One of the most iconic silhouettes in horror film history – Count Orlok from the 1922 German film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror directed by F.W. Murnau, essentially a version of Dracula
“Horror is a genre of fiction that exploits the primal fears of viewers” – “that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes”.
It’s also a genre in which I watch a lot of films, so I don’t just have a Top 10 Horror Films – I also have my usual twenty special mentions for my top tens, including sub-genre or thematic entries as about half of my special mentions.
Poster art for the 1979 Alien film with one of the most iconic SF horror film taglines – “In space no one can hear you scream.”
(1) SF HORROR (BODY HORROR & COSMIC HORROR)
If you were wondering where Alien or The Thing were in my Top 10 Horror Films, here they are!
My preferred horror films tend to be supernatural or SF horror, but I tend to rank the latter as SF rather than horror. The dividing line is partly my idiosyncratic opinion that the science fiction elements predominate in SF, such as where the sources of horror are aliens or time-travelling killer robots, but is also partly to preserve the SF entries in my Top 10 Fantasy and SF Films.
Alien, The Terminator, and The Thing are my holy trinity of SF horror but I rank all of them as entries in my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films (indeed with Alien and The Terminator as my top two entries and The Thing in fourth place).
Alien was essentially haunted house horror IN SPACE, with a spaceship for a haunted house (neatly solving the so-called haunted house problem of why the protagonists simply don’t leave the house) and the titular xenomorph for the ghost. In a sense the whole franchise is this in one way or another.The Thing is also another alien haunted house horror story, except with an Antarctic base as haunted house – with the haunted house problem posed by the onset of winter as well as by seeking to avoid the Thing infecting the outside world.
Alien and The Thing also illustrate the subgenres of body horror and cosmic horror that recur with SF horror.
The Terminator was essentially robot slasher horror – okay, technically cyborg slasher horror.
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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Public domain image from George Romero’s 1968 Night of the Living Dead
(2) ZOMBIE HORROR & ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE HORROR
“Braaaiinnnns!”
Zombie horror films, tending as they do to involve the trope (or tropes) of zombie apocalypse have become so prolific as to define their own film genre, one worthy of their own special mention as well as top ten lists many times over just for their themes, tropes and types.
One thing that surprised me looking it up was that they originated early in cinematic history with the first zombie film often cited as White Zombie in 1932.
That surprised me as one usually associates zombies – at least in their cinematic incarnation as opposed to their origin “in the vodou beliefs of Haiti, referring to a body ‘revived’ and enslaved by a sorcerer” – with George A. Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead.
That film defined the cinematic incarnation of zombies – “usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings” and commonly “cannibalistic in nature” (or “ghouls” as Romero preferred to call them in that film). Usually depicted as shambling en masse, invoking metaphors of mobs or proletarian masses.
However, “while Romero is responsible for most of the ‘general’ zombie conventions, the more specific and visible zombie tropes are more often inspired by the later works of John Russo, Night‘s co-writer. Most zombie movies mix-and-match conventions from the Romero and Russo canons. The Russo canon in particular…is the reason most people will respond with “Braaiinnnns” when zombies come up in conversation”.
Zombie horror films have subsequently ramped up the traditional slow zombies with fast ones – “super-fast and super-angry zombies” that make death (or viral infection) look like a positive boon for Olympic-level athletic performance, better than steroids. Not to mention other elite zombies, with other qualities such as intelligence.
Top 10 Zombie & Zombie Apocalypse Horror Films
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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Screenshot of Christopher Lee as Dracula in the 1958 film (public domain image from Internet Archive)
(3) VAMPIRE HORROR
If zombies are the flesh of horror films, then vampires are the blood.
Vampire horror films originate among the first horror films – and indeed in the dawn of the film industry itself. My pet theory is that this is the product of happy coincidence between the publication (and popularity) of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1897 and the origins of the film entertainment industry, particularly in Hollywood.
Dracula was theatrical in its very conception – not surprisingly given Stoker’s background in theatre – and hence readily cinematic for adaptation. Dracula often reads like a play – and indeed Stoker himself adapted it as one in its first year of publication.
After that, you have the 1922 film Nosferatu directed by F.W. Murnau, infamous as essentially a version of Dracula with the serial numbers filed off, before the iconic cinematic incarnation of Dracula with Bela Lugosi in the title role in 1931.
