its october and the only horror movies i've watched are scream 1-3. they are ok for what they are (deconstruction of horror tropes via murder mystery), but i need something spicier. something existentially horrifying, not just a wrinkly monster chase or a crazy guy hacking up white girls. something that follows you out of the movie and changes how you think about the world for a few days before you're normal again. stuff that pulls at the threads of your understanding of reality. a lot of so called psychological thrillers do this but thats not specifically what i'm looking for as much as existential terror.
since i created this post i'll start with suggestions of my own
1 - SKINAMARINK
watch this without any research or info going in. all i will say is that there is limited dialogue and the amount of times you see a face or character asymptotically approaches zero. watch while stoned for maximum effect.
2 - They Look Like People
psychological thriller, avoiding spoilers but i'll say that it mayyybe leans into some problematic ableist tropes relating to mental health common to the horror genre. i have a friend that loves this movie and relates to it strongly for mental health reasons though so i might be over- or under- analyzing.
3 - The Lighthouse
monochrome period piece. 2 boys 1 lighthouse. you can probably predict how this goes but the execution is so worth it, the actors are amazing and the cinematography is excellent.
thats pretty much all i got, i haven't seen that many movies.
I am surprised no one mentioned my all time favorite: The Fly by David Cronenberg with Jeff Goldblum.
Most horror movies present you with an external threat. The good protagonist is threatened by external forces like zombies, murderers, psychopaths etc. The Fly is different in that there isn't really a bad guy. You identify with the monster just as much as with their victim.
For me that makes a much more powerful horror experience, because in my day to day life I don't have any meaningful external threats. Sure, there are thieves, murderers, angry mobs etc. in our world, but it's not like I woke up hoping that today I wouldn't meet one of them.
But this fear of losing control over yourself, lashing out at your children, saying something wrong at work or losing control in a very different way like finding out you have a tumor that has been growing inside of you for a long time - those threats are much more real to me.