Horror movies have quite literally saved my life. I’m not sure I would be here writing this piece without the genre I’ve come to adore over the years. From the unflinching storytelling to the bursts of violence, my favorites on this list have allowed me not only to live vicariously through the characters but find catharsis in the bloodletting. I wouldn’t be the same without witnessing Gillian slaughter innocent people in I BLAME SOCIETY or the dark, spooky shadows permeating every inch of THE OLD DARK HOUSE. I just wouldn’t be… me. And I wouldn’t be alive.
For this piece, I’ve rounded up 10 horror movies that have saved my life. I’m forever grateful to the many filmmakers behind these features. The stories they tell have changed lives, and I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that. Horror isn’t just blood, guts, and gore. It’s telling very real human stories through a macabre lens. It’s fear that connects us all, and it’s fear that drives us in our everyday lives.
Without further ado…
I BLAME SOCIETY (2020)
“I am a strong female lead,” Gillian (director Gillian Horvat) seethes, carving up a pair of film bros in a gruesome fashion. It’s near the end of the film when Gillian stakes her claim and takes up space. She’s spent the entire film trying to make the movie the powers-that-be want her to make, consequently shedding parts of herself they deem unpleasant. Even the women in her scripts are called unlikeable. So, she plots a filmmaking adventure in which she films how she would commit the perfect murder. She stalks various people around town, from an aspiring young actress to a homeless man, and kills them for the sake of her art. We all sacrifice something to make art. Whether you’re a writer, a sculptor, or an actor, there’s something to be said about how art drains you, sucking the life out of your body. Gillian gives up her body and, in effect, finally claims her life as her own. Her murderous exhibit is like opening a vein and letting the “blood” pour onto a blank page. The words one wields or the paint one chooses culminates in a work of art, and it’s within such artistic endeavors we feel most alive.
THE BURNING (1981)
Occasionally, you just need a good old-fashioned hack ‘n slash. THE BURNING isn’t necessarily about finding catharsis from trauma or alleviating mental health. It’s enjoying a nice murder-and-mayhem picture with some gnarly kills (the raft scene is one of the most iconic moments in all of horror) and seeing fresh-faced victims (hey, Jason Alexander!). It doesn’t need to be much more than that. Of course, there is the element of living vicariously through the characters and finding yourself enjoying the destruction in the comfort of your own home. There’s nothing like it. The film tells the story of a camp caretaker named Cropsey (Lou David), who becomes a victim of a practical joke that leaves him with third-degree burns all over his body. Years later, he exacts his revenge on another group of counselors at a neighboring camp. What transpires next is not dissimilar to a FRIDAY THE 13TH flick: 20-somethings meet a grisly end. That’s it. It’s weird to say I find comfort in watching people get killed, but it’s true in a fictional sense. There’s a certain release I find in watching horror, and this is no exception.
My first horror film in the theater, HALLOWEEN H20 is like a comfy blanket. It’s like snuggling up with your cats and sipping on a hot cup of cocoa. Ever since I was 12, I’ve watched Michael Myers (Chris Durand) slash up the screen and the senses – probably hundreds of times at this point. I even have the script (mostly) memorized; my favorite scene to recite begins with “what the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Iconic. When we meet Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) this time, she’s a functioning alcoholic, barely keeping her life together after her friends were slaughtered 20 years prior. She turns to the bottle so she can cope and just deal with living. But when she is confronted with her monster again, she realizes that she must take control of her life or else everyone around her will pay the ultimate price. She stands up to The Shape and rises victorious (this is the real ending to the original franchise before David Gordon Green’s equally satisfying reboot trilogy changed things). Laurie’s win is my win. It’s me on that screen slaying my demons and finally able to emerge from the wreckage. I don’t think I would be who I am without this film.
THE NIGHT HOUSE (2020)
As far as depictions of mental health go, THE NIGHT HOUSE crafts a heartfelt and moving portrayal that gets the tears flowing. Seriously. In the film’s final scene (don’t worry, no spoilers), I found myself mirrored onscreen – that feeling of black hopelessness often courses in my veins – and I nearly bawled my eyes out. I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes with no possible way to stop what was coming next. Rebecca Hall delivers a pulverizing performance as Beth, who lost her husband to suicide. She must now contend with not only her grief but her own crumbling mental health. As things spiral out of control, as they have for me many times in my life, Beth is forced to the absolute edge. Does she take the plunge or doesn’t she? That’s the question I ask myself every single day, and I don’t know if I have the answer. But for now, THE NIGHT HOUSE has saved me from leaping.
DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE (1972)
A trans-coded film, DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE brings me so much joy. It’s like looking into the mirror. The duality of my gender identity (mostly female but also male) plays out onscreen like a biopic, you could say. In Dr. Jekyll’s research, he seeks to discover a serum to grant everlasting life. Unexpectedly, he stumbles upon an elixir that changes his gender from male to female. As he’s begun killing to supply his need for female hormones, the police suspect that a man in a top hat is the culprit of a series of grisly murders. So, instead, Jekyll turns himself into Hyde as a way to mask his identity; no one would possibly suspect a woman to be behind such grotesque acts, right? Throughout the film, Jekyll struggles to balance between the two identities, something I’ve often felt in my own life. As I’ve come closer to understanding myself, I find myself returning to this film over and over again – always uncovering new layers to the story.