From there, the rest is vampire horror film history – whether featuring Dracula himself (including Christopher Lee being as iconic in the role as Lugosi) or any number of vampires drawn from an almost infinite variety of vampire folklore, including the folklore attached to Dracula in the novel or its adaptations.
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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Classic film poster art for The Wicker Man
(4) FOLK HORROR
“Who are these coming to the sacrifice?”
Folk horror is a subgenre of horror fiction or film – indeed, arguably a sub-genre of religious horror, except based on elements of folklore, supernatural or otherwise, “to invoke fear and foreboding”.
“Typical elements include a rural setting, isolation, and themes of superstition, folk religion, paganism, sacrifice and the dark aspects of nature”.
The original “unholy trinity” identified as folk horror were three British films in the 1960s-1970s – Witchfinder General (1968), The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and my own personal archetype of folk horror (as well as second favorite horror film of all time), The Wicker Man (1973).
The phrase folk horror was popularized by the BBC documentary A History of Horror in 2010 by director Piers Haggard for his film The Blood on Satan’s Claw in an interview with Mark Gatiss – in which he invoked the unholy trinity.
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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One of the most iconic images of religious horror – Damien – from one of the two most iconic religious horror films – The Omen
(5) RELIGIOUS HORROR
The original horror, preceding horror in film and indeed as old as dirt – horror in religion, with the source of the horror as the antagonistic supernatural beings of that religion.
Of course, in Western popular culture, that religion is Christianity – usually defaulting to Catholicism, as tacit acknowledgement that it is the one branch of Christianity that can go toe for toe with the forces of evil and look good doing it. I’m joking and serious – serious about that last part, due to the visually iconic nature of Catholicism. There’s even a trope named for it – Christianity is Catholic. That is, when Christianity is depicted onscreen, it will tend to be Catholic.
Hence the supernatural beings will usually be the Devil, demons or other forces of Hell – with exorcism and possession often featuring prominently as the opposing sides of the battlefield.
It’s also the original horror for me personally, thanks to being raised in a religion in childhood, although I wouldn’t say it was religious as such – more just the usual background tribal culture in which people grow up. However, by my childhood logic, I figured that everything else bad could be traced to the Big Bad itself, so my biggest childhood fear was the Devil.
I grew out of it but The Exorcist and The Omen – which for me will always be the two leading religious horror films – still invoke something of that childhood fear to scare me sh*tless, even with a few drinks to soften them up.
Yes – there’s other religious horror films, enough for their own top ten, but those two are the biggest, perhaps with Rosemary’s Baby as a distant third for the unholy trinity of religious horror.
And yes – even now there’s enough of that residual childhood fear for me to know better than to talk about the details of those films, just as I also know better than to much around with ouija boards (with one playing a prominent role in The Exorcist).
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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2010 film poster
(6) SLASHER HORROR
“Here, we can see a slasher movie killer in their natural habitat, stalking the final girl.”
I tend to prefer other sub-genres of horror to slasher horror but the latter is so iconic of the horror film genre in general that I have to rank it in my S-tier or god-tier special mentions, particularly with the iconic visual design of their slashers.
Also, like zombie horror films, they have become so prolific as to define their own film genre, one worthy of their own top ten list many times over just for their themes, tropes and types, as well as by iconic slasher.
Interestingly, on the subject of type, according to Wikipedia “the slasher canon can be divided into three eras: the classical (1974–1993), the self-referential (1994–2000) and the neoslasher cycle (2000–2013)”.
Given my preference for supernatural (or SF) horror, I tend to prefer the more supernatural slashers. More overtly supernatural slashers that is, as all slashers tend towards supernatural – at least in terms of their superhuman ability to, well, slash, stalk, and all other ancillary abilities associated with them.
It’s like the film Taken – slashers tend to have a very particular set of skills. Hmm…now there’s a story idea concept, Taken as slasher film (or vice versa from the slasher’s perspective).
“The killers, mostly driven by revenge, are also typically somewhat made of iron, at a minimum, and frequently implacable to boot. Slashers prefer melee weapons that let them get up close and personal with their victims and almost never use firearms. Many are borderline (or explicitly) supernatural, having the ability to appear and disappear as if by magic. The corpses of their victims tend to be equally elusive; a slasher killer can whisk away a fully-grown adult’s body in seconds, leaving not a single drop of blood behind, or swiftly arrange all their victims into an elaborate tableau, without ever being seen lugging the dead bodies around”.
