Paging MeFite horror fans to the bloody courtesy telephone
October 4, 2023 8:45 AM Subscribe
Shepherd and I are attempting to participate in this 31 Days of Horror Movies schedule from Dirty Little Horror (currently defunct so this is from 2022). I need your recs for some of these themes! Gory details inside.
Both of us like horror, but not as intensely as some folks who are really into horror. We don't have any criteria for these movies except maybe if they can fit into a tight 100-90 minute runtime for weeknights. We are in Canada and have access to Shudder and Amazon Prime, but can make it work for movies that aren't streaming.
We have seen probably every popular one in the past 40+ years--wow, I just had a moment where I wondered if I would crumble into dust when I thought about that length of time--but all recs are helpful! I will rewatch good stuff any day.
Thanks, my ghouls!
Both of us like horror, but not as intensely as some folks who are really into horror. We don't have any criteria for these movies except maybe if they can fit into a tight 100-90 minute runtime for weeknights. We are in Canada and have access to Shudder and Amazon Prime, but can make it work for movies that aren't streaming.
We have seen probably every popular one in the past 40+ years--wow, I just had a moment where I wondered if I would crumble into dust when I thought about that length of time--but all recs are helpful! I will rewatch good stuff any day.
Thanks, my ghouls!
ANTRUM is a very cool little sleeper that majorly creeped me out.
posted by cakelite at 9:03 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by cakelite at 9:03 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
* cracks knuckles *
You need to do NOPE for "Should Have Won An Oscar". It's a bit over your time frame, but worth it. (Even if you're not sold on the script or the performances, that thing should have won for cinematography.)
I would suggest the Gus Van Sant remake of PSYCHO for worst remake. It is a straightforward shot-by-shot copy of Hitchcock's original, and so I therefore have utterly no idea why it exists.
Green Room could work for "Thriller but Scary As Fuck". The late Anton Yelchin is with a punk band that plays at this backwoods club in the middle of nowhere, only to find too late that the club caters to skinheads and aren't too keen on letting them leave. Patrick Stewart is the leader of the skinheads; there was an ad I saw for the film which consisted of nothing but Patrick Stewart talking about what it was like the first time he read the script. He said that he was reading it alone one evening in his house in England, and about 1/3 of the way through it, he stopped, went around to each and every window and door in his house and confirmed that they were all locked, and then poured himself a double scotch before he could keep reading.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:25 AM on October 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
You need to do NOPE for "Should Have Won An Oscar". It's a bit over your time frame, but worth it. (Even if you're not sold on the script or the performances, that thing should have won for cinematography.)
I would suggest the Gus Van Sant remake of PSYCHO for worst remake. It is a straightforward shot-by-shot copy of Hitchcock's original, and so I therefore have utterly no idea why it exists.
Green Room could work for "Thriller but Scary As Fuck". The late Anton Yelchin is with a punk band that plays at this backwoods club in the middle of nowhere, only to find too late that the club caters to skinheads and aren't too keen on letting them leave. Patrick Stewart is the leader of the skinheads; there was an ad I saw for the film which consisted of nothing but Patrick Stewart talking about what it was like the first time he read the script. He said that he was reading it alone one evening in his house in England, and about 1/3 of the way through it, he stopped, went around to each and every window and door in his house and confirmed that they were all locked, and then poured himself a double scotch before he could keep reading.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:25 AM on October 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
Focusing on recent films, only about half of what comes to mind is available on Shudder and Prime, but I'd suggest ...
Horror for Kids: if YA counts, then definitely Slash/Back (2022), a low key Inuit girls' adventure with special effects that are comparable to modern Dr. Who--like, not too scary.
Should Have Won an Oscar: it's not on Shudder or Prime but see "Why Do the Oscars Reject Horror? Mia Goth Says It’s ‘Very Political’ and ‘A Change Is Necessary’ After ‘Pearl’ Shut Out" and consider Pearl (2022), which although it wasn't one of my personal favorites does have an Oscar-worthy monologue.
