My Season of Horror

I love horror films.
But it'd be dishonest of me to call myself a "horror fan". Doing so would imply a certain level of expertise and devotion to the genre that I simply don't have (...yet). That's why, for the past few years, I've devoted the month of October to watching as many horror films as I can. Last year I wasn't particularly successful (with the notable exception of watching The Blair Witch Project and Re-Animator in one sitting, possibly the most bizarre horror double feature ever), so this year I made an extra conscious effort to put in some solid horror-watching hours. Here's what I ended up watching this year, as well as some thoughts and reactions to each film:

The Visit
This year I kicked off my season of horror at the theater with the latest from M. Night Shyamalan—a low-budget horror flick centered around two kids being slowly terrorized by their estranged grandparents. Despite the fact that this film contained just every cringe-worthy Shymalanian trope—sappy family drama, painfully jokey dialogue, not-so-subtle foreshadowing, and the inevitable third-act twist—this one worked where other Shyamalan films have failed. Sure, it's as big a mess as anything else he's ever done, but The Visit sets itself apart from the rest of Shyamalan's filmography by reveling in its wackiness. Here's hoping that Shyamalan continues to work outside the big studio system, 'cause when the stakes are this low, there's a fun time to be had.

Grade: B-

Night of the Living Dead
I should never have let my general sense of disdain for Walking Dead fandom keep me from watching real zombie horror for so long. If you consider yourself a film buff in any right, this is one you gotta take in at least once. It may be less and less accessible to modern audiences with each passing year, but watch Night of the Living Dead in earnest and it becomes pretty obvious that this film was highly influential on generations of filmmakers. It's shot and edited with a fearless sense of vision that many filmmakers would mimic in the '70's. It's bold, provocative, audacious, and a whole lot of fun...and like any good zombie movie, it leaves you more afraid of society's watchmen than of any zombie invasion.

Grade: A-

The Nightmare
Every bit as much a horror movie as it is a documentary about sleep paralysis, The Nightmare managed to creep me out a hell of a lot more than any other film I watched this year. Intercut between interviews of real-life sufferers of sleep paralysis and reenactments of their horrifying visions, it's a film that earnestly investigates and informs while relentlessly delivering first-rate scares. It was so effective that I walked away feeling like I had somehow been infected by what I had seen, and it took me a few nights to feel like I could go to sleep safely again.

Grade: B+

Sleepy Hollow
If you've seen this one, then you probably already guessed it: this was the dud of my season of horror. I wasn't expecting much from it, but I was at least expecting to be entertained. Instead I was bored out of my mind from start to finish. Other than his two Batman films, I don't fancy myself much of a Tim Burton fan, but I was always curious about this one for a couple reasons: a) the Gothic aesthetic always looked intriguing to me, and b) the Headless Horseman is such a cool, intimidating figure of American lore. Unfortunately, Sleepy Hollow only manages to provide the dullest of Gothic visuals, and the mystique of the Headless Horseman is all but obliterated, as Burton insists on providing a backstory featuring a sharp-toothed, frizzy haired, yammering Christopher Walken as the Horseman before he lost his head. Johnny Depp turns in one of his less cartoonish Burton-helmed performances as Ichabod Crane—re-imagined as a detective whose dedication to deductive reasoning is always impeded by his timid nerves—but if you live in the year 2015, you're probably sick of Johnny Depp, so there's really no win here.

Grade: D

Rosemary's Baby
Normally I try to devote my October horror watching exclusively to movies I haven't seen before, but I this one kept popping up as a suggestion on Netflix and I couldn't resist re-watching it. For those of you who haven't seen Rosemary's Baby, let me assure you that it lives up to all the hype. I haven't seen any of his other horror films, but this one is more than enough to solidify Roman Polanski as a master filmmaker. Polanski really forces the viewer into the terror of pregnancy. Both hypnotic and repulsive, Rosemary's Baby remains a must-see-before-you-die movie.

Grade: A

It Follows
This one also lives up to all the hype as far as I'm concerned. Director David Robert Mitchell constructs a truly mesmerizing piece of cinema, grounded in its own sense of primeval terror and brilliantly imbued with the visual language of late-20th Century horror masters like John Carpenter and George Romero. In recent weeks, It Follows has garnered more attention after Quentin Tarantino criticized the film in a much-publicized interview. Though he had much to say in praise of the film, Tarantino stated that ultimately, it was "one of those movies that’s so good that you start getting mad at it for not being great." Sorry, Mr. Tarantino, I'm one of your most loyal admirers, but I gotta say, you're wrong. It Follows is already a great movie.

Grade: A-

Crimson Peak
My other trip to the movie theater this month happened because my wife and I were looking for something to satisfy our mutual desire for something aesthetically spooky. Once we heard that Crimson Peak featured an immaculately lit haunted mansion complete with breathing rooms and bleeding walls, we figured it was our best bet. Unlike Sleepy Hollow, this film if a visual feast of Gothic horror (seriously, the production and costume design alone are well worth the price of admission), and it tells its bloody Gothic tale rather effectively. I found it strangely refreshing that director Guillermo Del Toro managed to make this movie 100% earnest and completely void of the misplaced sense of "irony" that plagues many of today's genre films. Unfortunately, what Quentin Tarantino said about It Follows is much more applicable here: Crimson Peak is just good enough that you really wish it were great.

Grade: B+

The Host
This 2006 Korean creature feature has been recommended to me for years by practically everyone whose taste in movies I trust. Finally got around to it and thought the same thing I think every time I watch a Korean film: "Damn, those Koreans sure know how to make movies." Like most of the Korean films I've watched in recent years, The Host seamlessly mixes a wide variety genres—family melodrama, screwball comedy, action, and horror just to name a few—and to great effect. The Host's titular creature is a slimy mutated amphibian much smaller in scale than your average movie monster (though still big enough to swallow people whole and cause plenty chaos wherever it goes), which allows the film to focus its critical eye on the horror of incompetent governments, as any good creature feature should do.

Grade: A

Paranormal Activity
Of all the post-Blair Witch "found footage" horror films I've seen, this is one of the better ones. Largely absent of the cheap scare tactics that seem to be plaguing it's many popular sequels, the original effectively builds tension by keeping things quiet for extended periods of time while ever so slowly increasing the level of demonic terror surrounding the protagonist couple. Paranormal Activity probably won't age into a modern classic, but it was more than enough to end my season of horror on a sufficiently spooky note.

Grade: A-

Top 5 of the Season
1. Rosemary's Baby
2. It Follows
3. Night of the Living Dead
4. The Host
5. Paranormal Activity