Buried deep within the Hays Code era, THE SEVENTH VICTIM, like so many other pictures, was forced to keep themes as subtext. You had to read between the lines to gain a deeper understanding of the story. Alongside its queer underpinnings, THE SEVENTH VICTIM also addresses mental health and the outward ripples it causes in someone else’s life. When Jacqueline (Jean Brooks) goes missing, her sister Mary (Kim Hunter) travels from school overseas back to New York City to find some answers. What she discovers is a coven, and her sister lies at the heart of a diabolical plot. But what’s more, the film digs its teeth below the surface, finding itself nestled within Jacqueline’s ailing mental health. She claws her way through life, limp and lifeless, like a zombie. There’s no possibility of escaping. Where THE NIGHT HOUSE offers up some hope in the end, THE SEVENTH VICTIM does not. In fact, it’s one of the most grim experiences I’ve ever had. But within such a terribly dark story, I find myself emerging lighter than I was before. It’s the kind of film that can transform you if you let it. It gives me a new perspective on life – that I do matter and that my life isn’t useless after all.
TERRIFIER 2
I know what you’re thinking. How could TERRIFIER 2 possibly have saved my life? Well, it has. The over-the-top violence is like exorcising one’s own demons, extricating strands of pain and trauma with a razor-sharp scalpel. With each of Art the Clown’s (David Howard Thornton) brutal attacks, there’s a catharsis that oozes from the victims’ wounds. In witnessing such violence, I have been able to process my own miseries over the last year and emerge far healthier than I previously thought I could be. I’ve watched this grisly picture at least a dozen or so times, and each time is like baptism. It’s cleansing. It also helps that Sienna (Lauren LaVera) has etched her place on the Mount Rushmore of Final Girls, going from just a teen trying to live her life to an all-out warrior princess. It’s her empowering arc that allows for a most interesting character, allowing her to find her inner strength through pain. We’ve all been at the bottle of the well, tearing at the cracked cement entrapping us, but TERRIFIER 2 is like that shot of adrenaline we need to dig in our fingernails and scale to the top. I certainly have, and for that, I’m grateful for Damien Leone’s work.
Another Hays Code-era film, CAT PEOPLE is as queer as a three-dollar bill. The film tells the tale of Irena (Simone Simon), who believes herself to be a cat, and how she’s conditioned to believe her identity is a mental illness. Throughout the story, her love interest Oliver (Kent Smith) urges her to go to a psychiatrist for treatment, but it does no good. Why? Because identity isn’t a mental health problem. CAT PEOPLE also arrived during a period when society believed that being LGBTQ+ required medication, cruel treatment, and the like. As any queer person will tell you, understanding yourself is one of the hardest things you go through. You never know how you’ll be received by those around you, and you find it difficult to even move in the world. In the context of the film, whenever Irena is aroused, she turns into a cat. It’s not only a metaphor for sex but gender. Irena is a cat person; that much is true. But it’s her acceptance of self that is a marvel to behold. It took me years to accept who I was, as though I were a cat lurking in the shadows, and only time could allow me permission to step into the light. Even though Irena’s fate is a tragic one, mine is not. I’m finally basking in the light of myself.
Directed by openly gay man James Whale, THE OLD DARK HOUSE crackles and pops with light and shadow. A storm rages outside, and a spooky mansion stands in the distance. It’s a haven from the outside world, even though it harbors its own form of delightful terror. Travelers become stranded in the storm and take refuge in the house, owned by the Femm family. Horace (Ernest Thesiger) is of particular note here; it’s crystal clear he’s gay, from his mannerisms to his speech. It’s glorious. His sister Rebecca (Eva Moore) serves as an overly chaste (and hilarious) counterpart; the actors play off one another so well that it sucks you into the story and their inner lives. As the night wears on, bangs and clangs from up above signal that something wicked is afoot. THE OLD DARK HOUSE is the pinnacle of haunted house-inspired stories. It’s heavy on mood and atmosphere with a special lining given to character. When in doubt, just put on this 1932 feature for a good time. More than anything, it’s guaranteed to lift and stabilize your mood.
ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK
Sometimes, you just need a good laugh. And ELVIRA,MISTRESS OF THE DARK is chock full of ‘em. When Elvira learns of an inheritance from her great-aunt, she travels to the town of Fallwell to claim a piece of property. It’s not exactly the estate she would have picked out for herself, but a little sprucing up is all that’s needed. Elvira is a sexy, boob-heavy wrecking ball, crashing into town and turning it topsy turvy. As she settles into town, a relative seeks to retrieve a spellbook (masked as a recipe book) to wreak havoc on the town and beyond. Elvira, thanks to her great-aunt Morgana’s ring, is able to put a stop to the diabolical plot and save the day. ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK is nothing more than a romping good time, and that’s OKAY. Not every movie needs to be this grand conversation about life and death. From time to time, a wonderfully silly picture is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Tags: cat people, Chris Durand, Damien Leone, David Gordon Green, David Howard Thornton, Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde, elvira, Ernest Thesiger, Eva Moore, Friday the 13th, Gillian Horvat, Halloween H20, I Blame Society, James Whale, jamie lee curtis, Jason Alexander, Jean Brooks, Kent Smith, Kim Hunter, Lauren LaVera, Lou David, mistress of the dark, Rebecca Hall, Simone Simon, Terrifier 2, The Burning, The Night House, The Old Dark House, The Seventh Victim
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