Lemme Suck Your ... Blood: All the Moons (2020) is a Basque film with imagery that makes me think the director was looking at Vermeer or other 'old master' paintings for reference material (steal from the best, etc.)--it's pretty good and not scary.
Best Sequel: not on Shudder/Prime, but Scream V (2022) would be my pick, because it's just fun. Scream VI was also fun.
Uninvited Guests: I think it's only on Hulu but No One Will Save You (2023) is a great answer for this--a young woman with a vintage arts & crafts aesthetic has to deal with an alien home invasion, and there's a gimmick to how the story is told.
LGB-Terror: Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022), a film from Mexico with LGBTQ+ themes that also echoes the mother & child themes of La Llorona (1960), which is shown on TV in the film for like 2 seconds. This does have a few scares.
Best Served Cold: it's not on Shudder or Prime, but Becky (2020) is a good revenge thriller option with no jump scares that I can recall. Its sequel Wrath of Becky is also fun.
Foreign Frights: Saloum (2021) is a terrific Senegalese production by the Congolese writer/director Jean Luc Herbulot, and it's not too scary--more of an action-horror film about some mercenaries trying to hide out for a while.
Onlycams: Host (2020), filmed entirely via Zoom during lockdown. This has a good number of scares, but it's well under your runtime goal.
Blood bath: it's not on Shudder or Prime, but a good non-scary answer for this is Spontaneous (2020), which has elements of a teen rom-com but it's a bloodbath with meditative feelings about random death.
It's lunchtime so I'll leave it there, but this recent thread on the front page has links to some good Letterboxd lists, and for other suggestions, you could join the Discord mentioned here, which has a channel specifically for 'other film challenges'.
posted by Wobbuffet at 9:34 AM on October 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
Horror for Kids: if YA counts, then definitely Slash/Back (2022), a low key Inuit girls' adventure with special effects that are comparable to modern Dr. Who--like, not too scary.
Should Have Won an Oscar: it's not on Shudder or Prime but see "Why Do the Oscars Reject Horror? Mia Goth Says It’s ‘Very Political’ and ‘A Change Is Necessary’ After ‘Pearl’ Shut Out" and consider Pearl (2022), which although it wasn't one of my personal favorites does have an Oscar-worthy monologue.
Lemme Suck Your ... Blood: All the Moons (2020) is a Basque film with imagery that makes me think the director was looking at Vermeer or other 'old master' paintings for reference material (steal from the best, etc.)--it's pretty good and not scary.
Best Sequel: not on Shudder/Prime, but Scream V (2022) would be my pick, because it's just fun. Scream VI was also fun.
Uninvited Guests: I think it's only on Hulu but No One Will Save You (2023) is a great answer for this--a young woman with a vintage arts & crafts aesthetic has to deal with an alien home invasion, and there's a gimmick to how the story is told.
LGB-Terror: Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022), a film from Mexico with LGBTQ+ themes that also echoes the mother & child themes of La Llorona (1960), which is shown on TV in the film for like 2 seconds. This does have a few scares.
Best Served Cold: it's not on Shudder or Prime, but Becky (2020) is a good revenge thriller option with no jump scares that I can recall. Its sequel Wrath of Becky is also fun.
Foreign Frights: Saloum (2021) is a terrific Senegalese production by the Congolese writer/director Jean Luc Herbulot, and it's not too scary--more of an action-horror film about some mercenaries trying to hide out for a while.
Onlycams: Host (2020), filmed entirely via Zoom during lockdown. This has a good number of scares, but it's well under your runtime goal.
Blood bath: it's not on Shudder or Prime, but a good non-scary answer for this is Spontaneous (2020), which has elements of a teen rom-com but it's a bloodbath with meditative feelings about random death.
It's lunchtime so I'll leave it there, but this recent thread on the front page has links to some good Letterboxd lists, and for other suggestions, you could join the Discord mentioned here, which has a channel specifically for 'other film challenges'.
posted by Wobbuffet at 9:34 AM on October 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
Response by poster: We have seen: Nope, Green Room (the only movie where I almost walked out; it was so intense), the Psycho remake, all the Scream movies, Pearl and X, Huesera: The Bone Woman (I even made a FanFare post!), and Host. (I agree that Nope should have gotten something in the Oscar race!).
