia, using sounds and images as sensory weapons. It is not a conventional horror film made of scares, but a disturbing drama about identity and schizophrenia, enriched by an experimental soundtrack by John Williams. It is an enigmatic work of art that challenges the viewer to reassemble the pieces of a terrifying mental puzzle.
Nosferatu
When a young real estate agent, Thomas Hutter, goes to the castle to close a deal, Orlok is attracted by his blood and decides to follow him to his hometown. The arrival of the count causes a series of mysterious deaths and spreads panic among the inhabitants.
Murnau, through evocative images and disturbing atmospheres, creates a work that goes far beyond the simple adaptation of Stoker's novel. The film explores universal themes such as the fear of death, isolation and the loss of humanity. The production of Nosferatu was characterized by some legal difficulties due to the copyright of Bram Stoker's novel. Despite this, Murnau and his crew managed to make a film of great visual impact. The choice of Max Schreck to play Count Orlok was ingenious. His cadaverous appearance and his unnatural movements have made the character of Orlok one of the iconic monsters in the history of cinema. Over the years, Nosferatu has become a cult film, influencing generations of filmmakers and becoming a reference point for the horror genre. The image of Count Orlok, with his elongated nails and sunken eyes, has become an icon of horror cinema.
Sisters (1972)
Brian De Palma signs an elegant homage to Hitchcock’s cinema, imbued with voyeurism and psychological obsessions. The story revolves around Danielle, a Canadian model, and her separated conjoined twin, Dominique, whose dark presence seems to haunt her. When a journalist witnesses a brutal murder committed in Danielle’s apartment from her window, an investigation is triggered that brings to light chilling medical secrets and a pathological duality, with the help of a skeptical private investigator.
The film is a triumph of style, characterized by the pioneering use of split-screen which allows following two perspectives of the horror simultaneously, exponentially increasing the tension. The soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann underscores the gothic anguish transported to a modern urban context. De Palma explores themes like the double and the suppression of personality with technical mastery that makes the film not only a compelling thriller but also a visual essay on the nature of looking and being looked at.
The Exorcist (1973)
Directed by William Friedkin, this film forever changed the perception of horror in the mass audience, treating the supernatural with chilling documentary realism. The plot follows the descent into hell of the young Regan McNeil, whose innocence is corrupted by the possession of the demon Pazuzu, and her mother’s desperate struggle to save her. Faced with the failure of medical science and psychiatry, the only hope lies with two priests: the elderly and experienced Father Merrin and the tormented Father Karras, who must confront his own doubts of faith to fight absolute evil.
The film’s strength lies in its ability to build a terror that is as physical as it is spiritual, supported by practical special effects that are still impressive today and a revolutionary sound design. Beyond the iconic and shocking scenes, the work is a profound theological drama about human vulnerability and sacrifice. The oppressive atmosphere and rising tension transform Regan’s bedroom into a universal battlefield between light and darkness, making the film an indelible visual and emotional experience in the history of cinema.
Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (1973)
This reinterpretation produced by Andy Warhol and directed by Paul Morrissey subverts the Frankenstein myth, transforming it into a grotesque, erotic, and satirical work. The Baron, played with cold madness by Udo Kier, is obsessed with creating a superior Serbian race and assembles two creatures, a male and a female, with the intention of making them procreate. The result is a mix of visceral horror and black comedy, where bodies are treated as cannon fodder and science is merely a pretext for depravity and the delirium of omnipotence.
Originally filmed in 3D to accentuate the “camp” and gore effect, the film stands out for its disrespectful critique of the aristocracy and social conventions. The over-the-top performances and the abundance of explicit scenes make it a unique title in the 1970s horror landscape, capable of disgusting and fascinating at the same time. It is a perfect example of transgressive cinema that uses the monstrous to explore the perversions of power and desire.
Ganja & Hess (1973)
Directed by Bill Gunn, this film is an experimental work of art that uses vampirism as a complex metaphor to explore African-American identity, addiction, and cultural assimilation. The story follows Dr. Hess Green, an anthropologist who becomes immortal and dependent on blood after being wounded with an ancient African ceremonial dagger. His existence intertwines with that of Ganja, his assistant’s wife, in an intense and destructive relationship that challenges the conventions of the traditional horror genre.
Far from being a simple “blaxploitation” film, the work is meditative, visually refined, and accompanied by a hypnotic soundtrack. Gunn deconstructs the vampire myth to talk about religion, sexuality, and the burden of history, creating a film that is both a psychological drama and a dreamlike horror. Misunderstood upon its release, it is now re-evaluated as a visionary masterpiece that transcends genre labels.
Silent night, bloody night
Horror, by Theodore Gershuny, United States, 1972.
1972 American Slasher, is a forerunner horror genre several years before Carpenter's Halloween, with a complex script and first person shooting of the killer, which inspired many subsequent films. Its originality and its narration are what manage to make it a small and little known pearl of the genre. A series of murders in a small New England town on Christmas Eve after a man inherits a family estate that was once a madhouse. Many of the cast and crew members were former Warhol superstars: Mary Woronov, Ondine, Candy Darling, Kristen Steen, Tally Brown, Lewis Love, director Jack Smith, and graduate Susan Rothenberg.
LANGUAGE: english
SUBTITLES: italian, french, spanish
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Tobe Hooper directs a nightmare on film that defined the aesthetic of rural slasher, based on the idea that true horror resides in human madness rather than the supernatural. A group of friends traveling through Texas ends up crossing paths with a family of cannibalistic former slaughterhouse workers, among whom the iconic figure of Leatherface stands out. What follows is an unstoppable descent into pure terror, where logic and hope are annihilated by the senseless, mechanical brutality of the killers.
The film is famous for its unhealthy, dirty, and suffocating atmosphere, made vivid by grainy photography and disturbing sound editing. Contrary to its fame, it shows very little blood, relying instead on suggestion and the intensity of the performances to shock the audience. It is a fierce critique of the disintegration of the American nuclear family and the dark side of the deep south, a seminal work that transmits a sense of real and tangible danger from the first to the last frame.
Deep Red (1975)
Dario Argento reaches the apex of his artistic expression with this giallo film that is a triumph of aesthetics and tension. The pianist Marc Daly witnesses the murder of a medium and is dragged into a vortex of violent deaths while trying to discover the identity of the killer, whose crimes are linked to a children’s nursery rhyme and a past trauma. The narrative moves between metaphysical architectures and baroque interiors, where every visual detail can be a clue or a deception.
The virtuoso direction, characterized by fluid camera movements and unusual perspectives, blends perfectly with the aggressive and progressive rock soundtrack by Goblin. The film is not just a sequence of elaborate murders, but a sensory experience that explores the fallibility of memory and the omnipresence of the past. With sequences that have become legend and a shocking finale, it remains the absolute reference point for Italian and international thrillers.
Carrie (1976)
Brian De Palma adapts Stephen King’s first novel, transforming it into an operatic tragedy about solitude and revenge. Sissy Spacek delivers a heartbreaking performance as Carrie White, a marginalized teenager bullied by her peers, oppressed at home by a fanatically religious mother. The discovery of her telekinetic powers coincides with the awakening of her sexuality and repressed anger, leading to a devastating climax during the prom that has gone down in cinema history.
The film is a masterpiece of style, using split-screen, slow motion, and saturated colors to emphasize emotion and horror. Beyond the bloodshed, De Palma builds a powerful allegory about the difficulties of adolescence and social cruelty. The final scene is not just a cheap scare but the seal on a psychological drama where the true monstrosity lies in intolerance and fanaticism, making Carrie a tragic and eternal icon.
