Interlude: Five Movies That Shaped My Taste in Horror

Today, a different kind of newsletter. The past week I’ve been too busy to watch the typical 4-6 hours of cinema required to write these pieces. So, instead, I present to you a quick piece on the movies that shaped my taste in horror. This is not a favorites list exactly (although the titles here would all make a favorites list)—but a selection of films that helped me understand what I value in horror, and an attempt to explain, in a few sentences, the nature of the influence. As I wrote this, I made some new connections, finding correspondences among these titles that I wasn’t quite aware of . . .

◆ Cure, dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997.

What’s so fascinating about Cure is the way it balances the cerebral and the visceral. Watching Cure, we find ourselves contemplating the mind, human motivation, the fragility of human character—and we’re also white-knuckling our way through a shocking, silkily remorseless horror movie. I’ve written more on Cure here.

◆ The Seventh Victim, dir. Mark Robson, 1943.

The Seventh Victim also combines disparate qualities in an exhilarating way. Like my favorite Hitchcock (Shadow of a Doubt), The Seventh Victim is at once wholesome and macabre. And its wholesome protagonist is, seemingly unwittingly, occupying the life of, and displacing, her cooler, troubled, goth-as-hell, older sister. A layered delight. I’ve written about this here.

◆ Panna a netvor/The Virgin and the Monster/Beauty and the Beast, dir. Juraj Herz, 1978.

Fairy tales feel elemental, and that’s particularly true when they’re unafraid to enter the dark. Panna a Netvor is a feat of moody production design, and its bird-like Beast is strange and scary. It models horror that is beautiful and dangerous and timeless. More from me here.