Them (2006)

Another last minute Shocktober pick, selected for the fact it’s only a couple minutes long. Okay, a little more than a couple minutes. Them—not to be confused with the movie about giant ants—runs a lean mean 74 minutes. At least an hour of this is spent running around a house from intruders and screaming and crying. Not really something I’d normally be interested in. There has to be hundreds of home invasion gone awry horror movies. What separates Them is its pure minimalism and deeply disturbing yet deeply satisfying twist.

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Shutter (2004)

Before Shutter, I had never seen a Thai film. I’m not sure I could even tell you what one looked like. Ong-Bak, maybe? Does The Hangover Part II count? Ha, just kidding, I know it does. Though I had no idea what to expect from Shutter, which turned out to be great because it totally took me by surprise. I loved almost everything about this film. From the great gimmick of only seeing a ghost via a camera and photos, to the film’s mystery, right down to the decayed design of the spirit itself. Apart from maybe a few too many jump scares I don’t have issue with Shutter. This film is a unique and continually unnerving experience, just like The Hangover II.

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Dark Water (2002)

If I have learned anything from this year’s Shocktober, it’s how underrated Asian horror cinema is in western culture. Most of us were aware of it in the 2000s due to The Ring and other American remakes, but I don’t think enough of us, even today, appreciate what those films accomplished. Films like Ju-On: The Grudge and Ringu are some of the best horror films of the last twenty years, and they did so by basically inventing a new genre. A slow and brooding genre, filled with emotional trauma—usually based around a family tragedy— and done on shoestring budgets. These films were dependent on character relationships more than any horror films that preceded them or came afterwards. Of course, like any genre, Asian horror (specifically Japanese-Horror) has its downfalls. Some might consider these films boring, more dark dramas than horror films. Whatever the case, they remain in a league of their own. So let’s dive into another one of these trailblazers with Dark Water.

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Audition (1999)

The last time I saw Audition I didn’t like it. I felt the film started promising, building like a taught Hitchcockian thriller, before descending into a full-on vomit-a-thon. This was five or six years ago. Flash forward to earlier yesterday when I tried to watch the film once more. Again, I loved the first half of the film, but the climax? I liked. It’s still vomit inducing, but I get it now. It helped knowing how the events of the film were going to play out this time. Now I know this film needs the shift in style to hammer home its themes. Audition is a film about objectification and how all of us can become victims… and predators.

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Ringu (1998)

It’s amazing how similar the American and Japanese version of Ringu are. They both draw from Koji Suzuki’s 1991 novel, but the American version is almost an exact carbon copy, from the aesthetic of the cursed videotape, to every suspenseful beat. Don’t get me wrong, I like Gore Verbinski’s version. I like the American version’s polished effects and the fact it was set in in my beloved Seattle, but it’s the Japanese version that should be remembered. It did most of the same things better and earlier. It’s rare I’ve seen a film this scary and yet so subtle. Hideo Nakata’s version doesn’t need big effects or a big budget. The horror in his is cerebral. What’s scary isn’t necessarily what you see on screen, it’s the implication. It’s what gets stuck in your head for days after you’ve seen the film. It follows you. Just like a cursed videotape.

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Cronos (1993)

What a coincidence we selected Cronos to review on the opening weekend of Guillermo del Toro’s newest film Crimson Peak. This Mexican makeup effects maestro turned visionary filmmaker has come a long way. Though even with his first film his style and storytelling sensibility is fully formed, like a butterfly freed from its cocoon. Though far from his best film, Cronos is an excellent prelude to what would come in Del Toro’s later years. Let us enter the labyrinth of Cronos.

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