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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Poster art – Shark Bait (2022)
(7) SHARK HORROR (ALLIGATOR & CROCODILE HORROR)
For instant horror, just add sharks!
I’m joking and serious. There’s even a trope or two for it in TV Tropes – Threatening Shark (or Everything’s Even Worse with Sharks).
Obviously that’s the case in shark horror films – that is, horror films where the source of the horror is a shark or sharks preying on humans.
However, even in films of other genres, adding a shark or sharks usually adds an element of horror – even if only from fear or suspense by the appearance or presence of that shark or those sharks. The James Bond films are fond of their sharks for example, so much so they were parodied by Dr Evil in Austin Powers wanting sharks with “fricking laser beams” attached to their heads.
There’s just something primal about our fear of sharks.
“Want to make a (usually) aquatic situation a dangerous nightmare? One way is sharks.”
But none more so than in shark horror films. In those, the sea’s your limit – or rather it isn’t, since you can have your sharks in almost any water, natural habitat or not. There’s the mutated cave sharks in the sequel to 47 Meters Down – or sharks in a suburban store flooded by a tsunami.
You’re not even necessarily limited to your “(usually) aquatic situation”. The sky’s your limit – literally with the Sharknado films.
For that matter, you’re not limited to normal sharks, often in combination with not being limited to aquatic situations. I’ve mentioned those mutated cave sharks but there’s other strands of evolution – biggest of them all the prehistoric megalodon. And the sky’s the limit for it as well – I’ve seen an excerpt from one megalodon film (Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus), admittedly hilarious, where the mega-shark breached the surface as sharks do, but to literally bring down a jet airliner at commercial flight height.
And you can just get weirder from there – genetically engineered sharks, ghost or demon sharks, and so on.
Special mention within my special mention to shout out alligator and crocodile horror films, albeit not as prolific as shark horror films by a long shot.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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“Here’s Johnny!” – the iconic scene from The Shining
(8) KING HORROR
King horror – Stephen King horror, that is, for the cinematic adaptations from one of the most iconic and prolific horror writers of our time. Images, lines and scenes from his work reverberate throughout popular culture, particularly driven by their cinematic or screen adaptations.
There’s something of a trope that goes around that his work makes for bad cinematic adaptations. This trope seems wrong to me – the more correct statement would be that the cinematic adaptations are mixed. A number of films from his work are good or well regarded – hence this special mention – “while many others are not”.
Of course much depends on the director but one rule of thumb I have is that the better movies are based on his shorter or tighter works. Like most screen adaptations of literary works, the longer the book the messier the adaptation gets. Not too short though – short stories can have too little substance to them for a feature length film.
And for the worst Stephen King cinematic adaptation ever – The Lawnmower Man – they didn’t even use what little substance they had from the titular story for a feature film, choosing instead to go off on their own weird jaunt based on a single (misplaced) line. The film became notorious for King suing it to remove his name from it.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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The iconic film poster art for the 1982 Poltergeist film
(9) POLTERGEIST (1982)
“They’re here”
The classic haunted house horror film – indeed, I’d argue that it’s never been surpassed or equalled since as haunted house horror film.
Of course, the title helps – is there a cooler word for ghost than poltergeist? Even its English translation of “noisy spirit” is still cool.
The titular spirit in the film is a lot more than merely noisy, however.
“Poltergeist is a 1982 American supernatural horror film directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Steven Spielberg…The film focuses on a suburban family whose home is invaded by malevolent ghosts that abduct their youngest daughter”.
Interestingly, Spielberg originally conceived Poltergeist as involving aliens rather than ghosts – a horror sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind – and you can kind of see that at times even in the finished film.
Fortunately, it was written for ghosts – and became an iconic ghost horror film as a reuslt, so iconic that it has been frequently parodied. It also spawned a franchise, but one that could never equal the first film.
It also has one of my favorite “”oh crap” moments in horror film.
“You son of a b*tch! You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn’t you? You son of a bitch, you left the bodies and you only moved the headstones! You only moved the headstones! Why? Why?”
RATING: 4 STARS****
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(10) HELLRAISER (1987)
“We have such sights to show you!”
None of them pleasant, mind you, but they do indeed.
The film – and at least the first sequel – is just so quotable, usually from the Cenobites that are the heart of the horror, or the hell in the film’s title.
