dhyani

Hi, Oi, Hola, Salut, and big a Здравствуй to Everyone! I need to give a shout out to one of my favorite Hopefuls, @ksew, for bringing this blog homework to my attention from the last 25th of October. Last October was so chaotic for me, I didn’t really get to fully appreciate the positive things I experienced, and you may have noticed, I didn’t do anything special for Halloween due to illness. So this Blog Homework topic totally slipped by...until it leapt forth and bit me on @ksew’s page a few days ago.

Now I want to be perfectly clear without being overly verbose, and that’s going to be hard: I’ve seen A LOT of horror movies and even more science fiction films, and there tends to be a lot of crossover between the two. I also have very specific, eclectic tastes which stem from what I actually consider a horror film to be, and whether the original concept that was conceived and written was properly executed onscreen. I also want to say that I’m not a big fan of gore and slasher flicks, as the aspects of horror are very limited, and they tend to have a plethora of comedy mixed into them. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy The Nightmare On Elm Street and the HellRaiser series, and the original Halloween is awesome. HOWEVER: for me, there is a BIG difference between true horror vs. mere fright instigated by violence or the potential for violence, whether it is of supernatural or human origin. Part of my prejudice comes from my experience with the supernatural, because most people’s fear of common astral phenomena seems childish to me. If a living nightmare can take out a person or a small town, that’s one thing, but if a very subtle manifestation of an entity capable of destroying the entire galaxy should manifest in the form of, say, a little girl, I find that a bit more scary. Give me COSMIC horror, baby. 🖤🦑💀

You might be thinking, “Dhyani, you’re a bloody horror movie snob.” Yeah, I AM. I will never put someone else down because they like a particular movie, but I will draw the line and say, “Yeah, it was good, and I’m glad you liked it, but it didn’t scare me.” A recent example of this was my viewing of the acclaimed Hereditary. I bought it, expecting to be shaking in my over-the-knee, lace-up boots. I was sorely disappointed. It was very well done, but it didn’t scare me; even worse is that I found it predictable - and figured out the ending less than half way through the film.

So now that you have an idea of my point of view, here are my favorite 13 favorite horror films that I’ve had the opportunity to see. There’s a lot more I haven’t seen, and others I have, but was very disappointed by their translation from script to screen, and like anyone, I have my own whimsy, starting with #13.