What movies scare the folks at Horrible Imaginings Film Festival?
Horror buffs Miguel Rodriguez and Beth Accomando share their favorite slashers, body horror, creature features, haunted house flicks, and home invasion movies
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: Horror is good for us.
According to science, watching scary movies do a lot of nice things for your brain. Studies have also proven that horror fans were psychologically more equipped to handle the pandemic. For me, it’s helped me understand my anxiety.
Few know the benefits of watching horror like the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival. The Southern California-based film fest—which wrapped up its twelfth year in September—curates a lineup of independent horror from around the world, making it the foremost avenue for diversity in the genre. But Horrible Imaginings’ mission isn’t merely to send shivers up ye ol’ spine—their focus on building empathy, exploring difficult emotions, and challenging taboos articulates the profound power of horror.
In honor of Halloween, the best and most horrific of all holidays, I asked Horrible Imaginings’ founder Miguel Rodriguez and awards juror Beth Accomando to give their scary movie recommendations. And when you’re dealing with horror buffs, you don’t don’t want to waste their expertise—so I asked them to get in the weeds by focusing on five horror subgenres: slashers, body horror, creature features, haunted houses, and home invasions.
Get cozy, nestle up next to someone warm, dim the lights, and remind yourself it’s only a movie... it’s only a movie... it’s only a movie...
Miguel Rodriguez
Founder and Executive Director, Horrible Imaginings Film Festival
Wow, what a fun challenge to be asked for horror recommendations from Ryan Bradford! I’ve been pulling my hair out trying to come up with an angle that sets this list apart, but I think I have sneaked up on one.
Ryan asked me to come up with films that “scare Horrible Imaginings.” It is a tough order because I personally approach horror/thriller/suspense/yada yada yada from a different perspective. My ability to get scared is a little bit dulled, just as my ability to detect whether or not food is spicy (give me a level 10, pls)! Our festival mission statement mirrors how I still love “scary” films that don’t generally scare me: I am interested in the expression of what scares others and, as a cinema curator, how those fears and anxieties reflect or diverge from the members of an audience. I believe this is a genuine empathy-building exercise.
Ok, so that takes care of my overall perspective. Ryan also asked that I examine different subgenres. I love this take. I will take it a smidge farther, though, by listing a couple of titles in each category that spread a period of time. For this reason, I am forced to limit my descriptions for each title. Lest you worry that this list will be a mile wide and an inch deep, please keep in mind that pretty much all listicles are exactly that. Also, you can think of it as your basic survey course.
Finally, I must warn you that I am NOT going to keep availability in mind. Many such lists restrict themselves to titles people can readily stream. I will not be doing that. The love for film is proportional to the work you have to do to find it. I wish you the best of luck on your search! Now for the good stuff:
SLASHER
1930s: Thirteen Women (1932)
This pre-code era melodrama contains the structure of what would become the slasher over 40 years later. A warning of cultural insensitivity is required since Myrna Loy plays the lead--a biracial character of “Javanese Eurasian” who systematically murders her former sorority sisters because of how they treated her in school. If you can get over that element of the time, Loy’s presence as an “exotic vamp” is well worth the 70 minutes you will spend here. Also of note is the on-screen appearance of Peg Entwistle, a stage actor who jumped to her death from the Hollywood sign one month before this film was released.
1960s: Peeping Tom (1960)
The brilliant film whose reaction from critics virtually annihilated the career of one of the best British film directors in history. The similarities to Hitchcock’s Psycho (which was released later the same year) are striking: an awkward loner who seems harmless and even charming has the nasty habit of murdering young women—in this case while filming the exact moment of their death in extreme close up. One likely reason for the difference in treatment is that Hitchcock was able to learn from the critical treatment of Peeping Tom and cancel the advance press screenings of his own film, letting audiences see it first.
1970s: A Bay of Blood (1971)
Mario Bava at his most gleefully nihilistic best! The gialli of Italy have much in common with what we know as slashers, with some notable differences, but A Bay of Blood definitely fits squarely in the slasher oeuvre, with most of the screen time dedicated to a wait for the next shocking and bloody kill. By this point, the world had gone WAY beyond “implied” violence.
1980s: Amsterdamned (1988)
Ah, Dick Maas! The home video hero from The Netherlands gave us this fun and goofy “dive” into the slasher genre with a homicidal scuba diver who gets his jollies off by spearing people from below the water. Let’s be honest--by the late 80s (this was ‘88), the slashers were becoming either passe or a joke. At least this film was fine with being the latter.