Keep 'em coming, y'all! For the cryptids theme, we chose Willow Creek, a Bigfoot horror movie written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait.
posted by Kitteh at 9:39 AM on October 4, 2023
Keep 'em coming, y'all! For the cryptids theme, we chose Willow Creek, a Bigfoot horror movie written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait.
posted by Kitteh at 9:39 AM on October 4, 2023
For Haunted House, try A Ghost Waits. (For us it also fits the category of Comfort Movie.) Shows up as available on Plex (fingers crossed in Canada also.)
posted by gudrun at 10:05 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by gudrun at 10:05 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Hmm.
Would THE LIGHTHOUSE count for "Should Have Won An Oscar", maybe? (Does that count as horror, as well?)
There is also a 1934 classic called The Black Cat which could work for either "Uninvited guests" or "Satanic Panic".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:08 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Would THE LIGHTHOUSE count for "Should Have Won An Oscar", maybe? (Does that count as horror, as well?)
There is also a 1934 classic called The Black Cat which could work for either "Uninvited guests" or "Satanic Panic".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:08 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also a Cryptid: Barbarian (2022)
Uninvited Guests: The Strangers or Don't Breathe
For Revenge Best Served Cold or Foreign Thriller: Martyrs (a VERY disturbing scene toward the end)
...and do you want to give your birth year for suggestions for that category?
posted by hydra77 at 10:44 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Uninvited Guests: The Strangers or Don't Breathe
For Revenge Best Served Cold or Foreign Thriller: Martyrs (a VERY disturbing scene toward the end)
...and do you want to give your birth year for suggestions for that category?
posted by hydra77 at 10:44 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Would also fit the For Revenge Best Served Cold or Foreign Thriller: Oldboy - the original Korean version. Please don't watch the new one; it's bad. Though I guess the new one qualifies for Bad Remake?
posted by hydra77 at 10:46 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hydra77 at 10:46 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Note that Willow Creek is very much found footage handheld shaky-cam stuff, so if that's not your cup of tea maybe move that to "onlyCams" and find something else for "cryptids"? Willow Creek's worth watching, though.
Children are Evil: Little Evil, comedy-horror where Adam Scott is a suburbanite whose new stepson really doesn't like him.
Backwoods hillbillies: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, a really brilliant horror comedy-of-errors.
Satanic Panic: We Summon the Darkness. Set in the 80's (the height of the actual Satanic Panic), 3 girls road trip to a heavy metal show in midwestern middle-of-nowhere America, and encounter a group of dudes who want to keep the party going.
Holiday (not Halloween): maybe Violent Night? Possibly more "action" than "horror."
BBsitters Club: obviously The Babysitter.
Worst Sequel: Jaws 4 a.k.a Jaws: The Revenge is a strong answer regardless of decade.
Anthology: I've found the V/H/S series generally worth a watch.
I am utterly mystified as to what "haunted house down boots hunty" means on that calendar. I know what "haunted house" means, of course, and I'd guess that "hunty" means someone is being hunted, but what's "Down boots"? Winter? An in-joke for Dirty Little Horror fans? And do you need a movie that contains all 3 elements or can you pick just one?
posted by soundguy99 at 11:21 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Children are Evil: Little Evil, comedy-horror where Adam Scott is a suburbanite whose new stepson really doesn't like him.
Backwoods hillbillies: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, a really brilliant horror comedy-of-errors.
Satanic Panic: We Summon the Darkness. Set in the 80's (the height of the actual Satanic Panic), 3 girls road trip to a heavy metal show in midwestern middle-of-nowhere America, and encounter a group of dudes who want to keep the party going.
Holiday (not Halloween): maybe Violent Night? Possibly more "action" than "horror."
BBsitters Club: obviously The Babysitter.
Worst Sequel: Jaws 4 a.k.a Jaws: The Revenge is a strong answer regardless of decade.
