By Stephanie Scaife
It’s Halloween night, and everyone is relishing the opportunity to delight in the transgressive, the uncanny and the things that go bump in the night. I do love Halloween, it provides me with the opportunity to be able to over indulge in candy and to wear as much black as I did when I was a teenager. However, I don’t need to use it as an excuse to watch horror movies because I do that pretty much year round. For better or worse horror is an intrinsic part of my life, I’ve watched horror films and read horror novels since I was a kid and it has always remained a passion of mine, so much so that I spend my free time writing things like this. So with that in mind I got to thinking about whether or not anything actually still scares me these days.
I don’t know if I’m just desensitised or maybe I’m too aware of genre conventions but I don’t often find myself frightened or even particularly invested emotionally by what I’m seeing on screen. This doesn’t mean that I haven’t been scared watching horror films in the past or that I don’t find many things to enjoy about watching them now, but it remains fascinating to me as to what it is exactly that myself and others find genuinely frightening. So this got me thinking as to what I’ve seen that has troubled, upset or scared me in recent years and more often than not the things that came to mind were not horror films, at least not in the strictest sense. So if you’re looking for something a little different this Halloween, and you want a genuine sleepless night then you need look no further…
Snowtown (Justin Kurzel, 2011)
I found this film so difficult that I actually had to turn if off halfway through and take a break before I could go back and finish watching it. Snowtown is the only film in recent memory that has had such a profound effect on me. It is an astonishing feat, especially as a first feature from Justin Kurzel, and perhaps it has something to do with the realism, the cast of unknowns, the oppressively grimy and dour look of the film and ultimately the fact that it’s a true story based on the most notorious and prolific serial killings to happen in Australia. There were a lot of upsetting things in this film and it treads this fine balance of being so compelling that you can’t take your eyes off the screen yet being almost entirely unwatchable because everything that happens is so awful and violent. Daniel Henshall is terrifying as John Bunting and his manipulation of those around him is so absolute, that in itself is perhaps what I found the most disturbing about the film. I’m not sure that I want to see Snowtown again, but it is a truly astounding film and if you want to witness what real horror is, then you need look no further.
Further viewing: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, 10 Rillington Place.
The Living and the Dead (Simon Rumley, 2006)
Love him or hate him, Simon Rumley has certainly created a niche for himself in making non-genre horror films that on the surface appear to be art films but due to their bleak and uncompromising nature seem to appeal more to hardened horror aficionados. I found The Living and the Dead almost impossible to watch due to its palpable sense of dread and the inevitability of what unfolds on screen. Lord Brocklebank is on the verge of bankruptcy so must leave his terminally ill wife and schizophrenic son, James, alone in their decrepit mansion with a nurse to care for them whilst he travels to London to deal with the creditors. However, James decides that in order to make his father proud he must become the man of the house and look after himself and cure his mother, so after refusing to let the nurse into the house he sets about his mission. I think what’s so awful about the whole thing is that James never intends to do anything harmful to himself or his mother – he genuinely believes that he is helping.
Further viewing: Red, White & Blue, Requiem for a Dream.
The Cove (Louie Psihoyos, 2009)
In recent years I’ve often found that my most upsetting viewing experiences have been watching documentaries, in fact I can’t recall ever having been so distressed watching a film as I was when I saw The Cove. It’s true of many horror movies that the most frightening don’t so much involve ghosts and ghouls, but human beings displaying the horrors of which man is capable of without the addition of any supernatural element. Taking it a step further is a fantastically made and thrilling documentary that does just this – shows us the horrors that we are all inherently capable of committing – but what makes it so much worse is that it is all real. Although far from impartial, this is a powerful piece of filmmaking that exemplifies the power of human destruction and it is more profoundly disturbing than anything I’ve seen in any horror film.
Further viewing: Blackfish, West of Memphis, Capturing the Friedmans.
Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier, 1996)
I could probably have picked just about any Lars von Trier movie to add to this list, but Breaking the Waves has always been the one I’ve found to be the most deeply upsetting. Emily Watson stars as Bess, a naïve and psychologically disturbed young woman with a simplistic and unwavering faith in God. When her husband suffers an accident that leaves him paralysed she believes herself responsible after praying for his return, so when he requests that she take on lovers then tell him the details of the trysts she believes that she is acting upon the will of God and that her actions are keeping her husband alive. Of course this could never end well and again, as with The Living and the Dead, Bess never really does anything wrong and believes that her actions are helping others when all she is really doing is destroying herself.
