Unique horror movie themes!

November 23, 2011 1:34 PM

I'm looking for some unique horror movie marathon themes.

I'm planning on doing a 30 Days of Horror month and need some ideas for themes for about 4-6 movies at a time.

I want to avoid cliched lists liks 'slasher movies' or '1950's' and am more interested in ideas similar to the ones that were mentioned in this previous question (without the scifi).

A few ideas:
Siblings - (Dead Ringers, Jeepers Creepers, Two Sisters)
Everyone dies at the end! - (Spoilers, but you know what I mean)
Heavy-handed social commentary - (Hostel II, Land of the Dead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
Hands come to life! (Idle Hands, Evil Dead, Addams Family, The Hand)
I hate doors! - (The Shining, Halloween, most house invasion movies)
Teenagers played by 30 year olds (most slasher movies)
Before they were famous (Nightmare on Elm Street, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes etc.)

The theme can be serious or silly and the same goes for the movies themselves. Bonus points if you can suggest a handful of movies to go with your suggested theme.

Thanks!

posted by slimepuppy to media & arts (29 answers total)

Evil Toys: Demonic Toys, Puppet Master, Child's Play. (All of those have numerous sequels as well.)
posted by griphus at 1:37 PM on November 23, 2011

What about:

They were dead all along! (The Others, and, obviously, The Sixth Sense)
Losing your virginity gets you killed (basically every horror movie)
The thing has come alive! (some inanimate object comes to life, seeking mayhem and/or revenge
posted by runningwithscissors at 1:38 PM on November 23, 2011

Fourth Wall Breaks: Returns of the Killer Tomatoes, Funny Games, In The Mouth of Madness
posted by griphus at 1:44 PM on November 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Space Horror (Event Horizon, Sunshine, that terrible Hellraiser sequel that was set in space)
Killer Robots (Chopping Mall, other cheesy ones I can't remember)
Silent Horror (Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, etc.)
Crazy Endings (Sleepaway Camp, Haute tension, Psycho although that's heavily spoiled for everyone)
posted by burnmp3s at 1:49 PM on November 23, 2011

Holidays that aren't Halloween (My Bloody Valentine; Leprechaun; Gremlins; Silent Night, Deadly Night)
posted by chrisulonic at 2:21 PM on November 23, 2011

Hood Horror: Tales from the Hood, Hood of Horror, Attack the Block, Leprechaun: In The Hood (also Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood/)

Space Horror

There's also Jason X, Leprechaun 4: In Space, and Alien (only the first one is a horror film, IMO.)
posted by griphus at 2:21 PM on November 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Aotearoa is the Maori phrase for New Zealand. (Braindead/Dead Alive, The Locals, The Quiet Earth)
posted by infinitewindow at 2:42 PM on November 23, 2011

Horror with Women That Aren't Victims (May, Ginger Snaps, Dark Water (Japanese))
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:49 PM on November 23, 2011

bad babies...rosemarys baby...the omen etc...
posted by sexyrobot at 2:49 PM on November 23, 2011

Teenage Girl Puberty Horror: Ginger Snaps (and Ginger Snaps 2 and 3), Jennifer's Body, Teeth

Verite horror: Blair Witch, [REC], Cloverfield, Cannibal Holocaust...more here

Evil babies/children: The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, The Brood
posted by SoftRain at 2:50 PM on November 23, 2011

There was a period, after the success of The Sixth Sense, when there was a run of what I might call "Twilight Zone" movies: thrillers without explicit gore. So, maybe:

The Sixth Sense
The Others
The Forgotten
Mothman Prophecies
White Noise
The Eye

Extra credit, none of these are terrible films. (Mothman is my fave, btw.)
posted by SPrintF at 3:08 PM on November 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Stay in this haunted house for a prize/inheritance: House on Haunted Hill, Haunted Castle, The Haunting, Thir13en Ghosts

Water is dangerous: Ghost Ship, What Lies Beneath, Dark Water

Creatures in the water are dangerous: Jaws, Anaconda, Lake Placid, Black Water, Anaconda

Haunted Asylums: Session 9, Gothika, The Ward
(You could also do haunted hospitals or maybe even amusement parks)

28 days is the key: 28 Days Later, The Amityville Horror

The kids aren't all right: Children of the Corn, The Lost Boys, Rosemary's Baby

The kids aren't all right (at school): Cry Wolf, Disturbing Behavior, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, The Faculty

Add Christine to the "It's come alive" list.
posted by runningwithscissors at 3:13 PM on November 23, 2011

Here's an interesting sequence:

The Thin Blue Line
The Last Broadcast
The Blair Witch Project
The Curse of the Blair Witch (added as an "extra" [really, another movie] to the above).

