Halloween is almost here — and that means it’s the best time of the year to grab some popcorn and watch a horror film. Five Post Opinions staff members share which scary movies are their favorites.
The everyday horror of ‘Poltergeist’ (1982)
I do not think of the mirror scene in “Poltergeist” every time I look at my reflection. But does the scene enter my brain a quarter of the time? A third? Half? Maybe. Maybe it does.
The reason “Poltergeist” remains so powerful and unnerving is that it takes something so elemental — the haunted house — and places it in a relatable, instantly recognizable place. The Freeling family is like every other family, and definitely like every family in the ’80s world of Steven Spielberg. Everyone is busy and frantic and doing their best to figure out their day-to-day life, which is difficult enough to do when the youngest family member isn’t being zapped into the television by paranormal invaders.
The scariest things aren’t things we battle with in the outside world; they’re the things that threaten the safety and normalcy of daily life. “Poltergeist” takes the mundane and introduces horror: The movie makes the fight to maintain simple daily pleasures and routines the fight of the Freelings’ lives. It’s the scariest movie I’ve ever seen, even more so now that I’m the age of the parents in the film rather than the age of one of the kids. Now, what’s that little blemish on my face here? Maybe I’ll pick at it a bit.
— Will Leitch, contributing columnist
‘Audition’ (1999): Creepy, then horrifying
Horror movies are a funny genre. Like roller coasters, they are designed to be unpleasant experiences in the moment. But they’re also meant to leave a pleasant aftertaste: The terror, over time, is metabolized into a memory of the adrenaline kick. You’re supposed to want more.
And generally, I do. But not always. I watched Takashi Miike’s “Audition” when it hit U.S. theaters in 2001, and the experience was scarring. I contemplated rewatching it ahead of writing this, but a quick look back at the plot summary convinced me I don’t want to put myself through that again.
The first half of the film has a creepy premise — a man sets up a fake audition for a female lead in a movie so his widowed friend can pick a new partner without the pressures of dating. But it’s shot in a melancholic, soothing style almost befitting a romantic drama. You’re very uncomfortable with the premise, but you’re lulled nonetheless.
Halfway through — spoiler alert! — the reverie turns into a nightmare. The camerawork and editing go from staid to bewildering, as the aging male predator becomes his chosen’s prey. I’ll never forget the scene with the woman sitting motionless before a phone with a burlap sack behind her — a burlap sack that finally lurches when the phone rings.
The film’s grisly finale anticipated the torture-horror boom of the next decade, including “Saw” and “Hostel.” It involves piano wire and needles. I’ve rarely seen so many people simply leave the theater. Miike’s film is an achievement, of sorts.
If you want a Halloween movie that might stay with you for the next 25 years, give it a shot. Just don’t expect to want to see it again.
— Damir Marusic, assignment editor
Daylight is scarier than the dark in ‘Midsommar’ (2019)
Anyone can scare an audience in the dark. An isolated cabin deep in the woods at night. Demons and ghosts emerging to torment people when the sun goes down. A masked killer chasing someone long after the trick-or-treaters have gone home.
But you know what’s really scary? Summer. At least when director Ari Aster does it in “Midsommar.”
This folk-horror movie is not only my favorite scary movie but one of my favorite movies across genres. It is a story of travelers being lured to a Swedish commune in the woods during the summer solstice — and the midnight sun — to eventually be sacrificed (but not before one is used for “mating” purposes) in horrific fashion. And it’s made all the more unsettling by the unyielding light of day. Plus: psychedelic drugs.
We watch the main character come undone from the trauma she experienced before the trip to Sweden and the trauma she is experiencing in real time. The people with whom she thought she belonged have been ripped from her life in short order.
“Midsommar” uses deep, psychological pain paired with violent pagan ritual to tell a story about relationships and belonging. It’s a movie full of details you’ll probably miss the first time around and is the only reason my internet search history includes the term “blood eagle” (look it up at your own risk).
But don’t worry, it has a happy ending.
— Michelle Kondrich, senior designer
‘The Thing’ (1982): Hiding in plain sight
Which is scarier: the devil you know or the devil you don’t? This 1982 classic makes the case that it’s both. Director John Carpenter creates paranoia by hiding the movie’s shape-shifting monster in plain sight. Is that a scientist, or an otherworldly creature in disguise?
The film follows a group of researchers in Antarctica as they try to survive the creature slowly thinning their ranks. When the monster reveals itself, we can’t look away in terror because that would risk missing a new clue as to the creature’s identity. The grotesque and stunning practical effects make these revelations horrifying, but also irresistible.
The monster is not the only threat, though. To find answers, the crew members must venture into the hostile winter, exposing themselves to dangers outside their control. Because the story is based in Antarctica, the viewer can’t help but feel as abandoned as the researchers. Could we survive the bitter cold, let alone the creature hunting the crew? We can almost feel the biting wind and ice beneath our feet.
Unlike many horror film directors, Carpenter patiently gives the isolated crew time for deliberate, calculated decision-making. The survivors aren’t rushed. Respecting the audience, Carpenter invites us to join in the investigation of the monster. Over the course of the film, we remain unsure whom to trust and who will survive to solve the mystery.
Carpenter allows the film to breathe. Yet in each of those breaths, we wonder who will have the last one: our heroes or the thing?
— Timothy Wolff, senior multimedia producer
Watch ‘Hagazussa’ (2017) only once
Some of the best horror movies are the ones you should watch only once. I’ve seen the German-Austrian folk horror “Hagazussa” twice — my mistake, as that is more than enough nightmare fodder for a lifetime.
As an avid consumer of horror, it is impossible to remember every film I’ve seen. “Hagazussa” is impossible to forget. Claudia Martini’s formless voice whispering her daughter’s name from beyond the grave, quietly yet urgently, still echoes in my mind, and it’s been years since I first watched the film. It’s ringing in my ears as I write this. “Albrun!” Cue shivers.
The movie, set during the Middle Ages, teaches that there is nothing more horrific than to be an environmentally isolated single mother who doesn’t partake in the local flavor of Christianity. And Albrun is just trying to scrape by herding her goats in the Alps, raising her baby daughter that she loves but that the viewer can only assume was born from violence. It’s the classic horror of diverging from the cultural status quo.
Draped in exquisite cinematography from Mariel Baqueiro, the film is a visual feast. (Really, for the eyes only. Your stomach will turn — don’t even bring popcorn.) The plot methodically unravels how tales of monsters, specifically witches, might’ve been made back then. Not through spells and potions, but through whispers, suspicion and trauma. And how such acts can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies, with extreme consequences for all involved. Do not watch it at night, alone. But do watch it. Once.
— Chloe Coleman, senior photo assignment editor
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