The House with Laughing Windows (1976)
Pupi Avati signs the masterpiece of “Paduan Gothic,” an atypical horror immersed in the sunlight of the Italian countryside rather than in the darkness. A young restorer arrives in a small village to work on a macabre fresco by a mad painter who died by suicide but soon finds himself enveloped in a web of omertà, threats, and unsettling local legends. The placid, sleepy atmosphere of the province hides perverse secrets and an ancient malice that permeates the entire community.
The film builds tension through unsaid words, silences, and the ambiguous faces of the inhabitants, leading the viewer toward a shocking and nihilistic finale. Avati demonstrates how horror can hide in everyday life and the most familiar places, creating a sense of anguish that never leaves the viewer. It is an unsettling rural giallo that delves into the roots of folklore and human madness with surgical precision.
The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Horror, science fiction, by Joseph Green, United States, 1962.
Dr. Bill Cortner saves a patient who was pronounced dead, but the senior surgeon, Bill's father, condemns his son's unorthodox transplant methods and theories. While driving to his family home, Bill and his attractive future wife Jan Compton are involved in a car accident in which his wife is decapitated. Costs recovers the head and hurries to the laboratory in the cellar of his house. He and his maimed sidekick Kurt revive the head in a tray filled with liquid. Jan's new existence is unbearable and the woman begs Bill to let her die, but the scientist refuses: he wants to find a new body for Jan. He looks for a suitable woman in a burlesque club, on the street and in a beauty contest.
Directed by Joseph Green and written by Green and Rex Carlton the film was finished in 1959 under the title The Black Door, but was not released until May 3, 1962, with its new title as a double feature with Invasion of the Star Creatures . The particular narrative device of a mad doctor who discovers a way to keep a human head alive has been used before in the literature, with various other versions on this theme. It shares numerous story elements with the West German horror film The Head (1959).
LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: Spanish, French, German, Portuguese
Suspiria (1977)
Dario Argento creates a visually overwhelming dark fairy tale, set in a prestigious dance academy in Freiburg that conceals a coven of witches. The young Suzy Bannion finds herself immersed in a world where narrative logic gives way to pure sensory experience: unnatural primary colors, geometric sets, and a Goblin soundtrack that hammers the nerves. It is the first chapter of the Three Mothers trilogy and represents the peak of the director’s visionary style.
The film is an assault on the senses, where every shot is composed like a moving painting and violence is choreographed with an almost pictorial aesthetic. It does not seek realism, but immersion in a Technicolor nightmare where magic is a terrifying and omnipresent force. Suspiria remains one of the pinnacles of world horror for its ability to create an autonomous universe made of pure atmosphere, irrational terror, and visual beauty.
House (1977)
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Nobuhiko Obayashi’s film is a psychedelic delirium that defies all classification, born as a Japanese response to Jaws but transforming into something totally unique. Seven girls, each characterized by a specific trait (Gorgeous, Fantasy, Prof, etc.), visit an isolated aunt’s house, where they are devoured one by one by possessed furniture, vengeful spirits, and a demonic cat. The special effects are deliberately artisanal, raw, and surreal, mixing animation, collage, and optical tricks.
Beneath the crazy and colorful surface, the film hides a melancholy linked to the loss of innocence and the traumas of war (the aunt is still waiting for her boyfriend who died in the conflict). It is a triumph of visual inventiveness that anticipates the aesthetics of music videos and anime, offering a viewing experience that is both joyful and terrifying. An absolute cult that transforms the haunted house into a deadly and hallucinatory playground.
The Fury (1978)
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Brian De Palma returns to the theme of telekinetic powers with an action thriller that mixes espionage and supernatural horror. Kirk Douglas plays a desperate former government agent trying to save his son, who has psychic powers, from the clutches of a secret organization that wants to turn him into a human weapon. His path intersects with that of Gillian, another young sensitive who is learning to control her terrifying gifts and who becomes the only hope to stop the conspiracy.
The film is a lavish exercise in style, with complex action sequences and an explosive (literally) finale that has gone down in the history of special effects. De Palma pushes the accelerator on tension and melodrama, supported by a majestic soundtrack by John Williams. While less intimate than Carrie, it offers a cynical view of power and government manipulation, packaged in entertainment of the highest technical and visual level.
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
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George A. Romero perfects his vision of the undead apocalypse with this sequel that is both a splatter action film and a sharp social satire. Four survivors take refuge in a huge shopping mall, barricading themselves inside a temple of consumerism while the world collapses outside. While the living dead besiege the display windows, driven by a residual instinct for purchase, tensions explode within the group that prove to be as dangerous as the monsters outside.
With the revolutionary special effects of Tom Savini, the film offers memorable gore scenes, but it is the subtext that makes it a masterpiece: the zombies are not just monsters, they are the grotesque mirror of mass society. The relentless pace, the music by Goblin, and the dynamic direction create a pessimistic fresco of humanity, suggesting that even in the face of the end of the world, man is destined for self-destruction and greed.
The cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Horror, fantasy, by Robert Wiene, Germany, 1920.
The symbolic film of cinematic expressionism. Francis tells a story to a man: in 1830, in a small town, a guy named Caligari, plays the barker at the fair to present the attraction of him, a sleepwalker that he holds under hypnosis in a coffin. The doctor argues that the sleepwalker is able to know the past and predict the future. Unreal atmospheres and deformed sets, stylized acting, split personality, confusion between dream and reality.
Food for thought
Personality from the Greek person means mask. Person comes from the word personality. Individuality is a gift of existence, personality is imposed by society. Personality follows the flock of sheep, individuality is a lion moving on its own. Until you let go of your personality you won't be able to find your individuality.
LANGUAGE: German
SUBTITLES: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Halloween (1978)
Fifteen years after brutally murdering his older sister on Halloween night 1963, at the age of six, Michael Myers escapes from Smith’s Grove Criminal Asylum and returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois. While his psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis, desperately tries to warn local police of the imminent danger, Michael silently begins to stalk high school student Laurie Strode and her friends, turning the holiday night into a methodical, motiveless bloodbath.
John Carpenter distilled the essence of evil in Halloween, creating the definitive slasher based on absolute simplicity and suspense. Michael Myers, credited in the final titles simply as “The Shape,” has no complex psychological motivations, no personality, and no face (hidden by an inexpressive Captain Kirk mask painted white). He is a force of nature, an unstoppable and merciless black void. Carpenter uses the Panavision widescreen format to create wide shots of the autumnal suburban streets, where the killer can be anywhere, often visible at the edge of the screen or in the background without the protagonists noticing, increasing the viewer’s sense of vulnerability.
Aliens (1979)
Ridley Scott redefines the canons of science fiction and horror with a claustrophobic work that transforms the vastness of space into a suffocating trap. The narrative moves away from space epic to embrace the dirty realism of a crew of “space truckers” aboard the Nostromo, tired and underpaid workers who stumble upon an unknown distress signal. The film’s greatness lies in its ability to build unsustainable tension not through frantic action, but through the oppressive atmosphere and the biomechanical and sexualized design of the Xenomorph, born from the visionary genius of H.R. Giger. The creature is not a simple monster, but a perfect organism, devoid of consciousness and driven by pure predatory instinct, which violates the crew’s physical and psychological integrity.
The film is also famous for having subverted the gender hierarchies of action cinema, elevating the character of Ellen Ripley, played by a formidable Sigourney Weaver, to an absolute icon of resilience and survival. Beyond the primordial fear of the unknown, Alien explores unsettling subtexts related to distorted motherhood, the fallibility of technology, and the coldness of corporations, represented by the ambiguous android Ash. It is a masterpiece of design, sound, and direction that created an indelible visual universe, where in the silence of space, horror takes on a lethal and elegant physical form.
