(Almost) 31 Days of Horror

Before we begin, I feel it is essential to preface this feature with some context: I am a scaredy-cat. Notoriously so. I hold Mrs Tweedy from Chicken Run to the same standard of terror as Norman Bates, or even the Other Mother from Coraline. I hold the sincere belief that anything could scare me if it tried hard enough. It’s entirely why, I believe, my co-editors encouraged me to do this when I pitched the idea – to laugh at my distress. I can’t say I blame them; it must be quite fun to witness.

My exploration into the genre of horror, having watched 27 films in 27 days, has very much been of the whistle-stop variety. I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I have watched classics, remakes, cult favourites and even more remakes (seriously, why are there so many?). In many ways, sitting through these films has left me with a feeling comparable only to that of the final girl in the last few moments of the movie. I am relieved that it is over but still riding on the adrenaline of the whole ordeal. So, I thought I would take this opportunity to talk through some of my favourite discoveries – and others that were a mistake – in honour of the Halloween season coming to a close.

Hereditary (2018)

This may have been a mistake for day one, but every time I asked what horror films I should make an effort to watch, Hereditary was brought up time and time again. I had managed to avoid much of the discourse surrounding the film so went into the experience completely blind.

Aster likes to make his audience suffer unimaginably until the very end of his films

To put it simply, it was horrifying. The atmosphere created by the film from its opening moments is one that will not leave my mind any time soon. The Graham family dynamic is wound like a tightly loaded spring, and much of the film was spent on the literal edge of my seat waiting for the tension to overwhelm them. Ari Aster had entirely different ideas.

Having watched both Hereditary and Midsommar throughout this experience, I have come to realise that Aster likes to make his audience suffer unimaginably until the very end of his films. The closing sequence, and in particular a truly harrowing scene involving Toni Collette’s final moments in the film, still haunts me when I close my eyes. But Hereditary did set a precedence, one that has not quite been matched yet.

Scream (1996)

Of all the types of horror films I dreaded watching, slashers were at the top of the list. I had heard so many things, good and bad, that it felt as if it would be impossible to form my own opinions on them. Scream had such a charm to it underneath the cookie cutter format that I could not resist including it here.

What makes this film so brilliant lies in its attention to detail; other than the hints given to you by Wes Craven, the murderer could be any of the story’s central characters, all of whom have their own distinct personalities. It is by no means the best example of the slasher archetype, but there is something about the combination of excessive fake blood and MTV 90s pop culture that appealed to me like nothing else.

Orphan (2009)

This film was what I had expected to see from the entire genre. An intriguing premise, a good build-up of tension for the first hour of the film, only to fall entirely flat in the last act. The ‘twist’ of this film feels as if it was plucked straight from a physician’s handbook with no real or meaningful understanding of what it was talking about (much like The Human Centipede — I wouldn’t recommend it). To say that this film was distressing in a multitude of ways cannot be understated.

The ‘twist’ of this film feels as if it was plucked straight from a physician’s handbook

It does, however, do the job of a horror film. Isabelle Fuhrman’s performance as Esther is impressive for someone of her age, which is in no small dose a contributing factor of what makes her presence in the film so distressing. Coupled with Vera Farmiga’s matriarch in crisis, the pair create an atmosphere that is in equal parts stressful and precarious. It may have felt like I wasted time watching this film until the end, but in the moment, it was an overly satisfying watch.

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

I distinctly remember being a week into my film watching journey and praying for it to end; I’d seen so many films with the same plots, the same characters, the same endings and had gotten incredibly frustrated with the genre. The Cabin in the Woods took all those frustrations and put them in a campy, satirical package.

Everything about this film appealed to my inner horror cynic, right down to the now iconic scene of all the horror monsters wreaking collective havoc against the horror industry officials. Marty as the sceptical know-it-all with knowledge of all the tropes seems to act as a force for the people, expressing our frustrations and despair when characters fall for the most obvious of plot points – this refreshing take on a slasher film singlehandedly restored my faith in horror cinema.

While there are so other many films I could have included in this list (the original Suspiria and The Blair Witch Project among them), those four seemed to exemplify the range of films I’ve consumed over the last 27 days. While not all of them have been good, I am glad that I’ve taken the time to watch them, even if they are still not my cup of tea. All that remains now is to get through Audition for the night of Halloween… wish me luck.