Picnic at Hanging Rock is my favorite metaphysically spooky film, I think. Which is unrelated to the following
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Friday, March 20, 2009
Intelligent, Visionary Horror Movies (v. 1.0)
The fact that Last House on the Left got remade is a personal insult to me. I've been growing increasingly pissed at the torture porn direction horror movies have been taking, and this list represents the antidote: dark, surreal, and most of all, intelligent horror movies.
Unfortunately -- it's a short list, you know? There's dozens and dozens of films that reach for this but fail due to bad acting, worse scripting, or -- most commonly -- really shitty special effects. If you're into Jodorowsky and David Lynch, then these are all titles I'd highly recommend. Let's begin:
1. The Devil's Backbone
One of the most perfect films I've seen in any genre. Every frame, every character, every scene, every twist: perfect. Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, this film is every bit as visionary as his recent triumph Pan's Labyrinth, which I'm not including on this list because you should have seen it already.
2. Cube
Compelling and unique, this is a simple movie with serious staying power. Cube is one of the best examples of making something powerful with a small budget and serious constraints. What's remarkable here is that the end result doesn't suffer at all: the special effects and cinematography are flawless, creating a puzzle box that works on multiple levels. In the absence of a clear explanation or resolution, what remains is a dreamlike horror movie that lends itself to weeks of speculation and reflection.
3. Intacto
It could be argued that this film isn't horror at all, but that's exactly why it's on the list. This is what horror should be like: ambitious, perfect, and thought-provoking. Intacto walks a razor's edge between building a totally consistent internal logic while still leaving dozens of questions un-answered. Intacto is dark, haunting and beautiful, and yeah, I'm deliberately avoiding a plot summary so that the movie can have the full impact it deserves.
4. The Descent
A mainstream, bland-looking genre piece, I know. I was skeptical about this one, too. Fortunately, the actual film is almost nothing like the generic previews and promo made it out to be. It's remarkable for two reasons: first, an entirely female cast full of strong characters, and second, the intelligence and the ambiguity of the story itself. The minimalist setup would be mere laziness in the hands of most screenwriters but Neil Marshall (who also directs) pushes the premise so far it becomes art. In other words, this was awesome.
5. The Abandoned
Another hidden gem ruined by it's own promotion, The Abandoned was a very sophisticated and truly adult horror film. The most common complaints are that it's too slow and too confusing, but then again, we're in a Saw/Hostel era where character development is alien and scary for American audiences. Although this is basically a "ghost story," the only comparisons I can reach for are the bleak and beautiful Russian sci-fi work of Andrei Tarkovsky. (The room full of friends I watched this with also felt it was similar -- and superior -- to Session 9.)
6. Butcher Boy
Probably the closest thing to a nightmare in movie format I've seen, this is miles away from traditional horror...and that's a good thing. Directed by Neil Jordan, who is famous for The Crying Game and Michael Collins but deserves mention here for his other surreal horror masterpiece, The Company of Wolves. Both films are extremely good, but I'm focusing on Butcher Boy because it's so much more emotionally compelling, historically rich, and flat-out beautiful.
7. Jacob's Ladder
Although it's getting dated these days, this remains one of the best examples of "smart horror" as a genre. Unforgettably weird and deeply creepy, what really sets this film apart is the quality of the acting. Even the most bizarre sequences are believably human. Jacob's Ladder would have been a notable film just on the visuals and the plot alone, but Tim Robbins makes this movie great.
Unfortunately, this is due for a hollywood remake, which will probably have much better special effects and none of what made it great in the first place. (Then again, I was skeptical about the remake of Dawn of the Dead and it wound up being one of the best zombie films ever, so let's keep the Hope alive.)
8. The Cell
Eye candy meets brainfood in a movie so solid, not even Jennifer Lopez could fuck it up. The level of visual detail here is something only matched by big-budget recent works like Pan's Labyrinth or Silent Hill, which is coming up next. Even with the stunning costume, set and makeup work, the real star here is Vincent D'Onofrio, who delivers the most intense human monster since Hopkins was wearing a Hannibal Lecter facemask. I have absolutely no idea why this film isn't more famous and widely known.
SIDE NOTE: Tarsem's follow-up movie, while not horror, gets 10/10 from yours truly. It's called The Fall
and it's so gorgeous, complex and amazing I have absolutely nothing to compare it to. Hopefully that's recommendation enough to get you to check this gem out. Unreal.
9. Silent Hill
Yep, it's "just" a video game movie, but it's also the high-water mark for CGI work in a horror film. The nightmare landscapes that populate this movie are so gorgeous I'm out of adjectives, folks. The characters and the plot are in the back seat here -- the premise is thin and the resolution is just plain weird (thankfully) -- but this movie is 100% worth viewing strictly for the almost non-stop visual art.
10. Dead Ringers
There's no way I could make this list without at least one Cronenberg title. Deciding on which to use was harder than compiling the rest of the list. His version of The Fly still stands as one of the creepiest bad dreams in movie format, and his adaptation of Naked Lunch is a perfect marriage of horror and surrealism. But I went with Dead Ringers because it's the most haunting and intellectual film Cronenberg has done, and bear in mind I'm saying that as someone who's missed Spider, so I could be wrong. Dead Ringers is so unrelentingly weird that I'm still kind of amazed it ever got made.
More Suggestions:
Another great Cronenberg film was Videodrome, which was decades ahead of it's time and serves today as a parody/counterpoint to the torture porn of Hostel and Saw.
The director's cut of THX 1138 is an absolute must-see, but it's more dystopian than horror, so I didn't include it on the list here. I've also omitted the best sci-fi horror crossover film in recent memory, Event Horizon which suffers from an over-blown ending but builds beautifully up until it falls apart.
For feverish and slightly goofy visionary horror, I'd recommend a trio of criminally under-rated movies: Killer Condom, Severance, and Murder Party. All three of them are smart, gory, and black humor hilarious.
Film buffs will notice an obvious lack of Japanese horror films. I was tempted to include Audition, but that movie is more brutal than smart. It's perfectly acted, paced and shot, and one of the most truly shocking films I've seen in the past 10 years -- but not really the kind of material I'm going for here.
Currently downloading and waiting to watch: Timecrimes, Moon, Vinyan, Sheitan, and Ravenous.
One final mention: it's bleak, hideous, ugly and gory, but Calvaire is also one of the best shot "beautiful ugly" horror films I've seen. I wouldn't accuse it of being intelligent, but there's a black humor undercurrent that David Lynch fans would appreciate.
by barracuda » Mon Nov 02, 2009 2:03 pm 
I don't mind gore as a part of a plot, I just have personal moral and aesthetic issues about putting a plot around gore/sex and trying to pull it off as something actually substantial. Gore for gore's sake, or almost-but-not-quite-snuff movies and such (Faces of Death, ad nauseum) which it appears Antichrist is. But thank you for the warning. 