In one of his most personal and visceral works, written during a painful divorce, David Cronenberg uses the horror genre to dissect the disintegration of the nuclear family and the devastating consequences of repressed traumas. At the center of the story is Dr. Raglan’s controversial “psychoplasmics” therapy, capable of making mental disorders somatize into physical growths. The anger of the protagonist Nola, segregated in the clinic, does not remain an abstract concept but is literally embodied in a “brood” of monstrous and asexual creatures, lethal extensions of her subconscious that strike anyone who threatens her affective nucleus.
The film is a masterful example of “body horror” that transcends simple fright to become a psychological tragedy, where the mind and the flesh are inextricably linked in a cycle of violence. Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar deliver intense performances in a tale that avoids easy Manichaeism: there are no classic monsters, only the physical manifestation of a pure, maternal hatred. Cronenberg builds a cold, clinical atmosphere that contrasts with the warmth of spilled blood, offering a chilling metaphor for how resentment can generate real monsters, capable of destroying everything they touch.
Vengeance Is Mine (1979)
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Shōhei Imamura signs a “true crime” masterpiece based on the true story of serial killer Akira Nishiguchi, offering an anthropological and ruthless portrait of contemporary Japanese society. The film abandons the classic detective structure to follow, through fragmented narrative and temporal jumps, the 78-day escape of Iwao Enokizu, a charismatic yet amoral swindler and murderer. Imamura does not seek to explain or justify the protagonist’s actions with easy traumas but observes him as an unstoppable force of nature, a man who rejects all social ethics and lives only by his vital and destructive impulses.
The work is dense, complex, and imbued with the blackest humor, exposing the hypocrisy of institutions, sexual repression, and toxic family dynamics, particularly the unresolved and conflicted relationship between Iwao and his Catholic father. Ken Ogata delivers a monumental performance, embodying an evil that is both banal and fascinating. Vengeance Is Mine is a raw and vitalistic film that challenges the viewer to look into the abyss of the human soul without offering moral consolations, culminating in a surreal ending that leaves every possibility of catharsis suspended.
Horror Movies in the 1980s
The last man on earth
Horror, sci-fi, by Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow, United States / Italy, 1964.
Unnoticed at the time of its release and considered today a masterpiece, it is the first and best film adaptation of Richard Matheson's book of the same name, released in 1954. Shot back in 1964, in Rome, with an Italian-American co-production, this film is the progenitor of the zombie film genre, and precedes the following and more famous "Night of the Living Dead". Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) is a scientist, the sole survivor of a global pandemic that has exterminated all of humanity. He is alone in the world and has seen all his loved ones die, including his wife and daughter. But the virus doesn't just kill: it transmorms undead vampires. At night, zombies come out of their shelters and roam the city in search of human flesh.
LANGUAGE: english
SUBTITLES: italian, spanish, german, portuguese
The Shining (1980)
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The Shining is a 1980 film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. The film is considered a classic of the horror genre and is often cited as one of the best films of all time.
The story follows Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, who accepts a job as an off-season caretaker at a large, isolated hotel in the mountains. With his wife Wendy (played by Shelley Duvall) and their son Danny (played by Danny Lloyd), Jack settles into the hotel during the winter season, but soon begins to experience hallucinatory visions and lose his sanity as the hotel is gripped by supernatural forces.
The Shining is famous for Kubrick’s excellent direction, breathtaking cinematography, and frightening music. Jack Nicholson provides an iconic and intense performance as Jack Torrance, and the film has become a symbol of his career. The scene where Jack breaks down Danny’s door with an axe has become an iconically scary image in popular culture.
Released the exact same month as the first Friday the 13th, The Shining is not just an 80s horror film. It is a film that has left an indelible mark, like almost all the films of the master Stanley Kubrick. An auteur film with extraordinary photography and the skill of stars Shelley Duvall and Jack Nicholson. It is the only horror film directed by Kubrick in his career. The Shining remains an unsettling and chilling cult film with a great impact on modern cinema.
Inferno (1980)
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Inferno is a 1980 Italian supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento and starring Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi, and Alida Valli.
The plot follows a girl’s investigation into the disappearance of her sister, who lived in a New York City apartment that also served as a home for a centuries-old witch.
A thematic sequel to Suspiria (1977), the film is the second part of Argento’s Three Mothers trilogy, although it is the very first in the trilogy to explicitly lay out the concept of the Three Mothers. All three films are partly originated from Thomas de Quincey’s 1845 work Suspiria de Profundis, a collection of prose poems in which he posits the principle of three “Ladies of Sorrow” (Mater Lachrymarum, Mater Suspiriorum, and Mater Tenebrarum), alongside the three Fates and Graces in Greek folklore.
Rose Elliot, a poetess living alone on the Upper West Side of New York, buys a book from an antiquarian titled The Three Mothers. The book, written by an alchemist named Varelli, tells of three evil sisters who rule the world with sorrow, tears, and darkness and reside within different houses that were actually built for them by the alchemist.
Mater Suspiriorum, the Mother of Sighs, resides in Freiburg. Mater Lachrymarum, the Mother of Tears, resides in Rome, and Mater Tenebrarum, the Mother of Darkness, resides in New York. Rose believes she resides in the structure of Mater Tenebrarum and writes to her brother Mark, a music apprentice in Rome, urging him to visit her.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
John Landis achieves a miracle of tonal balance, merging black comedy with visceral horror in an unparalleled way. The story of David and Jack, two American hitchhikers whose trip through the Yorkshire moors turns into a nightmare, is a pretext to explore cultural clash and the tragedy of the ineluctable. Landis does not renounce sharp irony but deeply respects the protagonist’s drama, forced to experience a metamorphosis that is as physical as it is psychological, bringing the myth of lycanthropy into the urban modernity of Piccadilly Circus.
The film became legendary thanks to the revolutionary special effects of Rick Baker, who for the first time showed a real-time, painful, and anatomical transformation, under the merciless light of an electric bulb rather than in gothic shadows. Beyond the technique, the film shines with an intelligent screenplay that plays with audience expectations and a soundtrack made of “lunar” songs that counterbalance the horror with a macabre cheerfulness, making it a cornerstone of genre cinema.
The Evil Dead (1981)
Sam Raimi’s electrifying debut is a brutal and inventive exercise in style that redefined the concept of low-budget horror. Five young people in an isolated cabin inadvertently awaken demonic forces through the “Naturon Demonto” (the Book of the Dead), unleashing a hell of possessions and violence. What distinguishes the film is not so much the plot as the frantic and aggressive direction: the use of the “shaky cam” to represent the point of view of the evil running through the woods and the claustrophobic atmosphere create an oppressive and unstoppable sensory experience.
Bruce Campbell, in the role of Ash, begins his transformation into a cult cinema icon here, undergoing physical and psychological torture in a crescendo of artisanal but highly effective gore. The film is an assault on the nerves that mixes pure terror and an almost surreal grotesque, demonstrating how creativity and skillful management of tension can compensate for a lack of means, influencing generations of directors to come.
Scanners (1981)
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David Cronenberg brings science fiction and the conspiracy thriller into the territory of body horror, imagining a subculture of individuals endowed with devastating telepathic powers, the “Scanners.” The film follows Cameron Vale, an outcast recruited by a security corporation to stop Darryl Revok, a renegade leader who intends to use his peers to dominate humanity. The narrative moves between industrial espionage and biological horror, exploring the theme of the mind transcending and destroying the flesh.
Famous for the shocking exploding head sequence, the work goes far beyond graphic sensationalism. Cronenberg builds a cold and aseptic world where the gift of telepathy is experienced as an isolating curse, a “disease” that painfully connects individuals. With a magnetic Michael Ironside in the role of the villain and an unsettling electronic soundtrack, the film is a powerful reflection on control, identity, and human evolution deviated by technology and chemistry.
