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.
My impression of horror as a genre is basically that the point is "here's some bad stuff happening to some people. Sure does get the blood pumping to imagine it could happen to you!" Which is why I never watch horror because that just isn't interesting or enjoyable for me at all. I like seeing good things happen to nice people who then live nice lives, as a general rule.
Am I missing something about horror or is that basically it?
I've enjoyed a little bit of horror, like certain Junji Ito works which seem less like "here's some bad stuff happening to people" and more like "here's some wacky shit happening to people and it's unclear whether it could even be defined as good or bad all things considered" but even most of his are still "wow, this person's life really sucks, wanna see it get even worse?"
Seeing good things happening to nice people never lets them show off what they're really made of. Its easy to be nice when nothing bad is happening to you. Its much harder when your world is falling apart. Also, I like monsters
it's hard to define what does it for me, 99% of the time it doesn't scare me, sometimes it's unsettling, but most of the time it's just a movie that has darker-than-usual themes and subject matter that rides or dies on the same hills of any other genre. impress me with clever craft & interesting ideas, give me insurgent political ideas under the thinnest of pretenses. make me laugh.
"horror" gets to be a very diverse and creative genre because it is not for children, but generally not taken seriously either, so they're allowed to be very left wing---as all biblically accurate zombie films are