Just one of the many reasons why John McNaughton’s Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer remains a deeply provocative and unsettling work is the uncompromising realism with which it approaches the subject of the murder and serial killing. Shot and completed in 1986, the film’s highly graphic content and the decision over the cuts meant that it was kept from screens for 4 years and even then it didn’t arrive into various territories in its complete form until the earlier 2000s. Even now we can see why that was the case.
The film takes almost a documentary approach to its violence; it is unflinching, it never looks away and it never glamourises. Central to it is Michael Rooker, most known now for his role on The Walking Dead, as the demented Henry. Rooker was a non-actor, a janitor plucked out of obscurity for the film and it is that lack of stardom and acting awareness that leads to an almost ramshackled but real performance that makes the vision of the character perfect.
More important is the directorial vision, as Henry is probably the best film to date to deal with the collusive relationship between the voyeur of violence and the onscreen perpetrator of violence, asking the question: ‘Should you really be watching this?’ – but asking it honestly and non-judgmentally.
In that regard it is far more effective than Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, which actively seeks to alienate its audience by constantly berating them for enjoying the spectacle of violence. Haneke famously said that Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer was ‘too comical’. Believe us, there is nothing funny about it.
Korean horror is an interesting area of film, and one that has made great contributions to the horror genre. One of the most exciting horror films to come out of the country in some time is the 2003 psychological-horror flick A Tale of Two Sisters. So successful it was that it became Korea’s highest grossing horror film and the first to be screened in America. It was also remade in the form of 2009’s The Uninvited.
Stylish and very dark, A Tale of Two Sisters tells the tale of two sisters who return home after a stay in a psychiatric hospital. Soon after they settle in, they begin to experience disturbing events, violent nightmares and horrible visions. From there, things take off and we’re thrown into a truly horrific setting.
Admittedly, the film may be a bit slow for some, and opts for a “less is more” approach, but the result is chillingly effective and delightfully twisted. There’s also an excellent plot twist that really delivers a swift kick to viewers who haven’t been paying attention and greatly helps to unravel the mystery behind what is being presented.
The unsettling atmosphere, the intricate puzzle of a story, the beautiful framing and the reward at the end for paying attention all make A Tale of Two Sisters an excellent entry into the genre and one of the best pieces of Korean filmmaking in a long, long time.
[h2]58) Final Destination[/h2]
Director James Wong isn’t known for many films, but the one film he is positively associated with, Final Destination, happens to be a real winner in the horror genre. I mean, deaths are a huge part of any horror movie, but the fact that you can’t escape it sends a shiver directly up my spine.
Wong’s film is simple – take a bunch of young up and coming actors like Devon Sawa and Sean William Scott, have them cheat death, have death get revenge, and script some awesome kill scenes. That’s all there is to Final Destination really, yet every moment is so ingeniously scripted to deliver cringe worthy kills, a strong foundation was built for a slew of mirror image sequels from numerous directors to create an interesting franchise, even if quality has never reached the same heights as Wong’s original.
Whether you view them as angels or as demons, there’s no doubt that Pinhead and the rest of his creepy cronies provide some horrifying and haunting sights throughout Hellraiser. The Cenobites are out to harvest human souls, which is terrifying in itself, but the film brings the scares long before Cenobites are even involved.
Sean Chapman is almost creepier as Frank the man than Oliver Smith is as the bloodied, fleshless Frank the monster. The gory sights of actual blood and guts disappear only momentarily throughout the film to provide shots of the thousands of maggots they include. When Kirsty first opens the portal with the box, the sights she sees are enough to haunt anyone for years. What that thing with two heads and one giant stinger actually is doesn’t matter. What matters is a mere glimpse of it is mind numbingly terrifying.
Alfred Hitchcock comes up a couple of times on our list, but The Birds is one of his few films that can legitimately be considered horror. Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) heads to Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco, to deliver a pair of lovebirds to Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) and his little sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). A seagull suddenly dive bombs Melanie – and that’s how it all begins. The bird attacks go from inexplicable to incredibly violent, holing up the Brenners in their home, wreaking havoc on the town, chasing down small children … all for no discernible reason.
The horror of The Birds lies in the inexplicable and the mundane. Birds are something we see every day, and view as largely innocuous; the notion of them suddenly, and systematically, attacking people is far more terrifying than dogs or wolves coming after us. Hitchcock makes brilliant use of the sound of birds’ wings – there is no non-diegetic sound in the entire film – and conditions the audience to know when the attack is about to come.