The Howling (1981)
Joe Dante revisits the lycanthrope myth with a satirical and modern approach, based on Gary Brandner’s novel. The protagonist, a traumatized television journalist, seeks rest in a remote therapeutic colony, only to discover that the community hides a bestial secret. Dante uses horror to ironize the new age trends and Californian group therapies, creating a fascinating contrast between apparent civilization and the primordial instinct bubbling beneath the surface.
The special effects by Rob Bottin rival those of Baker from the same year in mastery, offering pulsating and monstrous transformations that occur in broad daylight. The film is interspersed with cinephile references and maintains a relentless pace that perfectly balances suspense and black humor. The nihilistic and media-focused finale seals the work as a sharp critique of the image society, where even the truest horror risks being consumed as mere entertainment. The Howling was a critical and commercial success and is considered one of the best werewolf films ever made. The film has been praised for its special effects, suspenseful atmosphere, and dark humor.
Possession (1981)
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Andrzej Żuławski directs a visceral nightmare set in a Berlin divided by the Wall, where the disintegration of a marriage takes on monstrous and supernatural contours. Mark returns home to find his wife Anna changed, distant, and involved in a relationship that goes beyond human comprehension. What starts as a relentless domestic drama soon slides into delirium, with the characters’ neurosis manifesting physically in tentacled creatures and unsettling doppelgängers.
Isabelle Adjani delivers one of the most intense and disturbing performances in cinema history (awarded at Cannes), embodying madness with an extreme physicality, culminating in the famous subway scene. The film is a two-hour scream of pain, a complex metaphor for separation, emotional possession, and political and personal schizophrenia. It is not an easy horror film, but a devastating artistic experience that delves into the darkest parts of the unconscious.
The Thing (1982)
John Carpenter signs the definitive masterpiece on paranoia, remaking the classic by Howard Hawks with a spirit faithful to Campbell’s original short story. In an isolated Antarctic base, a group of researchers clashes with an alien organism capable of perfectly assimilating and imitating any life form. The threat is not only external but internal: anyone, even the most trusted friend or colleague, could be “the thing.” The external frost reflects the frost in human relationships, which crumble under the weight of suspicion.
The practical effects by Rob Bottin are a triumph of deformed flesh and biological surrealism, creating images that have entered the collective nightmare. But it is Carpenter’s direction, supported by Ennio Morricone’s minimalist soundtrack, that creates an unsustainable tension. Without triumphant heroes, the film is a nihilistic study on survival, where victory is uncertain and trust is the first victim. An absolute cult that improves with every viewing.
Videodrome (1983)
Cronenberg prophesies the digital age and the fusion between man and media in this hallucinatory journey into body horror. Max Renn, the owner of a small cable TV station looking for extreme content, stumbles upon a pirated signal broadcasting real torture. Exposure to the “Videodrome” signal begins to alter his perception of reality and his very biology, transforming his body into a living VCR. “Long live the new flesh” becomes the mantra of a revolution in which technology is no longer a tool but an extension of the organism.
The film is a powerful and disturbing visual experience, with special effects that merge metal, plastic, and flesh in repellent and seductive ways. James Woods and Debbie Harry are perfect in this technological noir that explores voyeurism, media manipulation, and the loss of self. Videodrome remains a philosophical and visionary work, whose relevance has grown exponentially in today’s screen-dominated world.
The Hunger (1983)
Tony Scott’s directorial debut is a sleek and elegant gothic horror that treats vampirism as an addiction and an eternal curse. Catherine Deneuve is Miriam, an immortal creature who promises eternal life to her lovers but not eternal youth, condemning them to a horrible yet conscious decay. When her companion John (David Bowie) begins to age rapidly, the woman sets her sights on a scientist played by Susan Sarandon, triggering a triangle of seduction and death.
The film stands out for its refined aesthetics, typical of the 80s, with a suggestive use of lights, fluttering curtains, and music (the opening with Bauhaus is unforgettable). Rather than focusing on blood, Scott concentrates on the melancholic atmosphere and eroticism, transforming the monster into a tragic and manipulative figure. It is a stylish work that explores the fear of loneliness and aging with a chic and cruel touch.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Wes Craven revitalizes the slasher by introducing a terrifying variable: the inevitability of sleep. Freddy Krueger is not a mute masked killer but a vengeful, sadistic spirit who strikes his victims where they are most vulnerable: in their dreams. The line between reality and nightmare narrows until it disappears, creating a surreal hunting ground where the laws of physics don’t apply and subconscious fears become deadly weapons.
The film masterfully plays with the tension of anticipation, transforming the natural act of falling asleep into a death sentence. Robert Englund creates an icon of evil, while the young Nancy stands out as a resourceful “final girl” who decides to bring the monster into the real world to face him. With memorable dream images and a brilliant core concept, Craven created not only a franchise but a new language for cinematic fear.
The Fly (1986)
David Cronenberg transforms a classic B-movie into a disgusting and romantic tragedy of epic proportions. Jeff Goldblum is Seth Brundle, a brilliant scientist who, in an attempt to teleport himself, fuses his own DNA with that of a fly. What follows is not a simple monstrous transformation but a slow and painful physical and mental decay, observed with horror and pity by the woman who loves him, played by Geena Davis.
The film is a powerful metaphor for degenerative disease and aging, where the body betrays the mind. Chris Walas’s Oscar-winning special effects are repellent and magnificent, showing every stage of Brundle’s dehumanization. Yet, at the heart of the film remains a heartbreaking love story; Cronenberg manages to make us weep for a monster that vomits digestive enzymes, making The Fly one of the most emotionally complex horror films ever made.
Aliens (1986)
James Cameron achieves the impossible by making a sequel that equals the original by completely changing its tone: from haunted-house horror to sci-fi war film. Ripley awakens 57 years later and returns to the planet LV-426, escorted by a platoon of Colonial Marines. The film expands the mythology by introducing the Alien Queen and transforming Ripley from a survivor into a maternal warrior, willing to do anything to protect the young orphan Newt.
The pace is an unstoppable crescendo of adrenaline, tactical action, and terror. Cameron does not sacrifice tension for action but fuses them, creating memorable sequences supported by extraordinary practical effects and an enveloping sound design. Aliens is a model of cinematic narrative, where every character is well-defined and the stakes are always high, culminating in a final confrontation that is pure cinema history.
Evil Dead 2 (1987)
Sam Raimi returns to the cabin in the woods with a film that is part remake and part sequel, pushing the accelerator on madness and slapstick comedy (or “splatstick”). Ash Williams, the sole survivor, is tormented again by demons in a tour de force of physical violence that recalls Looney Tunes cartoons, but immersed in blood. Bruce Campbell demonstrates exceptional comedic and physical talent, fighting against his own possessed hand and inanimate objects that laugh at him.
The film is a triumph of visual creativity, with impossible camera movements and a pace that gives no respite. Raimi abandons the seriousness of the first chapter to embrace the grotesque, transforming Ash from victim to reluctant hero armed with a chainsaw and a boomstick. It is a delirious and energetic work that cemented the cult status of the saga, a perfect fusion of laughter and chills.
They Live (1988)
Disguised as a science fiction action film, John Carpenter hides one of the fiercest critiques of consumerism and the Reagan era. A drifter discovers, thanks to special sunglasses, that the ruling class is actually composed of skeletal aliens who control us through subliminal messages hidden in advertising and the media. “OBEY,” “CONSUME,” “DO NOT THINK” are the real commands behind society’s glossy images.
