Editorials
How To Start Getting Into Horror Part 9: Psychological
For the past two weeks in our How To Start Getting Into Horror series, we took a look at both old and new slashers, pointing out that they can be a great place to have fun while still getting a good amount of scares. I wrestled with myself on what I felt would be the next best place to go in terms of sub-genres, battling between “gore” and “psychological”, weighing the pros and cons of each.
As you can tell by the headline, I ultimately decided upon going with psychological. Head on in to see why and to check out a few film suggestions to kick things off!
Psychological horror films have always been some of favorites. They’re usually the ones that terrify me the most because, in many cases, they could actually happen. It’s all about the sickness and evil of a mind gone bad, which we see occurring in our society all the time. It’s this knowledge that anyone around me might suffer these thoughts that makes these films so deliciously scary.
Now, as you can see, I inserted the trailer for Saw above. Many people might think that it’s the perfect marriage of gore and psychological horror. However, if you rewatch the film, you’ll see that nearly all the gore is offscreen, hidden just far enough away to keep it immediate and visceral but near enough that it feels immediate and real.
But what Saw DOES offer is a fascinating descent into the minds of its characters. Instead of focusing on the traps and gore that every sequel of the franchise had a tendency to do, the original was all about the story and expanding it, one sneaky little clue or revelation at a time. I remember seeing it in theaters and, when the twist at the end came, I was so blown away my jaw actually dropped and I grabbed my head to keep it from exploding Scanners-style. After the credits finished rolling, I immediately bought a ticket to see it again because I had to make sense of what I’d just seen.
However, I would be remiss to suggest that Saw is a great place to start with the psychological horror sub-genre. Rather, I think it’d be good as a lead in to gore, when we get there. While I did mention that the gore in this film is off camera, it’s still a rather shocking film with some terrifyingly “meaty” deaths.
If we want to go full on with psychological, I recommend kicking off the The Shining. It’s in my list of my top horror films of all time and Kubrick’s direction is nothing short of masterful. It’s a terrifying film that doesn’t need gore or jump scares. Instead, it builds tension so thick that even a knife couldn’t stab it. Each new scene adds layers of uncomfortable unease, the madness of Jack Torrance spiraling faster and faster out of control, until it all comes crashing into a climax that challenges the viewers own sanity.
Afterwards, you can go to another film that I absolutely adore: Session 9. I bought this film from Best Buy one day on a whim because it had a cool cover and I had a gift card. It’s possibly the best blind purchase I’ve made and it’s a film that I revisit with great enthusiasm. I’d tell you about the film but, in my opinion, it should be seen as I saw it, completely unaware of what’s in store.
There’s always the classic The Silence Of The Lambs that can be brought to the table. With Academy Awards under its belt, a stellar cast, and a notorious character in the form of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, this film is a must for any fan of film, regardless if they like horror or not.
Additionally, and this film opens the doors to all sorts of interesting sub-genres, you can go with another Stephen King story: The Mist. While there are tons of monsters in this movie, the real villains are the people inside the supermarket. The divide that occurs after only a few days is a fascinating example of how people react in life-or-death situations.
So, there you have it. There’s a list of several films that I feel would be a fantastic choice for diving into the world of psychological horror. There’s obviously a great deal more, such as Se7en or Rosemary’s Baby, the latter of which, just like The Mist, opens the doors to many sub-genres.
If you think of some that people need to check out, let me know in the comments below!
Check out the rest of our How To Start Getting Into Horror series.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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