The Birds is a weird, disturbing film, as the microcosmic society of the Brenners breaks down in the face of incomprehensible evil.
[h2]55) Bride of Frankenstein[/h2]
Featuring one of the most iconic non-speaking female roles in horror, Bride of Frankenstein is weirder and more morally complex than the film that introduced us to the big bad Monster.
Bride of Frankenstein actually borrows more from Mary Shelley’s book than the original film, and what it adds is both beautiful and bizarre. Most notable is the addition of Dr. Pretorius, who gives all mad scientists a run for their money.
Then of course there’s Elsa Lanchester in a dual role as the Bride and Mary Shelley. Karloff is back in the role that made him famous – as is Colin Clive as the titular Doctor. But this time the pathos of the Monster is truly heart-wrenching. He learns to speak from a kindly Blind Man and yearns to be accepted by the world – only to realize that he’s a monster. It’s a sad, complicated and weird film. While it might not scare anymore, it is horrifyingly moving.
Just when the found-footage genre was on the decline, Director Oren Peli treated the world to an absolutely terrifying haunted house tale with 2007’s Paranormal Activity which caused a massive resurgence for the sub-genre. Made on a miniscule budget (about $15,000), the film exploded at the box office, bringing in nearly $200 million and becoming one of the most profitable films ever made.
The cheap effects and extremely tense moments of silence and of nothing happening build the suspense to a boiling point, before exploding in a shocking and disturbing ending that just begged for more. And while we did end up getting more in the form of a number of sequels, none of them have matched up to the genius and truly terrifying nature of the original.
Paranormal Activity was a game changer of sorts. Like others on the list, it inspired countless copycats but to this day, no one has done it as well as Peli did.
[h2]53) Army of Darkness[/h2]
The culmination of Sam Raimi’s wacky, horror-loving mind, Army of Darkness is the director at his most uninhibited. Supported greatly from Bruce Campbell whose thespian skills had improved greatly from The Evil Dead (while retaining the proper manic energy) and stop motion action sequences that strike the perfect balance between camp and cool, it’s a return to the Evil Dead universe worth making.
Rarely in fact has kitsch blended so well with cool. If books of the dead and skeleton armies can meet a chainsaw hand and a souped-up 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 in 1300 AD without being an unmitigated disaster, you must have an assured hand behind the camera.
Iconic imagery aside, Army of Darkness also has some of the funniest and most memorable dialogue of the series, from “this is my boom stick” and “baby, you got real ugly” Sam and his brother Ivan seem to be having a blast from top to bottom and its impossible not to follow in line.
It would be difficult to say that Michael Haneke’s Funny Games is a film to like. In fact it’s not actually a film, instead it is more of a visual thesis on why the rest of the films on this list, particularly those born from what Haneke would see as the Hollywood Sausage Factory, are actually repellent, dangerous and should not exist.
This film is an attack/lecture on the on-the-nose nature of exploitation/horror/violent films, setting a bourgeoisie family against the wits of two seemingly normal young men who then proceed to commit horrible acts of violence against the family (all of which occurs offscreen) and then invites the audience to join them in these acts.
There is no cathartic release of visceral violence, instead Haneke invites us to look solely at the effects of violence, accusing us of wanting to see more and then calling us morally bankrupt for doing so. It is a fascinating and important discussion to have and one which I fundamentally find quite tiring and irritating, but it deserves to be on this list for that alone.
What is to be admired about Funny Games is the extraordinary air of menace and tension that exudes from every single pore of the film. Haneke has always been a brilliant technician of uneasy cinema and since Funny Games he has applied it to finer and less berating work.
Even though Funny Games stands in contempt of the films it is satirizing, it remains an immensely important and watershed genre film.
[h2]51) Saw[/h2]
The original Saw, in my mind at least, is still one of the best horror films, ever. Its premise is intriguing and creative, paving the way for many, many copycats and rip-offs. Though it spawned numerous sequels, none of them ever lived up to the original. The acting was a bit sub-par and a couple plot holes showed their head but overall, this is an excellent horror film. It also features a movie twist on par with films like The Usual Suspects and Se7en.
Given its budget, some of the effects and kill scenes were incredibly well done and the twisted and insinuating atmosphere of the film kept us hooked to our seats. Jigsaw emerged as a new, iconic horror villain and the intricate structure and mystery behind the story kept audiences hungry for more.
To this day I still re-visit Saw every so often. It really is a brilliant piece of horror that is a great example of doing a lot, with a little.
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