The film is famous for the very long fight between the two protagonists, a metaphor for the difficulty of forcing someone to see the truth, and for Roddy Piper’s iconic line about chewing gum. Carpenter uses pulp science fiction to unmask the ideology of unbridled capitalism, creating a subversive work that entertains while inviting rebellion. It is political cinema disguised as a B-movie, prophetic and still tremendously relevant.
The Vanishing (1988)
George Sluizer directs a Dutch psychological thriller (original title Spoorloos) that is a chilling study on the banality of evil and obsession. Rex spends years searching for his girlfriend Saskia, who vanished into thin air during a stop at a rest area, until the kidnapper himself contacts him. There are no chases or shootings, only a slow, inexorable approach to the truth, guided by the protagonist’s morbid curiosity and the antagonist’s cold sociopathic logic.
The film is terrifying precisely because it is realistic: the “monster” is a seemingly normal family man who commits evil to test his moral limits. The narrative structure quickly reveals the culprit’s identity, shifting the tension to “what happened” and “how far will you go to find out.” The finale is one of the most shocking and desolate ever filmed, a punch to the gut that leaves the viewer with a sense of claustrophobia and terror that lasts well beyond the credits.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
Shinya Tsukamoto signs a visceral and hallucinatory cyberpunk manifesto that redefined the aesthetics of body horror and Japanese underground cinema. Filmed in grainy 16mm black and white, the film is a sensory assault that narrates the metamorphosis of an ordinary employee (“salaryman”) into a machine of destruction, following an incident with a “metal fetishist.” The linear narrative quickly gives way to frantic and hyperkinetic editing, accompanied by a pounding industrial soundtrack, which transforms the city of Tokyo into a nightmare of flesh and rust.
The work is a powerful metaphor for technological dehumanization and the erotic and painful fusion between man and machine. Tsukamoto uses low-budget practical effects, stop-motion, and prosthetic makeup to create disturbing and surreal images that hit the viewer in the stomach. Tetsuo is not just a film, but a physical experience that anticipates the anxieties of post-industrial society, remaining a masterpiece of pure energy and creative rage that influenced directors like Tarantino and the Wachowski brothers.
Horror Movies in the 90s
Fire Walk With Me (1992)
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David Lynch creates what is perhaps his most misunderstood and heartbreaking film, a prequel to the cult series Twin Peaks that abandons the soap opera eccentricities to immerse itself in pure psychological horror. The film recounts the last seven days of Laura Palmer’s life, played by an extraordinary Sheryl Lee, revealing the tragic face behind the high school queen icon. Lynch forces the viewer to confront the brutal reality of domestic abuse and addiction, mixing family drama with the dark surrealism of the Black Lodge.
Massacred by critics at the time for its gloom and lack of easy answers, the film has now been widely re-evaluated as a fundamental masterpiece for understanding the Lynchian universe. The narrative is a vortex of desperation and dreamlike terror, where the monstrous (represented by BOB) overlaps the real inseparably. It is a powerful and disturbing work that gives voice and pain to the victim, transforming a television mystery into a deep and unforgettable human tragedy.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Francis Ford Coppola reinvents the vampire myth, transforming it into a sumptuous, baroque, and erotic work, where horror merges with tragic romanticism. Gary Oldman delivers a chameleon-like and magnetic performance as a centuries-old Count who crosses the oceans to find the reincarnation of his beloved Elisabeta in the young Mina Harker. The film stands out for the courageous choice to use exclusively artisanal special effects and “in-camera” optical tricks, rejecting nascent CGI to pay homage to the magic of early cinema.
Visually stunning thanks to Oscar-winning Eiko Ishioka’s costumes and lush cinematography, the film explores blood not only as a source of life but as a symbol of eternal, contagious passion. While taking narrative liberties with Stoker’s epistolary novel, Coppola captures its gothic and sensual essence like few others. It is a refined grand guignol that treats the monster as a damned hero, enveloping the viewer in a feverish nightmare of rare aesthetic beauty.
Thesis (1996)
Thesis is a 1996 Spanish horror film directed by Alejandro Amenábar. It is a thriller that explores the academic world and the consequences that can arise from university research. Alejandro Amenábar’s directorial debut is a tight and intelligent thriller that investigates the morbid human fascination with violence and death. The protagonist, Angela, is a student writing a thesis on audiovisual violence and accidentally becomes involved in a circuit of “snuff movies” (footage of real torture and murders) within her university. What follows is a Hitchcockian cat-and-mouse game, where danger hides behind the reassuring faces of classmates and where curiosity can be lethal.
Winner of 7 Goya Awards, the film is a lucid and unsettling meta-cinematographic reflection on voyeurism and the media’s responsibility in turning pain into spectacle. Amenábar builds tension with mastery, avoiding gratuitous gore to focus on suggestion and claustrophobic paranoia. Thesis remains a highly relevant work that challenges the viewer to question their own moral limits and how much we are willing to watch to satisfy our scoptophilia.
Cure (Kyua) (1997)
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A series of bizarre and seemingly disconnected murders shakes Tokyo: victims are found with a large “X” surgically carved onto their throats, but the murderers are ordinary people (a teacher, a policeman, a doctor) who immediately confess the crime without being able to explain why, appearing in a state of trance or confusion. Detective Takabe, stressed by his wife’s mental illness, investigates and connects the crimes to a mysterious former psychology student, Mamiya, who suffers from short-term amnesia and seems capable of manipulating others’ will through simple repetitive conversations and the hypnotic use of natural elements like water and fire.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa is one of the masters of J-Horror, and Cure (Kyua) is his atmospheric and philosophical masterpiece. There are no “jump scares” here, but a pervasive sense of malaise, social decay, and existential void. The film is a psychological thriller that flirts with the supernatural, exploring the concept of mesmerism and the fragility of human identity. Mamiya is not a killer who acts directly but a catalyst, a mental virus that releases the dark, repressed impulses in the people he meets; he exposes the moral vacuum of modern Japanese society, where the repression of emotions is the norm.
Ringu (The Ring) (1998)
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An urban legend spreads among Japanese teenagers: there is a cursed videotape that, if watched, leads to death within exactly seven days after a mysterious phone call. The journalist Reiko Asakawa, investigating the inexplicable death of her niece and her friends, finds the tape in a cottage and watches it. With time inexorably running out, Reiko and her ex-husband Ryuji, a university professor with psychic powers, must discover the origin of the video and the curse, linked to a girl named Sadako thrown into a well years earlier, to save themselves and their son.
Hideo Nakata launched the global J-Horror phenomenon with Ringu, a film that terrified the world using everyday analogue technology as a vehicle for supernatural death. The film’s genius lies in making a mundane object like a VHS tape and a static television screen frightening. The atmosphere is gloomy, damp, oppressive; the fear is not given by action but by the inexorable waiting for the seven-day deadline and the investigation that uncovers a horrible family tragedy.
Audition (Ôdishon) (1999)
Shigeharu Aoyama, a middle-aged widower who has been lonely for years, decides to seek a new wife on the advice of his teenage son. With the help of a filmmaker friend, he organizes a fake audition for a non-existent film as a pretext to examine ideal candidates. He is immediately fascinated by Asami Yamazaki, a young former dancer, shy, polite, and mysterious. He begins dating her, deliberately ignoring the warning signs and inconsistencies about her dark past until the relationship takes a terrifying turn, revealing the woman’s true traumatized and sadistic nature.
Takashi Miike is known for his extreme and prolific cinema, and Audition (Ōdishon) is his most cruel and brilliant deception. For the first hour, the film masquerades as a sentimental melodrama or a somewhat melancholy romantic comedy about male solitude. Then, suddenly, the tone changes drastically, plunging into a claustrophobic nightmare of torture and pain. This change of register is fundamental to disarm the viewer, make them drop their guard, and render the final violence even more shocking and unbearable.
