This article contains references to grief and trauma
Speak No Evil is giving rise to heated discussions on what really means to be a horror movie nowadays. For most of its running time, the controversial film seems to be mocking its viewers with one of the most uncomfortable build-ups in recent years, only to reach shocking levels of brutality in its final minutes.
Some horror movies are very subtle, yet effective in using horror as a vehicle for their final statement. When done well, they can often catch viewers by surprise as they remind the audience of their nature, either with a scene of shocking violence or a frightening sequence that keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
Raw (2016)
Available To Stream On Netflix
Raw doesn't know whether it wants to be an unconventional coming-of-age story or a straight-up horror story about repressed desires, but, somehow, it manages to be both. One of the most controversial debuts in recent years, the film follows a freshman girl, who develops an insatiable craving for human flesh after eating raw meat for the first time in a vet college prank.
Raw intercalates a realistic drama about youth insecurities, with horrifying scenes of graphic violence and cannibalism, which helps viewers understand the protagonist's desires and what prompts her to act the way she does. It objectively puts the audience in a tough spot in which they can't help but cheer for the protagonist and feel frightened by her at the same time.
Poltergeist (1982)
Available To Stream On HBO Max
In the movie, an ordinary family is shaken after strange events begin to take place in their home and their small daughter is taken by evil forces to another dimension. Poltergeist probably terrified many viewers when they were kids, only for them to be welcomed with a feeling of confusion when rewatching the movie years later.
Although Poltergeist has its creepy moments and one of the best soundtracks of the horror genre, it often feels like a regular Disney movie for most of its running time. It's much more focused on the family drama side of the story, although whenever it decides to touch on horror concepts Poltergeist delivers iconic terrifying scenes such as the clown attack.
Jaws (1975)
Available To Stream On fuboTV
Steven Spielberg is a talented director who continues to actively work after decades of making films. Throughout his career, he worked with horror, sci-fi, criminal thrillers, and predominantly, adventure movies.
Jaws, one of his early works, seems to encapsulate all of his best traits in a story that flirts with many genres, although it constantly reminds viewers it's a horror movie with the constant menace of a terrifying white shark lurking by the shore. Jordan Peele revealed that Jaws is one of his favorite horror films and added "it's debatably the greatest movie of any genre." This statement perfectly describes the film, which takes time to build up tension and develop interesting character arcs.
The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
Available To Stream On Prime Video
The Silence Of The Lambs is one of the most essential movies from the '90s, adapting the iconic Hannibal Lecter to the big screen and delivering arguably the best performances by Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. The film balances a gripping serial killer investigation with a slow-burn horror narrative ignited by the complex relationship between Hannibal and Clarice, a brilliant FBI student.
The film becomes quite scary whenever it focuses on the two serial killers in the story; the merciless Buffalo Bill and Hannibal, the cannibal, who finally shows his claws in the iconic climax of the movie. The two characters and their strong arcs are the main reason The Silence Of The Lambs isn't just a simple crime thriller but rather a terrifying horror film.
The Wicker Man (1973)
Available To Stream On DIRECTV
The film follows a police sergeant who arrives at an island village island to investigate the disappearance of a girl, whom the locals claim doesn't exist. Although it is considered one of the greatest horror films ever made, The Wicker Man abuses its gripping mystery to keep viewers enthralled in the story until the shocking ending.
The fear of the unknown plays a key role when it comes to accepting the movie as a terrifying story. Although The Wicker Man doesn't offer cheap scares, bizarre deaths, or excessive amounts of blood and violence, there's a disturbing atmosphere that lingers throughout the whole investigation, hinting that something horrible is about to happen. And when it finally happens, it's difficult to shake the dreadful feeling that sticks with viewers.
The Reflecting Skin (1990)
Available To Stream On Peacock
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The Reflecting Skin's greatest feat is constantly subverting viewers' expectations with a story that is never quite what it seems. The film offers a very unconventional setting for a seeming vampire story: most of the movie is set in plain daylight at a remote rural location made of countless open fields.
In the film, a young boy is convinced his widow neighbor is a vampire, resorting to disturbing measures to keep her away from his brother who's just returned from war. The Reflecting Skin offers a great mystery and pays off in the end with a devastating conclusion, proving to viewers it is actually a cruel horror movie that offers its characters no chance of redemption.
Crimes Of The Future (2022)
Available To Buy On DIRECTV
Before Crimes Of The Future came out, rumors pointed at a grotesque, hard-to-watch movie guaranteed to cause walk-outs and expressions of total shock from the audience. The movie has plenty of body horror, although much of its graphic scenes aren't there to shock or depict graphic violence but rather to support its grounded commentary on human evolution.
Coming from David Cronenberg, one of the masters of the horror genre, of course, the movie also delivers a handful of terrifying sequences (particularly the opening sequences and the final 20 minutes), but most of Crimes Of The Future's disturbing elements come from its eerie atmosphere.
Pontypool (2008)
Available To Stream On AMC+ Amazon Channel
Paying homage to traditional radio and the timeless Orson Welles transmission of War of the Worlds, Pontypool follows a small group of people locked inside a radio station as a mysterious virus that turns people into zombies and is spread through language.
The film doesn't go for any easy directions and prefers to delve deep into its complex mythology before giving in to the terrifying elements that make up its narrative. Set entirely in the same location, most of the horror in Pontypool is suggestive or conveyed by audio and descriptions, although the movie knows exactly when to bring the threat from outside to their claustrophobic location.
The Vanishing (1988)
Available To Stream On Criterion Channel
Truth be told, The Vanishing is an anti-revenge horror, which keeps it from adhering to a conventional storyline in favor an effective gut punch, even though the story itself is quite simple: one day, during a biking holiday, Rex's wife Saskia disappears without a trace. Three years later Rex receives a puzzling message from a man who claims to know what happened to her.
A thrilling mystery quickly put in the background, the perpetrator of the film's main crime reveals themselves right at the beginning. All these elements make The Vanishing one of the most unconventional horror stories ever told, but once the film gets to its shocking ending, viewers are left dumbfounded at the brutality of film's conclusion.
Midsommar (2019)
Available To Stream On Showtime
Midsommar wants to convince its main character how the things happening around her aren't part of a horror movie, and almost manages to do so with viewers as well. Trying to cope with a devastating family loss, Dani sets out with her boyfriend and his friends to the remote Swedish countryside. What starts off as a beautiful vacation in a place where the sun never sets, disturbing festive activities threaten to put everyone's life in danger.
The sunny and bright settings in the face of reluctant cultural dilemmas keep the characters from accepting the sinister nature of the celebration. Everything the main characters witness, viewers witness too, and throughout the whole movie, the audience is left wondering what will be the crucial moment that will draw the line in those characters' stay and make them want to leave, but this moment simply never comes.