Anthology: I've found the V/H/S series generally worth a watch.
I am utterly mystified as to what "haunted house down boots hunty" means on that calendar. I know what "haunted house" means, of course, and I'd guess that "hunty" means someone is being hunted, but what's "Down boots"? Winter? An in-joke for Dirty Little Horror fans? And do you need a movie that contains all 3 elements or can you pick just one?
posted by soundguy99 at 11:21 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: soundguy99, I too have no idea what that theme means! I suspect "hunty" is likely some gay slang I don't know? But yeah, I have no idea either! I will just go with haunted house for that one, I think.
posted by Kitteh at 11:23 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitteh at 11:23 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
This is a bit of a stretch, but I'm going to nominate The Vanishing (1998) for Best Remake. This is a stretch for a number of reasons, including the fact that the movie is more thriller than horror and that, as a whole, I wouldn't say that it's a "best remake" or even better than the 1988 original by the same director. Rather I'm nominating it for Best Remake for one specific scary scene/sequence towards the end (no spoilers, but I think you'll know it when you see it). While I actually think the 1998 version is mostly worse than the 1988 version as a whole, that one specific scene is definitely more intensely scary than the original, to the point that I kinda halfway suspect that one of the reasons the director was motivated to do a remake was to get a chance to re-shoot that one scene, but better and scarier.
posted by mhum at 11:32 AM on October 4, 2023
posted by mhum at 11:32 AM on October 4, 2023
I found this Reddit post about the phrase "house down boots hunty", which seems to suggest that "house down boots hunty" is a general amplifying language phrase. So - "haunted house down boots hunty" might just be "a SERIOUSLY haunted house".
....What's the take on 1408 for the "haunted house" theme? It's not the house that's haunted, just a single hotel room - but as SLJ says early on, "It's an evil fuckin' room". One of John Cusack's better post-teen performances; and if you don't like him, you may relish seeing him mercilessly tortured for an hour (he gets into a fistfight with a mini bar and LOSES).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:36 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
....What's the take on 1408 for the "haunted house" theme? It's not the house that's haunted, just a single hotel room - but as SLJ says early on, "It's an evil fuckin' room". One of John Cusack's better post-teen performances; and if you don't like him, you may relish seeing him mercilessly tortured for an hour (he gets into a fistfight with a mini bar and LOSES).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:36 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Haunted House Down Boots Hunty HAS to be Death Drop Gorgeous! It's an extremely campy modern giallo set in a gay bar in Providence, and is just gloriously dumb, fun, and gory.
posted by quatsch at 12:30 PM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by quatsch at 12:30 PM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Other choices after getting that out of the way!
Best Sequel: The Exorcist III. Seriously
LGB-Terror: What Keeps You Alive. I watched this recently for woodsy horror trivia, and really enjoyed it (though it does drag eventually)
Uninvited Guests: Mother!
Legendary: The Fog. There's a legend, the movie itself is legendarily good, what's not to love?
Anthology: Tales from the Hood. I only recently saw this for the first time and loved it!
Satanic Panic: I really wanted to suggest the new documentary Satan Wants You, which is really well done but apparently won't be streaming until the winter. I guess I'll go with The Devil Rides Out, though I'm not sure if it's streaming anywhere.
OnlyCams: Cam is maximally thematically appropriate here!
Worst Sequel: It's not actually the worst sequel...even in this franchise...but Hellraiser: Bloodline is both almost insultingly stupid and somehow still a romp to watch. It has Adam Scott in a little perverted powdered wig! Hellraiser goes to space!
posted by quatsch at 12:52 PM on October 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best Sequel: The Exorcist III. Seriously
LGB-Terror: What Keeps You Alive. I watched this recently for woodsy horror trivia, and really enjoyed it (though it does drag eventually)
Uninvited Guests: Mother!
Legendary: The Fog. There's a legend, the movie itself is legendarily good, what's not to love?
Anthology: Tales from the Hood. I only recently saw this for the first time and loved it!