“The series has at its heart a puzzle box known as the Lament Configuration, which when properly solved summons the Cenobites, a cadre of sadomasochistic Humanoid Abominations.”
Worst Rubik’s Cube ever.
“The icon and representative of the series is the only recurring Cenobite after the second film, the iconic Pinhead”.
Although I have a soft spot for the Chatterer – the other two are Butterball and the Female Cenobite. It seems the Cenobites used up their imagination on BDSM by the time it came to their names.
Speaking of quotes, my favorite Hellraiser quote is not from the film but about it – by James Rolfe:
“Hellraiser is a movie that’s so f*cked up, you won’t even look at it unless you want to be freaked out of your mind!”
That pretty much sums up the premise of Hellraiser, where the horror is more its disturbing nature than any fear it evokes. It doesn’t so much make your hairs raise as your skin crawl – or “tear your soul apart”.
The first Hellraiser film was the directorial debut by writer (and sick puppy) Cliver Barker, based on his novella The Hellbound Heart.
The Cenobites, particularly Pinhead, have become horror icons. Sadly, Hellraiser hasn’t been parodied as much as it should have been in my opinion, but the standout parody of it was by Rick and Morty.
RATING:
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Theatrical release poster – “eight legs, two fangs and an attitude” – for 1990 film Arachnophobia
(11) ARACHNOPHOBIA (1990)
For instant horror, just add spiders!
Like my previous special mention for shark horror, I’m joking and serious. Again, there’s a trope for it in TV Tropes – Spiders Are Scary. To which I’d add two more of their tropes to make spiders even scarier – Giant Spider and Spider Swarm.
Spider horror films are something of a niche but adding a spider, let alone a giant spider or spider swarm, will add an element of horror to films of other genres. Think Shelob in The Lord of the Rings. Or the spider scene with James Bond in Doctor No – or come to think of it, the spider scene (and just a touch of spider swarm) with Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
There’s something even more primal for our fear of spiders than for our fear of sharks, reflected in arachnophobia being up there as one of the phobias with the greatest name recognition – not least to this arachnophobe.
And yes – my use of arachnophobia in the title is a deliberate reference to invoke not only the phobia but the 1990 film of that title, my favorite spider horror film. And let’s be honest, the only spider horror film that pulls off the schlock well with the perfect mix of horror and comedy.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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One of many iconic or memetic scenes – this one particularly so because it was parodied beat for beat by Huey Lewis and Weird Al Yankovic
(12) AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000)
How could we have special mentions for horror films without Patrick Bateman, the titular American Psycho – at least for all the memetic moments?
Well, I suppose you could as it’s arguably not horror, but psychological thriller or even more so black comedy satire. (Or perhaps grim prediction of contemporary American politics, particularly given Bateman’s idol…?)
However, it does feature the titular serial killer (or is he….?), based on the novel by Brett Easton Ellis. The latter is even more intense, with one particularly intense scene featuring a rat that makes Room 101 in 1984 look like a petting zoo and was probably unfilmable as a result.
Christian Bale played Batman Bateman, the personification of American dream and nightmare, in a cult classic of black comedy. Bateman is a wealthy investment banker, obsessed with maintaining appearance and lavish lifestyle – a man so narcissistic and self-obsessed that his idea of conversation is a monologue reviewing his album collection (Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis & the News – which, in fairness, is enough to drive anyone to murder), boring his guests to death before, you know, goring them to death. Not literally goring them with a horn or tusk, but killing them gorily, such as with an axe – and a raincoat to block the splatter and spray. (“Is that a raincoat?” a bemused guest asks before getting the axe).
Or that he is driven into literally murderous rage upon being out-flaunted by his equally superficial (but slightly less murderous) colleagues and their business cards, all seemingly in the same color and font but described in pretentious terms (“bone”, “eggshell” and “pale nimbus”).
It even inspired a musical version – which sounds awesome
But excuse me – I have to return some videotapes.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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From the promotional art of the Sadako vs Kayako film – I just wanted the two of them together. No, not like that. Okay – maybe just a little
(13) ASIAN HORROR – THE RING & THE GRUDGE (2002 & 2004)
Yes, yes – I’m sweeping the entire horror film industries of east and south-east Asia into one stringy-haired ghost girl special mention of The Ring vs The Grudge (but not literally the Ring vs the Grudge in that crossover film between them).