Horror Movies in the 2000s
Pulse (Kairo) (2001)
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In Tokyo, groups of young people begin inexplicably committing suicide or vanishing into thin air, leaving only black, shadow-like stains on the walls. The survivors, including nursery employee Michi and economics student Kawashima, discover that ghosts are invading the world of the living through the internet and the phone network. The afterlife has become overcrowded, and the spirits, driven by eternal solitude, are spilling over into our world. As society silently disintegrates and the city empties, the protagonists desperately seek meaning or an escape route in a world that is becoming a grey wasteland.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa creates the definitive film about alienation in the digital age with Pulse (Kairo), capturing the paradoxical loneliness that accompanies hyper-connection. It is not a film of monsters suddenly jumping out to kill but a slow, melancholic, and viral apocalypse. The ghosts in Kairo are not aggressive in the traditional sense; their mere presence induces a profound and contagious existential despair so that the living lose the will to exist (“Death is an eternal solitude,” says one specter).
Oldboy (2003)
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Directed by Park Chan-wook, this South Korean thriller is the spearhead of the “Vengeance Trilogy” and a seminal work that redefined contemporary action cinema. The story follows Oh Dae-su, a man mysteriously imprisoned for 15 years in a hotel room and then released without explanation, armed only with a hammer and an inexhaustible thirst for answers. What begins as a manhunt soon turns into a modern Greek tragedy, visually stunning and narratively cruel, where violence is choreographed with brutal elegance, as in the famous long-take corridor fight sequence.
Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, the film transcends the genre thanks to its profound philosophical investigation into memory, sin, and the self-destructive nature of revenge. Choi Min-sik delivers a visceral and heartbreaking performance, embodying a tragic anti-hero trapped in a perverse game orchestrated by his antagonist. Oldboy is an emotional labyrinth that hits the viewer with shocking plot twists and a baroque style, leaving a sense of unease that persists long after the credits. If you’re looking to find a Korean horror classic, check out this timeless revenge thriller from 2003 by Park Chan-Wook, Oldboy.
The Devil’s Rejects (2005)
It is a 2005 splatter film directed by Rob Zombie that abandons the gothic and comic book atmospheres of his debut to create a dirty, nihilistic, sweat-soaked road movie, inspired by 70s exploitation cinema. A sequel to House of 1000 Corpses, the film reverses the perspective, turning the Firefly serial killer family into protagonists hunted by a sheriff seeking revenge, not justice. The direction is rough, characterized by freeze frames, sudden zooms, and a southern rock soundtrack that dictates the pace of a journey to hell.
The work is an audacious exercise in style that challenges the viewer to empathize with monsters, exploring violence without moral filters or censorship. The finale, set to the tune of “Free Bird,” is one of the most iconic and powerful sequences in modern horror, elevating the massacre to a form of macabre poetry. More than a simple horror film, it is a twilight and bloody Western that consecrated Zombie as a visionary and uncompromising auteur.
The Descent (2005)
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A year after a tragic car accident in which she lost her husband and daughter, Sarah joins five female friends (including the adventurous Juno) for an extreme caving expedition in an unexplored cave in the Appalachians, hoping to overcome her trauma. When a collapse blocks the only known way out, the group finds itself trapped in the deep darkness, with supplies running low and personal tensions escalating. They soon discover they are not alone: the cave is the habitat of a colony of blind, pale, carnivorous humanoid creatures, the “Crawlers,” who have evolved to hunt in the darkness using echolocation.
Neil Marshall creates a masterful horror film that works perfectly on two parallel levels: the psychological and the monstrous. The first half of the film is a masterpiece of claustrophobic tension; the fear of being stuck in the rock, the total darkness, disorientation, and physical fatigue are palpable. When the monsters arrive, the film explodes into primordial, frantic, and bloody violence. The Descent is notable for its all-female cast, yet it avoids the “damsel in distress” clichés; the women here are complex, physical, imperfect characters who fight for survival with a brutal ferocity.
Martyrs (2008)
A cornerstone of the “New French Extremity” movement, Pascal Laugier’s film is an extreme cinematic experience that divides audiences and critics for its philosophical brutality. The plot begins as a revenge movie, with the young Lucie tracking down her tormentors years after escaping a traumatic captivity, but it soon evolves into something much darker and metaphysical. Laugier uses violence not as an end in itself but as a tool to explore the limits of human endurance and the boundary between victim and martyr.
The film is sharply divided into two parts: the first is frantic and visceral, the second is clinical, cold, and unbearable. Through a physical and psychological ordeal, the work questions the meaning of suffering and the search for transcendence, challenging the viewer not to look away. Martyrs is a nihilistic and painful film that leaves emotional scars, a work that uses horror to ask theological questions for which there may be no answer.
Let the Right One In (2008)
In the snowy, grey suburbs of Blackeberg, Stockholm, in the early 80s, Oskar, a lonely, sensitive twelve-year-old victim of violent bullying at school, collects newspaper clippings about murders and dreams of revenge against his tormentors. One night he meets Eli, a pale, strange girl who has just moved into the apartment next door with an older man. A deep, tender, and necessary friendship develops between the two, but Oskar soon discovers that Eli is not a normal girl: she is a vampire who needs fresh blood to survive and that her presence is linked to a series of brutal, blood-draining murders that are terrifying the neighborhood.
Tomas Alfredson adapts the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, creating a horror film that is simultaneously a delicate and moving coming-of-age story and pre-adolescent love story. Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in) reinvents the vampire mythology, stripping it of gothic glamour or Hollywood action and inserting it into Swedish social realism, made of concrete tower blocks, silence, and solitude. Vampirism here is a dirty, sad, parasitic, and necessary curse for survival, not a seductive source of power.
Thirst (2009)
Park Chan-wook revisits the vampire myth by fusing it with the naturalism of Émile Zola (the film is loosely inspired by Thérèse Raquin), creating a unique hybrid of horror, erotic melodrama, and black comedy. The protagonist, a devout Catholic priest who undergoes a failed medical experiment, finds himself transformed into a creature of the night, forced to balance his faith with an unquenchable thirst for blood and a forbidden passion for his childhood friend’s wife.
Visually sumptuous and directorially impeccable, the film explores sin, guilt, and repression through powerful and symbolic images. There is no glossy romance here, but a desperate and grotesque carnality; vampirism becomes a metaphor for the darkest human impulses. With intense performances and a surreal ending, Thirst is a provocative reflection on the nature of evil and the price of eternal damnation.
Horror Movies of the 2010s – 2020s
Shutter Island (2010)
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Leonardo DiCaprio stars in this horror thriller set in an asylum in the 2000s. Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island is an intriguing film full of conspiracies and fear that leaves the truth hanging. Martin Scorsese pays homage to film noir and gothic horror of the 50s with this psychological thriller set in a criminal asylum on a hurricane-swept island. Leonardo DiCaprio plays federal agent Teddy Daniels, who arrives to investigate the disappearance of a patient but soon finds himself trapped in a web of conspiracies, hallucinations, and past traumas. Scorsese’s mastery lies in creating an atmosphere of tangible paranoia, where every scenic detail and every camera movement suggest that nothing is as it seems.
The film is a complex puzzle that plays with the perception of reality, supported by a soundtrack of contemporary classical music that amplifies the sense of unease. More than on scares, the tension is based on the protagonist’s psychological collapse and the moral ambiguity of psychiatric institutions. It is a labyrinthine journey into the human mind, visually powerful and narratively dense, that requires multiple viewings to be fully deciphered.