CREATURE FEATURE
1930: Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Based (loosely) on The Island of Dr. Moreau by HG Welles, this pre-code gem goes all in for the permissiveness of the time, including Kathleen Burkes enchanting and sultry Panther Woman, a hypnotic performance from the great Charles Laughton as Moreau, and a whole colony of hybrid, animalistic mutants led by Bela Lugosi, whose way of life was such a perversion of religion that this film got in a bit of trouble—and butts in seats! “ARE WE NOT MEN?”
1950s: Gojira (1954)
In the interest of word count, I will skip to the 50s, and the ultimate representation of the monster moving from the Gothic to anxieties born of the real world and the Atomic Age. I know this title is obvious, but it is my favorite film ever so I will just direct you to the first volume of the essay series called My Favorite Horror Movie, where I discuss this title at length.
1960s: The Brainiac (El Baron del Terror) (1962)
Starring and produced by the dashing and prolific Abel Salazar, this Mexican madhouse is perfect for popcorn munching, WTF-screaming fun. Salazar plays a 300-year-old Mexican baron who finds himself residing in modern times, seeking revenge on those who killed him by transforming into a monster who uses his forked tongue to suck out some yummy brains! If that doesn’t sell you, then I don’t know what will.
1980s: Cat People (1982)
Yup, I included a remake here. Truth be told, the original Val Lewton film would fit nicely on this list. What’s not to love, though? David Bowie on the soundtrack? Lewton’s puritanical original turned into a steamy erotic horror? The twin madness of Nastassja Kinski and Malcolm MacDowell as people who turn into homicidal panthers when they knock boots? A cat autopsy scene? This kind of reinvention is why a remake can be interesting!
BODY HORROR
1940s: The Wolf Man (1941)
I am really stretching the Body Horror definition here, but bear with me. When I was a kid, I loved The Wolf Man because I thought a man turning into a wolf and eating people was cool. Over the years, I have realized that the true recipients of the horror are not the eaten, but the character of Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) whose body betrays him every time there is a full moon. It is notable that Talbot spends later entries in this series from the ‘40s on a mission to commit suicide.
1980s: Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
Ok, let’s be honest. For the ‘70s and ‘80s, the undisputed master of this subgenre is Canadian David Cronenberg. We all know this, and the reasons for it are varied. Let’s get that out of the way before you lambast me for talking Body Horror and opting for Shinya Tsukamoto’s raw and uncomfortable Tetsuo: The Iron Man. Pure cyberpunk, black and white nastiness on display. Body horror where the horror is self perpetrated.
1990s: Society (1990)
Sure, the overt socio-political message gets a little forgotten under the gallons of KY Jelly, but that is a feature, not a bug! My favorite piece of celluloid from Brian Yuzna, a director/producer who has no idea where the “top” is in over-the-top. Society might feel like standard home video horror, but the third act payoff is so worth it!
Post-millennium: Teeth (2007)
I love this film because it turns the body horror notion upside down. Most body horror present characters with horror that is happening from within, rather than from without. Their own bodies are the source of the nightmare. Dawn O’Keefe’s (Jess Weixler) toothed vagina is, rather, a source of power.
HAUNTED HOUSE
1960s: The Innocents (1961)
I just had a discussion where someone said that Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw has been adapted a billion times, but never well. Surely, they jest! The Innocents is my favorite adaptation of that story, and probably among my absolute favorite of this subgenre.
1970s: Hausu (1977)
I mean, of course, right? Even I would have kicked my own ass if this wasn’t my chosen representation for the 70s. The house is in the title! The characters are archetypes right up to their names! The scares were thought up by Nobuhiko Obayashi’s young daughter!
1980s: Evil Dead Trap (1988)
Yeah, I’m sticking in Japan for a bit. It does seem I stayed there for a while on this list, but whatevs…
Evil Dead Trap is a bizarre thing that is difficult to categorize. It starts off seeming like it would fit right into the slasher or extreme crime thriller arena before it becomes something...else.
1990s: Stir of Echoes (1999)
Bringing the 1999s to a close is this sleeper paranormal horror starring Kevin Bacon and based on a novel by the legendary Richard Matheson. I rarely hear many people talk about this film, but I adored it when I saw it in the cinema, and I continue to have a particular shot involving fingernails appear to me in my dreams.