That’s because I only have the most superficial knowledge of Asian horror, almost entirely consisting of those stringy-haired ghost girls (or onryo) of Japanese horror film (or J-horror) – and even then in their American adaptations.
Yes – I’m talking the leading ghost girl duo of Sadako (or Samara in the American version) in The Ring and Kayako in The Grudge.
In fairness, those ghost girls are freaky. What makes them even more freaky is that they don’t exactly target their rage at the people who deserve it. Just anyone unlucky enough to cross their path (or play their tape) – they’re just that p*ssed off with anyone that’s not dead like them. And then they come crawling out of your television, or your own hair, or just goddamn anywhere – usually moving in the most unnatural way or making the most unnerving noises.
Anyway, let’s just say they have piqued my interest in Asian horror, which has dipped ever so slightly into Japanese, Korean, and Thai horror films – from which I hope to accumulate enough for an Asian horror top ten.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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(14) THE DESCENT (2005)
Just when you thought it was safe to go spelunking…
One of the best horror films of the 2000s – honestly I’d consider it for special mention on the skull of women motif art design alone.
“The Descent is a 2005 British horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall, director of Dog Soldiers and Doomsday. The film follows a group of six women who embark on a caving expedition and become trapped underground after a cave-in.”
If that wasn’t recipe enough for claustrophobic horror, add a pinch of injury and a generous serve of Crawlers – “predatory, pale humanoid creatures” that make the Morlocks seems positively refined by comparison. And like nothing better than to chow down on anyone stupid and hapless enough to enter their lair.
There was a sequel film which I thought was watchable enough but undercut the first film.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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Film promotional art (fair use)
(15) SNAKES ON A PLANE (2006)
“Enough is enough! I’ve had it with these motherfking snakes on this motherfking plane”.
Scriptwriting genius!
An action horror film “that, more than most movies you’ll find, does pretty much exactly what it says on the tin” and “that turned out exactly as ludicrous on the premise and title sound, and it revelled in its so bad it’s goodness”.
What more do you need to know? It’s snakes on a plane!
Oh sure, there’s a convoluted plot to get to the premise of snakes on a plane. Well, not that convoluted in terms of writing – more in the ludicrousness of it as the weapon of choice by an international gangster to assassinate a witness testifying against him. I mean, surely the classic trope of planting a bomb on the plane would have been easier and more effective? Particularly as he had to import all the snakes to put on the plane as it departed Hawaii, one of three islands in the world famously without snakes.
Oh – and that witness? He’d just accidentally blundered on to the scene at just the right time to see the gangster murder a prosecutor. How do we know it was a prosecutor? Because the gangster mocks the man as “Mr Prosecutor” in my favorite line in the movie apart from its most famous line – or indeed in any movie. Again – scriptwriting genius!
Apparently, when the studio wanted to give the film a serious title, Pacific Air Flight 121 – boooring! – and turn it into an action horror film, Samuel L. Jackson “suggested they change it back when the absurd title gained popularity online and became a huge online meme”. And of course so Jackson could say that iconic line as only Jackson could.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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Film poster art (fair use)
(16) THE BABADOOK (2014)
“Why can’t you just be normal?”
Well, I guess there’s no hope of that – the kid’s Australian. As is the rest of this psychological or supernatural horror film.
I say psychological or supernatural because the titular monster that haunts the widow protagonist – or is that antagonist? – struggling to raise the son she admonishes as lacking normalcy works on both levels, perhaps literally.
And that’s pretty much all one can say of this film’s premise and plot without spoiling it, except of course for the ultimate moral of the story that pop-up books are evil. And the meme that the Babadook is apparently gay because Netflix categorized him that way.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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Film poster art (fair use)
(17) READY OR NOT (2019)
“In-laws.”
Horror comedy film starring Australian actress Samara Weaving as the film’s protagonist, it earns special mention with a sequel to come (as at 2025) in 2026.
Technically, I might have included this in my special mention entry for religious horror but that’s (mostly) just the backdrop for the horror in this film – being hunted to death by your in-laws.
I know the feeling.
On the night of her wedding, Weaving’s protagonist – perhaps ironically named Grace – is asked to participate in her newlywed husband’s eccentric and rich family tradition of playing a board game. Unfortunately for Grace, she draws the wrong card for Hide and Seek. Even then, she doesn’t quite realize the twist to what appears an innocent childhood game – Hide and Seek is euphemism for Hunt and Shoot. Shoot to kill that is, because the hider needs to be dead by dawn if the seekers are to win, as part of a deal with the devil for the family’s wealth.
