Filmmaker Corin Hardy burst onto the horror scene in 2015 with the creature feature The Hallow, which no doubt directly led to him sitting in the director’s chair for this year’s The Nun. To date, Hardy’s The Nun is the highest grossing film in the entire Conjuring Universe, so it seems pretty safe to say that Hardy’s gonna be a big name in horror for years to come.
It’s also safe to say that, well, Hardy knows his stuff when it comes to horror.
Over on his official website, Hardy celebrated Halloween by recommending 31 of his favorite horror movies; specifically, horror movies that are perfect to watch *on* Halloween.
He explains, “It was interesting for me to try and pin-point specific horror movies from different eras that in my experience truly captured the spirit of Halloween, & so I decided on some basic criteria to aid my selection; you see these couldn’t just be a countdown of my favourite horror movies, because some of those, despite being the greatest films of the genre, for one reason or other don’t necessarily work great on Halloween.”
Below you’ll find just a small handful of Hardy’s picks, along with his insights. If you want to see his complete list, be sure to head over to CorinHardy.com to check it out!
PUMPKINHEAD
“A creature based folk-revenge horror, debut directed by practical FX pioneer Stan Winston. Its a darkly atmospheric fairy-tale of love, loss, vengeance & redemption starring Lance Henriksen with a great monster in Pumpkinhead & a perfect start to October…”
THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK
“This mockumentary from Charles B Pierce, about a creature that lurks in the Arkansas swamps terrified me as a child & laid the roots for The Blair Witch Project. It’s still my favourite ‘bigfoot’ movie & the look of the twilight soaked crackly 16mm film accompanied by the often glitchy, sometimes out of synch soundtrack & ‘real interviews’ with the locals of Fouke, make for an authentic & eerie Halloween viewing, particularly the scene where the family cat is found ‘scared to death’.”
THE MONSTER SQUAD
“This under appreciated gem is the horror equivalent of The Goonies, as a group of plucky kids save their town & the world from Universal monsters Dracula, Wolfman, Gillman, The Mummy & Frankenstein. It’s a ton of fun, written by Shane ‘Lethal Weapon’ Black & the sensational practical creature FX by Stan Winston. A scream for the Halloween kids.”
RE-ANIMATOR
“Adapted from an H.P. Lovecraft story this is a science-horror with a riotously wicked sense of humour. Med student Herbert West has found a way to bring the dead back to life by injecting them with his bright green ‘Re-agent’. As he begins to carry out a series of tests on dead specimens his arrogance & excitement knows no bounds. But when Dr. Hill, a jealous tutor intent on stealing his formula, intervenes, West struggles to remain in control of his walking dead, with increasingly disturbing & thrillingly gruesome consequences. Stuart ‘Dolls/From Beyond’ Gordon directed & like many others in my countdown, there are some fantastically imaginative & gory makeup FX on show here – they reportedly used 24 gallons of fake blood…”
DRAG ME TO HELL
“Riotous demonic horror comedy from Sam Raimi. After a curse is placed on her by a shamed Romanian gypsy, an ambitious bank worker has 3 days to stop a demon from dragging her to hell! Raimi’s return to horror roots is Loony Toons in style & tone with echoes of Night Of The Demon & a joy to behold, indeed the audience screamed & laughed in equal measures when I saw this originally & that can only be a good thing for a Halloween screening.”
