Editorials
Noirvember: 10 Essential Films That Blend Horror and Noir
November becomes Noirvember, as the month’s viewing habits are dedicated to film noir for many cinephiles. The loosely defined genre emerged in the ‘40s, linked to the cynicism that followed World War II. Audiences embraced the dark moodiness of the films. Noir tends to be characterized by its fatalistic outlook, highly stylized imagery, down on their luck and morally ambiguous protagonists, urban settings, shadows, corruption, narration, and the femme fatale.
The most prominent trait attributed to film noir is the hard-boiled detective, a figure of isolation who works apart from the law. All of which can and does lend well to horror.
What better way to ring in Noirvember 2020 than with movies that blur the lines between noir and horror? Here are ten essentials to get you started.
The Seventh Victim
Director Mark Robson begins this noir film like a classic dark mystery; a young woman learns her older sister has gone missing and hasn’t paid her tuition in months. She departs her boarding school and begins her search, meeting several characters along the way that’ll aid and hinder her investigation. Robson weaves in horror ever so slowly, building toward a nihilistic finish as the older sister is revealed to have gotten mixed up in a Satanic cult. Considering The Seventh Victim was produced by Val Lewton, the “Man Behind the Shadows,” the veer into horror should surprise no one. Other Lewton films, The Leopard Man and Cat People, also seamlessly blend horror with noir.
Nightmare Alley
Based on the 1946 novel, Nightmare Alley sees a manipulative carnival barker get in over his head when he woos a psychiatrist far more dangerous than he. Its psychological horror meets noir, with a fierce femme fatale to boot. Nightmare Alley is considered a gem now, but it proved far too nihilistic and creepy for the audience upon its 1947 release. If the name sounds familiar, that might be because Guillermo del Toro is currently working on a new adaptation of the source novel. Between the upcoming new take and Noirvember, there’s no better time than now to catch up on this one.
Diabolique
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s twisty thriller is a must. The frail wife and the mistress of a vile school headmaster conspire and plot the perfect murder that will free them both of his abuse. Of course, such a plan rarely goes off without a wrinkle or two, creating a web of lies and paranoia. Clouzot’s thriller begins like a hard-boiled noir before segueing into a tense psychological horror movie, full of nightmarish sequences. This influential film inspired both Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Bloch, the author of the novel Psycho.
The Night of the Hunter
Part noir, part gothic fairy tale, part horror, The Night of the Hunter is a melting pot of genres. Charles Laughton’s first and only directorial effort didn’t land with critics and audiences upon release but has since become one of the most influential films. Robert Mitchum stars as Harry Powell, a self-appointed preacher and serial killer that marries a gullible widow to steal her deceased husband’s hidden cash. That the woman’s children only know its location puts them in a dangerous cat and mouse game with the Reverend. Highly stylized and eerie, The Night of the Hunter is a gorgeous, chilling entry in noir.
Psycho
Much like the film that served as an inspiration, Psycho starts as a crime thriller noir before transitioning into full-blown proto-slasher. At the start of the film, femme fatale Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) steals a large sum of money from her boss and flees, effectively setting her up as the protagonist. More importantly, it distracts the audience from realizing that they’re watching a horror movie, making that iconic twist so viscerally potent. In other words, Hitchcock brilliantly uses noir as misdirection for his horror masterpiece.
Wolfen
The year 1981 brought not one but three theatrical releases centered around werewolves. Between The Howling, An American Werewolf in London, and Wolfen, the latter tends to be forgotten compared to its more showy, horror-centric brethren. It probably didn’t help that Wolfen refuses easy categorization. Former NYPD Captain Dewey Wilson (Albert Finney) is enlisted to help solve a string of grisly murders that indicate a sizeable predatorial animal is to blame. It’s a hard-boiled crime thriller mystery, complete with the world-weary detective, set in the urban jungle of New York. The werewolf elements are atypical and kept a secret for as long as possible.
Angel Heart
When you think of horror noir titles, Angel Heart tends to pop in mind more than any other, for a good reason. It’s a full-blown neo-noir film with horror inextricably in its DNA. Hard-boiled detective Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) gets sent to New Orleans by Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) to track down a singer. Still, the investigation takes several murderous and Satanic twists and turns. That drawn-out mystery makes the shocking reveal land with tangible impact, leaving the viewer reeling as hard as Harry Angel.
Cast a Deadly Spell
This made-for-cable movie is more of a loving send-up, marrying comedic horror-fantasy to noir. Set in an alternate 1940s where magic and magical creatures exist, Detective Harry Philip Lovecraft (Fred Ward) is hired to track and retrieve the stolen Necronomicon. That job leads to a much bigger conspiracy involving femme fatales, hitmen, ancient evils, and a bid to bring about Armageddon. It’s a charming creature feature steeped in noir convention, with a stacked cast too.