RATING:
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Theatrical release poster – to be honest, that doll freaks me out even before she turns evil
(18) M3GAN (2022)
It’s the Terminator as a doll – what more do you need to know?
Well, in fairness, it’s both versions of Arnold’s T-800 in the first two films. You know, the bad Terminator in the first film and the good Terminator in the second film. If that sounds weird, it’s because she flips from the latter to the former – and worse, that’s from her programming as the latter driven to insane troll logic extremes.
And yes – I’m giving it special mention because of that dance, which became a meme from its brief appearance in the trailer onwards. It makes no sense and comes out of nowhere, except of course the titular doll getting its groove on as part of its murderous self-awareness.
We’re not talking high art here – but we rarely are when it comes to horror films. It’s cheesy and by the numbers but it’s a hoot.
And after all, it’s becoming a franchise – with a sequel in 2025 and a spinoff in 2026. I also can’t resist citing the 2024 Subservience as something of a spiritual sequel purely based on the same robot gone wrong theme and the play on the name with Megan Fox as the robot in that film. She can be my hot robot nanny any day. That’s right – you heard me. I stand by that statement.
RATING:
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Film promotional art (fair use)
(19) WEAPONS (2025)
“This is a true story that happened in my town. A lot of people die in a lot of really weird ways in this story, but you’re not gonna find it in the news. So this one Wednesday is like a normal day for the whole school, but today was different. Every other class had all their kids, but Mrs. Gandy’s room was totally empty. And do you know why? Because the night before, at 2:17 in the morning, every kid woke up, got out of bed, walked downstairs, and into the dark. And they never came back.”
2025 was a hit year for horror – Sinners, 28 Years Later, and Weapons – as the only films that lured me to the cinema (rather than streaming) were horror.
Weapons is a “horror mystery film with elements of black comedy”, in a non-linear narrative around the premise set up by the opening narration, albeit I had not expected the black comedy – the climactic scene might well have had the Benny Hill theme (Yakety Sax) playing over it.
Of course, that premise only works because the police and authorities in the Pennsylvania town of Maybrook are blind, incompetent or both – but who cares? The film “has achieved something remarkable here, crafting a cruel and twisted bedtime story of the sort the Brothers Grimm might have spun”.
RATING:
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Nothing kinky going on here, no sir – 2004 Romanian stamp (and therefore public domain image) featuing Dracula (used as feature image for Wikipedia “Erotic Horror”)
(20) EROTIC HORROR
Wait – what?
As usual, I tend to throw in a kinky entry among my wilder special mentions – usually as the final or twentieth special mention, where the subject permits, and you might be surprised what kink I can squeeze out of a given subject.
And for the subject of horror films, that kinky entry pretty much writes itself.
Firstly, horror tends to be relegated to a cinematic ghetto not unlike adult film – and often uncannily resembles the latter in production values and with similar restricted ratings (for the more softcore adult films at least). As noted by TV Tropes, “you’d be hard-pressed to find professional film critics who don’t view horror as a land where grisly violence and exploitation stand in for plot and characters…none other than famed horror director John Carpenter once remarked that horror is viewed by the mainstream as being just a notch above p0rnography”.
Secondly, adult films borrow from horror films in visual imagery or what passes for plot surprisingly often, except of course for titillation rather than terror – at least going by the spoof titles for adult films parodying those of horror films. I take it the script is probably the least valued part of the production of adult films so if you can just copy and paste it from another film, all the better.
Thirdly, there’s a reason underlying both of the above two reasons – and it’s that there’s always been an underlying eroticism or erotic themes in horror, albeit in varying degrees across the genre, such that you might even call it part of horror’s DNA.
Just think Dracula and vampire horror, but that’s just for starters. You could argue that many horror films involve both variations of the male gaze – that of the audience and that of the antagonist, with the latter as more predatory. Many or perhaps even most of my top ten entries or special mention have some erotic subcurrent – or could readily be tweaked entirely to the basic plot premise (or “parody”) in adult film.
Indeed, erotic horror or erotic themes in horror are so distinctive that the former has its own Wikipedia entry (also featuring the latter) and lists of films. Although be warned – it gets a little weird, anime tentacles for example.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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