Further viewing: Dancer in the Dark, Antichrist, The Kingdom.
Irréversible (Gaspar Noé, 2002)
I have a real moral dilemma when it comes to rape revenge narratives, but I think that what Irreversible does that is so clever is that by using a reverse narrative structure where we’re faced with the consequences without the context – making the act of violence just that, an abhorrent act, without previously giving us any justification for relishing in it. Then just when you think things can’t possibly get any worse we see why Marcus (Vincent Cassel) did what he did – as the reaction to the violent rape of his girlfriend. Both the murder at the start and the rape scene are perhaps two of the most explicitly real and unwatchable depictions of either ever committed to film, and as is the intention, you as the viewer are left wondering exactly why you’d put yourself though such an experience. Noé is a master at creating discomfort, through visual flare, use of sound and music, unflinching violence and non-traditional storytelling techniques.
Further viewing: Enter the Void, I Stand Alone.
Watership Down (Martin Rosen, 1978)
How Watership Down ever got a U certificate is beyond me, as seeing it was perhaps one of the most traumatic film viewing experiences of my childhood. Rabbits are picked off by hawks, caught up in snare traps, murdered – and that’s before we even get onto the terrifying General Woundwort… not to mention that terrible Art Garfunkel song.
Further viewing: The Secret of Nimh, Plague Dogs, When the Wind Blows.
The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke, 2001)
Gosh, this one really threw me through a loop when I saw it; perhaps due to going in not really knowing what it was about and perhaps due to the explicit genital mutilation, but more likely the combination of the two. Never has female sexual repression been so effectively portrayed on film in such a profoundly disturbing manner. Annie Girardot plays the most sadistically controlling and overbearing mother I’ve seen since Piper Laurie in Carrie, and she is absolutely terrifying. I’ve seen this film precisely once and it was an amazing piece of filmmaking with a wonderful performance from Isabelle Huppert, but I honestly don’t think I could ever sit though it again.
Further viewing: Funny Games, Ma Mère, The Dreamers.
The Girl Next Door (Gregory Wilson, 2007)
Imagine something akin to Stand By Me but with added torture and sadomasochism and you’re probably not even close to some of the horrors that unfold during The Girl Next Door. Set in 1958 and loosely based on the true story of the Sylvia Likens murder, The Girl Next Door examines the effects of peer pressure and how far children will go when instructed/allowed to do so by an adult. On the surface it looks like a picture postcard view of 1950’s Americana but when you scratch below the surface you find something dark and terrible. It’s fascinating to see how the children are warped and coerced over time from fairly standard bullying to torture and how quickly this happens. Although teetering on the edge of exploitation at times it never ceases to be as compelling as it is devastating.
Further viewing: The Lost, Chained, The Woman, Blue Velvet.
Threads (Mick Jackson, 1984)
This TV drama shot in the style of a documentary about a nuclear war and its effects on Sheffield is perhaps one of the most harrowing and unrelenting post-apocalyptic films I’ve ever seen, and in a genre not known for it’s cheeriness that’s saying something. Unrelentingly grim from start to finish, Threads has been described as, “the film which comes closest to representing the full horror of nuclear war and its aftermath, as well as the catastrophic impact that the event would have on human culture” and I quite agree. The documentary style of the film makes it feel all too real and the final ten minutes will leave you wanting to take a long shower followed by a Disney movie marathon.
Further viewing: The Day After, Testament, The Road.
Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
Lynch is another filmmaker, like Haneke and von Trier who appears to have made an entire career out of directing terrifying and disturbing movies that don’t necessarily fit into the horror genre. Mulholland Drive is such an disconcerting film, even for Lynch the prevailing sense of terror doesn’t give up from start to finish. The diner scene in particular where a man talks about a nightmare he had is particularly frightening and even though I’ve seen it many times it still sets me on edge. The film itself is one long surrealist nightmare that is as open to interpretation as any dream.
Further viewing: Eraserhead, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Lost Highway.