Lord of Illusions
Clive Barker infuses crime-noir with the supernatural occult in this adaptation of his short story “The Last Illusion.” Private detective Harry D’Amour (Scott Bacula) gets drawn into a battle between good and evil when the wife of a famous stage magician hires him to protect them from assassination by a fanatical cult. For a good stretch, Barker walks the line between the two genres without veering too far into either, until the full-blown horror finale anyway. Lord of Illusions has it all; the femme fatale, conspiracy-filled mystery, the hardened detective, and Barker’s unique horror brand.
Se7en
David Fincher’s neo-noir digs deep into the horror sandbox to create a nightmarish, gritty world for the detectives on the case of a serial killer that uses the seven deadly sins as inspiration for his murders. It’s in these crime scenes that the horror presents itself; few things in ‘90s cinema are as terrifying as the moment in which the Sloth victim revealed he wasn’t dead. While noir’s reputation for pessimism is well represented here, it also bolsters the horror of it all.
Some movies are just so beloved that you can experience them through cultural osmosis without ever sitting down to actually watch them. From loving parodies to meticulous recreations of iconic scenes, memorable filmmaking lives on even after the curtains close on the silver screen. And when it comes to horror, few films can compete with the massive impact that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining had on popular culture as a whole.
Whether or not you think the flick is a good adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal novel, 1980’s The Shining slowly but surely grew into one of the most influential genre movies ever made, inspiring everything from surprisingly heartfelt sequels to classic episodes of The Simpsons. However, not all The Shining references are created equal, and today I’d like to shine a light on six unexpected homages to Kubrick’s iconic film.
In this list, we’ll be focusing on references and Easter eggs that either came out of the blue or came from creators that you wouldn’t expect to be fans of this classic ghost story. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite references to the Torrance family and the Overlook Hotel if you think we missed a particularly memorable one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. A Nightmare on FaceTime – South Park (2012)
Regardless of the brand’s iffy reputation among former employees, the death of Blockbuster Video was a serious blow to fans of physical media. Of course, some folks were more affected by this than others, and South Park’s Randy Marsh definitely took things a little too far in the twelfth episode of the show’s sixteenth season.
Titled A Nightmare on FaceTime, the main plot of this 2012 story is a surprisingly faithful recreation of The Shining where Randy purchases an empty Blockbuster store and begins to go mad once he realizes that his investment may not have been a very good idea due to the rise of streaming and the now-defunct RedBox storefronts.
4. The Overlook Hotel Level – Ready Player One (2018)
I was never really a fan of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, so I viewed Stephen Spielberg’s divisive adaptation of the novel as an improvement over the source material despite having its own narrative issues. In fact, I actually prefer how Spielberg changed the story by removing several references to his own work and replacing a lengthy Blade Runner detour with an over-the-top homage to The Shining.
A CGI-heavy recreation of the film’s most iconic moments that feels like a big-budget ghost train ride set within the Overlook Hotel, this intense sequence is more of a recreation of the freaky aesthetics of The Shining rather than its mind-bending narrative. However, it’s still fun to see Spielberg make a heartfelt tribute to a filmmaker that was once his close personal friend.
3. IKEA Singapore Halloween Ad (2014)
It makes sense that commercials don’t typically borrow from the horror genre, as it might be a bad idea to scare away potential customers, but some references are just too much fun to pass up.
That’s probably why the publicists behind this Ikea ad from Singapore were allowed to turn their commercial into a genuinely unsettling recreation of Danny’s tricycle scene from The Shining. After all, nobody cares if your store is haunted so long as it offers late-night shopping hours and a large selection of merchandise that you can become lost in forever and ever…
2. The End of ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’ – Community (2014)
Community is no stranger to recreating iconic movie moments within the show, and the series had previously tackled horror tropes in episodes like the fan-favorite Epidemiology. However, the most laugh-out-loud moment on this particular list comes from a brief gag towards the end of the season five episode ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’.
The majority of this episode has nothing to do with scary movies, but there’s a brief subplot involving supporting character Chang and a possible encounter with ghosts that leads him to question his own existence. This subplot culminates in the episode’s hilarious ending where the camera zooms in on a black-and-white photograph of Chang in period clothing at some kind of celebration, just like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining.
However, the picture’s subtitle eventually reveals that it’s merely a conveniently placed keepsake from the ‘Old Timey Photo Club’.
1. The Overlook Hedge Maze Sequence – Zootopia 2 (2025)
Disney movies are pretty far removed from both the gruesome horror of Stephen King and the heady filmmaking of Stanley Kubrick, so I don’t think anyone was expecting the climax of last year’s Zootopia sequel to take place in an animated version of the snowy hedge maze from The Shining.
In this unexpectedly intense sequence, friend-turned-villain Pawbert Lynxley (an unhinged lynx cat played by Andy Samberg) chases our protagonists through a creepy labyrinth in a loving recreation of Jack Nicholson’s icy demise outside the Overlook Hotel. The actual ending here might be a little more child-friendly than what’s being referenced, but it’s amazing that the filmmakers were able to push the horror elements as far as they did – especially since the scene doesn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the movie.
You must be logged in to post a comment.