I contend that the first led to the second which led to the third. The fourth is just gravy (awesome gravy).
posted by SPrintF at 3:14 PM on November 23, 2011

Add The Bad Seed to the evil children theme.
posted by southern_sky at 3:16 PM on November 23, 2011

Culty Latin Craziness: Santa Sangre, Alucarda, At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:21 PM on November 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Pedophobia: The Children (2008), Eden Lake, Village of the Damned (1960), The White Ribbon (2009).
posted by hot soup girl at 3:28 PM on November 23, 2011

Body horror: Tetsuo the Ironman, Videodrome, Altered States

Unknown beasties will most likely kill you in terrible ways: The Descent, Dog Soldiers....Brotherhood of the Wolf?
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:28 PM on November 23, 2011

My friends and I are big fans of watching TERRIBLE horror movies (such as: The Gingerdead man, so I suggest that as a theme.

If you would like to further explore the genre of horrible horror movies, I suggest: Holiday (especially Christmas) themed horror movies (Santa's Slay features a curling match with the devil) & horror movies starting former professional wrestlers (a bigger sub genre than you might think, and they are all hilariously bad)
posted by nuclear_soup at 3:52 PM on November 23, 2011

Deranged Doctors: Re-animator, Human Centipede, Dead Ringers
posted by Tom-B at 4:53 PM on November 23, 2011

dude, EVIL CLOWNS
posted by Tom-B at 4:57 PM on November 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Superior Scandinavian horror movies of the past few years:

1.) Trollhunter
2.) Let the Right One In
3.) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

This includes Finland, which some Scandinavians obviously do not consider part of Scandinavia at all.
posted by devymetal at 5:33 PM on November 23, 2011

Devymetal, I'm actually Finnish myself. You can add Sauna (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124394/) to that list. It's set in Finland in 1595 which makes for a pretty unique setting.

Actually, Dead Snow and Nightwatch are two rather good Danish horror movies...

Thanks for the suggestions all, keep them coming!

So far I'm liking the Scandinavia connection, crazy Latin cult movies, puberty horror (with the inclusion of Carrie) and kids in school...
posted by slimepuppy at 2:10 AM on November 24, 2011

Extra bonus points for suggestions for daylight horror movies. (Triangle and Piranha 3D spring to mind immediately).
posted by slimepuppy at 2:38 AM on November 24, 2011

"While on a Boat", though Jaws is the only one I've got for that one. Haunted cruise ships would work as well.
posted by DisreputableDog at 5:08 AM on November 24, 2011

You might find something on this awesome chart.
posted by Mender at 7:35 AM on November 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Eat this movie (or be eaten): The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Cannibal Holocaust, Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Motel Hell

Daylight horror movies: The Hitcher, Cabin Fever, I Spit on Your Grave, Cujo

American Remake/Remix vs. Original (Asian-Free Zone): The Vanishing (1998/1993), Let Me In/Let The Right One In, Quarantine/[REC]

Virtually all-female casts: The Descent, Silent Hill, Martyrs
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:45 PM on November 24, 2011

Nazi zombies.
posted by coolguymichael at 1:31 PM on November 25, 2011

Unusual sexual acts in horror movies: Reanimator, Evil Dead I, Rosemary's Baby, The Entity, Exorcist, Nekromantic, Hostel 2.
posted by coolguymichael at 1:43 PM on November 25, 2011

Foreign Frights (Grudge, Ring, eh...-add other foreign horror movies here-)
posted by newuser64 at 11:19 PM on November 25, 2011