Black Swan (2010)
Darren Aronofsky directs a psychological nightmare set in the ruthless world of classical ballet, treating dance as a brutal contact sport. Natalie Portman, in an Oscar-winning performance, is Nina, a technically perfect but emotionally frigid ballerina who must embrace her dark side to play the dual role in Swan Lake. Her descent into madness is told with a visceral, almost body horror style, where physical injuries and hallucinations become the external manifestation of her psychic fragmentation.
The film explores the theme of the doppelgänger and the self-destructive obsession with artistic perfection. The frantic direction and grainy photography immerse the viewer in the protagonist’s mental claustrophobia, oppressed by an intrusive mother and a manipulative artistic director. Black Swan is a feverish and sensual horror melodrama that shows how the sacrifice required by art can consume the soul and body until the final metamorphosis.
The Skin I Live In (2011)
Pedro Almodóvar ventures into the science fiction thriller, inspired by the classic Eyes Without a Face but infusing it with his typical sensibility for melodrama and issues of sexual identity. Antonio Banderas plays a brilliant and psychopathic plastic surgeon who holds a mysterious woman captive, using her as a guinea pig to create an indestructible synthetic skin. Beneath the surface of a “mad scientist” tale, hides a complex story of revenge, transformation, and obsession.
The film’s aesthetic is aseptic, elegant, and cold, in stark contrast to the violent passions that drive the characters. Almodóvar constructs a nested narrative that progressively reveals a shocking truth, challenging the conventions of the genre and the viewer’s morality. It is a disturbing and refined work that reflects on the malleability of the body and the persistence of identity, demonstrating that science can change appearance but not the soul.
The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
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Five college friends—who seem to perfectly embody classic horror film stereotypes: the Athlete, the Slut, the Scholar, the Stoner/Fool, and the Virgin—set off for a relaxing weekend at an isolated cabin owned by a cousin. When they arrive and inadvertently read a Latin formula from a diary found in the cellar, they awaken a family of torturing zombies. But the viewer soon discovers that nothing is accidental: the youths are constantly monitored, drugged, and manipulated by a mysterious underground governmental organization that is orchestrating their deaths as if it were a script, part of a global sacrificial ritual necessary to appease “The Ancient Ones,” giants sleeping beneath the earth.
Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon created the definitive, intelligent, and humorous deconstruction of the horror film with The Cabin in the Woods. It is a meta black comedy that analyzes, dismantles, and satirizes the narrative mechanisms of the slasher genre, explaining diegetically why characters make stupid decisions (“let’s split up”), why cell phones don’t work, and why they must die in a specific order (the Virgin must be last, but can survive if she suffers). The film is a love letter to horror fans and at the same time a fierce critique of the film industry that constantly demands the same blood and the same repetitive clichés.
The Babadook (2014)
Jennifer Kent’s directorial debut is a psychological horror that transcends simple scares to explore the abyss of grief and maternal depression. The story revolves around Amelia, an exhausted widow, and her son Samuel, whose problematic behavior worsens after the discovery of an unsettling pop-up book titled “Mister Babadook.” What begins as a childish suggestion soon transforms into a dark and tangible presence that haunts the house, becoming a powerful metaphor for unelaborated pain that consumes from within.
The film stands out for its Expressionist aesthetic and the extraordinary performance of Essie Davis, who paints the heartbreaking portrait of a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Rather than relying on “jump scares,” The Babadook builds a suffocating tension, culminating in an iconic confrontation that offers no easy solutions but suggests that one’s own demons cannot simply be destroyed; they must be tamed and integrated into daily life to survive.
The Witch (2015)
New England, 1630. A family of Puritan settlers is banished from its plantation due to the religious pride of the father, William, and settles on the edge of a dense, menacing wood to build a farm. When the newborn son Samuel mysteriously disappears under the watch of the teenage eldest daughter Thomasin (who was playing peek-a-boo), the family plunges into paranoia and despair. Amidst failed corn harvests, goats that seem possessed (especially the black goat Black Phillip), and growing suspicions of witchcraft, the family’s faith and unity crumble, leaving them vulnerable to a very old and real evil that lives in the woods.
Robert Eggers created a “folk horror” of impressive historical rigor, using dialogue taken directly from diaries and trial records of the era and lighting the scenes only with natural light or candles. The Witch (The VVitch) is not based on sudden scares but on a constant, slow, and suffocating atmosphere of “dread” (terror and foreboding). The film explores religious fanaticism, isolation, and Puritan repression as fertile ground for evil. The witch is real (we see her making ointments with the fat of the unbaptized child), but the real damage to the family is caused by distrust, misogyny, pride, and the fear of sin that destroy them from within even before the witch attacks.
The Love Witch (2016)
Anna Biller writes, directs, and curates every visual detail of this lavish homage to 60s Technicolor cinema and Hammer-style erotic horror. The protagonist, Elaine, is a modern witch who uses sexual magic to make men fall in love, but leaves behind a trail of victims consumed by passion. Beneath the glossy surface and vintage costumes, the film is a sharp satire on gender dynamics, female desire, and pathological narcissism.
The work is an aesthetic triumph that uses the “female gaze” to subvert the clichés of the femme fatale. With lush cinematography reminiscent of Dario Argento and Russ Meyer films, The Love Witch hypnotizes the viewer through a deliberate use of camp and irony. Samantha Robinson is perfect in the role, delivering a stylized performance that blends magnificently with the dreamlike and artificial atmosphere created by the director, making it an instant cult for its visual and thematic uniqueness. The Love Witch by Anna Biller differs from any other recent horror-comedy.
The Handmaiden (2016)
Park Chan-wook transposes Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith from Victorian London to 1930s Korea under Japanese occupation, creating an erotic thriller of rare elegance and complexity. The plot, full of twists, follows a con man’s plan to hire the young pickpocket Sook-hee as a maid for the wealthy heiress Hideko to steal her inheritance. However, the plan crumbles when an intense and unexpected complicity develops between the two women that challenges social conventions and the roles imposed by men.
Visually sumptuous, the film is a masterpiece of set design and camera movements, where every shot hides crucial details for the nested narrative. Park orchestrates a game of mirrors and deception divided into three parts, exploring themes such as colonialism, voyeurism, and female emancipation. The Handmaiden is not just an exercise in style but a cruel and passionate love story that keeps the viewer glued until the final reversal of perspective.
A Cure from Wellness (2016)
Gore Verbinski creates a modern, visually ambitious gothic horror that pays homage to genre classics set in sanatoriums, like a nightmare version of the “Magic Mountain.” The young executive Lockhart is sent to an exclusive Swiss clinic to retrieve his company’s CEO but finds himself a prisoner of a place where the search for purity conceals grotesque experiments and centuries-old secrets. The atmosphere is dense with a sense of clinical malaise, accentuated by cold, geometric photography.
Despite mixed critical reception due to its length and baroque narrative turns, the film has gained cult status for its aesthetic audacity and disturbing images (like the famous eel scene). It is a psychological thriller that prioritizes atmosphere over logic, immersing the viewer in a feverish delirium that reflects contemporary anxieties about the body, health, and corporate ambition, all wrapped in a visually unsettling beauty.
The Wailing (Goksung) (2016)
In the quiet rural village of Gokseong, South Korea, an epidemic of homicidal madness suddenly erupts: residents go mad, kill their families, and are covered in repulsive pustules and blisters. Locals suspect the cause is a mysterious Japanese man living solitary in the woods. The inept and cowardly police sergeant Jong-goo investigates, but when his daughter begins to show symptoms of the same possession and illness, his search for the truth becomes desperate. He finds himself trapped in a spiritual and physical conflict between an expensive shaman called for an exorcism, a mysterious woman in white who appears and disappears, and the Japanese stranger, no longer knowing who is good and who is evil.