Post-Millennium: Terrified (2017)
This Argentine film made a splash in the horror world when it showed up on the streaming service Shudder. This is not just one haunted house, but a whole haunted hood! There is quite a bit of jump-scare reliance, but it is aptly balanced with mounting dread and some genuinely unsettling visuals.
HOME INVASION
1950s: The Desperate Hours (1955)
That’s right! Going Noir on you! I believe that the reasons I love films noir are related to my appreciation for horror, and this rarely-discussed film starring an aging Bogey and Fredric March certainly fits the bill. It is classic home invasion: with criminals breaking into a “safe” suburban house and holding the family hostage.
1960s: Cape Fear (1962)
Nothing is scarier than the menace behind the eyes of Mitchum, especially with that phenomenal score by Bernard Hermann to set the mood. This is based on a nasty little novel called The Executioners and, while it doesn’t get as overtly violent as that book, the terror it manages with clever implications are enough to chill bones.
1960s: Wait Until Dark (1967)
I thought this one might be too obvious, but I wonder how many of you haven’t seen it. The true terrible magic of this film is how much we just can’t help but love Audrey Hepburn, and seeing her blind and tormented by a cruel Alan Arkin just grinds my gears.
1990s: Funny Games
Michael Haneke is a sadistic bastard. He remade his own film again in the 2000s for an American audience, but few things manage to turn my stomach like the Austrian original. There is no sympathy for the monster here; it is an uncompromising and transgressive look at purest cruelty for its own sake.
Post-millennium: Inside
A film I showed my wife before we became a serious couple, and her reaction solidified that she was the person for me. We also re-watched it when she got pregnant with our daughter Scarlet. Since this is a film about a terrifying Beatrice Dalle breaking into a pregnant woman’s house to remove her baby with a pair of shears, you might have a sick insight into our minds!
Beth Accomando
Awards Jury, Horrible Imaginings Film Festival; host of Cinema Junkie podcast
SLASHER
Stitches (2012)
I feel this British slasher from 2012 got unfairly overlooked mainly because it got lousy distribution. A clown accidentally gets killed at a kids party and then returns to get revenge. This has some of the most hilariously clever kills I've seen. Just a delight. Director Conor McMahon has a new film called Let the Wrong One In that also displays comic horror fun. I hope that one gets a better release.
CREATURE FEATURE
The Host (2006)
With Squid Game getting a lot of attention, I thought I'd go to another Korean horror offering, The Host from the breathtakingly talented Bong Joon Ho (who recently won an Oscar for a different kind of horror with Parasite). The creature is spectacular plus there is family melodrama to suck you in as only the Koreans seem to know how to do. Like all my favorite Korean horror, we are made to care deeply for the characters and then horrible things happen to them. Korean horror tends to make me cry like no other horror films do.
BODY HORROR
Hellraiser (1987)
You can't discuss body horror without mentioning either David Cronenberg or Clive Barker, they are the original masters. As a Halloween pick I will go with Hellraiser because of the iconic Pinhead and his Cenobites. Pinhead has such great lines too: "No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering”, "We have such sights to show you!" and of course, "We'll tear your soul apart!" Barker finds that perverse intersection of horror and beauty. More recent examples would include France's Martyrs.
HAUNTED HOUSE
His House (2020)
I am going with a recent one here because the cultural context renders the familiar fresh. His House looks at a refugee couple from South Sudan arriving in England and finding their new house haunted by their past. Feature debut of director Remi Weekes and featuring great performances by Sope Dirsu (Gangs of Londo) and Wunmi Mosaku (Lovecraft Country). Pairs well with Mati Diop's Atlantics.
HOME INVASION
Black Christmas (1974)
Home is where we are meant to feel safest so home invasion films tap into a very special kind of fear. Since we are heading toward the particularly warm and fuzzy holiday of Christmas, let me pick a home invasion film with a yuletide flavor—the original 1974 Black Christmas. The film stars the lovely Olivia Hussey with the added attractions of Margot Kidder, John Saxon and Keir Dullea. Directed by the underrated Bob Clark, this is technically not a home invasion but a dorm one with sorority girls falling prey to an unseen serial killer. This also has the distinction of being one of the first slasher films and one of the first set at Christmas. Other more perversely disturbing examples are original Funny Games and France's Inside, and those are legitimately set at home.
