

Scariest movies on Netflix - your quick list Here are our top choices - if we've missed your favourite horror leave us a note in the comments with your reason and we'll take it to our panel (.a few horror geeks) and consider adding it. We've put together our ultimate list of the best horror movies for you to make your way through whether it's Halloween or not. Whether it's the blood and gore of Saw or the uneasy tension of The Shining every good horror manages to do the same thing - to get in our heads, lodge themselves there, and freak us out. (Hawke also starred in Blumhouse’s 2012 thriller Sinister.It may feel that life is scarier than fiction at the moment, but there are a few movies out there proving things could be much, much worse.įrom ghostly fog to horrific creatures, psychological thrillers to outright horror gore, there's something for everyone. Ethan Hawke and Game of Thrones actress Lena Headey headlined the first Purge movie. Annabelle: Creation features acclaimed Australian actors Anthony LaPaglia and Miranda Otto. That cast points to another development in horror: It’s not just for no-names anymore. “The most avant-garde, the most transgressive work in cinema right now is being done in horror,” says Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino, explaining why he’s following up Call Me by Your Name, a critically acclaimed gay coming-of-age drama, with a remake of Dario Argento’s horror classic Suspiria starring Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth, Dakota Johnson and Chloe Grace Moretz. When these films work, they play both to critics, who embrace the boundary-crossing concepts, and to audiences just out for a good scare.

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Jason Blum, whose company Blumhouse produced Get Out, Split and Happy Death Day, has put the story at the center of his business model by giving his horror directors full creative control as long as they stick to a tight budget (typically less than $5 million).īlum also has led the way in embracing themes that frighten mainstream Hollywood, like racism ( Get Out), politics ( The Purge: Election Year) and sexuality ( Mudbound director Dee Rees has signed on with Blumhouse to do a horror film about black lesbians in rural America). Horror, for the moment at least, isn’t just about the scares, it’s about the story. The quality of scripts, of projects, coming in has increased dramatically.” “They set the bar higher for young filmmakers. “These new horror films are just much better movies, with better stories and stronger characters,” he says. The difference this time, says Rolleri, is quality. All these trends came and went, with a few innovative films followed by a flood of copycats that saturated the market and drove audiences away.

And Paranormal Activity and REC launched a thousand, mostly horrible, shaky-camera, found-footage frighteners. James Wan’s Saw (2004) triggered a bloodbath of so-called torture-porn titles, from Hostel to The Human Centipede.
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The success of Wes Craven’s Scream in 1996 opened the floodgates for a series of self-aware slashers, from Urban Legend to I Know What You Did Last Summer to the Final Destination franchise. He is now shooting the high-concept feature The Silence starring Stanley Tucci, Kiernan Shipka and Miranda Otto.

“The young audience is a very strong moviegoing audience if you can get them, because they go to the theater in big groups and go out that first weekend,” says director John Leonetti, whose scary credits include Wish Upon and the first Annabelle. On its opening weekend, more than 60 percent of the audience for Happy Death Day was under 25 years old, compared with less than 20 percent for Blade Runner 2049, according to comScore. Those hard-to-please teens and young adults who are staying away from the multiplex can come out in strength for a scary movie. Indie filmmakers also can take advantage of the network of international horror and fantasy film fests, like the Fantastic Festival circuit, to raise awareness and build buzz.Īnother advantage: The demographics of horror skew young. Note the recent success of Jennifer Kent’s Aussie haunted house tale The Babadook or the French cannibal thriller Raw from director Julia Ducournau. Horror, unlike, say, comedy, translates well across national and linguistic borders. Those fanboys are slavishly devoted and, importantly, live all over the world. “Our movies start from $300,000 up to $1 million on the high end.” At that price point, even a film that only appeals to horror fanboys can make its money back selling directly to VOD. “You can often shoot in one location with a handful of actors,” says Rolleri, whose AFM slate includes Jeremy Lutter’s supernatural horror The Hollow Child and the holiday-themed slasher Red Christmas. The appeal of frightening features isn’t hard to understand.