Na Hong-jin directed a maximalist horror epic of two and a half hours that mixes procedural police thriller, black comedy, shamanic exorcism, zombie movie, and family drama, maintaining constant, escalating tension. The Wailing (Goksung) is a film about faith, doubt, prejudice, and human confusion in the face of evil. The viewer, exactly like the protagonist, is constantly manipulated, misled, and led to believe one version of events only to see it overturned in the next scene.
Mother! (2017)
Darren Aronofsky directs an allegorical and divisive work that functions as a crescendo of pure anxiety. Jennifer Lawrence plays a woman who dedicates her life to renovating her poet husband’s (Javier Bardem) house into an isolated paradise, until the arrival of intrusive strangers transforms their existence into a biblical chaos. The film abandons traditional narrative logic to become a powerful and violent metaphor for the relationship between God, humanity, and Mother Earth, as well as a reflection on the narcissism of the artist who cannibalizes his own muse.
The viewing experience is deliberately suffocating, with the camera glued to the protagonist’s face while the world around her collapses in an orgy of fanaticism and destruction. Mother! is a film that leaves no one indifferent: it is a visceral cinematic scream that crosses different genres, from chamber drama to home invasion to surrealist apocalypse, challenging the audience to decipher its dense religious and social symbolisms.
Get Out (2017)
Chris Washington, a young and talented African-American photographer, agrees to meet his white girlfriend Rose Armitage’s parents at their isolated country estate for the weekend. Initially, Chris interprets the family’s overly accommodating and “progressive” behavior (the father would vote for Obama a third time) as an awkward attempt to navigate the interracial relationship. But a series of unsettling discoveries—including Black domestic staff who behave like smiling automatons and a strange garden party—leads him to realize he has been lured there for a much more sinister reason: a monstrous surgical operation of consciousness transplant and body snatching.
Jordan Peele, known until then as a comedian, redefined modern horror with this “social thriller” that uses genre tropes (body invasion, cult, “mad scientist”) to explore systemic racism and cultural appropriation in post-Obama liberal America. The genius of Get Out lies in not showing racism as overt and violent hatred (no KKK hoods) but as a benevolent and envious appropriation: white people don’t hate Black people, but envy, fetishize, and want to “be” them for their physical or artistic qualities, yet simultaneously stripping them of their consciousness and voice (relegated to the terrifying “Sunken Place”).
Suspiria (2018)
More than forty years after its release, the classic Italian horror film by Dario Argento gets a remake. Luca Guadagnino undertakes a risky operation, reinventing Dario Argento’s masterpiece not as a direct remake but as a melancholic and political “cover.” Set in divided Berlin in 1977, during the German Autumn, the film follows the American dancer Susie Bannion as she enters a prestigious dance academy that serves as a cover for a coven of witches. Unlike the neon-colored original, this version is dominated by grey tones, rain, and an atmosphere of historical heaviness and guilt.
The film elevates dance to a magical and violent ritual: the movements of the bodies are not just artistic expression but spells that break bones and manipulate flesh. With a hypnotic soundtrack by Thom Yorke and Tilda Swinton in a triple role, Suspiria is a complex auteur horror that explores the dynamics of female power, dark motherhood, and the legacy of Nazism, offering a grand guignol and mystical ending completely different from the original source. An extraordinary auteur film.
Hereditary (2018)
Ari Aster’s debut is a devastating family drama disguised as supernatural horror. After the matriarch’s death, the Graham family begins to crumble under the weight of dark secrets and an ineluctable destiny. Toni Collette delivers a monumental performance as Annie, an artist who sublimates trauma through unsettling miniature dioramas, while her family is manipulated like pawns in a much larger occult game.
The terror in Hereditary does not come from sudden monsters but from a sense of slow and inexorable doom and the raw representation of grief. Aster uses a precise and disturbing cinematographic language, made of slow camera movements and hidden details in the shadow, to build a climax that is both shocking and perfectly consistent with the Greek tragedy that has unfolded. It is a modern masterpiece that investigates how generational traumas can be a curse from which it is impossible to escape.
A Quiet Place (2018)
John Krasinski directs and stars in a high-concept horror film where silence is the only weapon for survival. In a post-apocalyptic world overrun by blind alien creatures with hypersensitive hearing, the Abbott family must live a silent existence to avoid being preyed upon. The film transforms every daily noise into a potential death sentence, creating a cinematic experience in which sound design becomes the true narrative protagonist.
Beyond the constant tension, the heart of the film is a family drama about parenthood and the desperate need to protect one’s children in a hostile environment. The use of sign language and the intense performance of Emily Blunt and young Millicent Simmonds anchor the story to a tangible emotional reality. A Quiet Place is a tense and moving survival thriller that successfully renewed the genre by showing us how deafening fear can be in absolute silence.
Midsommar (2019)
Ari Aster brings horror into the sunlight in this macabre fairy tale set during a midsummer festival in Sweden. The protagonist Dani, traumatized by a recent family tragedy, follows her distant boyfriend and his friends to an isolated community that seems like a bucolic paradise. However, the ancestral rituals and welcoming smiles hide a pagan culture that requires blood sacrifices and a forced, total emotional sharing.
The film is a “break-up movie” disguised as folk horror. Visually dazzling, with its colorful flowers and white robes contrasting with the graphic violence, Midsommar disorients the viewer, immersing them in an open-air psychedelic nightmare. Florence Pugh delivers an extraordinary performance, guiding the audience through a path of perverse catharsis in which horror paradoxically becomes an instrument of emotional liberation and belonging.
Saint Maud (2019)
Rose Glass signs a dazzling debut with this intimate and disturbing psychological study on loneliness and religious fanaticism. Maud is a young palliative nurse, recently converted to an extreme Catholicism, who becomes convinced she must save the soul of her terminal patient, an hedonistic former dancer. What starts as professional dedication slides into a delirious obsession, as the line between reality, mental illness, and divine ecstasy becomes increasingly blurred.
Morfydd Clark is magnetic in the lead role, conveying a fragility that transforms into terrifying determination. The film uses a claustrophobic atmosphere and visceral images to explore how faith can become a toxic refuge for those marginalized by society. With a flash-like and unforgettable ending, Saint Maud establishes itself as a gem of modern religious horror, leaving the viewer to question the nature of salvation and madness.
Wedding ’93 (2021)
This documentary-horror offers a unique and chilling look at how historical trauma can manifest through the supernatural. Set in Cambodia two years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the film uses real footage and reconstructions to narrate the story of Rah, a young woman forced into an arranged marriage who begins to show signs of possession. The original 1993 videotapes show inexplicable events during the ceremony, merging documentary reality with pure horror.
The work is powerful because it anchors the paranormal in the cultural and historical context of the Cambodian genocide. Rah’s “visions” are not just cinematic scares, but the echo of a collective and personal pain (the loss of her first love) that violently resurfaces. Wedding ’93 is a disturbing experience that explores human resilience and suggests that the most terrifying ghosts are often those of unresolved memory and history.
Talk to Me (2022)
The Philippou brothers, known YouTubers, debut in cinema with a fresh and adrenaline-fueled horror film that perfectly captures the energy of Gen Z. A group of teenagers discovers how to evoke spirits using an embalmed hand, turning possession into a dangerous drug-like high to be filmed and shared on social media. When the protagonist Mia breaks the rules of the ritual to seek contact with her deceased mother, she opens the doors to forces that can no longer be controlled.
The film stands out for its physical brutality and the absence of baroque explanations, preferring a direct and visceral approach. Talk to Me works as an effective metaphor for addictions and social pressure, but it is above all a film that is genuinely scary, thanks to aggressive sound design and realistic practical effects. It is a descent into chaos that renews the possession genre with a modern, cynical, and tragic style.
A vision curated by a filmmaker, not an algorithm
In this video I explain our vision
