Horror has had a remarkable run in the 21st century. Between viral phenomena like The Blair Witch Project, the rise of Saw-inspired torture porn, critically acclaimed arthouse fare like Hereditary, and surprise box-office smashes like Obsession, it’s never been easier to find yourself a cinematic scare.
Meanwhile, I was doing my darndest to avoid all of it. Content to be a scaredy cat, why, I thought, should I willingly subject myself to violent images and terrifying scenarios that would haunt my dreams and keep me ever looking over my shoulder?
But I eventually realized I might be missing something. So many of my fellow cinephiles also loved horror, and not just for cheap thrills. Maybe it’d be worth braving the genre’s haunted house to see what I might uncover.
Here, in the order I first saw them, are the horror movies that brought me into the dark and showed me the light.
The Ring (2002)
I saw this in high school and it actually scared me away from horror for a long time. (That closet shot… IYKYK.) But it planted the seed that horror had the power to permanently change you just like any other movie or genre, and that might not be a bad thing. Rewatching this years later was still a scary experience, but with a much richer appreciation of the movie as a whole.
Shaun of the Dead
Horror comedy is often a nice gateway into the genre, and Edgar Wright’s unique mix of funny banter, clever choreography, heartfelt character development, and gnarly zombie gore showed me that horror doesn’t have to be deathly serious to be great or profound. Sometimes all you need is a friend group fighting a zombie to the tune of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
The Witch
One of the many things I inherited from my conservative Christian upbringing was a belief in and fear of the demonic. Now on the other side of a religious deconstruction, I found Robert Eggers’ unsettling depiction of a Puritan family’s gradual dissolution by spiritual forces rather cathartic—proof that while there’s darkness in the world, there’s also a chance for rebirth in ways you don’t expect.
It Follows
By now I’ve seen my fair share of jump scares and gory moments in horror, but David Robert Mitchell’s film was the first that would just not let me go after watching. Like the title promised, it latched onto my psyche and followed me everywhere, showing me the power a perfect premise with effective execution can exert on you long after the credits roll.
The Shining
Once I resolved to get into horror, I had a sizable list of classics and blindspots I wanted to tackle. Atop that list was Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, which I was familiar with given its pop-cultural ubiquity (shoutout to that “Treehouse of Horrors” episode of The Simpsons) but had never fully watched. The beguiling experience that followed opened my eyes to just how much I’d been missing by avoiding horror, both in the craft and in the ideas the genre can provide. I departed the Overlook Hotel eager to see more.
I still have so much more horror to discover, and each spooky season I’ve enjoyed exploring more of the genre’s nooks and crannies. Some titles and subgenres I’m fine leaving unwatched (will pass on The Human Centipede, thanks), but I’m otherwise open and emboldened to step into the darkness—like Kevin McCallister in Home Alone emerging from his hiding spot to boldly defy his would-be attackers: “I’m not afraid anymore! Do you hear me? I’m not afraid anymore!” (Will I then immediately get spooked and run away screaming like he does? I’m afraid it’s possible…)
