The Ten Reasons I Love Horror

Horror wears many masks.As a kid my entry point came through the Universal Monster movies. The monsters in these are more like anti-heroes, it's no surprise Stan Lee modeled many of his super-heroes after them. As  an adolescent I began to need more from horror. Much like my growing love of metal , I needed a more violent and cathartic expression. So here are some of the sub-genres that have kept my love alive for horror over the years.

Revenge Flicks-Oldboy

Chan-wook Park's Old Boy is horror in the same vein as I Spit On Your Grave, though it's much more of a mind fuck. The emotional toil inflicted on the protagonist is even more gripping than the ample amounts of blood shed.

Torture Porn -Hostel 2

 The sequel has much prettier bloodshed  than the original, the Bathory inspired bath tub scen alone beats out the first film.These films work much better than the more gimmicky Saw franchise, as there is a more eroticized undercurrent to the violence.

Exorcisms -The Devil Inside- The Obvious choice would be to go with the Linda Blair classic , which I love but if I was to pop in an exorcism flick right now, it would be this one because I haven't been watching it for the past 25 years. The Last Exorcism might be a better movie in some ways, but the humor intertwined in the front half of the film diminishes it's darkness.

Mad Scientists - the Human Centipede

It was hard to pick between the two, as the sequel a beautifully shot homage at time to Eraserhead. The first film however, its classic for different reasons. At it's core this film is not much different in some respects as than the pulp of  Brain That Wouldn't die, it just took some of the camp out and brought in a more extreme concept. In fact the concept of the film alone brought it notoriety, but the movie was done much more tastefully than you would expect.  

Vampires -30 Days of Night

Sexy vampires are not scary. They are brooding not dark. It works for Buffy, but for horror movies I want these savage vampires who break the rules. They don't have to be invited in, these bloodsuckers come crashing right through your window.

the Occult

Angel Heart- The more Satanic themed films like the Omen and Rosemary's Baby will always hold a place in my heart, but this cautionary tale of when the devil comes down to New Orleans is  more endearing . Things get down and dirty in this Faustian voo-doo yarn, as the protagonist finds himself looking into the bleakest corners his sanity once inhibited.

 Apocalyptic

The Road - The zombie genre or any end of the world film fits here however not all are created equal. The Road is in some respects a dark drama, yet it does have horror qualities such a cannibals and captures a bleaker post-apocalyptic landscape than any Zombie movie in recent memory.The Mist would be a runner up in this category.

Home Invasion -The Strangers

If you make me single out one home invasion film it will be this one in terms of sheer tension it creates. It often captures the type of humiliation factor similar to torture porn. These are really most effective if they adhere to my no survivors rule.

Lovecraftian -From Beyond

Technically Re-animator could fit here, but it's more of a Mad Scientist flick. Stuart Gordon is the master of the Lovecraft adaptations, sure they couldn't be farther from the cryptic printed version of Howard's work, but they are gruesome fun. The sexual elements Gordon injects in these made them perfect for me when I discovered them as a teenager.

Ghost Stories

The Shining -It defies the typical haunted house motifs. The Marriage of Kubrick's cinematography and Nicholson's acting made this one of the horror movies even fans of mainstream cinema respect. It also capture the claustrophobic insanity that when combined with the sinister backdrop of the Overlook can only add up to redrum.