Satanic Panic: I really wanted to suggest the new documentary Satan Wants You, which is really well done but apparently won't be streaming until the winter. I guess I'll go with The Devil Rides Out, though I'm not sure if it's streaming anywhere.
OnlyCams: Cam is maximally thematically appropriate here!
Worst Sequel: It's not actually the worst sequel...even in this franchise...but Hellraiser: Bloodline is both almost insultingly stupid and somehow still a romp to watch. It has Adam Scott in a little perverted powdered wig! Hellraiser goes to space!
posted by quatsch at 12:52 PM on October 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Lemme Suck Your.. Blood: The Hunger (1983) is a classic here (could also fit in LGBTerror)
Uninvited Guests: The Guest (2014) (one of my very favorites, and it's an homage to many classic horror films, most especially Halloween III: Season of the Witch)
LGBTerror: They/Them (2022) (I haven't actually seen this yet, but I want to!)
Holiday (Not Halloween): Anna and the Apocalypse (2017) or Black Christmas (1974) or Black Christmas (2006)
Blood Bath: Any Dario Argento (I prefer my bloody horror to be aesthetic, not super gross)
Halloween: If you haven't seen it, the aforementioned Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) really is great.
posted by rhiannonstone at 6:23 PM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Uninvited Guests: The Guest (2014) (one of my very favorites, and it's an homage to many classic horror films, most especially Halloween III: Season of the Witch)
LGBTerror: They/Them (2022) (I haven't actually seen this yet, but I want to!)
Holiday (Not Halloween): Anna and the Apocalypse (2017) or Black Christmas (1974) or Black Christmas (2006)
Blood Bath: Any Dario Argento (I prefer my bloody horror to be aesthetic, not super gross)
Halloween: If you haven't seen it, the aforementioned Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) really is great.
posted by rhiannonstone at 6:23 PM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
For a different spin on Uninvited Guest(s), how about The Menu (2022)?
posted by mhum at 8:10 PM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by mhum at 8:10 PM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
If the "kids" in Horror for Kids includes teens, I definitely recommend Spontaneous (2020). It was a criminally under-seen but absolutely incredible debut from the director, Brian Duffield. It's sharply written with some of the best modern teen dialogue I've ever heard and I'm a little mad that it's not more popular. Though, it's maybe only on the borderline of horror since it's kind of a genre-spanning movie, a sort of double hybrid of teen romance and comedy horror.
posted by mhum at 8:58 PM on October 4, 2023
posted by mhum at 8:58 PM on October 4, 2023
Best Remake: It
Should Have Won an Oscar: A Quiet Place, Nope*
Satanic Panic: The Conjuring
Foreign Frights: Train to Busan
Blood Bath: Ready or Not**
*I see in the thread above that you have already seen it, but couldn't not mention Nope in this category.
**Okay, a bit of a stretch but I really wanted to include Ready or Not in the list somewhere.
posted by panther of the pyrenees at 3:14 PM on October 5, 2023
Should Have Won an Oscar: A Quiet Place, Nope*
Satanic Panic: The Conjuring
Foreign Frights: Train to Busan
Blood Bath: Ready or Not**
*I see in the thread above that you have already seen it, but couldn't not mention Nope in this category.
**Okay, a bit of a stretch but I really wanted to include Ready or Not in the list somewhere.
posted by panther of the pyrenees at 3:14 PM on October 5, 2023
Holiday (Not Halloween): Rare Exports
Demonic Dads: The Woman
Backwoods Hillbillies: Offspring
Best Served Cold: American Mary
posted by nicwolff at 9:18 PM on October 5, 2023
Demonic Dads: The Woman
Backwoods Hillbillies: Offspring
Best Served Cold: American Mary
posted by nicwolff at 9:18 PM on October 5, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
Could fit for uninvited guests, thriller but scary, and best served cold (if you interpret that not as revenge movie but as a "don't read anything about it before watching it" theme).
Edit to add: it is 11 mins longer than your preference sorry
posted by phunniemee at 8:57 AM on October 4, 2023 [2 favorites]