Ryan Bradford
Writer of AWKSD, black T-shirt wearer
SLASHER
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Up until recently, slashers were my least favorite subgenre, but I just read My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones, and it opened my eyes to the intricacies and rituals of the genre. Of course, 1996’s Scream—which is a bonafide classic—did the same thing. Nonetheless, Scream’s popularity opened the floodgates for a new wave of ‘90s slashers, one of which was I Know What You Did Last Summer. The film is nowhere near as clever as Scream, but it returns the genre to its vicious form, and holds up a lot better than you remember. From the inspired choice to play Type O Negative’s doomy cover of “Summer Breeze” over the credits, to a cast of ‘90s royalty (Sarah Michelle Geller, Ryan Phillippe, Jennifer Love Hewitt [with terrible bangs], and Freddie Prinze Jr.?? Yes, please), I Know What You Did Last Summer slays.
CREATURE FEATURE
Humanoids of the Deep (1980)
Roger Corman is a legend. The b-movie/exploitation film producer has a career that spans way back to the ‘50s, and he’s jump-started the careers of Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma and Joe Dante, just to name a few. Although he was no stranger to horror, 1980’s Humanoids from the Deep was Corman at his darkest. The plot focuses on a small, northern California fishing community that’s suddenly besieged by mutant sea creatures (something about genetically-altered salmon). The monsters’ goal? Kill all the men and impregnate all the women. As you can imagine, the film is very rape-y, so definitely consider that before you put it on. But the excellent creature design was done by none other than a 20-year-old Rob Bottin, who—only two years later—went on to create the best monsters ever put on screen in John Carpenter’s The Thing.
BODY HORROR
Possessor (2020)
An interest in body horror must run in the Cronenberg genes, but director Brandon Cronenberg—son of the body horror king, David Cronenberg—gives his father’s legacy a run for its money with Possessor. The movie is about an assassin who can commandeer people’s consciousness in order to carry out hits. However, shit goes bad during one such mind-meld, and the assassin gets stuck in some poor guy’s head. After he realizes that there’s another person in his brain who’s used him as a puppet to do some pretty horrible things, he sets out for revenge while trying to keep his crumbling perception of reality at bay. Perhaps it’s not as barf-inducing as David Cronenberg’s films (although the kill scenes in Possessor are quite gnar), the loss of agency and self-control are key features in body horror, and Brandon Cronenberg handles them masterfully.
HAUNTED HOUSE
Host (2020)
This found-footage film emerged on Shudder in 2020 and quickly earned a reputation as one of the scariest films ever made. It’s really hard to argue with that. Host is about a group of friends who hold a virtual seance amidst the COVID pandemic, and when they summon an evil spirit, let’s just say poor connectivity is the least of their problems. At 56 minutes long, this film is a masterpiece of terror and economy, and the setting—i.e. trapped indoors because of a pandemic—proves that horror is the best outlet for processing our collective anxieties.
HOME INVASION
The Strangers (2008)
One of the reasons that people dislike Stephen King is because he hardly nails his endings. But that’s not really his fault, because to satisfy our natural desire for narrative resolution, there must be some conclusion. However, real horror never ends, and only one film in recent memory has dared to relentlessly explore this truth: The Strangers. Unapologetically nihilistic, the plot-lite film follows a couple who are gradually and increasingly terrorized by three masked strangers over one night. The reason? “Because you were home.” Just typing that out gives me the creeps.
THE WEEKLY GOODS
Get tix to this
While we’re on the topic of film fests, San Diego Asian Film Festival starts tomorrow, October 28th and runs until November 6th. If you haven’t been to any SDAFF showcases, make sure to correct that mistake this year, because, I mean, just watch the trailer.
Asian cinema encompases a vast range of cultures, languages, styles, genres and countries, but SDAFF always finds the best of the best. Whatever your cinematic tastes—they’ll have something for you. I, for example, am stoked about the short program titled “Ghost Worlds.” Perhaps you might have heard that I like horror movies. Purchase tickets to the SDAFF here.
Read this
Okay, one last horror thing, I promise (at least until the next newsletter). I wrote a little review about Halloween Kills for PACIFIC Magazine. Honestly, I didn’t think too much about the film after my initial viewing—it was nowhere as good as the 2018 reboot, but it wasn’t as bad as most of the critics said. However, in the weeks since, I really haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, which is why this little write-up is part of PACIFIC’s “What we’re obsessed with now” series. Hope you enjoy.
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Julia Dixon Evans edited this post. Thanks, Julia. Go follow her on Twitter.